Top 10 WWE Superstars Of the Year So Far (Part 2)

Hello everyone and welcome back to Talk Wrestling World, I hope you are all well and good! So this time last week (kind of) I uploaded my top ten WWE Superstars of the year so far and it went down really really well, not to mention I had loads of fun actually writing the post and so this week I'm back with part two as we count down from numbers five to one. Unlike most my lists based posts this is in order so make sure to check out who were at numbers ten to six in last weeks part one! Now, as far as top ten WWE matches of the year so far I am planning on writing and uploading parts one and two of that posts for the next two weeks ahead so they are coming just at a slower pace than usual. It does feel so good to finally feel like I'm getting back on track with posts and uploads and as I said in yesterday's post the plan is to stick to the same routine as last week. Keeping that in mind for the rest of the week I will be bringing you a last minuet Battleground prediction post, hopefully a creative booking article and tomorrow as always a mixed highlights post for both RAW and Smackdown will be uploaded in the evening. As far as Battleground goes, I will as always be live tweeting throughout the show on Sunday using the hashtag Battleground a review of that show will go up the following Monday afternoon. I may also be uploading posts a little later than usual just because I have family coming to stay and trust me when I say that writing posts when you have a one and half year old and a four year old around you is much more difficult than you could imagine. Anyway, the same as every other week, I'll be live tweeting throughout Smackdown LIVE tonight and hopefully if things go to plan I will be doing the same for NXT this week also. As always, any recent blog post will be linked bellow including part one of my top ten superstars of the year so far and last weeks RAW and Smackdown LIVE Highlights posts. Finally, you can let me know what you think has been the standout WWE star of twenty seventeen so far by leaving a comment bellow or by dropping me a tweet over at @TezangiVictoria. 

Alexa Bliss

Kick starting the top five and the only women to feature in this post is Alexa Bliss. Now, let me just start things off by saying that I do believe there are a couple of other talents that deserve to be in the top spot and I do feel as though there have been so many standouts in the women's divison this year so far meaning that there are at least five women I could have added to this top ten but I am planning on writing a women's only version so if thats something you would like to see let me know. For now however, when taking a look at the past six months or so there was one women who stood out more than any and I just had to include her in this post placing her at number five this week. Alexa Bliss has been one of the true breakout stars of the past twelve months and at the end of twenty sixteen I listed her as one of the best female superstars of the year. Eight months later and she is at the top of the game with no other main roster female talent making quite the impact little miss Bliss has been making. After being called up to the main roster last Summer joining the Smackdown LIVE women's divison Bliss was making her name for herself from day one and very very quickly became the face of the SD LIVE Women's divison. Going from the talent with serious potential down in NXT to the face of a mainstream produce is huge and Bliss has handled the pressure amazingly well. This year has already seen Bliss become a two time Smackdown LIVE women's champion and after losing her title to Naomi at Wrestlemania Bliss has continued to work as a top star. Her booking remained strong throughout her time on Smackdown and when she was moved over to Monday night RAW there were no signs of Alexa slowing down. The huge pop/reaction she got when her music hit during the superstar shake up spoke volumes as she made her Monday night RAW debut. It's been made clear that Bliss is one of the most over talents in the women's divison and to this day she continues to grow in popularity. It's not only her following that has been growing this year, massive improvements both in the ring and on the mic have proved fans all around the world right in that Bliss is one of the most promising stars in the WWE today. Throughout the year she has worked as the strongest heel in the women's divison and week in and week out she shows herself to be the best mic worker in her divison also. A natural born here she takes the mic and owns it and when shes in that ring she is forever showing the world she is only getting better and better. The first and only superstar to hold both the RAW and Smackdown LIVE women's championships Alexa is paving the way and sending a huge message. As she continues to grow and improve matches against the likes of Sasha Banks and Bayley are proving that Bliss is one to keep an eye on and with her current program with the Boss proving to be a huge success its only a matter of time before she delivers a match that blows us all away.

