10 WWE Matches of 2017 that didn't live up to the expectations
Every year has its best matches. Every year also has its worst. 2017, in particular, seemed like a year of high highs and low lows. We saw some really, really great matches on one hand, but on the other, we also saw some really, really bad things.
These 10 were the worst of the bunch and fortunately, the card developing for Clash of Champions thus far doesn't look like it will have anything surpassing these atrocious showings. Most of these matches were terrible because of the work rate, but pure in-ring action alone doesn't make or break a match. Some of them were terrible because of the moment they created or signified, which was more meaningful than the match itself. Taking all of these factors into consideration, I've ranked them accordingly. Not everyone will agree with a list like this, but I believe that most would have chosen a good number of these matches on their own lists highlighting 2017's worst.
#10 Alexa Bliss vs. Naomi vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella vs. Mickie James (WrestleMania 33)
For all the self-congratulatory talk of a so-called "women's revolution", the past year or so has sure resembled the Divas matches we thought were supposed to have disappeared. Aside from Alexa Bliss' reign of terror, the biggest force of regression in the division is the series of meaningless multi-women matches WWE still loves to put out that are often of short duration (maybe not as short as before, but short nonetheless). This kind of booking has allowed few meaningful programs and stories to develop in the women's division in 2017, and the SmackDown Women's Championship match at WrestleMania was the highest-profile case of this.
There wasn't much to it. Alexa Bliss would defend her title against every other SmackDown woman. The entrances took about as long as the match itself...and they were all rushed, Naomi excepted. No one here really had an opportunity to display the fullest of her talents, though we did get a catfight spot between Alexa Bliss and Carmella, reminding us that though the Divas Championship was retired a year earlier, its ghost certainly lingers strongly.
We did get a cool spot with the double sharpshooter from Natalya on Carmella and Naomi, but the match quickly degenerated again until Naomi made Alexa Bliss tap out with the most anticlimactic submission finish possible.
Though other matches throughout the year were much worse in terms of work rate, this short, convoluted match was far more meaningful in that it showed us beyond doubt that WWE has a "one step forward, one step back" approach to its female talent, much like the 50/50 booking that keeps them all so clustered together.