Worst Superstar: No Way Jose
When No Way Jose debuted in NXT back in 2016, I hated him. All I could see was yet another WWE wrestler who was nothing more than a stereotype – a Dominican who loves salsa dancing and baseball? Come on, man. NXT is supposed to be better than that.
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Turns out, NXT was better than that. Jose grew on me as the year went on, with enough subtle tweaks to the character that it all made sense. It wasn’t so much a Saba Simba thing as it was early Usos – the culture was being honored rather than mocked.
So color me surprised when 2017 came and No Way Jose not only didn’t make any forward progress, but even took a step backward. The biggest thing that happened to him in 2017 was getting attacked by SAnitY at WrestleMania AXXESS, thus missing out on possibly the biggest event of the year (TakeOver: Orlando). That was back in April, and No Way Jose hasn’t been on a single TakeOver since.
It seems like he’s been a forgotten superstar in 2017. Every so often, he shows up to do his conga line – once, just so Lars Sullivan could decimate him before the scheduled match. When he competes on television, it’s never an important match – he’s got no story, no direction. Jose may not be the prototypical NXT Champion – and I’m not saying he should be NXT Champion – but he at least deserves a decent storyline.
Honorable Mention: Kassius Ohno
This may be unfair to put Ohno here, but if you really look at what he’s done since returning to NXT, it’s not much. He jumped right in to face Bobby Roode for the NXT Title – and lost. He had a brief feud with Hideo Itami, and then put Lars Sullivan over at TakeOver: WarGames. To say his run has been somewhat disappointing would be fair.