Friday, March 29, 2024
EditorialMy End of The Year Awards For WWE: Superstar of The Year...

My End of The Year Awards For WWE: Superstar of The Year (Men/Women’s)

3,536 views

That’s right folks, I’m still here. My awards series continues, as in this edition, I will be awarding the best performer amongst both the males and females. For those of you who haven’t been updated, here is the list of all of my categories that I have relayed in previous categories.

OMG Moment of the Year – Given to the single most shocking or surprising moment in all of WWE this year. Genuine shock factor is stressed here.

Return of the Year – Given to the best return of a superstar(s) that no one saw coming.

Tag Team of the Year – Given to the most consistent and best-performing tag team of 2017.

Promo/Segment of the Year – Given to the best promo or segment in all of WWE.

Newcomer of the Year – Given to the superstar either new to the main roster or put in a different role who’s performed the best in 2017.

Rivalry of the Year – Given to the best rivalry between two opposing entities in WWE this year. The rivalry has to span at least two matches in order to qualify.

Superstar of the Year (Men’s) – Given to the best overall performing superstar on the men’s roster.

Superstar of the Year (Women’s) – Given to the best overall performing superstar on the women’s roster.

Match of the Year – Given to the best overall match of the year in 2017.

 

SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR (WOMEN’S)

And the nominees are….

 

1. Sasha Banks

                 

Sasha’s 2016 campaign completely dwarfed her 2017 one, but it was still a decent year for her. She proved that she’s still a serviceable competitor that can still have a very good match every now and again. The only thing that continues to hold her back immensely is the seemingly growing reputation of her being a paper champion, as she can’t seem to ever successfully defend her championship. Aside from her forgettable one week stint holding the title, Sasha really didn’t do much outside of her summer feud with Alexa Bliss, and I feel as though that a heel turn would have behooved her. I kept waiting and waiting for Sasha to turn on Bayley, but it never happened. It doesn’t really hurt Sasha because she’s currently in a holding pattern with the majority of the other women on the roster, as she’ll be competing in the first ever women’s Royal Rumble match.

The contributions of The Boss certainly has helped get the women’s division to where it’s at today and while 2017 was a step back for Sasha, it wasn’t a huge one. With her returning to her roots and what made her popular back in NXT, Sasha can get back in the limelight and reclaim some of that charm that made the WWE Universe so fond of her upon her main roster call up two years ago.


2. Natalya

               

Love or hate Natalya, she’s still a hard-working performer, and at Summerslam, she ended her long title drought by winning the Smackdown Women’s Championship off of Naomi. For most of the year, she spent her time as a heel, getting underneath the skins of the likes of Becky Lynch, Nikki Bella, and Charlotte. She seems to have been in the same holding pattern in years prior, but she seemed to have taken on a more prominent veteran role as a member of the Smackdown women’s roster. I think she can be an asset for the RAW women’s division though, as she doesn’t seem to have much chemistry with anyone on the women’s roster on Smackdown outside of Charlotte. And even her matches with Charlotte this year were either disappointing or bland as all hell.

In spite of that, I found Natayla’s 2017 to be somewhat of a redemption year for her, after years of being treated as some sort of rookie and someone not deserving of the championship. A serviceable year for a woman from a legendary wrestling lineage indeed.


3. Alexa Bliss

               

For a woman who wasn’t even drafted on television, Alexa Bliss has sure made a name for herself. She was one of WWE’s top newcomers last year, and this year she was coming for everybody. In a year that somewhat mirrored the year Sasha Banks had last year, she won the women’s championship 3 times, once on Smackdown and twice on RAW. She defeated pretty much everyone in her path, with Charlotte the only major name not on her hit list. She exposed Sasha Banks to be a paper champion, she made Bayley look like a complete joke, she did away with the likes of Emma and Mickie James and she was able to escape and survive Nia Jax. That’s called domination.

She enters 2018 as champion, and there are still tests for her to pass, such as Asuka and Paige. As she faces new adversaries, Alexa Bliss really ought to be proud of the 2017 campaign she had. While she isn’t the best of ring performers, her overall character and consistency absolutely shadowed that of everyone else this year. She also became the first woman to win both the RAW and Smackdown Women’s Championship.


4. Charlotte

               

With Charlotte’s Smackdown Women’s Championship victory, she is the first woman to become the NXT, Divas, Smackdown and RAW Women’s Champion. She’s a mirror image of her father, as winning titles and big matches are the only things she knows how to do. Unfortunately, her undefeated streak on PPV ended in somewhat silly fashion at Fastlane lost at WrestleMania and then was sent to Smackdown. In case anyone didn’t notice, the quality of Charlotte’s matches took a massive dive with the exception of a match with Naomi upon her debut on the blue brand. The women on RAW have more to offer in terms of in-ring ability, while the women of Smackdown are more centered around character development. She couldn’t seem to get into a groove with anyone, from Tamina to Carmella.