The Miz

If you follow me on twitter or read my blog regularly it will come as no surprise to see the Miz featuring in a list that counts down my top ten WWE superstars of the year so far. It's been no secret that I have been completely obsessed with the guy since the brand extension last Summer and throughout the year of twenty seventeen he has remained a favourite of mine. Okay, so my favoritism may make me a little bias but in all honesty I do strongly believe the Miz deserves to be named one of the best all round performers of the year so far and I'm surprised he hasn't featured as heavily in other posts/articles or videos like this made by others. As far as all round talent goes the Miz is right up there. During the start of the year Miz remained at the top and there was confident argument that suggested he go down the road of chasing after the WWE Championship. The fact that Jinder Mahal is champion right now suggest that if he had stayed on Smackdown LIVE there would have been so much potential and likelihood that he did take home the most prestigious prize in the world of wrestling. Instead, he was shoved in a program with  John Cena where he got to team up with wife Maryse to face the fifteen time world champion and Nikki Bella in a mixed tag team match. To be fair I would have much preferred to have seen Miz face off against Smackdown LIVE general manager Daniel Bryan instead. They had a perfect story being built and it was something we all wanted to see. However, while he didn't pick up the win at Wrestlemania (predicable) throughout the build up of that mach he and Maryse were the stars and did a fantastic job selling a match and getting the fans excited for a match that had such little interest. We all know the Miz is brilliant on the mic but his promo work this year has just been fantastic and he really has proved to be one of the best characters and mic workers in wrestling today. When he was moved over to Monday night RAW I did worry. I feared he would be pushed to the back and it wouldn't be long before he was back to square one however, the WWE have done a fantastic job keeping his momentum high and responding to the fans reaction for the guy. He's booking has remained good and while he's feud with Dean Ambrose has been dragged out like crazy he's made it work once again and been so massively entertaining. The promos/segments we have seen from him just over the past few weeks have been amazing and proved my point completely. As he looks to now start a new faction along with Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas and hopefully a feud with Seth Rollins for the IC Championship things look to only be getting better and better with even more doors opening for the seven time Intercontinental champion.

Braun Strowman 

Another huge personal favourite of mine is up next as Braun Strowman makes his way into my list of top ten WWE superstars of the year so far. Again, I have made it perfectly clear that I am a huge Braun Strowman mark. The man has so easily become one of my favourite WWE superstars of today and that doesn't look to be changing any time soon. It's crazy to think just how far Strowman has come in the space of twelve months. This time last year he was no one. He was apart of the Wyatt family and no one really paid much attention to him simply because we didn't have a real reason to. He didn't standout massively and was apart of no matches or storyline's that gave us a reason to actually pay any attention. However, since the brand split he has only been getting better and better as the months go by and as we reach the middle point of twenty seventeen he is without shadow of a doubt one of the most over superstars in the WWE right now and has been making a huge huge impact. The WWE take their time with building up his momentum. They were clearly in no rush to throw him into a big storyline and it was totally the right move. Those squash matches week in and week out proved to work to his advantage. He was able to look like a complete monster and came across like a bigger deal more and more as the weeks went by. Looking back one of the first matches from Strowman that really grabbed my attention was his singles match against the Big Show on episode of RAW. Never in a million years would I have thought a singles bout against the Big Show and Braun Strowman would be listed as one of my favourite matches of the year but it totally is. The pair worked amazingly well together and actually provided fans with a great main event that since I have watched at least four more times again. However, it's his feud with Roman Reigns that has elevated Strowman to the top and established him as main event, championship material. Again, he has worked so amazingly well with Reigns! The pair have brilliant chemistry and their segments, promos, and matches have been some of the best of the year It's again crazy to think this has been one of my favorite feuds of the year. Its taken me back to the attitude era with their beat downs being so brutal and barbaric. They have been so fun to watch and their matches against one another have been far more entertaining than I ever could have expected. As we enter the mid point of the year and the Summer Strowman remains one of the top stars and as he looks to be focusing his attentions on Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar and the WWE Universal Championship the big guy doesn't look to be slowing down and I'm very very excited to see what the second half of the year holds for him.

