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2017 was a strange year for pro wrestling. WWE, long considered the unquestioned king of the industry, struggled all year long to maintain its relative monopoly on its North American fanbase.
Because of many questionable booking and financial decisions throughout the year, many fans found solace in smaller companies like NJPW and ROH. Because of the successes that took place in 2016, those same two promotions managed to enjoy even more success this year than they did last year.
So just like we did in 2017, we here at Sportskeeda are once again looking back at the 2017 calendar year and determining what was great and what sucked. This list will focus primarily on WWE, but there will be some reference to NJPW and the independent wrestling scene as well.
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Best Wrestler: Kenny Omega
2016 Winner: A.J. Styles
2017 Runners-up: Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, A.J. Styles, Cody, Roman Reigns
No wrestler has done more to shape the landscape of professional wrestling in 2017 than “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega. He started the year off on a note so high that people thought he couldn’t’ve possibly done any better.
Omega’s Wrestle Kingdom 11 main event match was rated an astonishing six stars out of five, which set the wrestling fandom into a furore over both NJPW’s presumed superiority in terms of in-ring product and the supposed biases of the Wrestling Observer towards Japanese wrestling.
But Omega wouldn’t finish there, and proceeded to gain even further success throughout the year. Not only did he have three more matches that were rated higher than five out of five, but he also became the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.
Though he failed to win the big ones (both the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the G2 Climax tournament), he has still managed to remain on everyone’s lips through his shocking and thus-far-well-executed rivalry with WWE’s Chris Jericho.
That match has become one of the most highly anticipated matches for 2018, and considered by many people to be the most must-see match for NJPW’s Wrestle Kingdom 12.
Okada was another wrestler to have an outstanding 2017. Not only did he have many outstanding matches with many wrestlers this year, but he now has the longest-ever single reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. The only reason Okada didn’t win this year is because he still lacks the crossover appeal of many of his gaijin/foreigner counterparts in NJPW.
Naito is another major star who had a spectacular year. The leader of ‘Los Ignobernables de Japon’ has solidified himself as a true main-eventer after having spent many years trying to grab NJPW’s version of the proverbial ‘brass ring’.
Now he is set to main event Wrestle Kingdom 12 against Okada in a match that’s so intriguing and has so much backstory to it that it’s virtually impossible to predict the winner with any certainty. This makes that match so much more worth watching, because the winner can’t be predicted as easily as it could be in WWE.
AJ Styles is another wrestler that had a relatively strong year, having both opened and closed the calendar year as WWE Champion. He and John Cena put on a spectacular match at the Royal Rumble PPV which culminated in Cena winning his sixteenth World Title.
After that, Styles became the true workhorse of the SmackDown brand, putting on as good of a match as possible with a myriad of opponents. Though his matches weren’t as good as they were in 2016 (some of his opponents left a lot to be desired), Styles is still considered the top wrestler on SmackDown for a very good reason.
Cody continued to show just how underutilized he was in WWE. He won the ROH World Championship and became a massive draw on the independent scene. He was reported to have signed the first-ever seven-figure deal with ROH, which only further demonstrates not only his own skills as a performer, but also the possibilities one can achieve outside of WWE or NJPW.
Indeed, Cody’s star power is growing by the day, and could easily reach even greater heights next year.
Finally, although many people dislike Reigns due to how his character has been portrayed, his in-ring matches and big moments this year have been far better on average than they were this year.
He lost more matches compared to 2016, and didn’t always look so Superman-like in terms of his match structure. As such, a degree of humility in his matches actually made him feel like more of a balanced wrestler overall.
Worst Wrestler: Enzo Amore
2016 Winner: Dana Brooke
2017 Runners-Up: Jinder Mahal, Baron Corbin
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have the award for the most disappointing wrestler of the year. While a lot of wrestlers, especially in WWE, leave a lot to be desired in terms of their actual in-ring abilities, none have been as disappointing as Enzo Amore.
Nowhere is there more evidence of this than in his No Mercy match with Neville, in which he won the Cruiserweight Championship after using only two moves, one of which was a low blow.
It was clear that the pairing of Enzo & Cass was done to conceal each man’s respective weaknesses; but with their team split and Cass sidelined with an injury, Enzo’s lack of in-ring skill has come to the forefront, and has only proven without controversy that as an actual grappler, he fails to live up to the standard set by his fellow cruiserweights.
