10 WWE Predictions We All Got Completely Wrong In 2017
Unforseen
Driven predominantly by Dave Meltzer and selected other news reporters, the discussion amongst Internet Wrestling Community denizens keeps grap-chat fresh in the fleeting minutes during the week when WWE aren't broadcasting new content.
Alongside a thriving independent scene, New Japan Pro Wrestling setting the standard for contemporary output and WWE Network's vast and ever-expanding archives, there's never been more product to pore over and subsequently more discussion to be had.
It was largely the same at the start of the year, with the 2017 Royal Rumble setting tongues wagging based on star power alone, whilst Kenny Omega and Kazuchika Okada assembled an encounter so breathtaking that it caused the aforementioned Wrestling Observer doyen to rethink his own scale. It would happen all over again just months later.
Indeed, this year had the lot, but so much of it was impossible to even imagine twelve months ago. Rational suggestions and forecasts emerged from rational minds, but an increasingly unpredictable industry rendered them obsolete time and time again.
Most probably could have imagined ringing in the New Year with Brock Lesnar and AJ Styles at the top of the respective WWE trees, but how many could have posited the pair making a late play for match of the year on a Survivor Series show headlined by Triple H and Kurt Angle Wrestling went batsh*t crazy again in 2017. Who really saw that coming?
10. Finn Bálor Will Fight Brock Lesnar
Let down by a listless post-WrestleMania return, Finn fans look set to suffer yet again if rumours of Vince McMahon's sudden disinterest in the character are to be believed.
'The Demon King's name was allegedly scribbled next to Universal Champion Brock Lesnar's at the planning stage for the 2018 Royal Rumble. It'd see him finally making good on a promise to regain the Raw brand's top strap after being forced to surrender it due to injury in 2016. As maiden titleholder, Bálor spent a mere 24 hours with the prize, having injured his shoulder in his SummerSlam strap scrap with Seth Rollins.
Unfortunately, McMahon has deemed Finn no longer 'over' enough. He's not wrong, either. But isn't that because they didn't get to the match a lot, lot sooner?
Bálor's character looked wetter that a row of Triple H ringsiders when he didn't immediately make a play for the prize. Fans literally shouted for it - his name was chanted as Paul Heyman made his first address as advocate of the new champion. But the feud and match never materialised, and outside of a masterful job Heyman did of putting Finn over shortly before one the of Irish star's only attempts to become Number One Contender, he's literally never been in the conversation.