Ice Chilled Presents: My Worst of 2017 in Pro Wrestling & MMA

Every year the guys over at PostWrestling.com give their worst of lists at the year's end and it's always one of their most funnest podcasts of the year. It's a purging of the system and some of the things from 2017 in the world of professional wrestling and MMA have definitely left a need for some purging. I always love to follow along so this year I'll play along with the Post Wrestling guys and mention my own worst ofs on here.

WORST WRESTLER (Male)

My Winner: Bray Wyatt

My Runner Up: Takashi Iizuka

My Take: This sucks. Let me just state that this is more of an indictment on how the company itself has handled this character as opposed to the man himself as I still firmly believe that the character still holds great potential. Bray Wyatt's WWE debut was one of the most exciting moments that I can ever remember as a WWE fan. Everything was just so different about the presentation of the character. Since then the character has suffered from losing numerous rivalries against top names. So much so that whenever he enters in a new feud it always feels inconsequential since he always loses the blow-off match. Now looking back at 2017, his WWE Championship run was an afterthought, his WrestleMania match against Randy Orton with the bugs projected on the mat wasn't very well received and the feud with Finn Balor halted the momentum for both guys among other things. Bray Wyatt should be The Undertaker of this new generation or at least a long-tenuring cerebral heel but instead I feel as though the company has no clue how properly utilize him. It's so simple too. WWE's big headlining Superstars like John Cena are already established and won't suffer from losing a feud. Why not give Wyatt a couple of high profile wins and see what happens.

WORST WRESTLER (Female)

My Winner: Lana

My Take: She was absolutely perfect as Rusev's valet but of course, the WWE always loves to fix things that aren't broken and so we got Lana as an in-ring competitor. In a company that is really going hard promoting a women's revolution....I'm sorry..."women's evolution", female competitors in the WWE (and all across wrestling) are competing (Or have the ability to) at a top level. Lana is that wrestler that is not like the others. If she continues to wrestle, here's hoping she can improve to a point where she can win my Best Comeback Award next year. Likely or Unlikely? (Probably not)

WORST TAG TEAM

My Winners: Titus O'Neil & Apollo Crews

My Take: In my opinion, this is a case of two very talented dudes being completely misused. Titus definitely has the look to be involved in a few high profile WWE programs but the goofy stuff that the company has made him do throughout the years definitely doesn't help to cast Titus in such a light. Sure, people would probably complain about his workrate but that hasn't stopped the WWE from doing such things in the past. I feel Titus could have definitely had a run at least challenging for a main title.

Back when I used to catch Dragon Gate shows more often, I always thought that Uhaa Nation (AKA Apollo Crews) was a shoe-in for a spot on the WWE roster. Aaand that's basically where he's at but nothing really more than that. Just another guy on the roster. The WWE was once (and sometimes still can be) a star making machine. If they gave some of that WWE sheen on Crews and presented him better then perhaps he wouldn't be just another guy on the roster. A 2017 babyface version of the MVP gimmick was something I thought that they were shooting for upon his arrival to the company but he remains a generic babyface.

Together, the pairing seems like a natural fit with Titus' promos backing up Apollo's in-ring ability. However, the company books them as a prelim act and so they remain. I love what these two guys are capable are doing together and hope that the WWE really gives these two something to chew on in 2018.

WORST ON THE MIC

My Winner: Bray Wyatt

My Runner Up: Baron Corbin

My Take: At first, his cryptic promos had a real novelty to them but fast forward to 2017 and my eyes just glaze over whenever he's trying to convey his thoughts in the form of metal lyrics that are coupled with WWE-speak.

WORST ANNOUNCER

My Winner: Percy Watson

My Take: Out of all my picks on this list, this one hurts the most. That 30-second 2010 NXT hype vignette of his remains one of my favorite pro wrestling hype vignettes of all time. There was just an imeasurable amount of charisma that blasted through my TV screen. Sure he had limited experience, but that's why you leave him in developmental a bit longer. As far as his return to the WWE as a part the NXT commentary team, that charisma just doesn't translate and his skills alongside Mauro Ranallo and/or Nigel McGuinness leave a little something to be desired. Here's hoping for some improvement and maybe even some in-ring action from "Showtime" because I feel that his charisma is definitely something that the WWE (or anyone else) can benefit from.