Jinder Mahal was a wrestler that WWE tried to push as a true main-eventer, but his push fell flat. Despite having the look and physique, Mahal failed in terms of actual match quality. Despite working with a seasoned veteran in Randy Orton, Mahal’s weaknesses were exposed time and again.
Even technical workhorse and legitimate badass Shinsuke Nakamura couldn’t get a good match out of Mahal without there needing to be shenanigans and gimmicks involved in the match finishes. It took AJ Styles to get Mahal to finally perform at an acceptable level, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the match that saw Styles beat Mahal and regain the WWE Championship.
In hindsight, that was actually the best match of Mahal’s career, but it wasn’t even the best AJ Styles match for that given month.
Baron Corbin was another wrestler that failed to show his chops in the ring this year. Granted, a big part of that was due to how he was being punished through his booking. That said, Corbin failed to have a match in 2017 that stood out in a positive way.
He had arguably the worst match of Shinsuke Nakamura’s career at Battleground 2017, and was defeated easily by John Cena at SummerSlam. Since then, Corbin hasn’t done anything exceptional, which only further proves how disappointing he has been as a wrestler this year.
Match of the Year: Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada (Wrestle Kingdom 11)
2016 Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn (NXT TakeOver: Dallas)
2017 Runners-up: Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada (Dominion 6.11 and during the 2017 G1 Climax tournament), Kenny Omega vs. Tetsuya Naito (G1 Climax tourna9ment final), John Cena vs. AJ Styles (Royal Rumble 2017), Finn Balor vs. AJ Styles TLC 2017), The SummerSlam Universal Championship Fatal-4-Way Match
Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada set the bar for 2017. In fact, they set it so high that it has been said by some people that they had the best wrestling match ever. Before their rematches at Dominion 6.11 and during the G1 Climax, the only match that had ever gotten a 6-star rating was one from all the way back in 1994.
Although an equal amount of criticism has been given to that match for some of its content (including that brutal top-rope Dragon Suplex), Omega/Okada I has done more for discussion among wrestling fans this year than any other match anywhere.
Furthermore, Omega had another stellar match with Tetsuya Naito in the G1 Climax finals that also went above the 5-star limit. That match was a true spectacle and elevated both wrestlers to another level. In having that match, Omega proved that he belongs at the top of the NJPW roster with all the ‘native’ talent, and Tetsuya Naito came one step closer to redeeming himself after falling from grace four years ago.
Over in WWE, among the myriad of average-to-poor matches, there were some diamonds in the rough this year. A.J. Styles and John Cena had a fantastic match for the WWE Championship that proved that both men earned their stripes as world-champion-calibre athletes. If this were a rating for WWE along, that match would’ve won the award hands down.
The Fatal 4-Way main event at SummerSlam was one of the best matches of the year. It featured a lot of chaotic action and a loud audience that was really into the match. All four wrestlers involved looked great, and each one of them looked great once the match ended. In terms of multi-man matches, it was clearly one of the best WWE had to offer.
Styles and Finn Balor had arguably the best ‘exhibition match’ (that is to say, no storyline behind it, just simple, straightforward wrestling without any gimmicks) in recent memory. Had they gotten a bit more time, it would’ve been solid competition for the Cena/Styles match from January.
Worst Match of the Year: Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt (WrestleMania 33)
2016 Winner: Rebel vs. Shelly Martinez
Runners-up: Nakamura vs. Corbin (Battleground), Randy vs. Wyatt (House of Horrors Match), Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss (Kendo Stick on a pole match at Extreme Rules 2017), Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton (Punjabi prison match at Battleground 2017), The 2017 Survivor Series Main Event
2017 featured several truly awful matches that harmed several wrestlers’ careers, but none was more disappointing than Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33. WWE tried to do something special this year, but for some reason, their version of ‘special’ involved insects being projected onto the ring mat like some kind of evil illusion.
I watched this match live, and I could hear tens of thousands of fans groaning in disgust with me when this was happening. Not because the sight of cockroaches and maggots was disgusting; but because WWE would try something so cheesy and nonsensical in a match for what’s supposed to be their most prized possession.
That match was quite possibly the death knell for Bray Wyatt as a world-champion-calibre athlete, but sadly it only got worse for him soon thereafter.
Baron Corbin and Shinsuke Nakamura had an awful match that featured awful pacing, limited action and an abysmal finish. The booking of the match’s conclusion didn’t make any sense. Corbin was presumed to be ‘knocked out’, so the smart move would be for him to pin Corbin.
