10 Most Controversial Wrestlers Of 2017
The veiny, the vain, and the vultures.
"If [WWE Match X] took place in the Tokyo Dome, Dave Meltzer would award it five stars."
Dave Meltzer was the most controversial wrestling figure of 2017.
He set his stall out spectacularly early by showering Kazuchika Okada Vs. Kenny Omega, from NJPW Wrestle Kingdom XI, with a stupendous six-star rating - a move that enraged WWE loyalists, the vast majority of whom wouldn't have seen it. And yet, with no frame of reference themselves, they accused Big Dave of bias. It's misinformed, as well as ironic; Meltzer went years and years without awarding the full ***** rating to New Japan; prior to 2012, no Japanese match, at all, received the maximum for eight years. This gap coincided with a downturn in the popularity of puroresu, true, but that isn't necessarily prohibitive. PWG, the recipient of three ***** matches in the last two years, is a very niche promotion. It's also ironic that Meltzer often overrates WWE matches too much for the liking of some, and yet is accused of underrating them by a certain pocket of WWE apologists.
What's more ironic is that those who hate Meltzer for dominating the wrestling media only serve to mythologise him by creaking out these terrible takes.
As for the actual wrestlers...
10. Jinder Mahal
For:
Best get Jinder out of the way early, since he is already an artefact - and about as interesting as one. WWE Heavyweight Title win was a monumental shocker in this WWE age of myopic stubbornness and a refusal to cement headliners with any real conviction. It's nice to have something to talk about, isn't it? Improved his body language, in addition to his body: at times, with his guttural promos and gurning face, he projected something resembling menace. The Singh Brothers were good at bumping. Us Content Producers got acres of mileage out of Jinder Mahal in 2017, so there's that.
Against:
He was a jobber masquerading as WWE Heavyweight Champion purely to wrest rupees from the hands of an Indian market who, hilariously, did not care at all. Matches ranged from just passable to abjectly tedious when not confronted by AJ Styles, who drew yet more comparisons to Shawn Michaels with his expert work as a luggage handler. Couldn't apply his finish, winning was that unfamiliar to him. Could apply genuinely embarrassing racist overtones to feud with Shinsuke Nakamura, stigmatised as a nonentity through his bafflingly unflattering association with the Modern Day Maharaja.
Author Verdict:
Was bored sh*tless throughout the summer. Even apathy was an impossible emotion to feel.