AEW and WWE boast two of the best rosters in wrestling, and these names stand out as the potential to be the stars to carry this generation.
Professional wrestling is an industry that often struggles to embrace its up-and-coming talent. Unlike mixed martial arts, where youthful competitors bully the older veterans out of the way, young performers in professional wrestling often struggle to carve their way to the top early in their run. This is one thing that has made AEW’s establishment of young stars in such a brief time so special to see.
All Elite Wrestling boasts a plethora of performers that are 29 years old or younger, and those competitors are building the foundation of that company’s future. But do not sleep on the talented names in WWE that are in that same age range. WWE has long leaned on “nostalgia pops” in the wrong way, but that does not take away from the young talent this promotion has ready to break through to the top.
This list looks at the top ten names in AEW and WWE that are 29 years of age or younger as of April 11, 2023. This is a subjective list that considers a performer’s career accolades and their current match rating of Cagematch. These performers also have a profile that is on the company’s official website.
Let’s dive into these ten names that fans should be prepared to see throughout this generation.
Honorable Mentions
The honorable mentions on this list include some compelling names, many are former champions, and others will hold titles in the future. There are even two names that stand out as tag team wrestlers, but fans have their eyes on them as potential single stars when they move away from the pairing with their real-life brothers.
WWE
- Dragon Lee (27/9.01) Dragon Lee is on the honorable mentions list only because he’s still new in the WWE. To date, he’s had only two televised matches, but expect big things from Lee in the future.
- Ilja Dragunov (29/9.01) Ilja Dragunov is one of the heavy hitters in WWE NXT. His run on NXT UK was exceptional. He and GUNTHER won back-to-back Match of the Year awards. Unfortunately, it is hard to see WWE strapping the rocket to him with a main roster run.
- Axiom (25/8.26) Axiom has excelled with this new character after initial apprehension. He’s still booked as a gatekeeper to mid-card stars on NXT, but he should be in line for a title run of his own in the near future.
- Julius Creed (28/6.83) Some are tabbing Julius Creed as a Brock Lesnar-like prospect in NXT. Will he reach that point? Only time will tell, but he checks a lot of the boxes for what could be a strong presence for years to come.
- Indi Hartwell (26/6.13) Indi Hartwell has finally reached an accolade of her own as NXT Women’s Champion. Could she break through on the main roster? That’s the big question that will need answers.
AEW
- Toni Storm (27/8.22) Toni Storm is a multiple-time champion and an in-ring machine, but there are still big questions about how well her character connects to fans.
- Lee Moriarty (27/8.01) Lee Moriarty is one of those names on the AEW roster that fans want to see more of soon. Will he get that opportunity?
- Wheeler Yuta (26/7.48) Wheeler Yuta is killing it as a part of the Blackpool Combat Club, and reached Ring of Honor Pure Championship status, but could he thrive as a singles star?
- Dante Martin (22/7.16) AEW has gone stop and start with Dante Martin a few times, but they have a big babyface star with him when they are ready to give him that push.
- Sammy Guevara (29/7.09) Sammy Guevara has been a top-level player in AEW for years, but is he the lowest ranked of the four “pillars” of AEW?
Roxanne Perez
Age: 21
Cagematch Rating: 7.84
Career Accolades:
- WWE NXT Women’s Champion
- WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion
- Ring of Honor Women’s Champion
Roxanne Perez may very well be the future of women’s wrestling for WWE. She’s the youngest person on this list, but perhaps the one that comes in with the highest ceiling. She’s only 21 years old but already boasts seven years of experience under her belt. Booker T was her main trainer and he can barely hold back his excitement for her whenever she is in the ring.
Perez recently dropped the NXT Women’s Championship in a ladder match at NXT Stand & Deliver. If anyone is ready to be called up to the main roster, Perez is on that shortlist. It would be interesting to see her work with the likes of Bayley, Becky Lynch, Asuka, Carmella, and some of the other established names on the main roster. The goal in mind should be to see her eventually take the torch and run with it well into the future.
