10 Best WWE Wrestlers Of 2017

5. Samoa Joe

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WWE

Is Samoa Joe the solution to a problem WWE are pretending not to have?

In Brock Lesnar, they have a Universal Champion that thrives from hardly being anywhere near the actual product. Monday Night Raw is both barren and over-loaded. It's a three-hour creative sinkhole, swallowing in even the most dynamic performers to the minutiae and mundanity of the downtrodden day-to-day life of the WWE Superstar.

As Universal Champion, Lesnar pops up with his mouthpiece once in a while, drops a scrub on a pay-per-view then departs. Samoe Joe, if anybody could be, may be the full-time version of 'The Beast'.

Harnessing an unshakable charisma as an ice cold killer from lengthy unbeaten spells in Ring Of Honor and TNA, the 'Samoan Submission Machine' rediscovered his confidence in NXT and followed through on that promise with one of the best main roster ascensions in the history of the develipmental brand.

Left off of WrestleMania but no worse off for it, Joe went in at the top level undertaking assassin duties for Triple H, and hasn't slid down the card since. Multi-man pay-per-view main events have seen him take a share of the spotlight rather than fading into the background, and his solo run at Brock Lesnar ousted Braun Strowman's effort by some distance. In 'The Beast', the company has a part-time unstoppable monster as Universal Champion. Samoa Joe may be the one to do it four nights a week.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett