Ranking WWE and AEW's 8 Most Improved Stars of 2020

Due to the extenuating circumstances, 2020 has been both difficult and eye-opening for WWE and All Elite Wrestling. As bizarre as it's been to not have any fans in attendance for the shows, a majority of the wrestlers have been able to develop and progress in ways they weren't able to before.

Drew McIntyre, for one, was firing on all cylinders pre-pandemic and still did a fantastic job of serving as the face of Raw despite not having anyone in the audience to feed off of. Sasha Banks was also given the ball this year for the first time since 2016 and has more than made the most of her push.

Superstars such as McIntyre and Banks were always capable of greatness but didn't get the spotlight owed to them until this year came around. Others, however, had to better themselves in almost every respect in order to get the success they ultimately achieved.

Whether it was their in-ring work that need refining or their character work that needed tweaking, multiple competitors in WWE and AEW showed exponential improvement from the onset of the year to now. They all now find themselves in a prime position to shine in 2021 if they can continue to build upon their skill sets.

That isn't to say they weren't already excellent, but it took them working on their weakness as performers, undergoing a complete character transformation and—above all else—being booked properly for fans to recognize how much of an asset they could actually be.

These are WWE and AEW's most improved players of 2020.

8. The Hurt Business

Credit: WWE.com

The Hurt Business haven't existed in their full form for six months and already they're among the best parts of Raw from week to week.

From a failed alliance with Lio Rush to his awful angle with Lana and Rusev, Bobby Lashley had a disappointing 2019 considering the main event heel he could have been instead. WWE finally realized what it had in him this year and began the process of pushing him toward that level by pairing him with MVP.

The All Mighty's unsuccessful pursuit of the WWE title in June didn't stop him and MVP from wreaking havoc on the Raw roster and obliterating everyone who stepped up to them. They eventually recruited the likes of Shelton Benjamin and Cedric Alexander, who led Lashley to United States Championship glory at Payback.

In addition to dominating the midcard scene, the faction also attempted to rid Raw of Retribution by beating them multiple weeks in a row. They're also closing in on the Raw Tag Team Championship and could leave Sunday's TLC pay-per-view with all the gold if they're able to topple The New Day.

Pre-Hurt Business, everyone involved in the group was worse off. Lashley was a directionless midcarder, Alexander and Benjamin were trading wins on Main Event, and MVP wasn't even employed by WWE. The stable has successfully revitalized all of their careers and allowed them to be utilized the way they should be.

Lashley has done well as the U.S. champion since August, but The Hurt Business should be the vehicle that gets him back to the WWE Championship picture in 2021.

7. Orange Cassidy

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

At this time last year, Orange Cassidy felt like the third wheel in the Best Friends faction. Whenever Trent and Chuck Taylor were in action, Freshly Squeezed largely stood at ringside with his hands in his pockets and every so often hit Best Friends' opponents with his patented lackadaisical kicks.

However, by doing very little, he managed to get over big time with the AEW audience.

Fans didn't get to see what he was fully capable of in the ring until he went one-on-one with Pac at February's Revolution PPV. That match had no business being as excellent as it was, with Cassidy scoring plenty of offense against his opponent before eating defeat.

That could have been the peak of his popularity, and he could have faded off into obscurity from there. Instead, he continued to develop his character, build credibility by embarking on an undefeated streak in singles competition and showed off his serious side more often.

His rivalry with Chris Jericho over the summer was the real test for whether he could hang with AEW's top talent. Sure enough, he beat the inaugural AEW world champion on two different occasions, including at All Out in September.

Although Cassidy hasn't reached those same heights since, he has come close to capturing the TNT Championship more than once and remains relevant thanks to his consistent character development. He'll likely never be world champion, but there's no reason he can't continue to thrive at the level just below that.

Expect him to be holding gold of some sort next year if his trajectory in 2020 is any indication.

