10 Wrestlers Without Direction For WWE SummerSlam 2017

8. Elias

Charlotte Becky Lynch
WWE.com

With notable performances in matches against Finn Bálor and Dean Ambrose, Elias (no longer Samson, nor 'The Drifter'), marked his territory as one of the year's surprise packages on WWE's flagship show.

A forgotten man before he'd even left NXT, the crooner had little to offer on the surface of his developmental displays, but slotted in remarkably well on the character-driven main roster. His antagonistic songs have been the undisputed highlight of his tenure thus far, working in cheap digs at each town he performs in with a charismatic sneer reminiscent of Edge and Christian's crowd-baiting 2000 best.

The conclusion to his mini-programme with Bálor sadly seemed to mark the end of a purple patch for the Pittsburgh native, with his Toronto ditty this week relegated to Main Event and his Demonic opponent positioned against Bray Wyatt in the bloody aftermath of their most riveting clash.

The future hopefully remains bright for the dark guitar star, with plenty of opportunity to grow and progress against a host of talents on Raw, but SummerSlam unfortunately emerged that little bit too quickly to afford him a maiden pay-per-view clash.

Contributor
Contributor

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