WWE'S BEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN 2016

WWE’s Best Accomplishments This Year

WWE has had quite a year of ups and downs throughout 2016, with highs including the return of Goldberg and AJ Style’s debut, but balanced out with lows such as the suspension of Roman Reigns and the absence of much-loved stars such as Randy Orton and John Cena. However, despite all of the things which have gone wrong for WWE this year and the variety of issues with its booking, there are many things that they’ve also done well over 2016.

It appears that WWE have listened to their fans more this year, making moves such as limiting the presence of Triple H on TV, turning Seth Rollins babyface, and finally putting some gold around Bray Wyatt’s waist, some of the main things that WWE have gotten right over the last twelve months. Although 2016 was certainly not a perfect year for WWE, there are many things that the company have done right, having made plenty of big strides to drastically improve their product and change the future of pro wrestling for the better. We’ve looked at some of WWE’s biggest accomplishments this year.

SmackDown

After the brand split during the summer, SmackDown was meant to be the middle child of WWE; the forgotten, overlooked show that came second best to Raw. Instead, SmackDown has managed to do far more than Raw, with less talent available to do so. The show utilized the likes of The Miz, AJ Styles, Dolph Ziggler and favourite newcomers such as Alexa Bliss, putting together the premiere show in WWE in virtually perfect fashion. SmackDown has produced some incredible feuds, along with elevating new female performers such as Alexa Bliss and Carmella, and has put on some of the best matches and most popular pay-per-views of the year.

New Faces for World Title

Although the main event picture for WWE has been far from flawless this year, there are many things for fans to be excited about whilst heading in to 2017. With Dean Ambrose finally being crowned WWE champion, Finn Balor winning the universal title almost instantly upon his debut, and the likes of AJ Styles and Kevin Owens holding the current WWE Championship and Universal Championship titles respectively, the World Title picture has certainly changed from earlier in the year, when it revolved around Roman Reigns and Triple H for around six months. But, in the summer, all of that changed when four guys who’d never won a World title in WWE were awarded with two of the most prestigious WWE titles.

WrestleMania 32

Although WrestleMania 32 may not have been a completely unforgettable wrestling show, this doesn’t change the fact that it was the most successful pay-per-view from WWE ever. The event set WWE’s all time turnout record, became the highest grossing live event in the history of WWE, and set a number of other new records, including breaking the records for merchandise sales and of course the honour of being the most-watched WrestleMania show in history. The success of this event was a great sign for WWE and fans that despite a dip in TV ratings, the WWE certainly isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

AJ Styles

Many WWE fans are certain that signing and pushing AJ Styles was the best decision made by the organisation this year. Although many once said that ‘it will never happen’ when talking about Styles, they were certainly wrong as he certainly made many of this year’s accomplishments, particularly SmackDown. After signing him in January 2016, WWE debuted AJ Styles in epic fashion at The Royal Rumble and immediately pushed him as one of their biggest starts, a decision that they don’t regret.

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