6. Cameron Grimes

Credit: WWE.com

Last year's NXT Breakout Tournament saw Cameron Grimes advance all the way to the finals before losing to Jordan Myles. Interestingly enough, Myles left the promotion not too long after, while Grimes went on to become one of the brand's biggest breakout stars of 2020.

He started the year stacking up victories over the likes of Damian Priest, Dominik Dijakovic and even Finn Balor, but it always felt like there was something missing from his act. He came off as generic and could get the job done in the ring but lacked that uniqueness that would help him stand out from the rest of the roster.

His rivalry with Dexter Lumis that kicked off on October 7 was what forced him to show more personality, and once he did, fans started to see him for how entertaining he could be.

Even in defeat, he had a standout performance against Lumis in the Haunted House of Terror match on the Halloween Havoc episode of NXT. It was a cinematic matchup that shouldn't have worked as well as it did, and although Lumis was perfectly fine in his role, Grimes and his wacky mannerisms were the real highlight.

NXT should go back to booking Grimes as a serious threat when he returns from injury to ensure he doesn't become too much of a comedy character, but it was his over-the-top promos that endeared him to the audience in the first place.

If the black-and-gold brand can strike the right balance with him, he'll be riding that rocket ship straight to the moon.

5. The Dark Order

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

It was almost exactly one year ago that the final episode of AEW Dynamite in 2019 ended with The Dark Order laying out The Elite.

However, the angle was so poorly received by the fanbase that the company abruptly dropped whatever plans they had for a feud between the two factions.

Dark Order debuted as a dud of an act at Double or Nothing 2019, with Evil Uno and Stu Grayson leading the charge. They were proficient in the ring, but nothing about them as characters stood out as special until they started airing vignettes showing themselves recruiting wrestlers who were down on their luck into the group.

That was how they brought John Silver and Alex Reynolds into the fold as well as Colt Cabana this past summer. The more their numbers grew, the more fearsome of a force they became.

That said, The Dark Order wouldn't be where they are today had it not been for their hilarious segments on Being The Elite this year. Their ridiculous antics on that show led to them (specifically Silver) showcasing more of their personality on Dynamite and Dark and giving viewers a reason to care about them.

Of course, the biggest turning point for the faction was when Brodie Lee debuted as The Exalted One in mid-March. It was a storyline that had been building for months and had a worthy payoff.

Lee could certainly feel more special than he does currently, but him becoming the leader of The Dark Order did earn him a shot at the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing as well as a brief run with the TNT Championship throughout September.

The Dark Order still have their flaws, but their turnaround in 2020 has been impressive and plenty of room remains for them to grow.

4. Bayley

Credit: WWE.com

Bayley's in-ring abilities have always been second to none, but there can be no doubt that her character work as a heel has improved exponentially in 2020.

She had always been such a natural babyface throughout her tenure in NXT and on the main roster that it was hard to imagine her ever being anything else. When she shockingly turned heel in September 2019, fans were skeptical as to whether it would work.

Those first few months for her as as the heel SmackDown women's champion were rough, at least from a promo standpoint. She didn't know how to properly criticize the crowds, and her matches seemed to suffer for a bit as well.

Thankfully for Bayley, Sasha Banks was there to bring the best out of her. The Boss had already proved herself as a viable heel, whereas The Role Model needed the guidance to do well in the role and her friend provided that for her.

As a unit, they were tremendous and wasted no time in becoming a recurring highlight on SmackDown and Raw. Bayley in particular stepped up her game on the mic and found her footing as a character, coming across more comfortable than she had in ages.

Bayley's heel work progressed so well that she became a fantastic foil for Banks during their feud this fall. She's still flourishing as a villain in her rivalry with Bianca Belair, which will cap off arguably the best year of her career on a high note.

3. Raquel Gonzalez

Credit: WWE.com

WWE fans got their first look at Raquel Gonzalez during the inaugural Mae Young Classic in the summer of 2017. She was eliminated in the first round and made sporadic appearances on NXT TV from that point forward.

