10 most misused WWE wrestlers of 2017

#6 Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura needs to recreate magic in the ring

Yes, I know that Shinsuke Nakamura was more or less thrust into the main event scene upon his arrival on SmackDown, but...just hear me out.

Nakamura is renowned as one of the best and most charismatic wrestlers on the planet. For those that didn't catch his work in New Japan Pro Wrestling, he proved his worth with his absolute showstopper of a match against Sami Zayn at NXT TakeOver: Dallas last year. He would continue exciting audiences in NXT, as he went undefeated for the first seven months of his run and became one of only two men to have held the NXT Championship twice (the other being Samoa Joe). It seemed as if Nakamura was on track to be a sure-fire main eventer on the main roster.

When he finally debuted on the SmackDown after WrestleMania 33, his booking was very unfocused. In his first night, he interrupted The Miz and Maryse, leading the fans to believe this would be his first feud. The next week, however, he got into it with Dolph Ziggler, culminating in a lacklustre match at Backlash.

He then feuded with Baron Corbin, who is nowhere near Nakamura's level in terms of ring work. Then, following a rather thrilling #1 Contender's match with John Cena on SmackDown, Nakamura would go on to face WWE Champion Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam...and then lose (albeit uncleanly) in less-than-exciting fashion. So he earned another opportunity after beating Randy Orton, only to lose again to Mahal (this time, in a clean fashion) in yet another snooze-fest at Hell in a Cell following just one Khallas.

On the whole, I feel like WWE doesn't know what to do with Shinsuke Nakamura. He is a bonafide legend of the industry at just 37-years of age. Though he's technically a "top guy" on SmackDown, his aura has thus far been damaged, namely by WWE's ceaseless efforts to make Jinder Mahal seem like a credible WWE Champion.

Hopefully, he will have a more fruitful year in 2018.