Tyler Bate
Age: 26
Cagematch Rating: 9.01
Career Accolades:
- WWE NXT United Kingdom Champion 2x
- WWE NXT United Kingdom Tag Team Champion
- WWE NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion
- WWE NXT Tag Team Champion
Tyler Bate is one of the best professional wrestlers that no one is talking about. He already has eleven years under his belt, but he is seemingly one that fans forget to mention when talking about the young talents taking over the industry today. That’s widely because of how WWE uses this talented star.
Bate was set to be the focal point of WWE’s expansion into Europe, but that was all brought to a screeching halt. The company knew his talent commanded a spot on the roster, but he’s part of an NXT brand where the focus is on other names on this list. Could Bate have a run on the main roster? He could, but it’s hard to see him even breaking through to a mid-card championship in a promotion that values more on star power rather than in-ring performance.
Daniel Garcia
Age: 24
Cagematch Rating: 7.52
Career Accolades:
- Ring of Honor Pure Champion
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion
Daniel Garcia could easily be seen as the future of All Elite Wrestling. There were moments that looked like the company was prepared to release him and put him over the legend that is Chris Jericho. But all that momentum took a back seat. Garcia hasn’t been able to break out from that yet. He and Adam Cole put on a stellar match, and the hints of a babyface turn continue. When it does come, AEW must be prepared to let this man cook his way to the top of the company.
Garcia checks all the boxes of the pro wrestling performer that is meant to thrive in AEW. Fans are behind him and he can go in the ring with the best of them. It all comes down to where Garcia falls in the pecking order of talent being pushed to the top, but at 24 years of age, AEW should be thinking about him as a central piece for the company’s future.
Cameron Grimes
Age: 29
Cagematch Rating: 8.44
Career Accolades:
- WWE NXT North American Champion
- WWE Million Dollar Champion
- Impact X-Division Champion 3x
- TNA World Tag Team Champion
- PWG World Tag Team Champion
It would be too easy to make a “to the moon” joke when talking about Cameron Grimes, but that main roster push has been long overdue. His character work while on the WWE NXT roster is second only to what he does from bell to bell. The man can work and he works at a pace that shouldn’t be possible, but he’s shown that he can perform for hours at a time.
The question is whether WWE will give him the run that fans believe he is ready to receive. He competed in a dark match before the February 24 edition of WWE SmackDown, and before that, his last match was against Joe Gacy in NXT in November. Like several WWE talent, he’s sitting on the sideline at a time when the company needs to create new stars. Here’s to hoping that Grimes gets the opportunity to put on some showcase matches with some of the best on the WWE roster.
Jamie Hayter
Age: 27
Cagematch Rating: 8.43
Career Accolades:
- AEW Women’s World Champion
- Goddesses of Stardom Champion
Jamie Hayter kicked the door down and forced AEW’s hand to give her the run she is on. Fans slowly got behind her as a candidate for women’s champion, until that momentum became the storm that took her to the top. Since then, she’s put on some great matches against the likes of Hikaru Shida and Riho that set the tone for the women’s wrestling fans to want to see in AEW.
The question that hangs over Hayter’s head is when she will get that big feud with Britt Baker. It must be on the way and what will the company decide to do once Baker is back in the title picture? That will be a big chapter of Hayter’s career.
Konosuke Takeshita
Age: 27
Cagematch Rating: 9.26
Career Accolades:
- DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship 4x
- KO-D Openweight Championship 4x
- KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship 5x
- KO-D Tag Team Championship 4x
AEW has someone very special in Konosuke Takeshita. The moment he stepped foot in the company and put on that match with “Hangman” Adam Page in May of 2022, fans pleaded with Tony Khan to sign him immediately. That eventually happened. From there, he’s been involved in classic matches with the likes of Mike Bailey, Daniel Garcia, Jon Moxley, and Claudio Castagnoli.