Her matches with Natayla wasn’t any better, but she was able to eventually win the women’s championship as many predicted. I don’t know where Charlotte is going to go with the title on the Smackdown brand, because there aren’t a lot of women on the Smackdown’s women roster that can really make her sweat or work hard, save for a returning Becky Lynch, but I wouldn’t put it past Charlotte to work hard and disprove any rumors that she was only a product of being a performer on the RAW brand. We’ll see what she can really do with this roster going into 2018.


5. Naomi

               

This spot was going to either Naomi, Bayley or Carmella. Carmella won the MITB contract, but needed James Ellsworth to win it the first time and really hasn’t done anything of note aside from a few good promos on Talking Smack and Bayley after WrestleMania took a nosedive I couldn’t have foreseen someone as over as Bayley from her NXT days would have, leaving, Naomi. Naomi was the longest reigning Smackdown Women’s Champion for 2017, which I guess counts for something, but her matches didn’t really live up to expectations, the value of the title gradually decreased with each of her defenses and she seemed to be a superstar that hoped the title would elevate her.

Not saying she had a horrible year or anything because she’s still freakishly athletic and flexible and is good for a decent outing every now and again, but I don’t think she was someone that was ready for an extended run as champion. And considering how scary thin the Smackdown women’s roster was before Charlotte came along, she had to work with folks like Lana in cringeworthy outings. But hey, Feel The Glow right?

 

AND THE WINNER IS…..

 

2017 was a blissful year to say the very least. She’s only Five Feet of Fury, but she’s 100 percent the top women competitor for 2017.

 

 

SUPERSTAR OF THE YEAR (MEN’S)

First some honorable mentions:

1. Randy Orton – Weird. You’d think that a guy who won what was advertised as the biggest Royal Rumble ever and the WWE Championship at WrestleMania would find a spot here. Randy would certainly have a spot here had 2017 end after WrestleMania. Unfortunately, we got that atrocity of a match that was the House of Horrors at Payback, and he’d wet the bed again at Battleground. Orton’s getting paid millions gets considerable time off when he wants and has no incentive to go all out. Can’t blame him, but also can’t give him a spot here for that reason.

2. Neville – Man oh man does it pain me not to have this guy on here. Talk about carrying a division on your shoulders all year, just to lose in an awful match against Enzo Amore. Hell, I’d probably leave too if that’s the payoff I got for carrying a heatless division for eight months on end. Neville was the most consistent performer amongst the Cruiserweights, made the title mean something and most importantly, gave it credibility.

3. Bray Wyatt – 2017 was looking to be the year of Wyatt. He won the WWE Championship in a moment fans have waited for so long. He finally reached the mountaintop. Then, WrestleMania came along, where he has either lost or get embarrassed by legends, and he lost in a piss poor match against Randy Orton. He’d then go on to have aimless feuds with anyone he can find, and it got to a point where, in ominous fashion, he was left of a PPV because Sister Abagail couldn’t fight the mumps.

4. Brock Lesnar – Yes, he’s the longest reigning Universal Champion ever, but this is a year where I can’t put Brock here, due to his part-time status. It’s a shame because he was involved in two potential match of the year contenders, but he’s just not here often enough for me to appreciate what Brock is when he’s motivated. Not to mention that he highly disappointed in anticipated bouts with brutes like Samoa Joe and Braun Strowman. Wasn’t a fan of the one F-5 out of nowhere finish.

 

And the nominees are…

 

1. Braun Strowman

               

This year was the coming out party for the Monster Among Men. Braun began the post brand split era destroying jobbers and just being a jacked up version of Ryback when he started as a singles wrestler. Then came along Sami Zayn, and he began the year finishing him off in a Last Man Standing Match. Then, he proceeded to fry bigger fish as he went after The Big Dog and tried to lay claim to his yard. I’m not sure how many people can say they beat Roman Reigns twice in a row in one on one PPV encounters, but I can bet that list isn’t long. Braun’s dominance then earned him a primetime slot at Summerslam, inserting him into the Universal Championship picture and then onto champion Brock Lesnar. It is clear that WWE has faith behind one of Vince’s pet projects. He clearly has the look WWE loves and has unbelievable mobility for a big man.

Yes, Braun didn’t win any titles, had a forgettable showing in the Royal Rumble match and wasn’t an important factor at WrestleMania, but the sky’s the limit for Braun Strowman after his performance this year. The feud with Roman Reigns really elevated him, and I can definitely see a run with the Universal Championship next year. Braun wasn’t one of the top superstars selected in the draft, and to be honest, I didn’t think he had a future as a singles wrestler upon his repackaging, but he’s been on a mission to assert his dominance, and no end in sight is present.