Roman Reigns

I know I know I know, but I had to. While I you won't catch me wearing an "I love Roman Reigns" shirt any time soon he has without a shadow of a doubt been one of the best all around performers of twenty seventeen so far and not placing him in this list just would have been stupid. He's the guy we all cannot stop talking about and unlike previous years we're talking about him for the right reasons.
Sure, the WWE continue to make huge mistakes when it comes to Reigns but they really are starting to get it and Roman himself has managed to find a perfect balance. The WWE most certainly should have turned Reigns heel a long time ago and they once again had the perfect opportunity during Wrestlemania season but there's a balance now and Roman really has developed his character and found something that works. While he's booked as a baby face he doesn't come across like one and that balance between being a heel and a baby face works. Of course a full heel turn would be perfect but its the improvements in his character and what we have seen there from him that has allowed me to be able to sit here and say he's winning me over and I'm totally becoming a fan. At the start of the year we saw some work go down between him and Kevin Owens and the then US Champion Chris Jericho and we got some decent work from him but the turning point was Wrestlemania were he faced off against the Undertaker. Okay, so this booking decision was always going to be controversial, its the Undertaker after all. The Mania main event we all wanted this year was Taker VS Cena and when we got Roman instead it was beyond a touch disappointing but again as always, Roman made it work. The match wasn't the best but far from the worse and I did find myself glued to my TV screen. The end result... well... where do I begin?  Honestly? I hated it at first but after about twenty four hours my opinions has changed so much. The crowd reaction Reigns got the night after said it all and all he had to say was five words "this is my yard now". He got the biggest set of boos I have ever heard and he was a star. Plain and simple. We were all talking about him and he felt like a huge deal. Since then his rivalry with Braun Strowman has been some of his best work and showcased a new side to his character and with him now chasing after Lesnar and the Universal Championship things look to be remaining very strong for Roman and the rest of two thousand and seventeen appears to be just as strong for the big dog.

AJ Styles

And finally, the current United States Champion, AJ Styles.Honestly, there really was no other superstar I could have placed in the top spot. He was the breakout star of twenty sixteen and he has remained firmly at the top throughout the year of twenty seventeen. Styles started the year off as the WWE Champion and once again  feuding with John Cena. I of course had no issues with these two going at it again, the pair have really good chemistry and their history says it all. This is something fans all around the world can invest in and enjoy and I certainly loved the work we saw from them this year. While it wasn't as storyline heavy as their previous feud their match at the Royal Rumble remains the best main roster match of twenty seventeen and is a match I have gone back and re- watched at least five more times. Talking of  best matches, at Wrestlemania this year Styles entered a feud with Smackdown LIVE commissioner Shane McMahon and while I and the rest of the world had our doubts this was another huge success. The problem I and so many others had with this was

that we just believed Styles deserved better for Mania but the story was strong and my interest grew every single week. When Mania rolled around this was one of the first matches of the night (probably the first) and it was in actual fact the best match of the night. For Styles to not only put on the match of Wrestlemania but to do it against Shane McMahon speaks volumes and proved yet again that AJ Styles is a wrestling god and arguably the best wrestler in the world today... okay bold statement but he at least ranks in the top five in my personal opinion. Since then the WWE have kept Styles booking well and he has forever remained a top star. His face turn after Wrestlemania made perfect sense. It doesn't matter who he faces or what role he has the fans are going to be firmly behind him and so the move made perfect sense. He's faced off against the likes of Baron Corbin, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens and Chad Gable all of which have been great matches. He competed in his first ever Money in the Bank ladder match and as the current United States champion AJ Styles is the WWE superstar of the year so far and as it currently looks, no one will be taking that title off him. Lets just hope we get to see him vs Nakamura real soon!

And there we have it! My top ten WWE Superstars of the Year so far! This has been so fun to write and I'm really excited to go back and take a look at some of the best matches of the year so far.  For now, you can let me know who has been your superstar of the year so far by leaving a comment bellow or by dropping me a tweet over at @TezangiVictoria.