There's a decent chance she would have been in an Aliyah-esque role for the remainder of her run in NXT had she not linked up with Dakota Kai in February of this year.

The pairing felt like it was designed to elevate Kai to the NXT Women's Championship picture, and while they managed to do just that, Gonzalez was slowly but surely honing her own skills.

She aided Kai to victory on countless occasions and was largely protected herself. When Kai's time in the title picture came to an end, Gonzalez used that opportunity to emerge from her shadow and make enemies out of Rhea Ripley and Io Shirai.

She went from being unpolished and unseasoned to one of the better workers NXT has in its women's division. Her potential was on full display when she and Ripley waged war at Halloween Havoc and again inside WarGames, which was where she scored a huge pinfall win over Shirai.

Now, having scored an additional victory against Ember Moon, Gonzalez is well on her way to contending for the title at the beginning of the new year. She's evolved into an undeniable player in the women's division and has barely begun to scratch the surface of what she can do.

2. Britt Baker

Credit: All Elite Wrestling

Despite failing to become the inaugural AEW women's champion, Britt Baker was positioned as the face of the women's division from the launch of the promotion. She was featured on Dynamite on a fairly regular basis but didn't catch fire with the fans the way officials would have hoped.

Her mediocre in-ring skills were mostly to blame for that, but she wasn't exactly lighting the world on fire with her promos, either. She was a bland babyface whose push felt forced, so it came as no surprise that the AEW audience was slow to embrace her.

In January, though, she started taking cheap shots at the beloved Tony Schiavone during their interviews together in addition to trash-talking whatever city Dynamite was in that night. It quickly became clear that she was far more comfortable in the heel role and that was where she would do her best work.

Within a matter of months, she became the most must-see star in AEW's women's division. Her matches also improved the more intense and aggressive she got, especially upon returning from injury in the fall.

Baker was sidelined for the entire summer but still appeared on Dynamite in non-wrestling roles to maintain a presence. Almost every segment she was in entertained, and the addition of Reba (formerly Rebel in TNA) to her act did wonders.

The real-life dentist currently finds herself embroiled in a heated rivalry with Thunder Rosa, and once that's done, it will be only a matter of time before she'll set her sights back on the AEW Women's Championship.

1. Roman Reigns

Credit: WWE.com

Roman Reigns has been on top of WWE for the better part of his main roster run dating back to 2012, but it's only in recent months that he has hit his stride as a performer.

The backlash he received after winning the 2015 Royal Rumble has been well-documented as well as how he was never the same after that. WWE tried time and time again to make him the hero the audience yearned for, but he was simply never cut out for that role.

Worse yet, fans were never willing to give him his just due as a wrestler because of how uninteresting he was as a character, despite the multi-time world title-contesting classics with everyone from Brock Lesnar and John Cena to Seth Rollins and AJ Styles.

He consistently delivered in the main event position but was stuck in the same cycle for years. Turning heel in August, however, was the best thing that could have happened to him.

It was literally days after he aligned with Paul Heyman that he regained the Universal Championship and became the new face of Friday nights. His stock has skyrocketed since then thanks to his fantastic feud with Jey Uso, stellar Survivor Series match against Drew McIntyre and his current rivalry with Kevin Owens.

The Tribal Chief's promos in particular have been on another level, and his updated look has been a refreshing change of pace for the former vest-wearing Superstar. He's had it in him from the get-go, but WWE giving him the creative freedom was all it took for him to finally be the heel fans always envisioned him as.

Depending on how long his run as universal champion lasts, Reigns could have 2021 in the bag as easily as he has 2020. What a difference a year can make.

Graham Mirmina, aka Graham "GSM" Matthews, has specialized in sports and entertainment writing since 2010. Visit his website, WrestleRant, and subscribe to his YouTube channel for more wrestling-related content.