WWE: 6 Wrestlers Who Have Already Stepped Up in 2012

We make so much about wrestlers who need a push, incentive or direction. We are quick to judge what stories work and don't work. And we are so frustrated about wrestlers who are being held back by creative brands that stick to using veterans without trying their hand at pushing forward younger talent.

What happens when that younger talent breaks through? What happens when we see talent step up, no matter what the situation is. What happens when it seems wrestling is better because new rivarlies and feuds are festering, which can only mean great things for the future of the business?

These wrestlers have brought their best game to the table so far this year. And if their performance is any indication of how things will be in 2012, then the WWE is looking pretty good as the year progresses.

Kofi Kingston

Kofi may finally get his shot at the title.

As a player in the Royal Rumble and then picking up the pieces of his career following Evan Bourne's suspension, could singles gold finally find him again?

Kingston does not have many options in the business right now, many of them not part of his fault.

Hopefully his success will continue this week with the Elimination Chamber.

Dolph Ziggler

The WWE kept the championship on CM Punk, but Ziggler should have claimed the strap.

Ziggler would be a great champion as a singles competitor or in the tag team division with Jack Swagger.

He really sold for CM Punk at the end of the year and heading into the Royal Rumble, but now is only part of the equation in the WWE Title picture.

Tamina

No one has risen as fast in the past month as Tamina.

Finally the daughter of Jimmy Snuka will challenge for women's gold.

The high flying beauty has proven she can take down her opponents and should prove to be a viable threat to Beth Phoenix this week at the PPV event.

John Cena

Take away the really bad acting with Zack Ryder and Eve (please make it go away), and you have a John Cena that looks a little more focused than he has been in months.

Cena appears to be "wrestling again" which is what the fans want to see. And the fact he is still working in the Kane angle only a few weeks before WrestleMania 28 shows he is pressing to recapture some of the glory he may have lost when the CM Punk angle dissolved.

It will be interesting to see what happens after WM28 and which wrestler jumps to the forefront to challenge him. Could we see Zack Ryder make an ill-fated heel change?

Daniel Bryan

The Opportunist strikes again.

Hopefully this is not something we will constantly see from Bryan and maybe we could find a true opponent who would give him a feud that was worthy of watching.

Bryan has really turned into the heel champion that befits an angry, short wrestler trying to get over at every cost.

Even the smallest of wrestlers can be the biggest bullies (with the help of a title belt as a weapon or a disqualification or two).

Randy Orton

The "Viper" is on the attack. That is a good thing for Smackdown and the WWE.

Following a back injury, Randy Orton has come back to the ring hot and ready to try and reclaim the World Heavyweight Title. Daniel Bryan, Big Show and a few other wrestlers stand in his way of making that happen.

I love the Wade Barrett/Orton angle, but I also love the fact that Smackdown has written a script so Orton and others can face other competitors while still heavily involved in a feud.

Bryan and Big Show are now two nemesis who he could face in the Elimination Chamber, but are also serious opponents with the World Title on the line.