WWE 2017 Random Thoughts Wrap-Up

It’s the end of the year as we know and I feel tired and exhausted. But, I am a man of the people and because of that, I’m here to deliver upon you the ultimate year-end ramblings column. You’re going to read plenty of 2017 wrap-up columns, but you’re not going to read any column more unorganized and disjointed. It’ll be like reading Observer issues from 20 years ago all over again. Let’s do this.

* Randy Orton sure had a year, didn’t he? He needlessly won the Royal Rumble, had two of the worst feuds in history, and then new out his hair. I have no clue why WWE constantly feels the need to protect a guy that has been around since 2002 and stopped caring years ago. Then again, you can say that about a lot of people on the roster.

* Elias had the best year of any NXT call-up. Maybe you lean towards Samoa Joe, but I’d argue they botched that call-up after his initial attack on Seth Rollins. Joe was just good enough to rebound from it. Elias turned a one-note gimmick and created a heat drawing machine, capping it off with Walk With Elias on Monday.

* This really goes to show how disappointing the NXT call-ups have been. Bobby Roode was miscast as a babyface, although he’s done a decent job of turning things around lately. Samoa Joe was in-and-out, although his feud with Brock Lesnar was fantastic. The Revival couldn’t stay healthy. And Shinsuke Nakamura, well, yeah. Not…..good. You can even call Finn Balor a call-up if you want since this was his first full year. And he did nothing of consequence. If I missed someone, that’s the fault of WWE.

* Which turned out worse: the cruiserweight division or the SmackDown women’s division? I’m going to give the nod to the cruiserweight division since they designed a whole show around the division and it still flopped. They had something with Neville and Austin Aries, but they’ve consistently failed to create anything underneath the main story. I can’t imagine where this division would be without Enzo Amore, who killed it with his wrestling, but saved it with his personality.

* Goldberg’s return tells you all you need to know about the state of WWE this year. When they had him full-time, they wasted any potential in him. But as a part-time guy this year, he was booked better than anyone in the company not named Brock Lesnar.

* Looking back, if they didn’t try the Jinder Mahal experiment, I shudder to think what they would have done. An extended Randy Orton run? Putting the title on Dolph Ziggler for no reason? As bad as the Mahal reign was, just remember that it could have been worse.

* AJ Styles is the still the best wrestler in the company, but that Kevin Owens feud was a bore. Those two just didn’t seem to click in the ring. I’m not sure AJ had a great year in the ring, come to think of it. The matches with John Cena and Brock Lesnar were fantastic. The match with Shane McMahon was a fine spectacle. But the Owens’ matches were disappointing and the Jinder matches were average at best. I’m sure I’m missing some multi-man and television matches, but overall his year was disappointing given his talent.

* The tag team scene. That was on fire this year. Cesaro & Sheamus, The New Day, The Usos, The Shield. All four of those teams combined for some of the best matches of the year. Honestly, the Usos may have had the best year of anyone on the roster. Their Hell in a Cell match with The New Day was probably my favorite WWE match of the year. WWE is loaded with high quality tag teams right now, who, for the most part, aren’t bogged down by terrible booking.

* Kane is still in the main event scene.

* I’m really worried WWE missed the boat on Braun Strowman. He was hotter than any in the company following his feud with Roman Reigns and that SummerSlam match of carnage. The match with Lesnar did a lot of damage to his character and I don’t think he’s fully recovered. The feud with Kane has sucked thus far and I have no hope for him if he enters a feud with Triple H.

* Who was the last person to benefit from a feud with Triple H? Seth Rollins gained nothing this year. Roman Reigns looked like a chump last year. LOL Sting. I guess the answer is Daniel Bryan. And had that gone the way they had originally planned, Bryan would have been screwed and CM Punk would have been the non-beneficiary of a Triple H feud.

* In doing this random thoughts wrap-up, I can’t help but think that not a whole lot happened in WWE this year. For every positive, there were two negatives. Great matches were few and far between and the best segments didn’t elevate people like they should have. Stories were told, but their lasting impact was minimal.

* At least the women made a lot of history.