WORST NON-WRESTLING PERFORMER

My Winner: Stephanie McMahon

My Take: Nobody makes me roll my eyes more and I truly don't understand her role. Even Mr. McMahon served as a proper foil to Steve Austin and others during his run as a heel authority figure but the Stephanie character rarely, if ever, shows any comeuppance. It really undermines every person that she is in a segment with because they come off as simply people playing in her world. I'll give credit where it's most deserved and she is most definitely dynamite on the mic. I just hope for other people to get the last laugh in to benefit from a promo battle over the queen of queens.

WORST GIMMICK

My Winner: Dolph Ziggler

My Take: Yet another person who I always enjoy watching in the ring but the company has somehow found a way for me to tune out of. There's always been a start and stop nature when it comes to Dolph Ziggler that has made it hard for long-time fans to really take serious whenever he cuts those "I don't care anymore and I mean it this time promos". I feel as though the deal where he'd come out to other people's music before ultimately coming out to no music was the point where some really started to roll their eyes at this character. It's not so difficult. Have him kill it in the ring like he always does and hold off on all of that extra "Lost my smile 2.0" stuff. He's clearly got what it takes and then some. Stop stifling the guy.

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

My Winner: Bray Wyatt vs Randy Orton in a House of Horrors match at WWE Payback

My Take: I already described how Bray Wyatt feuds are usually tune-out segments for me but let's bring all of that back for a moment and add in the whole "Sister Abigail buried under a barn" thing, along with Randy burning said barn down (an admittedly cool visual on my part), the WrestleMania match with the sperm following Randy and the insect slideshows playing on the ring mat during the match, and then let's add the House of Horrors match in there as the cherry on top as my worst match of 2017. The WWE have booked outside-of-the-ring fights before. Remember the APA bar fights back in the day? Those were certainly entertaining but the House of Horrors match? Yikes.

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

My Winner: Borash/Mathews

My Take: One of the worst things in professional wrestling are feuding commentators. Remember heel Michael Cole? The feud between Josh Mathews and Jeremy Borash was no different. It seemed pointless. No one benefited from it and it took away from whatever was happening in the ring. These two are extremely talented to be doing such things. Either have Josh as a heel manager and have the company benefit from an aspect of pro wrestling that WWE doesn't call upon in this modern era or simply don't do these commentator versus commentator thing. 

THEY REALLY DROPPED THE BALL ON

My Winner: Shinsuke Nakamura

My Runners Up: The women's division/Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows

My Take: When Nakamura first signed with the WWE there were rumblings of fear among some fans that the WWE wouldn't know the diamond that they had with Shinsuke. Welp, we were right! Aside from a great match with Sami Zayn and John Cena, what has he done on the main roster? He's an afterthought! Shinsuke Nakamura, an afterthought? What kind of world is this?! Here was a dude who's cool factor at one point EXCEDED that of The Bullet Club and was considered to be one of the best wrestlers in the world. Just watch his match with Kota Ibushi at Wrestle Kingdom 9 to get my point. I flew from my home in Boston to Toronto, Ontario, Canada just because it was my very first opportunity to watch Nakamura outside of Japan. I cannot understate how much of a fan I was of his. However, now the WWE did what it does best to the man and that is make him as just another guy on the roster.

WORST ANGLE

My Winner: Bayley, This is Your Life

My Take: You could just tell that Alexa and Bayley did all that they could to salvage the wreckage that they were given to work with for this segment so props to them but MAN! When it comes to This Is Your Life segments, leave those to mic masters like The Rock, Chris Jericho, Stone Cold Steve Austin or even Paul Heyman. This segment just died a death on the air and the fans in the crowd definitely let them know it. So much cringe here.

WORST EVENT (Wrestling)

WWE Battleground

My Take: The return of the infamous Punjabi Prison Match and The Great Khali, the Rusev/Cena flag match, that weird finish to the AJ Styles/Kevin Owens match, the annoying DQ finish in the Nakamura/Corbin match and Mike Bennett as just another dude on the roster in a one-sided match to Sami Zayn. How about I fork up $9.99 to avoid shows like this that waste my time? Props to The Usos/New Day match though. That was the silver lining on this show (as well as the Styles/Owens match sans wack finish).

WORST EVENT (MMA)

UFC 208

My Take: A card with nine decisions on it, a main event riddled with fouls, the judges robbing Berek Brunson a win, De Randamie subsequently being stripped of the title that she won after declining a fight with Cyborg. Ugh, moving along...