But no, Nakamura HAD to get his move in, because every single WWE superstar has to follow the same match structure. That match led to a disqualification finish that made both men looked like geeks, and ended up being a major blemish against the recently-debuted Nakamura.
The now-infamous House of Horrors match was WWE’s attempt to try something unique, but it ended up being a catastrophic failure. It was an over-produced and over-the-top concept that caused far too much suspension of disbelief, even for WWE’s outlandish standards. It was supposed to be some kind of epic match with a deep storyline. Alas, it became more of a joke than anything else, and only further damaged Bray Wyatt’s image.
The Bayley-Bliss match was so bad because it only lasted five minutes and ended up being more or less a one-sided squash. Keep in mind that this match came on the heels of that awful ‘this is your life’ segment that bombed so badly that even WWE parodied their own lunacy the following week.
But this match destroyed what little credibility and positive momentum Bayley had left on RAW, and doomed her to spend the rest of 2017 in booking purgatory.
The Punjabi Prison was another failure for a multitude of reasons. Not only was it overbooked beyond belief (especially since it featured cameos from, of all people, the great Khali), and had far too many ridiculous rules, but it was awful from a practical perspective. It was virtually impossible to see anything inside the match, even from the hard camera.
The only way to know what was happening was when the in-ring cameras were focused. The execution of this match made it an awful exercise in grappling arts, and proved once again that this stipulation should never be revisited again.
Finally, the main event of Survivor Series 2017 was a complete mess from a booking perspective. The match’s structure seemed to fall apart once it came down to the three part timers plus Braun Strowman, and any attempts at dream match-ups disappeared once Nakamura and Roode were eliminated.
The match became more about Angle, Shane and Hunter, which led to an abysmal attempt at a conclusion to that month-long and heavily-promoted storyline.
Best Gimmick: Braun Strowman as the unstoppable monster
2016 winner: "Broken" Matt Hardy
Runners-up: The Bullet Club as themselves, Tetsuya Naito
Wrestling was somewhat lighter on gimmicks this year, with only a handful really standing out in a positive way. Though some of the best and most entertaining character work came from NJPW’s stables (The Bullet Club’s various members, Tetsuya Naito as the leader of LiJ), the most entertaining character/gimmick for 2017 belongs to Braun Strowman.
Not only did he improve significantly as a wrestler compared to 2016, but he also became far more entertaining. Sure, some of his segments were downright cheesy (flipping an ambulance, for example), but he took the gimmick of being an unstoppable monster and made it into something far more enjoyable than anyone had expected.
Worst Gimmick: Jason Jordan as Kurt Angle's son
2016 winner: The Shining Stars
Runners-up: Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion, Enzo Amore as WWE Cruiserweight Champion, Bayley as the woman-child
No gimmick bombed more in 2017 than WWE’s attempt at giving Jason Jordan a singles push. After weeks of build-up, the supposed ‘career-threatening secret’ that had been plaguing Kurt Angle was that he had a fling with a woman while he was in college, and that fling led to Jason Jordan.
Many things were wrong with this storyline, the least of which being that American Alpha had been split up and that it was Jordan, not Chad Gable, that was getting the push. From there, the storyline proceeded to go downhill. Despite being genuinely athletic, Jordan failed to connect with the audience, and was soon booed instead of cheered.
It didn’t help him that after getting Pedigreed by Triple H, Jordan never got his revenge. By booking Jordan in such a manner, it proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Jordan was just another mid-card scrub that was below the wrestlers of yesteryear.
Other awful gimmicks this year centred on champions. Jinder Mahal was easily one of the most disappointing champions in modern times. Though his title victory was shocking, WWE could’ve salvaged that by at least booking him in interesting matches. Alas, it was a case of too much too soon, as Mahal’s ‘main-event-worthy’ matches were anything but, which led to SmackDown losing considerable popularity among many fans.
Elsewhere in champion-land, Enzo Amore became cruiserweight champion despite being the least-athletic wrestler among the cruiserweights. Amore was boring, extremely limited, and spent more time irritating people with his voice than polishing his in-ring skills. Some people have even considered this the next death knell of the cruiserweight division.
Finally, Bayley’s booking on RAW was all kinds of awful. She went from being a women’s wrestler that grew up as a fan to a five-year-old girl in a woman’s body, and the response was overwhelmingly negative.
