Five Strongest Booked WWE Superstars Today
Alexa Bliss
Kick starting today's blog post is one of my favourite female talents on the wrestling scene today, the current RAW Women's champion, Alexa Bliss. Over the years I have sat here and spoken about Alexa on several different occasions, I recently mentioned that she was one of the first people I spoke about when I started blogging. Going from her NXT debut to seeing where she is right now is something I don't think anyone saw coming. She really has come so far in such a short time and when you look at her potential and her age it's crazy to think where she could be in just a few years. As it currently stands, Alexa Bliss is without a shadow of a doubt one of the strongest booked female talents in the company. The women's division is something we have seen grow massively in recent years. The treatment of female talent is far stronger and the work we see from them is much more entertaining. One of the stars of the growing division has been Alexa. Finally receiving her call up last Summer during the superstar shake up from NXT to Smackdown LIVE she very quickly became one of the standout stars on the blue brand. Her push since her call up has been fantastic. There hasn't been a dull moment where Alexa stands and almost a year later she remains the focus point of the women's division only on a separate brand. Her booking is something that we have seen continue to remain strong and the faith the WWE have in her is very clear. She's a real promising up and comer and while she may not be the most complete all round performer in her division she has some serious potential and the WWE are showing no signs of slowing down as far as her push goes. In a matter of only ten months or so she has managed to make history twice by becoming the first women to be crowned a two time Smackdown LIVE Women's champion and the first ever women to hold both the RAW and Smackdown LIVE Women's Championships. In a short space of time she has managed to prove that as far as character goes there is not a single female who can match her and mic work is something no other women on the roster can really compete with. Her facial expressions and connection with live audiences is unlike any other and it's because of that we so easily forget the fact she still has some improvements to make in the ring. She works her character better than anyone, she plays the perfect villain role yet has the fans eating out the palm of her hands. It's clear she is far more comfortable than she was this time last year and there is no doubt about it, Alexa is the main focus as far as women's wrestling and Monday night RAW goes.
AJ Styles
Moving over to the blue brand now and we have just got to talk about the face that runs the place, AJ Styles. It's crazy to think that AJ hasn't been on the roster for much longer than a year. Debuting for the WWE at last years Royal Rumble pay per view the former New Japan star blew up the internet and has wrestling fans all around the world checking their pulse. I remember watching his debut with my brother and while I usually love the Royal Rumble pay per view (it being one of my favourites of the year) I wasn't half as excited as usual considering that I felt the show was far more predicable. However, the moment the words "I am phenomenal" appeared on the titron (something fans from home didn't get to see) and he popped out from the curtain we both marked out like two crazy little kids. Being a fan of his work for so long I had wanted to see him make his way to the WWE for a long time and that night and that moment will go down as one of the best in history for me personally and so many other fans. Since that date AJ's booking has been brilliant and massively dominant. In the space of a year he has become the face of the WWE and has stepped in the ring one on one with some of the best and most popular names in the companies history including Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose and of course John Cena. Over the past year and a half we have seen him compete in some of the best matches and storylines over the past eighteen months. His work with Cena really allowed him to break through and prove that he could work just as strongly as a heel, establishing himself as one of the top stars in the WWE. Later in the year his feud with Dean Ambrose showed the he is also capable of bringing out the best in his opponents as we saw in his singles matches against Ambrose that he truly did bring out the best in the lunatic fringe. It doesn't matter who he works with at what position on the roster he and his feuds always feel like a big deal. He feels like the top dog, the biggest competition and anyone who steps in the ring with him feels as though they are getting a huge opportunity. He makes anyone he works with feel like a much bigger deal and he really does appear to be the greatest wrestlers in the world. Week in and week out he gets the strongest reaction from the live crowd and he is booked like a real big star, there is no doubt about that. It doesn't matter if Styles is working with John Cena or James Ellsworth his booking makes sense and remains strong with his work also remaining strong. At the moment he is working in the United States championship picture and it doesn't feel like a demotion what so ever. I have spoken about how amazingly well the blue brand book its "mid card" titles and right now the work we are seeing within the US title picture is far stronger than what we're seeing in the main event. Styles always does feel as though he is the main event and when he inevitably wins the title that championship will automatically feel like the top title and thats all thanks to Styles and his previous booking and current booking.
