By Michael Klink @michael_klink

Once again we revisit some of the unheralded stars of WWE programming, the ladies and gentlemen who don’t technically own the top seat in the company, but through their recent bouts or vocal spouts have proven that they have the lingual and knife-edge chops to reign supreme. And now, in no particular order, are this week’s To The Moon candidates:

Killian Dain

This week on NXT we got to see the culmination of a month’s long feud when the Undisputed Era, consisting of Adam Cole (BAYBAY), Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish went to war against the Sanity faction, led by Eric Young and flanked by Alexander Wolfe and Killian Dain. Based on his recent Royal Rumble and complete “overness” with the crowd, Cole is a sure-fire star for many years to come in WWE.  The one man that owned the spotlight in this showdown however was Killian Dain.

Killian is the muscle of Sanity, a burly warthog of a man with few physical peers in his way.  His intensity and move set are strong, and he pulls off maneuvers that will remind you of a hair tuft covered Kevin Owens. The standout spots from the 6-Man match this week featured Dain Michinoku Driver(ing?) one Undisputed Member onto the other, and later following that with a combination dropkick/senton that again took out two opposing faction members at once.

Of the Sanity members, Alexander Wolfe has been fine as the 3rd wheel but hasn’t yet had an opportunity to stand out with big spots or promos. Eric Young has established himself as a star by wrestling all over the globe. His wild-eyed expressions and frenetic offense will keep him relevant. Dain though, has now been given multiple opportunities to display his physical capabilities over established talent.  When WWE pulls the plug on Sanity and choose one member to go rouge and challenge for titles on his own, I can see no other choice than the wooly fleshed mammoth himself, Mr. Killian Dain.

The Miz

Is it even possible for The Miz to be considered “underrated”? He’s a multi-time Heavyweight Champion, the current Intercontinental Champion, and the owner of one of the greatest promos in WWE history when he called out Daniel Bryan for disappointing wrestling fans on the now cancelled “Talking Smack” program.  He’s made characters like Bo Dallas and Curt Axel relevant by allowing them to bask in his greatness as his Miztourage.  So what’s he done this week?

Miz again stormed to the ring to tell the world how Awesome he is and get over how deserving of every accolade WWE has to offer.  Nothing unusual for The Miz, unlike with Brock Lesnar, he’s his own biggest advocate.  What makes Miz’s promo this week so unique is that he’s getting away farther and farther away from being the spineless worm heel, the kind that shirks away from confrontation and instead looks to win using distractions and outside interference.  True, he still has his wife Maryse and The Miztourage to give him an edge in matches, but this past Monday he called out The Beast Brock Lesnar.  This is a total departure from what we’ve seen from Miz in even the recent past. Think about him entering the ’16 Royal Rumble and sitting in on commentary so that he could avoid having to battle Brock.  Think about him ganging up on singles stars by exploiting his sidekicks.  We’ve seen Miz arrogantly insult superstars to their faces, but this is a new wrinkle Miz has added to his character, where he bravely puts his reputation on the line to say that he too should be considered a formidable force in the WWE.  It’s a welcome bit of character growth that even as a heel, as led to positive crowd reactions whenever his “Awesome” theme song hits.  Miz, with a chance at becoming Universal Champion is putting himself in league with someone like Chris Jericho, who is so charismatic that you can’t help but cheer for him as he’s ribbing and ragging on you.  Bravo Miz, bravo.

Bayley

Lastly this week we look at Raw superstar Bayley, who’s fallen off the map a bit since her short underdog run with the Women’s Title last year.  Her hug gimmick still gets her a polite applause, but I’d say her reactions in NXT were louder, even with smaller crowds.  Part of the problem with her growth in WWE has been a lack of real character development.  She too often appears happy to be there, just excited to rub elbows with the greats of WWE.  In the biggest recent event for women’s wrestling, she was dumped unceremoniously in the Rumble, hardly registering a blip upon her removal from the match, never considered a strong contender for victory.

She makes the list this week for doing two things: standing tall in the face of the “she-nom” Asuka, and for delivering a less than friendly promo on her friend Sasha Banks.  While Bayley came up short against Asuka (like everyone else has so far),  she put together a hell of a fight, looking more than ready to end the streak of the Japanese buzzsaw (a female Tajiri if you will).  She wasn’t taken down in mere seconds and actually was given a commercial break to extend the length of the bout.

The more important glimmer we saw from Bayley was her reminder to Sasha that Bayley holds victories over her!  Too often it seems like WWE characters acquiesce to the pecking order in the company, not speaking out of turn while certain other characters are getting their push.  Bayley standing up for herself at least starts to plant the seeds in the minds of the fans that Bayley isn’t a brainless hugging cartoon but that she has a memory AND the ability to defeat to the so-called “boss” of the women’s Raw division.  As a fan of Bayley’s NXT work, it’s a treat to see character’s growth on the main roster.