ESPN Reveals Its Picks for Male, Female and Tag Team Pro Wrestlers of 2017

ESPN has published a new article offering their picks for the best male and female pro wrestlers of 2017, and the list contains talents ranging from promotions such as WWE to New Japan Pro Wrestling and more.

The list for male pro wrestler of the year is in no specific order, and includes names such as AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, Jinder Mahal, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. On AJ Styles, the article notes the following:

Let’s take a look at AJ Styles’ pay-per-view résumé for 2017. He started the year at the Royal Rumble with an instant match of the year candidate against John Cena, in which Cena beat Styles for his record-tying 16th world championship. The following month in the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE championship, he started the match with Cena and went over 30 minutes as the glue that held everything together until he was the last one eliminated at the hands of Bray Wyatt. He floated around the title picture on TV over the next few months, and then fans lamented that he was put into a program with Shane McMahon leading up to WrestleMania. So what does he do in Orlando? He opens the main card, goes more than 20 minutes with Shane-O-Mac and has what could easily be deemed the best match on the whole damn card.

On the female side of the roundup, ESPN named stars such as Asuka, Alexa Bliss and Charlotte Flair. On Asuka, the article noted the following:

Asuka is the female performer of the year primarily because of her stellar NXT performances in the first half of 2017 — but she also gets major points for wrapping up a legacy-defining run as NXT women’s champion that dates back to 2016. At 523 days, Asuka blew away almost all of the modern title reigns in the WWE and only a few women even came close to dethroning her during that stretch. While Asuka’s legend was built upon her TakeOver matches in 2016, her last two title defenses as NXT women’s champion stand out as two of the best women’s matches of 2017.

Finally, ESPN offered its picks for tag teams of the year, and topping the list are the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Champions, The Usos. Other teams mentioned include The New Day and The Bar. On The Usos, the article notes the following:

It’s not paranoia, but it’s about damn time. From 2011, very early on in their WWE tenure, all the way through September 2016, The Usos played a charismatic but largely one-dimensional pair of smiling good guys. Their change in personality and sudden edge immediately played in their favor, but it took some time for them to fully settle into a groove. They won the SmackDown tag team titles in March, and did well for a stretch, but everything hit an entirely different level when The New Day moved over to SmackDown.