'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
2017 was a great year for several WWE Superstars with wrestlers like Braun Strowman and Jinder Mahal rising to prominence on their respective brands with Strowman dominating Monday Night RAW all year and Mahal rising from obscurity to become WWE World Champion on SmackDown Live.
However as much of 2017 was a great year for some Superstars, there are others that have had a rather underwhelming year and have found themselves misused and under-utilised when perhaps they should be up there with Strowman.
Without further ado, here's the list of top 10 under-utilized WWE Superstars of 2017
#10 Bayley
Bayley has been misused throughout the year despite this being the year she won her first major Women's title on the WWE main roster, the year she made her WrestleMania debut, and the year she ended Charlotte Flair's undefeated pay-per-view streak.
However, all of that happened in the first half of the year as Bayley's standing with the company has plummeted in the second half. This is because of a disastrous feud with Alexa Bliss that saw the heel challenger humiliate babyface Bayley time and time again, including that disastrous 'This is your life' segment, but Bliss defied storyline logic and eventually came out on top, and Bayley still hasn't recovered from the damage to her character that feud did.
After that Bayley was sidelined due to a separated shoulder injury and has since been sporadically used on the main roster, with her most notable achievement of late being that she won the final spot on RAW's women Survivor Series team but was the first to be eliminated.
#9 Tye Dillinger
Tye Dillinger built himself up a huge amount of momentum with his 'Perfect Ten' gimmick in NXT and was getting himself over for the Full Sail University audience, even garnering face reactions.
Given his gimmick Dillinger received the perfect main roster debut, entering as a surprise entrant in the 2017 Royal Rumble in the number ten position, but he continued to debut as a babyface and didn't really accomplish anything.
It looked like Dillinger was going to get more of the spotlight in the mid-card when he was added to the United States Title match at Hell in a Cell between AJ Styles and Baron Corbin, making it a Triple Threat match. However, Dillinger was just there to protect Styles in a loss and take the pin and has disappeared again since then.
#8 Finn Balor
Finn Balor is the first ever WWE Universal Champion, an immeasurable talent on the independent wrestling circuit and a top of the card calibre wrestler even on a bad day, but since he returned from injury he hasn't really amounted to anything.
In fact, the booking of Finn Balor since he re-debuted after Wrestlemania 33 has been confusing at best, he's feuded with the likes of Elias and Bray Wyatt, both in underwhelming programmes, but has pinned AJ Styles clean, only to get squashed by Kane in the next two consecutive weeks.
Balor now finds himself feuding with a Miz-less Miztourage and doesn't look anywhere near getting back towards the top of the card where he should be.
#7 Bray Wyatt
Many people feel that Wyatt is the WWE's biggest missed opportunity of the PG Era. Bray Wyatt started 2017 as the WWE Champion after winning the title at Elimination Chamber and headed into Wrestlemania in a well-developed and intriguing feud with Randy Orton and ex-Wyatt Family member Luke Harper.
However, the pay-off match for the title between Orton and Wyatt failed to live up to the hype of the build and since then Wyatt has been transferred to Monday Night RAW where he's falling further and further away from the main event.
Wyatt's RAW feuds involve fighting Seth Rollins because the latter was on the cover of WWE 2K18 and unleashing Sister Abigail on Finn Balor in a feud that abruptly ended due to real-life illness. However, there is hope that Wyatt's latest feud with the Woken Matt Hardy can kick-start his career.
#6 Mustafa Ali
After seeing Mustafa Ali in the Cruiserweight Classic I was sure that a man of his talents would thrive on a programme like 205 LIVE, as the man can literally do anything inside the squared circle.
Instead, Ali was featured on the lower-card of 205 LIVE with Superstars like Neville and Enzo Amore receiving most of the focus. Don't get me wrong, Ali is always there or thereabouts, but he's never been given the spotlight that his talent calls for.
#5 Chad Gable
Only recently has Chad Gable been able to show just how good he is inside the ring when during Clash of Champions he truly excelled with his multiple Suplexes.
But until then Gable has been significantly under-used on the main roster, even from the moment that American Alpha was called up with the popular NXT tag team swiftly fading into obscurity until Jason Jordan was revealed as Kurt Angle's son.
It looked like Gable was going to get a singles push as he competed in a series of excellent matches against main event talent but then went away again until Shelton Benjamin returned to form a new tag-team that is only now receiving a significant push.
#4 Becky Lynch
You'd be forgiven for forgetting that Becky Lynch was part of the Women's Revolution, and was a member of the prestigious Four Horsewoman Of NXT alongside Bayley, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte Flair.
That's because Becky Lynch's time on SmackDown Live has been pretty much horrid besides a short run as the first-ever SmackDown Women's Champion. To say the least, with the booking of the women on the blue brand being fairly poor in general recently Becky Lynch could have done better.
Lynch's problems seemed to start because of the same reason as Bayley's, Alexa Bliss. Lynch entered a lengthy programme with Alexa Bliss, who got the better of the Irish wrestler at every turn. She hasn't been a real focus in the SmackDown Women's Division since despite the fact she is still super popular.
#3 Sasha Banks
Sasha Banks is widely regarded by many as one of the best wrestlers in the world with Seth Rollins calling her the best wrestler in the world. Anyone with eyes can see that she's capable of great things but her biggest storyline in 2017 was winning the RAW Women's title against Bliss, only to lose it again days later.
At the moment Sasha Banks is stuck in an on-screen friendship with Bayley that isn't doing anything for either Superstar but I have high hopes that this is going to lead to an epic feud between the two when Banks finally goes back to being a heel.
As an aside, I think it's pretty sad that three out of the four 'Horsewomen' have made it onto this list. Let's hope for a better 2018 for them all.
#2 Heath Slater & Rhyno
Can you remember when Heath Slater trying to get a job on either RAW or SmackDown LIVE was the best thing about WWE television at the time and he teamed up with Rhyno to become the inaugural SmackDown LIVE Tag-Team Champions?
I, unfortunately, do remember this, and the sad fact that they were drafted onto Monday Night RAW which is a show that for the best part of the year has only featured two tag-teams, leading to it feeling like Slater and Rhyno had practically been released.
#1 The Club
Now that I've mentioned the tag-team division on Monday Night RAW it would be remiss of me to leave The Club out of a list of under-utilized WWE talent. Like Slater and Rhyno, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have been reduced to waiting for The Bar and The Shield to get out of the way, and have lost almost every feud and match they've competed in.
They look worlds away from how they were during their time with The Bullet Club which is what got them signed to the WWE in the first place. In fact, anyone who was a fan of the pair before they signed for the WWE could be praying they will leave soon and go back to New Japan, purely because of how badly they've been used and I'm inclined to agree.
