10 superstars who will win their first titles in 2019
This year gave us a memorable list of first-time champions in WWE, although not always in a good way.
Braun Strowman won his first title at WrestleMania, only to relinquish it 24 hours later because his 10-year-old partner needed to go to school. Carmella won her first title 24 hours after that and the SmackDown women's division would go on to be a wasteland for the next few months. Shayna Baszler won her first title the night before Strowman did, but her tenure on top has been extremely damaging to the NXT women's division, largely because she went on to nullify Kairi Sane's first title win in August. Aleister Black's NXT Championship reign turned out to be underwhelming. Ironically, it was the least interesting part of his NXT career. The less said about Nia Jax's Raw Women's Championship reign, the better.
There was a better crop, though. Adam Cole and Ricochet have set the world on fire this year. Rhea Ripley was an unexpected choice for the inaugural NXT UK Women's Champion, but she has enormous potential and will bring some spark to that title.
It's not always possible to predict a first championship win. After all, who would have predicted at the end of 2016 that Jinder Mahal would reign as WWE Champion for six months in the next year?
Nevertheless, sometimes, you get some clearer signals. These 10 superstars are likely to enjoy their first championship win in WWE at some point next year.
#1 Mustafa Ali
Along with the current Cruiserweight Champion, Buddy Murphy, Mustapha Ali has been the MVP of 205 Live this year. Routinely outshining Cedric Alexander during his championship reign, Ali is the best babyface on the purple brand, and it's really only a matter of time before he secures the Cruiserweight Championship.
An extended rivalry with Buddy Murphy should be a no-brainer. They are magic together every time they get in the ring and their personalities are the perfect clash of opposites. Survivor Series didn't hint that this would happen, but it didn't preclude it, either.
Even if Ali doesn't wind up unseating Murphy, a title win at some point in 2019 is inevitable.