WWE: Ranking The Top 10 Female Superstars of 2017

4. Naomi

I have a bit of a soft spot for wrestlers who have proven me wrong, and Naomi did just that in 2017. At the beginning of the year, I saw Naomi as kind of a generic babyface character, but her second run as SmackDown Women’s Champion after her win at WrestleMania 33 made me a big believer in “The Glow”.

Although Naomi seemed to lack chemistry with Charlotte in the ring, most of her matches as champion were solid, particularly her final match at SummerSlam against Natalya. That battle seemed like a culmination of all of the in-ring improvements that Naomi made.

Naomi never had a real singles feud as a champion, but she still made the title feel important. She also came across as a fighting champion and seemed like both a legit bad-ass and a sympathetic babyface, depending on which type of promo she was asked to cut. Her work on Talking Smack was some of the most underrated in 2017, because it was cool to listen to her talk about her matches and her journey.

I can’t think of many wrestlers in 2017 who either improved more or put in more work than Naomi, and the pop she received near the end of 2017 on an episode of SmackDown Live when announcing her appearance at the first women’s Royal Rumble was a sound to behold.

It also doesn’t hurt that Naomi is one of the best hot tags in WWE.