It seems that the main roster writers had no idea what Bayley was supposed to be, so they went with something stupid, which led to Bayley becoming one of the most disappointing characters on the RAW roster.
Best Tag Team: The Usos
2016 Winners: The Young Bucks
Runners-up: The New Day, The Young Bucks, Cesaro & Sheamus, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins
While the Young Bucks can claim they’re arguably the biggest tag team outside of WWE, no team had a better run in 2017 than the Usos. Rikishi’s twin sons have fully embraced a more realistic heel persona, and have flourished as a result. Their promos, matches and chemistry with other teams have turned them into one of the most must-see acts on SmackDown.
Their rivalry with the New Day (who were close to winning, but didn’t because of a growing degree of blandness in their gimmick which held them back somewhat) was one of the best of the entire year, and did wonders to elevate SmackDown’s PPVs this year.
Cesaro & Sheamus have become a fixture of the tag team division on RAW, and have been in many high-profile segments and matches throughout the year. They came very close to winning this award due to their overall consistency as performers and as a team, and Cesaro still deserves praise for wrestling through that hideous facial injury he sustained in a title match.
Finally, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins brought some great moments to the RAW tag team division as part of a unified Shield, and their matches together this year have been among WWE’s best.
This was one of the closest and most difficult awards to determine, as all five of these teams were outstanding this year.
Worst Tag Team: Enzo & Cass
2016 Winners: The League of Nations
Runners-Up: Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin
On the other side of things, several tag teams failed to really gain any momentum. In terms of bad tag teams, Enzo & Cass were split up before the year reached it's halfway point, and for good reason. Though the duo was exciting in 2016, by the time WrestleMania came around, they had both lost a lot of popularity.
The seeds for a dissolution were planted early because Vince wanted to push Cass as a singles star. To prove that the audience had stopped caring about Enzo & Cass as a team, they cheered when Cass was revealed to be the man that had laid Enzo out. The fans appeared to be happy when the team split, as there would no longer be any more of their antics together.
Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin ended up being an oddball pairing that really didn’t make sense. WWE just decided to switch Jordan for another relatively athletic wrestler, hence Benjamin’s return.
Unfortunately, Benjamin - while still a good wrestler – is not Jason Jordan, and thus hasn’t been able to replicate the chemistry Gable had with his former American Alpha partner. Indeed, WWE’s decision to split that team up ended up hurting three wrestlers as opposed to helping one more than the others.
Most Overrated: Jinder Mahal
2016 Winner: James Ellsworth
Runners-up: Enzo Amore, Shane McMahon, Kane
No wrestler has generated such strong feelings of unworthiness of their push as Jinder Mahal. Many have criticized him for getting this push solely due to his radical change in physique, which has led to allegations of HGH or steroid use.
Despite that physical change, we as fans were suddenly expecting this former member of 3MB – who was still a jobber before being moved to SmackDown – had the same level of wrestling skill as A.J. Styles, John Cena Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, and other time-tested grapplers.
Mahal’s run as WWE Champion has been alleged to have been concocted solely to increase merchandise revenue in India, but the results of that project do not appear to have been as strong as WWE might’ve projected initially. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of Mahal’s matches and promo segments were below average, which in turn affected the overall quality of WWE Championship matches.
The fact that WWE decided to bring about the abomination that is the Punjabi Prison is only further indication of how limited Mahal was in the ring, and how it was necessary to conceal those weaknesses through over-the-top gimmicks.
Enzo Amore gets listed as overrated because he was pushed as Cruiserweight Champion despite having extremely limited wrestling ability for that division. So far, we have seen him do far more talking than wrestling, and what little wrestling he does is threadbare and uninspiring. In a division that’s supposed to be about high-flying athleticism, Enzo Amore continues to demonstrate everything other than that central attribute.
Shane McMahon was a strong contender for this award simply because he is not a trained wrestler, yet routinely performs in the ring with people that have much more experience and skill than him. Yet every year, Shane gets shoe-horned into dangerous and high-risk matches and main-event matches, even though he cannot grapple very well.
At the same time, Shane can be forgiven to some degree, simply because he has testicles made of solid brass, as seen with his daredevil stunts throughout the year. Yet from a booking perspective, it is always irritating to see someone that isn’t wrestling on a weekly basis being featured more prominently than the athletes that do.
