Minimum Wage Nerd

2025 was another interesting year for the world of professional wrestling, with no shortage of high quality shows produced amidst tougher economic times for consumers. WWE may encapsulate this best as business hit record highs on the back of John Cena’s retirement tour, despite growing criticism for WWE’s creative direction and warning signs of inflated ticket prices driving away customers.

This is not about the state of the industry. This is about the talent that give life to professional wrestling and some names to watch out for in 2026.

From the breakout rookies to 20-year veteran that became an overnight sensation, it is the people that run those ropes and put “butts in the seats” poised to have their moment in the coming year.

Bayley

There may be no better place to start than with one of the most recognized faces in modern women’s wrestling – Bayley.

The longtime WWE veteran has had fans talking for most of 2025 in the wake of her interview over Wrestlemania Weekend with Chris Van Vliet. In it, she spoke about fans believing she had been “underutilized” in recent years and how these ideas still affect her in a clip that quickly went viral with fans. This was due to Bayley being pulled from the Women’s Tag Team Championship match on night 2 of Wrestlemania 41 on night one, with Bayley being written off on the preshow after being attacked backstage.

It was reported shortly after that these plans had been set in place weeks before Wrestlemania weekend and that Bayley was likely aware of the reported plans ahead of time.

Bayley appeared to slyly confirm this in her interview with Van Vliet as during the interview, filmed days before Wrestlemania, she appears to hint her awareness of fan reaction to her being pulled from the show. She doesn’t outright say anything, but many fans quickly connected the dots after the interview released on Van Vliet’s YouTube channel two days after Wrestlemania.

The interview, along with her subsequent usage in WWE, has led many fans to speculate if she may leave the promotion in 2026. Her contract is reportedly set to end sometime in 2026 and there has been no notable update to her situation to close out 2025.

A popular idea is that she could make the jump to AEW and join her longtime friend Mercedes Mone, who had a hugely successful 2025. Especially now that AEW has women’s tag belts, many fans are hoping to see Mone and Bayley reunite and potentially even win those titles.

Regardless of what she does, it looks like Bayley will be the biggest name to keep an eye on in 2026.

Hyan and Maya World

So this next one is a bit of a cheat, but there is a reason for it.

Hyan and Maya World are widely considered two of the top standouts among independent women wrestlers. They also ended up being in the right place, at the right time while backstage at AEW Collision, November 8 edition. The pair ended up being called on short notice to wrestle Tay Melo and Anna Jay, widely considered AEW’s longest-tenured team in the women’s division. Hyan and World reportedly received praise for stepping up at the last minute and were brought back in the subsequent weeks for enhancement matches or backstage segments.

While it is not known if they are signed at the time of writing this but if they aren’t, it is considered almost inevitable they will be.

Either way, this has been the ultimate springboard the pair could have asked for heading into 2026.

Hyan, in particular, has been building a reputation over the last decade that resulted in her being among the most respected and in-demand women on the independent scene. ‘The Renaissance Woman of Pro-Wrestling’ isn’t just a clever title, its the truth.

By contrast, World only debuted in 2022 but has quickly turned heads with her talent between the ropes. It may not come as a surprise to some, though, that a reason for her success is training under Athena, widely regarded as one of the best wrestlers, man or woman, in the world today.

As for what 2026 could have in store, we finally come back to the cheat.

With AEW only just introducing women’s tag belts along with the Women’s Pure Championship in Ring of Honor, the promotion is going to need to add depth to the women’s roster. Hyan and World, given the circumstances that led to their current standing in AEW, would best be served as a tag team. The division only has two long-term teams and could use more dedicated teams. The women’s tag division is so wide open that it presents the perfect opening for Hyan and World to stand out in an extremely competitive women’s division.

Alec Price and Jordan Oliver

This is a another cheat but, Alec Price and Jordan Oliver are at least an established team on the independent scene.

