10 Best WWE Matches Of 2017 (So Far)
Spoiler alert: there's a lot of AJ Styles...
WWE don't always make the best use of their colossal roster. The talent is there, but miscast alignments bland storylines, and confusing booking decisions often undo their good work. The company love derailing great wrestling with bad writing, and the practice is alive and well in 2017.
Athletic standards are higher than ever before, but sadly, wrestling always seems to play second fiddle to drama in a sports entertainment environment. It's incredibly frustrating, because if WWE were to focus more on in-ring action and less on polluting their shows with overbooked angles, their product would be much easier to digest.
Fortunately, there are so many outstanding wrestlers on WWE's roster that great matches are inevitable, despite the company's many flaws. The likes of AJ Styles stand among the best in the world, and when they're able to transcend their restrictive environment, they're capable of producing dramatic spectacles on a huge global platform that no other promotion can match.
2017 hasn't been a goldmine, but WWE have produced a healthy number of great matches across their many brands. It's a shame they can't happen more often, but each of these contests left the fanbase buzzing, and the critics purring.
10. AJ Styles Vs. Dean Ambrose (SmackDown - 31st January)
Some of WWE’s best matches have taken place on standard weekly television this year, with AJ Styles vs. Dean Ambrose standing as SmackDown’s finest offering. The two had a strong set of pay-per-view matches at Backlash and TLC last year, and were able to take their existing chemistry, transplant it into the restrictive TV match format, and work a strong bout on January 31st.
Ambrose was Intercontinental Champion at the time, while AJ had just lost the WWE Championship to John Cena. The match served as a warm up for the forthcoming Elimination Chamber, with Miz and Baron Corbin sitting on commentary. Their presence played into the finish as the referee, distracted by them brawling, missed Ambrose scoring a clear pin on Styles, but the overbooking didn’t drag the match down.
The duo did an excellent job of repeating past spots, working a series of exciting back and forth sequences that had the notoriously quiet Corpus Christi crowd filling the building with noise. Ambrose was allowed to control much of the match and the finish kept him protected, meaning that while AJ won, both emerged stronger than when they’d walked in.