Braun Strowman
Up next we have another obvious pick in Braun Strowman. There was no chance in hell I was going to be able to write this post and not include this particularity superstar; he was in fact the man that inspired me to write this post in the first place. You guys know all t well that Strowman is one of in fact my for sure current WWE Superstar. I know so many people who actually really don't like him or at least not as a high on him as I personally am. I have written about the guy several times already and he's someone that I know I will be talking about a heck of a lot more in the future. He is someone that I have been obsessed with for quite some time now and just like Alexa Strowman has been upping his game and working as one of the most dominate superstars on the roster since the brand split. Before then I wasn't all that fussed about him. He didn't really grab my attention and his work was nothing that made me believe he should be pushed as a mega star but he for sure has turned that around in a short space of time thanks to the incredible booking. The WWE really have approached his push extremely well and have done even better with booking him. It's simple, Braun Strowman is the perfect monster. He's a real bad guy, his beat downs are convincing and he really does feel as though he could inflict serious pain. Over the years we have seen the WWE attempt to push other superstars like this and create another big guy monster but their attempts have failed but as far as Strowman goes they really have hit the nail on the head and they have something real special here. They did a great job taking their time to build him up and while the squash matches did seem to be a waste at the time and grew frustrating with us fans desperate to see him move onto something stronger and all round better but we can see now that it was totally worth it and payed off massively. That kind of build up allowed him to slowly make an impact and showcase his dominance as well as prevent history from repeating itself. There was a time I was worried about him after losing to Roman Reigns at Fastlane earlier on in the year but it was such a minor blip that it's not something anyone can and or should worry about. The loss is something he so easily and quickly bounced back from and it's not something anyone even things about any more. He's push has since remained and if anything his booking has only gotten stronger. His work with Sami Zayn and Reigns has been the highlight of his career and working with such top names has allowed him to really feel as though he is a top star. His beat downs have been some of the best I have ever seen (in recent memory anyway) and everything he does comes across like a real attack and as though he genuinely is a monster. His huge win over Reigns at Payback was the biggest win of his career so far and is the start of even bigger things to come. I do believe that the WWE have missed a couple of opportunities with him including the Andre the Giant memorial battle Royal but everything else has been done so well and at this point he is the only man I feel could challenge Brock Lesnar and his win would feel legitimate. He is the monster of all men and right now he is the bigger and best booked star on the roster.
Neville
While my opinions on the WWE Cruiserweight division is forever changing I really wanted to talk about one of its biggest stars and the man we have all been talking about, Neville. As far as the cruiserweight divisions goes Neville is the top dog. There is simply no other man that has been as dominant as Neville in this division. Now, it was actually quite some time before he joined his fellow two hundred and five pounds and under stars but throughout that time the division was crying out for something new, something to save it. We all sat there and got onto our laptops and phones and tweeted week in and week out that Neville was the man and he so desperately needed to make his return to action begin to work with the Cruiserweight division. He did eventually make a return and boy did make an impact. Coming back with a brand new attitude, a heel turn, new music, and a whole new look Neville was turning heads and proved so quickly that the fans were right and he was exactly what the division needed. After spending so long trying my best to like what we were seeing from the crusierweights yet failing to actually enjoy the work this was what we needed to see for opinions to change. This time last year Neville would not have been booked strongly at all and he wouldn't have been someone we were all talking about because of his fantastic work and strong booking but twelve months later and he is the most talked about superstar of an entire division and the best booked man of that division. His character is forever evolving and I have commented on the fact that he has manged to strongly adapt his move set to fit his his brand new character much better. His feud with Austin Aries has been fantastic and their matches have been some of the best in ring work we have seen from the division. Neville only picked up his first singles loss at Payback in a DQ ending, this being his first loss since his return in October showing just how strong his booking has actually been. I do believe that he is such a focus point in the division and is strongly responsible for its growth.
Baron Corbin
I know, as it currently stands, Baron Corbin's current win/loss record isn't great. He has managed to pick up a loss on several different occasions to a number of different superstars but not a single one of those losses has made him feel like less of a big superstar has remained on of Smackdown LIVE's strongest talents. The way he has been booked has been very smart and the WWE have been careful to make sure he doesn't look weak. Most his loses come from DQ or count out even when he's up against big star names such as AJ Styles and when he has loss clean they have manged to make the
Now, I did have other names I wanted to mention including Roman Reigns and Charlotte but I really wanted to shake things up and I wanted to add a few different names but I would be ok with doing a part two. As always you can let me know what you thought of today's blog post by leaving a comment bellow or by dropping me a tweet over at @TezangiVictoria.
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