‘Bustah and The Brain,’ as they are also known, were the standout team in Game Changer Wrestling for most of 2025 after the pair won the GCW tag titles in April. Oliver, himself already a former GCW tag champ with Nick Wayne, stepped in to tag with Alec Price at Joey Janela’s Spring Break 9 after Price’s previous tag partner, Cole Radrick, went down with an ACL injury in March.

Price and Oliver ultimately beat the team of Kevin Ku and Dominic Garrini, also known as ‘Violence is Forever,’ for the titles.

The team briefly lost the titles to the Brothers of Funstruction in September before winning them back a month later as part of several cross-promotional shows between GCW and Juggalo Championship Wrestling.

But even before their success as a team, the two have been widely considered among the top young standouts from the northeastern U.S. Oliver, in particular, has already gotten experience working on TV thanks to his time in Major League Wrestling from 2019 to 2021.

As with Hyan and World, it would not be a shock to see these two picked up by a major promotion to fill out their respective tag divisions. The team could easily be slotted into NXT, AEW, TNA, or New Japan, among others, as a standout young team scratching and clawing their way to tag title shots. It simply becomes a question of where they could end up in 2026 as their demand continues to grow.

Bandido

As far as in-ring performers go, no one may have had a better year in 2025 than the current Ring of Honor World Champion Bandido.

The luchador won the title for a second time, defeating Chris Jericho at AEW Dynasty in April to become a two-time champion. He has successfully defended it multiple times since then, defeating names like Konosuke Takeshita, Mascara Dorada, and Hechicero, among others, in multiple match of the year contenders.

Bandido and Takeshita’s match from July’s Supercard of Honor, in particular, is largely considered one of the frontrunners for award season.

On top of his singles success, Bandido played a major role in helping revitalize the AEW tag division alongside Brody King as the team Brodido. The two were seemingly thrown together as King’s normal partner, Buddy Matthews, went down with an ankle injury earlier in the year. The pair began tagging in normal tag and other multi-person tag matches over the summer as the team quickly picked up momentum. They ultimately won the AEW tag titles at Forbidden Door in August in a three-way match against FTR and then-defending champions The Hurt Syndicate.

Brodido would hold the belts until November, when they lost them to FTR.

Bandido hasn’t slowed down, though, as he closed out 2026 winning the Dynamite Diamond Ring and earning himself an AEW World Title match at AEW Dynamite: Maximum Carnage on January 14. There may be no better way to start off the new year than winning AEW’s top belt, but even if he losses, don’t be surprised to find Bandido mixing it up at the top of the card in AEW more often in 2026.

Oba Femi

When it comes to WWE, in particular NXT, there may be no star fans are eager to potentially see become a Wrestlemania main eventer than the NXT Champion Oba Femi.

Femi has been in WWE since 2022 as part of the company’s first wave of college athletes who signed with WWE as part of its new Next In Line, or NIL, program. While he signed his NIL deal in 2021, he didn’t begin his training until after his graduation in May 2022.

Despite not even a year of training, Femi made his proper debut on NXT in April 2023 and would spend most of the year on-and-off TV, typically winning in dominant fashion. He would win the 2023 Men’s NXT Breakout Tournament to earn a shot at any men’s title of his choice, which he used to win the NXT North American Championship from Dragon Lee in January 2024.

Femi would remain a fixture on NXT television for the next two years, typically atop WWE’s developmental brand as a two-time NXT champion.

They young star would make his WWE main roster in-ring debut in December 13, 2025, at Saturday Night’s Main Event: John Cena’s Final Match. As the show’s name points out, Cena’s retirement match against Gunther was the marquee attraction. NXT Champion Femi took on Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes in a special champion vs. champion match and was one of two NXT showcase matches Cena reportedly wanted on the show.

Rhodes vs. Femi ended in a no contest when Drew McIntyre ran in and attacked Rhodes before McIntyre was run off by Rhodes and Femi.

Under the WWE umbrella, Femi may not have been given a better springboard for 2026 than sharing the ring against one of WWE’s top stars at one of its biggest shows of 2025. Femi has built a dedicated following during his time in NXT, most of whom agree he could, and likely will, be one of WWE’s top stars in the coming years alongside the likes of Bron Breakker and Dominik Mysterio.

