The 2021 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Rising Star

By Connor Casey

ComicBook's Golden Issue Awards are back, celebrating the best 2021 had to offer in movies, TV and all corners of entertainment! That includes pro wrestling, an industry that was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and wasn't able to start touring the country again in front of live fans until this past summer. Unlike the other wrestling awards, which acknowledge the accomplishments from the past year, our Best Wrestling Rising Star category takes a look into the future to see which star has the most potential. That includes the latest prospects from NXT, as well as young stars who have already started climbing the ranks in promotions like AEW.

And the winner of the 2021 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Wrestling Rising Star is...

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(Photo: WWE)

 ...Bron Breakker! 

Back in September, WWE rebooted its NXT brand as NXT 2.0, re-enforcing its position as WWE's developmental brand, changing the presentation of weekly TV episodes, and putting a greater focus on homegrown talent trained at WWE's Performance Center. Bron Breakker (real name Bronson Rechsteiner) was an immediate standout, winning the first match under the NXT 2.0 banner by beating LA Knight. From there, he became the first wrestler of NXT's new wave of talent to get a shot at NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa, and while he came up short at Halloween Havoc, he scored the win for Team 2.0 at the NXT WarGames 2021 event. He could become NXT Champion mere days into 2022, as he'll get another shot at Ciampa's gold at NXT New Year's Evil on Jan. 4. 

Breakker is the son of pro wrestling legend Rick Steiner and the nephew of former WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner. while he and NXT's commentators have consistently hinted at his famous family, he had his name changed shortly before debuting on TV, and he's since explained in interviews that the change was his decision. 

"We were just sitting around one day and I'm like, 'Well, when I used to block people in football, I used to try to break them in half,'" Breakker told Daily DDT in early December. "That was literally what I tried to do: snap them in half and break them. What if I'm the breaker? I break people, Breakker, and then it came to me. Bron is part of my first name and that's what we went with."

"What my dad and uncle did before me with some of their promos and stuff that they've done, they've laid all this groundwork," he added. "There's all this stuff out there for me to use if I want to. Obviously, I'm not going to bank my entire... that's not what I'm going for. I want to make a name for myself and stand on my own, but there's certain things out there we can use."

Congrats to Bron Breakker on his Golden Issue Awards win!

The nominees for Best Wrestling Rising Star are:

  • Bron Breakker -- WINNER

  • Tony D'Angelo

  • Daniel Garcia

  • Cameron Grimes

  • Dante Martin

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