10 Early Wrestling Predictions For 2017
5. We Will Wave Goodbye To...
...Titus O'Neill, Rosa Mendes, Tamina, The Ascension and Zack Ryder.
WWE's annual bout of Spring Cleaning has been scaled back in recent years, but with the NXT reservoir overflowing, and squash matches back in vogue, new stars are in abundance - and enhancement talent comes far cheaper.
O'Neill just isn't very good, and if he's not passable by now, he never will be. His charitable outside endeavours have possibly afforded him a pass in years gone by, but that surely isn't enough to save him. He was given a chance to excel in his U.S. title series with Rusev - but their series was a heat-free bore. His interminable feud with Darren Young makes an already boring three hour RAW feel like its six hours in length.
Roas Mendes has been a liability in the past, and is entirely irrelevant in 2016. Tamina's chances of a sustained push were questionable even before WWE started letting their women wrestlers wrestle. That she can barely wrestle - or appear in glamorous photo shoots - does not auger well.
The Ascension were castrated before they became main roster-pubescent. They're making up the numbers on a show that likely won't need propping up post-WrestleMania call-up season.
Ryder at some point will surely grow weary of the WWE machine that has wilfully obstructed him. If anybody is to jump ship of their own volition, a la Cody Rhodes and Wade Barrett, it's likely him.