Kane gets added here because he’s a man that shouldn’t be main-eventing episodes of RAW, much less getting shots at RAW’s world title. Kane spent the majority of 2017 involved in municipal politics, running for mayor in his native Knoxville County.
While he deserves praise for still being in such good shape despite being almost 50 years old, Kane simply cannot perform at a main-event-level anymore. His matches were poor three years ago when he was ‘Corporate Kane’ and had that weird feud with then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins.
He just doesn’t have the same level of credibility anymore to be sharing the spotlight with the main-eventers of today and tomorrow.
Most Underrated: Neville
2016 Winner: Sami Zayn
Runners-up: Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura, Sami Zayn
Neville wins the award for most underrated/underappreciated because of how hard he works and for how little recognition he gets. The man formerly known as PAC was – and still is – the perfect person around whom one could build the cruiserweight division, yet Neville has seen little to no reward for his hard work.
This lack of appreciation led Neville to actually leave WWE completely, and no one has heard from him since. With Hideo Itami now using the Rings of Saturn – a move that Neville used to win his matches – it appears that Neville’s days in WWE are done.
Rusev is another major wrestler that keeps performing but doesn’t get any major push. Despite being white hot for a long time – including the past few weeks with the whole ‘Rusev Day’ gimmick – the “Bulgarian Brute” doesn’t appear to be getting anywhere, despite being one of the best acts in all of WWE at the moment. Hopefully, 2018 will be a better year for him, though.
Shinsuke Nakamura debuted as a white-hot act on SmackDown, but was hamstrung by bad booking and worse writing. There was this unbearable attempt to force this “The Artist” nickname onto the fans, and he was unfortunately damaged by bad matches early into his main roster tenure.
There were several moments when WWE could’ve really pulled the trigger with Nakamura and salvaged him, but those moments passed without WWE making any logical decisions with his character. Now, with WrestleMania 34 looming, hopefully WWE will rectify their mistakes and book the much-dreamed-about Nakamura-Styles match on the grandest stage of them all.
Sami Zayn (last year's winner) spent the majority of 2017 as he did 2016: underused, undervalued, and underappreciated. He wrestled in forgettable matches on SmackDown and didn’t have a meaningful storyline until the final two months of the year. Zayn’s heel turn has been more or less successful thus far, and Zayn is main-eventing shows, which is a testament to how far he’s come. Hopefully, the upward momentum continues for him in 2018
Best Major Wrestling Show: NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11
2016 Winner: NXT TakeOver: Dallas
Runners-Up: NXT TakeOver: WarGames, SummerSlam 2017, TLC 2017, NJPW Dominion 6.11
Wrestle Kingdom 11 set the bar so high for 2017 that no other show was able to match it. WK11 featured several outstanding matches top to bottom, and offered something for everyone.
Apart from the now-famous 6-star main event between Okada and Omega, the show had several other outstanding matches that left audiences breathless. Special consideration needs to go to the matches between Hiromu Takahashi and KUSHIDA, Goto vs. Shibata and Tanahashi vs. Naito. These three matches plus the main event led to a spectacular show worthy of being called NJPW’s equivalent of the Super Bowl.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames lived up to the hype with an excellent main event that was a fun combination of WCW nostalgia with modern wrestlers. The eponymous main-event match was one of the best ‘gimmick’ matches WWE put on this year, will hopefully lead to big things for all participants involved.
TLC 2017 wasn’t the best show from a technical (wrestling) standpoint, but will go down in history for a multitude of reasons. First, we got to see arguably the best exhibition match of the year in Styles vs. Balor, which stole the show in terms of in-ring quality.
Secondly, Kurt Angle made his return to the ring, which in hindsight, actually led to even more fan interest than there was before this announcement was made. The show was solid by WWE standards, and will be remembered fondly by fans for years to come.
Dominion 6.11 was absolutely phenomenal and featured at least four spectacular matches. The main event between Okada and Omega was the perfect example of wrestling as art, as they told a phenomenal story and managed to put on a 60-minute time-limit draw singles match together without boring the audience. Dave Meltzer was correct when he argued that this was one of NJPW’s best shows in history.
Worst Major Wrestling Show: WWE Battleground
2016 Winner: WrestleMania 32
Runners-up: WWE Fastlane 2017, WWE Survivor Series 2017, WrestleMania 33
Unfortunately, WWE reigned supreme in the bad show department, taking a clean sweep with several terribly-booked shows. Battleground stands highest (lowest?) with some truly abysmal wrestling matches.
