2017 Raw Superstar Report Card (10 to 1)

From heel turns and face turns to reunions and retirements, the last 12 months of WWE television has seen more eventful moments than any year in recent memory.

As 2017 comes to an end, we have been taking a look back at the top 50 Superstars from each of the Raw and SmackDown Live rosters over the last year, ranking them from 50 to 1 and grading them from F to A+.

In this article, the countdown ends with a look at the Superstars who took the positions from 10 to 1 on the Raw roster.

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Joint #9 Cesaro & Sheamus

The last 12 months have arguably been the best of Cesaro’s WWE career. His dysfunctional tag-team partnership with Sheamus turned out to be an inspired pairing and, as he proved in his match against Roman Reigns in December, he remains one of the very best in-ring talents in modern-day WWE.

As for Sheamus, he found himself lost in the mid-card following his 2015 WWE Championship reign and subsequent alliance with The League of Nations, so teaming with “The Swiss Cyborg” in the latter part of 2016 and the whole of 2017 has done wonders for his career.

Whether or not the two remain a tag team for much of 2018, we’ll just have to see, but they can look back on this year knowing that they stole the show on more pay-per-views than any other Raw tag team in 2017.

Grade: A-

#8 John Cena

Those who criticised John Cena for not putting people over earlier in his career can’t say the same of him in 2017 – a year where he lost clean to Bray Wyatt, Shinsuke Nakamura and Roman Reigns.

“Big Match John” is a rare case of someone whose match quality is just as good now at 40 years of age than ever before, as proven in his win over AJ Styles at the Royal Rumble and in his defeat to Roman Reigns at No Mercy.

Those matches alone were good enough for Cena to make the top 10 in this list, never mind the fact that he tied Ric Flair’s World Championship record in January and proposed to Nikki Bella at WrestleMania!

Grade: A-

Note: While Cena is technically a ‘free agent’, his next appearance on WWE television will be on the 25 December episode of Raw, so we decided to include him in the Raw top-50 countdown rather than SmackDown Live.

#7 Seth Rollins

It’s been another stellar year for Seth Rollins on the Raw roster. Granted, it began in worrying fashion when he suffered a recurrence of his knee injury following an attack from Samoa Joe in January, but he recovered in time to live up to his “Kingslayer” nickname by defeating “The King of Kings” Triple H at WrestleMania.

He got lost in the shuffle for the next few months, feuding with Samoa Joe and Bray Wyatt, before finally making amends with his Shield brothers – first Dean Ambrose, then Roman Reigns – while capturing the Raw Tag Team titles in the process.

As nice as it is to see “The Hounds of Justice” back together as a trio, we haven’t seen many people in modern-day WWE play a heel character better than Rollins did between 2014 and 2016. Maybe, just maybe, we’ll see it again next year.

Grade: A-

#6 The Miz

After years and years of trying to prove that he’s worthy of being a top Superstar on Raw and SmackDown Live, it feels like The Miz finally earned the respect of the WWE Universe in 2017.

Whether he’s having back-and-forth arguments with guests on Miz TV or he’s getting booed out of the building after main-eventing Raw, “The A-Lister” has been one of a select few Superstars who has featured on television almost every week throughout the year.

The seven-time Intercontinental champion has been one of the most entertaining people on WWE programming over the last few months and, though it might not be the most popular thing to say, he is slowly but surely building himself a Hall of Famer-worthy career.

Grade: A

#5 Asuka

Another year, another year of dominance for Asuka. “The Empress of Tomorrow” relinquished her NXT Championship in September after a record reign of 523 days and she has since gone on to continue her undefeated streak on Raw.

The Japanese sensation has defeated Emma, Alicia Fox, two local talents and Dana Brooke (who can forget the one-second victory?!) since her call-up, while she helped the red brand defeat Team SmackDown in an elimination match at Survivor Series.

Had she debuted on the main roster a little earlier in 2017, the record-setting former NXT champion would probably be even higher on this list.

Grade: A

#4 Samoa Joe

If we get the negatives of 2017 out of the way first, Samoa Joe accidentally injured Seth Rollins’ knee on his main-roster debut in January, while he didn’t get a spot on the WrestleMania 33 card despite regularly appearing on Raw in the weeks building up to the show.

Since then, however, things have just gotten better for “The Samoan Submission Machine”. He featured in three pay-per-view main events in a row between June and August – Extreme Rules, Great Balls of Fire and SummerSlam – and reportedly impressed Brock Lesnar in the matches that they had together.

When you look at how some of his former NXT colleagues have been booked since being called up to the main roster, few of them have made as big an impact as Joe has in 2017.

Grade: A

#3 Brock Lesnar

Looking back at Brock Lesnar’s 2016 run, it seems that it was probably his worst since returning to WWE. His rivalry with Bray Wyatt ended before it began, his WrestleMania match with Dean Ambrose was too predictable, he feuded with Randy Orton over absolutely nothing at SummerSlam, and then he lost in 86 seconds to Goldberg.

But that was then and this is now, and in his matches against Goldberg, Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman and AJ Styles in 2017, “The Beast” proved exactly why he’s the big box-office attraction that WWE portrays him as.

Fans can complain all they want about his moveset and the finish to his matches but, in the words of Paul Heyman, when “the reigning, defending, undisputed Universal champion” steps through those ropes, you just know what you’re about to witness is simply must-see.

Grade: A+

#2 Braun Strowman

In 2017, Braun Strowman threw Kalisto in a bin; tipped over an ambulance with Roman Reigns inside; broke an entire ring and a steel cage with Big Show; sent Kane crashing through a ring mat; monster-handled Brock Lesnar; and, best of all, he was crushed by a garbage truck and is still alive to tell the tale.

While most WWE storylines revolve around the endless cycle of number one contender matches and title matches, “The Monster Among Men” marches to the beat of his own drum and likes to go about his business slightly differently to his fellow Superstars.

Simply put, it’s been an outstanding year for the former Wyatt Family member, with the only real negative coming when he was convincingly beaten by Brock Lesnar at No Mercy in September.

Grade: A+

#1 Roman Reigns

There was only one choice, wasn’t there? As long as Roman Reigns is on WWE television and Vince McMahon is in control of the company’s programming, there’s a good chance “The Big Dog” will be topping lists like this for years to come.

It’s one thing being booked to win blockbuster matches against the likes of Triple H, The Undertaker and John Cena, but it’s another thing to prove your worth against legends of the business and earn the respect of the WWE Universe in the process – and that’s what Reigns succeeded in doing in 2017.

No matter how many boos turn to cheers, the three-time WrestleMania main-eventer will always have his haters, but even his biggest detractors have to admit that the Shield member has transformed himself into one of the best in-ring talents in all of WWE.

Grade: A+