10 greatest WWE pops of 2017

2017 has come and gone for WWE and while it may not have been the best of years, it certainly wasn’t one of the worst. The company brought a whole host of new stars up to the main roster within the last twelve months and on top of that, they created several moments that will be remembered for a long, long time.

How do we know that? Because the reactions were so deafening that it’s virtually impossible to forget about them overnight, if at all. Some of these were more significant than others and a few really did go under the radar, but thankfully they all prove that there’s still plenty of juice left in the WWE Universe when it comes to their passion for the business.

Say what you will about WWE, and many people have, but they do ‘oh my god moments’ better than any other promotion around the world.

With that being said, here are our 10 best WWE pops of 2017.

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#10 Paige Returns

While it’s certainly been a turbulent 12 months for Paige, we’d be lying if we said that we hadn’t thought about her eventual return to the ring. Thankfully, just over a month ago, our prayers were answered when the former Divas Champion made her long-awaited comeback on Monday Night Raw – and the fans were loving it.

She had them in the palm of her hand throughout the entire segment, and while the introduction of her NXT teammates didn’t go down as well as they would’ve hoped, the trio have certainly made their presence felt since debuting/returning.

As we approach WrestleMania season, it’ll be interesting to see how all of the pieces in the female division on Raw start to fit together.

#9 Rollins & Ambrose Win The Belts

The return of The Shield was something that probably should’ve made this list in the eyes of many fans, but to be honest, we all knew it was coming and this moment from SummerSlam actually felt a little bit bigger. Why? Because it signified that Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins could finally move on from their issues and start fresh.

We won’t actually see the conclusion of this storyline for quite some time courtesy of Dean’s injury, but at least we’ll have this moment where they won the tag titles to look back on. Unfortunately, we’ve now seen this match far more times than we can count, but when it initially happened, you’ll struggle to find anyone who had a problem with it.

#8 Steph’s Comeuppance

The one major issue that people have with Stephanie McMahon’s on-screen character is how lopsided her interactions are with the talent. 95% of the time the Superstars are unable to get a single word in because Steph is too busy berating them in front of the entire WWE Universe.

That may work some of the time but more often than not we’d like to see her get a return on that kind of thing, and thankfully, our prayers were answered at WrestleMania 33.

When The King of Kings accidentally knocked his wife off of the apron and through the table below, we can honestly say it was one of the highlights of the night.

#7 Say Yeah

The Raw after Mania is the first day of the new year for World Wrestling Entertainment, as storylines are wrapped up and new stars are introduced to the audience. This time around, it was The Revival from NXT who made a statement by answering the open challenge of multi-time tag team champions The New Day.

Not only did the crowd let out an audible cheer, but they also sang along to their theme – and when that happens, you just know in your heart that you’re over.

Unfortunately, injuries have derailed their momentum since then, but never fear, because they seem poised to claim the top position in the tag division on Monday nights.

#6 Adam Cole Bay-Bay

Everyone and their mother knew that Adam Cole was on his way to NXT, unless you managed to stay off of the internet for the better part of six months. The multi-time ROH champion was always going to make a big splash, but few could’ve anticipated that he’d automatically lead a stable in what you could describe as ‘nWo 2.0’.

Cole has been on fire ever since arriving in developmental, and surely it’s only a matter of time before he claims the NXT Championship. Obviously, he has quite a few critics out there and some of their reservations definitely make sense, but as time goes on, Cole will continue to grow and improve – because remember, he hasn’t even turned 29 yet.

#5 The Ring Collapses

We’ve seen it before and we’ll likely see it again, but that doesn’t make it any less fun. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Braun Strowman and The Big Show caused the ring to collapse in their one on one contest just a few weeks after WrestleMania. Yes, this is indeed the third time that Show has done this.

These two goliaths always manage to put on a great spectacle when they face off and this bout was no different, and because it’s such a rare sight, you’re always going to get a big pop when you cause something like this to happen.

Hopefully, Strowman will continue to take his momentum forward towards the Universal Championship, meanwhile, we can only hope that The World’s Largest Athlete makes one final run before riding off into the sunset.

#4 Nakamura’s Debut

In the present day, Shinsuke Nakamura is something of a polarising figure due to how his main roster run has been handled thus far, but back in April, he was the hottest new signing in all of WWE. If you need proof, then please direct your attention to the above video from when he popped up on SmackDown Live for the first time.

From the moment that violin started playing the fans in attendance knew something special was about to happen, and while the actual structuring of it was a bit odd, that didn’t matter to the WWE Universe.

While he may not have captured the WWE Championship or the hearts of casual fans, nobody can ever take this away from him.

#3 He’s Not Finished With You

We’ve touched on the rising popularity of Braun Strowman already in this article, but given how many headline-making moments he had in 2017, it needs to be repeated.

The Monster Among Men went from being a heel with ‘go away’ heat to a tweener to a babyface, all because of the reactions he was garnering from the crowd on a weekly basis.

In what was arguably his crowning moment over the last twelve months, Strowman returned following an attack at the hands of Roman Reigns – and everyone completely lost it. The visual image of seeing Braun step out of that ambulance is one that will likely be featured in video packages for years to come, and that’s got to be a good thing.

#2 AJ Wins The Title

The WWE title reign of Jinder Mahal was one of the most bizarre stories of the year, and we aren’t just talking about in WWE. Hell, we aren’t even talking about just professional wrestling. For someone like Jinder to go from jobber to world champion in such a short space of time, we all knew there was more to the story.

But regardless of that, his eventual dethroning made it all worth it as AJ Styles managed to defeat The Modern Day Maharaja in order to capture the WWE Championship for the second time.

As The Phenomenal One himself admitted on Twitter, the reaction of the Manchester crowd made it seem as if Styles was one of their own.

#1 WM 33’s Defining Moment

WrestleMania 33 was a great event and was probably the best Mania since New Orleans. There were solid matches, emotional moments, and the crowd was on fire all night long.

But above all that, we saw one of the most influential tag teams in history return to a WWE ring in order to reclaim the Tag Team Championships in one of the most shocking twists in years. The video itself has surpassed more than 20 million views and to be honest, there’s nothing that we can say that’ll even begin to do it justice.

This is, indeed, broken brilliance at its finest. Welcome home, fellas.