Baron Corbin and Nakamura was a booking failure, which ended up being quite possibly the single-worst match in Nakamura’s entire career, and that includes some awful wrestling-MMA crossover bouts involving some of the Gracies.
The Flag match between John Cena and Rusev made little-to-no sense in terms of stipulation, and apparently angered several members of the US Armed Forces because they let Old Glory fall on the ground (which is a serious faux-pas in the United States).
Then, there was the Punjabi Prison match, which was executed so poorly that not even a surprise one-time appearance by the Great Khali could salvage it.
Fastlane 2017 wasn’t that much better, with some truly stupid booking decisions that seemed to fly in the face of all of WWE’s attempts at self-legitimization through the promotion of raw stats. Fastlane saw the ending of three separate (but no less important) winning streaks: those of Nia Jax, Braun Strowman and Charlotte.
All three of these wrestlers experienced significant setbacks as a result of the booking decisions for this show, which only further weakened fan interest in the following show, WrestleMania 33.
Survivor Series 2017 was also quite bad, with only two matches living up to the hype (Styles-Lesnar and Shield-New Day). However, while these two matches were very good, and the rest of the card being average-to-good, the show was crippled by an awfully-booked main event match that wasn’t even worthy of being in the shadow of its 2016 counterpart, which at least had a much greater degree of drama and excitement to it.
Finally, WrestleMania 33 deserves a mention here as well for being one of the most painful shows to watch. Though it wasn’t as bad from a booking perspective as its 2016 equivalent, it was a literal pain to watch because of how incredibly long and exhausting it was.
If you include the pre-show and the Undertaker’s ‘retirement’ ceremony, the show went over seven hours without intermission, making it more of an exercise in bladder control than actual excitement. The matches on that show weren’t the best either, and it says a lot when A.J. Styles and Shane McMahon have the best match on the show.
Feud of the year: Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns
2016 winner: A.J. Styles vs. John Cena
Runners-up: The Usos vs. The New Day, Cesaro & Sheamus vs. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose, John Cena vs. The Miz
Yes, Roman Reigns is being praised here, because his feud with Braun Strowman was one of the most entertaining things throughout the entire year. WWE pushed Strowman as this juggernaut that could not be stopped, and also tried to make Reigns into ‘the guy’ once again.
Yet when these two men faced off, Strowman gradually became the man to cheer, even though Reigns has, on average, more competitive matches. From the infamous ambulance segment, to Strowman’s now-famous ‘I’M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!’ moment that became hilarious in retrospect, this feud was one of the most enjoyable things WWE produced this year.
The next best feud was the Usos vs. The New Day, whose tag team feud was one of the best things on SmackDown throughout the calendar year. From their surprisingly-good rap battle to their tag team Hell in a Cell match, Usos and New Day had spectacular matches by WWE standards, and serve immense praise for their efforts.
The RAW tag team rivalry was well done as well, as Cesaro & Sheamus and Rollins & Ambrose delivered some great matches between them, Though, that’s to be expected, as all four of them are solid workers and have excellent chemistry with each other.
Finally, despite being a last-minute change, the feud between the Miz and John Cena did have enough moments to make it truly memorable. Miz and Cena’s promos on each other were great, and the pre-recorded segments featuring Miz & Maryse mocking Cena & Nikki were actually hilarious.
The reason this feud actually worked was because they combined elements of reality (the good kind, not the Total Divas kind) into the narrative, which gave the feud more life. That’s what WWE should do, instead of making everything so scripted and unrealistic beyond belief.
Worst feud of the year: Alexa Bliss vs. Bayley
2016 winner: Darren Young vs. Titus O'Neil
Runners-up: Enzo Amore vs. Everybody, Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton, Jinder Mahal vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
There were several truly awful feuds throughout 2017, but none were as painful to watch as Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss. Bayley was in the midst of a strange transition to a new sort of character on the main roster, and Alexa Bliss was trying to paint her as a child. The problem with this was that Bliss wasn’t selling their rivalry so that the fans would tune in to see the two of them fight.
Instead, Bliss’s (scripted) promos were made to turn Bayley into someone whom the fans wouldn’t like to watch. Bayley’s subsequent reactions and booking proved Bliss right, and which ended up damaging the relatively new Bayley’s reputation on RAW. Thankfully, the only silver lining in this awful storyline is that it didn’t get resurrected once their awful match at Extreme Rules ended.
