While many wrestlers this year have had a massive breakout in WWE, such as Oba Femi, Je’Von Evans, and Trick Williams, this year has also presented quite a bit of talent that were expected to have a big 2026, but have been neglected and are struggling to find their footing to reach the heights of where they could or should be.
Let’s take a look at these three wrestlers and how things started before they were later neglected.
Jordynne Grace
Jordynne Grace signed with WWE last year with massive hype. Grace had just finished her run in TNA, where she had a very strong reign as the TNA Knockouts World Champion and was gaining momentum and popularity with her appearances in the Royal Rumble and being one of the first TNA stars to crossover to WWE NXT as part of the partnership between WWE and TNA.
Some fans believed that Grace would be a top player in the WWE, especially with the fact that she is one of the strongest wrestlers on the women’s roster and her unique look, which just made her look like a main event star.
However, Jordynne Grace would struggle in NXT. Grace would lose her theme song, which was replaced with one featuring an AI voice. Grace would also be put in a storyline in which she acknowledged and was disappointed that she was falling short of the expectations everyone had for her in NXT.
This storyline would not conclude, as Grace would then be called up to WWE Friday Night SmackDown.
This was exciting and a good match because SmackDown needed Jordynne to help bolster up a weak women’s singles division on SmackDown.
This expectation hasn’t been met, as Grace has been somewhat neglected. Grace would have an ankle injury and has yet to recover in booking since returning. She had recently lost a #1 Contender’s match to Tiffany Stratton, and after that, she has been mostly wrestling on WWE Main Event.
We hope that Jordynne Grace can reach the expectations that many had for her in 2024 and 2025. But so far, things have not been looking great.
Matt Cardona
Matt Cardona is a name that is shockingly not doing so great. Cardona made his first WWE main roster appearance since 2020 in November, as a participant in The Last is Now Tournament.
Cardona would then sign a brand new deal with WWE in January and make his full-time return on SmackDown, where he would defeat Kit Wilson.
Immediately after that, Cardona would be defeated by Trick Williams and has never recovered since. Cardona became a part of the Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton feud, where he was beaten up badly by Randy Orton for two weeks in a row.
Cardona has wrestled twice in May on SmackDown and once on Main Event, where he went 1-2. But he has not done much in his second run in WWE, and it has been a bit sad to see, especially as he had worked hard in the independent scene to rebuild his character and brand.
Hopefully, the company can take advantage of what worked in the independent scene and be able to book him in a more effective way.
Shinsuke Nakamura
Shinsuke Nakamura is a wrestler who might end up on this list a lot in his WWE run. Nakamura was recently a part of AJ Styles’ series of final matches, where he would have a fantastic standout match with Styles on the January 2026 edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. Nakamura was also in a storyline on SmackDown, where he was attempting to convince Tama Tonga to go his own way and break away from the MFTs in a backstage segment every week.
This storyline didn’t move forward and appears to have been largely scrapped, and unfortunately, it has been the story of Shinsuke Nakamura’s WWE run. Even when Nakamura was holding titles, those reigns ended up being underbooked, and that seems to still be the case today with his overall storylines.
Nakamura has shown that when he is in something important, he still has it in him to have really good matches that go to the next level. He is also a fan favorite, and the crowd still loves him for the amazing entrance and charisma that he has. Unfortunately, it still isn’t enough to make the booking better for Shinsuke Nakamura.