WORST PROMOTION

TNA Wrestling/GFW/Impact Wrestling

My Take: Impact continues to defy death and continues on alive (but not in the greatest of conditions) on to 2018. 2017 saw too many changes in leadership behind the scenes as well as on screen. Money woes, Alberto in the media woes, Borash vs Mathews woes and identity woes just to name a few. The show is generic and the matches are meh but the wrestlers on the roster are not to blame since I've seen them kill it elsewhere. Hopefully Don Callis and Scott D'Amore will end up being the antidote that helps to cure this ailing product going forward. Props though to that Braxton Sutter/Laurel Van Ness wedding angle, DeAngelo Williams being surprisingly great and Dan Lambert. 

WORST TV SHOW

My Winner: WWE 205 Live

My Runner Up: Impact Wrestling

My Take: Impact is just generic. 205 Live is basically WWE Superstars or WWE Main Event with a weight limit. Watch the Cruiserweight Classic and then watch an episode or two of 205 Live and you'll notice a disconnect. You have Cruiserweight guys working a heavyweight style with lots of rest holds with not much stakes attached. Add some of these 205 Live guys on a NJPW or ROH show and just wait to see the difference unfolding before your eyes. On top of that you bump the WWE Cruiserweight Championship match between Neville and Austin Aries from the WrestleMania main card which sends the message that this "exciting and new division" is not really something worth prioritizing your time for. In addition, It's so weird to see that they took Enzo Amore, someone who you don't really think of when you hear the phrase "Cruiserweight action", turned him into an annoying heel and just had him talk for most of the show every week as a way to draw in viewers. A strategy that strays further and further away from what originally made the CWC such a delight to watch.

WORST Non “In Ring” TV show

My Winner: Total Divas

My Take: Perhaps this was my pick simply because I am 100% not the intended demographic but Total Divas is the one show where I have to work up the resolve to sit down and get through and when I do, you better believe that it's playing at 2X speed. Rusev and Jimmy Uso are little enjoyable nuggets of joy but overall on a weekly basis, this show is so tough for me to care about. 

• Alexa doesn't eat pork and forbids her loved ones from doing so? Don't care. Outside of the occasional plate of pork fried rice, pork isn't even really my thing either.
• Maryse is the fashionista who takes offense to not being in the same conversation as wrestlers such as Bayley and Sasha Banks...Seriously, Maryse? You feel like you're on the same level or are a part of that NXT women's revolution scene? * Cringe face*
• Lana's feud with Nattie? Don't care.
• Anything that The Bellas do on the show? Don't care. Especially the scenes with Brie and Bryan's daughter. It feels so weird to see their most private moments play out on TV.
• Props to No Chill Nia, Trin and Nattie who are re the ones that keep my pulse alive watching this show every week.

MOST DISAPPOINTING FIGHTER

Jon Jones

My Take: So many missed opportunities that this dude has continually cost himself. Just what would his legacy be if he were to stay out of all of the trouble he's always in? He'd probably be in the conversation to be one of the greatest fighters of all time. He may still be but I feel as though there's always going to be a certain "what could have been" factor when talking about Jones and his legacy.

WORST MMA FIGHT

My Winner: UFC Welterweight Champion, Tyron Woodley vs Stephen Thompson for the UFC Welterweight Championship at UFC 209

My Take: I actually didn't hate this fight as much as a lot of people did but when looking back at 2017 and looking at this fight's high profile position, it was indeed a bit of a lackluster affair.

WTF MOMENT OF THE YEAR

My Winner: Anthem parting ways with the LAW guys.

My Take: John Pollock, Wai Ting, Jason Agnew, Dan "The Mouth" Lovranski and the LAW extended family have been a part of my everyday life since 2009. Before that, I didn't even know what a podcast was. I simply wanted a show to listen to at work about pro wrestling with people who knew what they were talking about. The LAW was it. One of the coolest moments of my life was travelling to Toronto in 2013 for ROH/NJPW Global Wars and getting to meet Wai, Jay, Mouth and John (who I feel like I embarassed myself in front of by wearing his shirt and telling some lame ass funny story about it. John is my favorite of the guys so I want a do-over on that meeting).

With all of that said, when I found out that the guys were all let go, it was a legitimate "WHAT THE FUCK" moment. Anthem would claim on their site that The LAW wasn't cancelled and would come back retooled and with a new cast of guys. No thanks, fuck that and thanks for canning such an awesome product. It's seriously so good to see the guys continue to do their thing as a part of Post Wrestling. It would have definitely left a major void in my everyday life without them.