2. Jinder Mahal

               

Again, weird. He was the longest reigning WWE Champion of 2017, yet I don’t think he should be here because he disappointed as champion and many were happy that he lost it. He had the most shocking moment of the year when he upset Randy Orton, but after the shock factor of his title victory subsided, we were subject to a lackluster title reign, filled with repetitive promos, matches that seemingly followed the exact same formula each time and a sigh of relief when it was revealed AJ Styles would be facing Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series and not Jinder Mahal. The biggest problem I had with Jinder throughout the entire title reign was that the Singh Brothers had more heat than Jinder because they were the reason why Jinder was retaining on each PPV. For Jinder, he played the typical foreign heel, disparaging Americans and being a nationalist for the country he’s representing.

Why do I have him here? Well, he made lemonade out of lemons. I can assure you he was surprised himself when it was revealed he would be WWE Champion. Jinder hadn’t been given anything equating to the responsibility of being WWE Champion before, and while JInder was clearly wet behind the ears in that area, he still worked hard and tried to do what he could. It wasn’t working, yes, but I think WWE was right to at least experiment in him and see what he could do. In my opinion, it would have benefited WWE more to have Jinder built up slowly by having him win the United States Championship as he is in the tournament right now, have him work a few mid-card feuds and then build him up to the WWE Championship. The shock factor of him winning the WWE Title would still be there, and he’d still have experience working at a higher level. Nonetheless, it was a memorable year for Jinder, for better or for worse.


3. AJ Styles

               

AJ picked up right where he left off in 2016. To begin the year, he was WWE Champion and had practically a perfect match against John Cena at the Royal Rumble. He then showed out once again, surviving the Elimination Chamber, and proceeded to the improbable with Shane McMahon, which is carry him to arguably the best match at WrestleMania this year. After he was out of the WWE Title picture and then submerged to the US Title, he sort of cooled off a bit, as he wasn’t having the quality matches that he was having before as he was WWE Champion, but he made the US Title important enough that many considered his feud with Kevin Owens for the WWE Championship in practicality. Finally, he was given a chance to get back on top by defeating Jinder Mahal for the WWE Championship, making it the first time the WWE Title changed hands outside the US.

Then, representing Smackdown at Survivor Series, he tore down the house against Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series, had a very impressive impromptu dream match with Finn Balor at TLC, and ends the year holding the title he started with. AJ Styles has proven to be the most consistent performer in WWE since the Royal Rumble match last calendar year, and he proved to be just that in 2017. Styles says that he could be done with wrestling altogether in a couple of years, and while he’s getting up there in age, you can’t tell with how well he’s managed to perform in any capacity. He just has a unique ability to raise everyone else’s game and adapt to anyone’s style at a moment’s notice. Give him an opponent and he’ll get what he can out of him.


4. The Miz

             

The Miz is still one of the best of the best. As Intercontinental Champion for most of the year, The Miz proved himself to be an invaluable asset for WWE this year. From seething promos to high-quality matches, The Miz just has the entire package that you can ask for a guy that isn’t in the main event picture. Anything WWE asked out of him, he could do and more. Cut John Cena and Roman Reigns down to size? Done. Make light out of Cena and Nikki’s engagement effectively? Say no more. Have quality matches with anyone night after night? No problem. The Miz is everything that a heel should be, and he has found success as one of the greatest Intercontinental Champions ever.

While I can’t see The Miz winning the Universal Championship anytime soon, there’s no question that The Miz is able to make the most out of any role that he’s put into, and in 2017, he showed his true worth to the company once again. While I believe it was a mistake to have him go to RAW (as I thought he’d be the perfect guy to introduce guys like Nakamura and Roode to the main roster), he’s still done well for himself, and I don’t look for that to change anytime soon. Perhaps him becoming a father soon has inspired him to work at a high level.


5. Kevin Owens

             

While not as eventful as a year it was for KO last year, Owens still accomplished a great deal for himself. After starting the year as Universal Champion, he’d win the United States Championship on three different occasions and became one of the more prominent faces on the Smackdown brand for most of the year. From feuds to AJ Styles to Shane McMahon to his recent Drake and Josh like relationship with Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens has made the most out of any situation that he’s been put in, and while I’m sure KO is always looking to better himself and look to be in the main event of things, there’s no doubt that Owens has still proven himself to be an effective superstar at almost any capacity. He ended the year strongly, as he picked up a victory over the WWE Champion, which means he’ll probably be inserted into the WWE Title picture to begin the 2017 calendar year.

Owens in 2016 had more of a breakout year and 2017 was just continuing from where he started. I look for KO to continue to do eventful things in whatever role he’s placed in. I watched his special on the WWE Network (highly reccomended by the way), and it seems that despite what he’s done over the course of this year, he’s unsatisfied and wants to better himself. That’s a good sign, at least.

 

AND THE WINNER IS…..

 

For a second straight year, AJ Styles has proven that is a cut above the rest and that he is indeed Phenomenal. He’s a once-in-a-lifetime performer, and we don’t know when he’s going to hang up the boots, but let’s appreciate him while we still got him.

 

We still got one more to go folks!