10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About 2017

10. The Public Image Battering

The departure of Mauro Ranallo revealed, yet again, the toxic culture at the dark heart of WWE - a culture all but flaunted by Vince McMahon by, for example, ordering the acrophobic Enzo Amore into an elevated shark cage at this year's SummerSlam.

Buried by influential backstage players for having the audacity to suffer from debilitating mental health issues at the onset of WrestleMania, Ranallo was given hush money to stay shtum. Though he eventually returned in the marginalised NXT environment, his brief departure set forth a deluge of criticism from the likes of Justin Roberts, whose own experience of bullying was chronicled with unflinching, depressing honesty. The alleged perpetrator, JBL, conveniently, if belatedly, left the company - perhaps to stave off immediate accusations of guilt.

Not that he's the problem; the man credited for creating the culture remains forever at its helm.

WWE obviously would rather you forget about the whole ghastly business, and (un)fortunately, the outlier appeal of pro wrestling affords them that luxury - even in a year in which the awful underbelly of the wider entertainment industry was exposed. The wider mainstream media simply doesn't get hits covering wrestling, unless one of its stars murders his family. Rich Swann's recent arrest lit up only a minuscule corner of Twitter.

It will take something far worse, sadly, to stem this tide.