After taking his first steps toward that spot to end 2025, Femi will likely continue making strides toward that outcome if 2026 sees him called up to the main roster full-time.

Konosuke Takeshita

2025 has already been a great year for Konosuke Takeshita as the Osaka-native split his year between AEW and New Japan.

In AEW, Takeshita remained one of the spotlighted names in the Don Callis Family as it continued to grow in numbers over the year. Tensions would start appearing in the family, though, between Takeshita and relative-newcomer to the group, Kazuchika Okada, due to a clash of egos. Callis has made the two tag on multiple occasions, even challenging for the AEW tag titles, but tensions have only continued to simmer.

With both being in the 2025 Continental Classic, it would not be shocking to see things finally come to a head between Okada and Takeshita.

Takeshita has experienced equal, if not greater success in New Japan in 2025, as well.

It began over the summer when Takeshita won the G1 Climax, New Japan’s biggest tournament of the year. Takeshita earned a shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and like Zack Sabre Jr. in 2024, Takeshita didn’t wait until Wrestle Kingdom to get his title match. He would defeat then-champion Zack Sabre Jr. at King of Pro-Wrestling in October.

Takeshita is scheduled to defend the championship in a title vs. title match at Wrestle Kingdom 20 on January 4 against the defending IWGP Global Champion Yota Tsuji.

An already common belief among fans is that it appears like Takeshita is being position to become a main event fixture in AEW in 2026 based on his performance in the 2025 Continental Classic. He is the only wrestler left in the tournament to not be pinned, as of this writing, with three wins and one draw under his belt.

There is a chance, depending on how things shake out after AEW’s Christmas day Collision, he could finally face Okada in a singles match in the tournament’s semifinals at AEW World’s End. In turn, this has fans speculating Takeshita will win to set up a rematch against Okada at AEW Revolution to reunite the Unified Championship.

If a rematch were to happen, it opens the door to Takeshita potentially being kicked out of the Don Callis Family as a result. This would position Takeshita as possibly one of AEW’s biggest babyfaces, putting him right alongside top names like ‘Hangman’ Page, Swerve Strickland, and Will Ospreay.

It doesn’t hurt that the Don Callis Family also has plenty of talent to pit against Takeshita that would help build him as a top babyface and deliver great matches consistently with matchups like Josh Alexander and Kyle Fletcher.

Dragon Lee

Let’s close out this list with another interesting name to follow in 2026, and that’s Dragon Lee.

The luchador signed with WWE in December 2022 and debuted in NXT the next month, quickly turning heads with his in-ring ability. It was during this first period in NXT that Lee was typically seen chasing the NXT North American Championship, with the second half of 2023 centered on his rivalry with then-champion Dominik Mysterio.

After multiple matches, Lee would finally win the title from Mysterio in December at NXT Deadline. His reign wouldn’t be a long one, though, as he then lost it to Oba Femi after only a month-long reign. He would then join the Latino World Order on the main roster, but would still make sporadic appearances in NXT.

As time went on, though, Lee was appearing on TV less and less, causing fans to speculate about his contract status. It would then be reported his contract ran through mid-2026, quickly prompting speculation about his future.

The belief is if Lee were to leave WWE, he’d end up in AEW in relatively short order since his brothers Rush and Dralistico are signed to the promotion. Lee, himself, wrestled one match for AEW in August 2022 as part of the AEW World Trios Championship Tournament, teaming with Rush and Andrade El Idolo as part of La Faccion Ingobernable.

LFI would lose to Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, aka The Elite, and Lee had his mask ripped off by Rush and Andrade. He was signed by WWE shortly after.

If Lee were to go back, there is already an in-built story to set him in a collision course with his brothers, especially Rush for attacking and unmasking him in 2022.

So those are just a few of what could have easily been many more names to keep a close eye on in 2026. There are plenty more worth keeping track of, too, given how flush with talent the modern professional wrestling scene is. And if the last several years are any indication, 2026 will be another eventful year in the industry.