WWE: Why Alexa Bliss is the 2017 Female Superstar of the Year

How “Little Miss Bliss” absolutely dominated the WWE Women’s division in 2017.

It’s really been a crazy few years for Alexa Bliss. “Meteoric Rise” might be the best way to describe it. Having been signed to a developmental deal by the WWE in May of 2013 without a speck of experience in the industry, she made her debut just four months after putting pen to paper.

By the spring of 2014 “Five Feet of Fury” was already sniffing at the NXT Women’s Championship when she was ousted in a #1 contender tournament by Charlotte Flair in the semi-finals. But as fast as she started at Full Sail University, she could never really seem to take that next step. She had a few more title chances but was unsuccessful in her attempts to dethrone both Sasha Banks and Bayley.

However, on July 19th Bliss was drafter to SmackDown Live as part of the 2016 WWE draft. Initially caught up in the emotion of such a monumental step, she wasted no time taking aim at the SmackDown Women’s Championship. And in just five months after her promotion to the main roster, Bliss made the most her opportunity as she dethroned Becky Lynch at TLC for the blue brand’s title belt.

So as she walked in to 2017 as champion, most believed that Bliss had a potentially huge year ahead of her. But no one would’ve expected just how huge it turned out.

By the end of February, Bliss had become a two-time champ for SmackDown after she dropped the belt to Naomi at the Elimination Chamber pay per view only to win it back a week later in  another match against Lynch after Naomi was injured. But shortly after Wrestlemania 33 where Bliss lost the belt back to Naomi as part of a six-pack challenge, “Little Miss Bliss” was drafted to RAW as part of the 2017 superstar shake-up.

Where as it took Bliss five months to win the blue brands belt, it took her just 20 days to win it on the red brand as she bested Bayley at Payback and became the first women to ever hold both show’s titles. She spent the rest of the spring and summer fighting off “The Huggable One” as well Mickie James and Sasha Banks until “The Boss” struck gold at SummerSlam. But much like Bliss’ first title loss, her absence from the belt was not long as she took the strap back from Banks just eight days later on an episode of RAW.

Since recapturing the belt at the end of August, Bliss has reigned supreme. Now, some may argue that she has benefited from the help of Nia Jax and therefore her accomplishments aren’t as impressive as they look. But if you think about it, has it always been that way for top-notch heels? Ric Flair had Arn Anderson. Hulk Hogan had the NWO. Shawn Michaels and Triple H had DX. The list goes on and on. But Bliss has used what ever means necessary to remain champ and frustrate every challenger that steps in the ring with her.

And just how impressive and dominant was Bliss in 2017? She began the year as champion and had that belt for the first 41 days of the year. Her second run with the SmackDown title lasted 40 days. And since coming to RAW, when the year ends, her two combined title reigns will have run 237 days. For the entire year, Bliss has been world champion for 318 days.

That means for only 47 days this year, Alexa Bliss was not wearing championship gold. Throw the win/loss record aside, it means nothing when it comes heels. Holding a world title for about 90% of the year is about as commanding as it gets and Bliss continues to get the job done in big moments.

2018 should be an even tougher one for Bliss. With the return of Paige and with that, the debuts of Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose, her pool of challengers just got that much deeper. And with the announcement of the first ever women’s Royal Rumble next month, there’s a possibility that she may have her next real challenger sooner rather than later.

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But no matter what the next calendar years holds for Bliss, 2018 was undoubtedly the year of “The Goddess”.