AEW has yet to have a male Japanese wrestler carry any of the company’s titles. Takeshita easily fits the bill as someone that can fix that. There’s nothing he can’t do in the world of pro wrestling. It will be interesting to see if and how he fits into the feud between The Elite and Blackpool Combat Club, because that can be the career-defining moment that sees him become a true title challenger and eventual champion.
Butch
Age: 29
Cagematch Rating: 9.03
Career Accolades:
- WWE NXT Tag Team Champions
- WWE NXT United Kingdom Champion
Call him Butch or Pete Dunne, it doesn’t matter – this man can wrestle. WWE recognized his young talent the second he stepped through the company doors back in 2017 and has since done great work keeping him strong. His run on the main roster hasn’t resulted in that same type of push, yet. But there’s still hope that is to come.
Dunne is one of those individuals that doesn’t need to say much on the microphone because his intensity comes out in other ways. Like Taz from his early run in ECW that helped him become a cult favorite among wrestling fans. If Triple H finds a way to give Butch a solid run on the WWE main roster, perhaps he becomes the guy to take a mid-card championship off Sheamus or even bigger opportunities.
Carmelo Hayes
Age: 28
Cagematch Rating: 7.78
Career Accolades:
- WWE NXT Champion
- WWE NXT North American Champion 2x
- WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion
Carmelo Hayes should be the future of WWE. He stepped into the company in 2021 and has already established himself as someone that can carry every aspect of sports entertainment. Shawn Michaels trusted Hayes to be the guy to take the NXT Championship off Bron Breakker, effectively tagging him as the next big focal point for that brand. When he finally makes his way to the main roster, the same should happen there. Hayes already has the talent to stand face-to-face with performers like Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre, and others.
As with many other talented performers on this list, the question isn’t whether Hayes has the talent, as he’s already shown that. The question is will the company give him the proverbial ball to see him run with it? Fans are loudly pushing for it and as Hayes makes clear every time he speaks, he is that guy.
Rhea Ripley
Age: 26
Cagematch Rating: 8.34
Career Accolades:
- WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
- WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion
- WWE Raw Women’s Champion
- WWE NXT Women’s Champion
- WWE NXT UK Women’s Champion
Rhea Ripley has the presence and ability to be the face of women’s wrestling for this generation. She can take the flame that the Four Horsewomen started, which has since been passed to Bianca Belair, and build that for years to come.
It’s so easy to forget that Ripley is so young, even in the amount of time she has been with the WWE. Her run on NXT was nearly perfect, but that same momentum did not follow her to the main roster. It seemed like the company leadership didn’t know what to do with her, but thankfully that mistake was corrected as she slowly became the focal point of The Judgement Day. Now, she’s finally got another singles championship around her waist and it appears like the company is ready to give her the run that she deserves.
MJF
Age: 27
Cagematch Rating: 8.77
Career Accolades:
- AEW World Champion
- MLW World Tag Team Champion
- MLW World Middleweight Champion
MJF is changing the game. What makes it easy to put him at the top of the list is not only does he have all the qualities to lead the next generation of professional wrestling, but he’s already doing that today. Look at the impact MJF has had on AEW at a time when the company was losing momentum. He’s a champion that still commands all the attention, even as the roster boasts some of the best talents at their prime, doing the best work of their careers. As all that goes on around him, MJF still stands as the clear center of attention.
That power also comes with consequences as he becomes a big target for big-money negotiations in the future. That idea is already weaving its way into the storyline, but it’s as real as it could get. MJF has crossover appeal and that makes him an even bigger star. And don’t forget, he can work when the bell rings. The rarity that he wrestles makes it easy to think of him as just a talker but look at the quality of matches he puts on. He has multiple matches that are worthy of awards already. MJF isn’t just a star for the future, but he’s already one of the biggest stars of today.