Enzo Amore’s heat with seemingly everyone was a topic of great discussion. The reputation he had apparently warned for himself backstage soon translated into a despicable and annoying character on screen. However, that didn’t translate into more fans wanting to tune in to see him get beaten by someone else; instead, it generated apathy for a division that was already suffering from creative misdirection.
Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton will be remembered as one of the most disappointing feuds in recent memory. It started off really strong in early 2017, but soon went off the scale in terms of cheesiness and unrealistic gimmicks, From Orton ‘burning Bray’s house down’ to the insect match at WrestleMania to the House of Horrors, this is one rivalry most fans will be glad will never be repeated again.
Finally, Jinder Mahal vs. Nakamura was bad for several reasons. Nakamura was forced to wrestle on Mahal’s level, which made him look worse as a wrestler when compared to his matches in NXT.
Then, there was a series of segments and promos that made both guys looks bad, including one that even had some fans accuse WWE of having Mahal cut a racist promo. None of these things were good for either man, and have become more reasons why most people would rather forget that it even happened.
Best women's wrestler: Asuka
2016 winner: Sasha Banks
Runners-up: Charlotte, Natalya, Sasha Banks, Ember Moon, Kairi Sane, Naomi
WWE’s women’s revolution continued throughout this year with several high-profile matches and storylines. Of all the women in WWE to benefit from this new approach to women’s wrestling, Asuka’s the one to have benefitted more than anyone else.
In NXT, her ‘Goldberg’ push continued, and as we enter 2018, Asuka is still undefeated on WWE programming, which is a major accomplishment in the land of asinine booking that is WWE. She debuted with much fanfare, and remains a fixture of the top women’s programs. In terms of booking, there’s no wrestler as Asuka’s level at this time.
Charlotte, Natalya and Sasha Banks were all high-profile women throughout the year, winning major matches and championships. Natalya’s title victory was especially satisfying, as she finally won a championship despite being a workhorse for so many years. Banks and Charlotte also had great runs this year, and further solidified themselves on their respective brands.
Finally, Ember Moon and Kairi Sane were excellent women’s wrestlers on non-main-roster programming, and both of them will likely be involved in major matches throughout 2018.
Best Speaker: The Miz
2016 winner: Chris Jericho
Runners-up: Paul Heyman, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens
The Miz had an eventful year as a solid mid-card wrestler, but his forte has been his promo work. He is one of the few wrestlers on the WWE roster that can take a clearly-scripted line and actually make it work to fit his character, which is a tremendous asset. Though he hasn’t had any scathing or memorable promos as the one he cut on Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack back in 2006, many of his promos this year have been solid nonetheless.
Chris Jericho is a close second for this award due to his excellent ability to transition from comedy to seriousness so quickly and so naturally. His character work is outstanding, which came through in his teaming and later rivalry with Kevin Owens.
As further proof of his skill, Jericho only cut a handful of promos on Kenny Omega in NJPW, but still managed to make a lot out of a little and turn that last-minute surprise into a rivalry worthy of co-main-eventing Wrestle Kingdom 12.
Kevin Owens was another great speaker throughout the year. His manner of speaking and tone of voice come off far more natural and realistic than most others, which is a great way of concealing the scripted nature of the words he actually speaks. Owens is an excellent speaker and an even better heel, which makes him a major asset to whichever brand he’s drafted to.
Paul Heyman also deserves mention on this list because, well, he’s Paul Heyman, and can say literally anything and people will buy whatever he’s selling. That ability is something of a lost art in today’s WWE, which makes Heyman a breath of fresh air whenever he speaks.
More people in WWE need to be like Paul Heyman and less like the script-regurgitating machines the back office is trying to create
Biggest Disappointment Award: main roster call-up failures
2016 winner: Finn Balor's Injury
Runners-up: Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion, Baron Corbin’s MITB failure, The Survivor Series main event, booking changes to WrestleMania 33
As with every year, WWE introduces several new wrestlers (usually from NXT) to the main roster immediately after WrestleMania. This year, three, in particular, were introduced and all of them achieved varying degrees of success. Although Bayley technically debuted in late 2016, she spent the entirety of 2017 on the RAW roster, and boy was it a disaster.
The RAW writers and management had no idea how to translate her character’s story and charm onto the main roster, and so she went from being a wrestler that wanted to be one ever since she was a little girl, to a woman-child that was basically presented as a five-year-old in a 28-year-old’s body.
This initial booking led to such abysmal moments as the ‘This is your life’ segment and the equally-appalling ‘Kendo Stick On a Pole Match’. Both of these segments bombed with the fans, and Bayley’s character has been in limbo ever since. The Revival were another team that were supposed to set the RAW roster on fire, but they were hampered by injuries that sidelined both of them for the majority of 2017.
It appears that they have both returned and are now set to become a fixture of the RAW tag team scene, but much of their initial fire has been lost due to these injuries. Finally, Shinsuke Nakamura was such an easy character to book and present, but his main roster debut was at odds with Vince’s decision to push Jinder Mahal.
As a result, Nakamura’s first four months on the main roster were hampered by awful matches with the likes of Mahal and Baron Corbin and several segments that effectively killed off much of the legitimacy he had as a performer. While he’s still more or less a top guy on SmackDown Live, he has definitely lost some of his shine due to some truly underwhelming moments on the blue brand this year.
Jinder Mahal’s run as WWE Champion was a close second in choosing the biggest disappointment of 2017. While the decision to push someone different to the top of SmackDown is a noble idea in itself, Mahal’s overall booking was questionable, at best.
In the span of literally less than a month, he went from getting destroyed by Finn Balor in less than five minutes to WWE Champion. Forgive me WWE, but it was extremely hard for myself and many fans around the world to believe that Mahal had any credibility as a man worthy of the top prize on SmackDown.
Had he been booked strongly at least for a month and had scored a decisive win over a bigger name before challenging for the title, then his win wouldn’t have felt like such a shock, nor would it have reeked of backstage politics and the desire for greater merchandise revenue at the expense of logical storytelling.
Baron Corbin’s MITB failure will go down as one of the worst booking decisions of 2017, as well as one of the most blatant and explicit punishments of a wrestler in WWE history. Corbin was reportedly in hot water with WWE officials over a discussion regarding CTE, and this led many people to think that Corbin needed to be taught a lesson.
As a result, he was made to look like a complete idiot by losing his WWE title challenge from a single-roll-up, which killed off his credibility as a wrestler in seconds. Corbin has since struggled to regain any sense of his former aura of danger, especially since the sight of him losing to Mahal after one move is still fresh in many fans’ minds.
The main event of Survivor Series 2017 was another major disappointment. While last year’s match felt much bigger and had a greater emphasis on newer talent, this one felt completely nonsensical. The decision to have Strowman demolish both Nakamura and Roode in the early moments of the match was bad enough.
But to have the final participants in the match – a match which, by the way, had been hyped up heavily for weeks as some kind of titanic clash of epic proportions – come down to Strowman, Kurt Angle, Shane McMahon and Triple H was completely asinine. It was one monster that the fans liked and three part-timers, one of whom had barely functioning knees and the other was a darling in NXT.
The match didn’t make any sense from a creative perspective and left the audience more deflated than satisfied.
Finally, WrestleMania 33 deserves a mention for changes being made to some of the matches. Two matches that were pencilled in originally were The Miz vs. Shinsuke Nakamura for the Intercontinental Championship (as the next chapter of the growing feud between Miz and Daniel Bryan) and John Cena vs. The Undertaker in a true dream match. Both of these two match-ups made complete sense and were so simple they could’ve been written without any effort.
Instead, some people in WWE’s management wanted Cena to emphasize his marriage proposal to Nikki Bella and Miz’s ire for Cena, and ‘Taker was put into a feud with Roman Reigns, instead. Both of those matches ended up being relative disappointments, and neither really brought WWE much benefit in the long run.
Star of 2018 Award: Cody
2017 Winner: Kenny Omega
Last year, I predicted that Kenny Omega was to become the star of 2017, and I was right. Omega was arguably the biggest wrestling star in the entire world for this calendar year.
Cody wins this year because of how much of an influence he has had in 2017 and the kind of gravitas he will bring in 2018. This year, Cody showed that a wrestler can, in fact, make a comfortable living as a wrestler on the independent scene without relying too much on either WWE or NJPW.
Instead, Cody signed the most lucrative deal in ROH history, and brought that promotion some much-needed attention. Throughout 2017, Cody was a big name wherever he went, and his affiliation with the Bullet Club and The Elite only amplified his star power. It’s likely that by 2018, Cody will have become to ROH and the indies what Randy Orton is to WWE: the guy around whom you could build an entire wrestling promotion.
