In terms of pure wrestling quality, 2016 has been one of the best years in WWE’s history. From signing indie and foreign wrestlers like Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles, Finn Balor Balor being poised for superstardom only to be injured to ground-breaking tournaments like the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, this has been one hell of a year. We’ve seen excellent wrestling up and down the card this year, with special mention to the brand split which has seen stars like Dolph Ziggler and The Miz doing some of the best work of their careers this year. NXT has also been putting on some excellent matches and have made it onto this list.
When we picked this list, it was incredibly difficult to narrow it down to the final ‘top ten’ matches and needless to say, your favourite match may not have made the list. To determine the final rankings we conducted a poll on our Facebook page, and also considered the opinion of our writers.
10: Kota Ibushi vs Cedric Alexander – Cruiserweight Classic
Kota Ibushi and Cedric Alexander met in the pre-quarter finals of the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. The match turned a relatively unknown wrestler – Cedric Alexander – into a star overnight. Facing Alexander in the opposite corner was one of the best wrestlers that Japan has ever produced, ‘The Goldenstar’ Kota Ibushi – a former 3-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion.
Ibushi threw everything he had at Alexander, from his trademark ring-post Moonsault to standing Corkscrews and his patented kicks. Alexander took punishment but hit back every time some of the stiffest strikes we’ve seen in WWE this year, nearly knocking Ibushi’s lights out a number of times and coming within seconds of pinning his opponent.
The duo were met with chants of “Fight forever” before Ibushi finally finished the match off with a snap German Suplex and a Goldenstar Powerbomb. Both men earned the respect of the fans, who chanted for Ibushi as he showed his respect to Alexander and walked out.
Alexander, then left alone on the ramp, was met by louder chants than the man who defeated him as he made his way out. As he was about to leave the arena, the fans started to chant “Please sign Cedric” which not only brought Alexander to tears but made Triple H come out from the back and give a thumbs up to the crowd.
What a match. Needless to say, Cedric Alexander is on the WWE main roster now.
9: Fatal-4-Way #1 Contender’s Match – Raw After Wrestlemania 32
After one of the most underwhelming Wrestlemania’s of all time, WWE looked to somewhat reboot Raw the next night with a number of new NXT call-ups to the main roster and a couple of new players being added to the main event scene.
A #1 contender’s match main-evented Raw and it easily outshone the Wrestlemania main event the previous night. The match was originally announced as a Fatal-4-Way between Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, AJ Styles and Sami Zayn but Zayn was eventually replaced by Cesaro.
The fast-paced match kept the raucous crowd hot throughout and was easily one of the best Raw main events of 2016. Future WWE World Champion, AJ Styles, got his first brush with main eventing a WWE show that night as he bounced back from the loss to Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania the night before.
The four men went back and forth and the crowd went along with them for a wild ride. For most of the match it looked like it was anybody’s game but in the end, when it finally looked like Chris Jericho was about to become the #1 contender, AJ Styles hit him with a Styles Clash out of nowhere as the fans in attendance erupted.
This match definitely deserves to be on this list as one of the top matches this year. It certainly helped wipe out the bad taste in my mouth that Wrestlemania had left. Good riddance.
8: Sasha vs Charlotte – 30-minute Iron Woman Match at WWE Roadblock
How many times have we seen Sasha Banks face Charlotte for the Raw Women’s Championship this year? I’ve lost count. But all of their matches were excellent.
They faced off in the last chapter of their feud, at least this iteration of it at WWE’s last PPV of 2016 – Roadblock: End of the Line. Banks and Charlotte had a lot to live up to as they faced off in a 30-minute Iron-(wo)man match and they didn’t disappoint. They hit each other with everything they had as Charlotte took the early lead.
Sasha Banks took one hell of a beating from ‘The Queen’ but she fought back, and eventually managed to not only reduce the deficit but take a 2-1 lead. However, Charlotte targetted Sasha’s knee for the last part of the match and got her to tap out just seconds away from the 30-minute time limit to take the match into overtime.
Sasha was too beaten up by this point to realistically put up a resistance. She got busted open in overtime and even though she fought with heart, she had a battered body and an injured knee and Charlotte made her tap out eventually.
This won’t be the last time Sasha and Charlotte will be on this list. More on them……
7: Sasha Banks vs Charlotte – Falls Count Anywhere (Raw in Charlotte)
Sasha and Charlotte deservedly make the list again at #7 for their Falls Count Anywhere match for the Women’s Championship on the main event of Raw in Charlotte, NC as hometown champion Charlotte defended her championship against Sasha Banks.
The two women have gotten used to creating history this year, as they became the first women to enter a Cell and main event a WWE main roster PPV along with being the first to women to main-event an episode of Raw since Trish Stratus and Lita, before main eventing Raw once again in Charlotte, NC.
The match was originally slated for earlier in the show but ended on a double countout that led Raw GM Mick Foley to schedule a Falls Count Anywhere rematch later on in the night.
Charlotte and Sasha have never been afraid to be stiff, sometimes maybe a little too stiff for our liking because of Sasha’s history of injuries.
Their match in Charlotte’s hometown was no exception as the two threw down the gauntlet and threw everything they had at each other from the word go. Sasha threw caution to the wind early on as she used her speed advantage to take the fight to Charlotte hitting a suicide dive.
Charlotte fought back with of the stiffest knife edged chops we’ve seen from her before booting Sasha off the apron and onto the floor. She followed it up with a brutal Natural Selection onto the floor as the two women upped the ante.
Sasha then whipped Charlotte with a kendo stick before Charlotte hit a Moonsault off the announced table on the ramp. Sasha kicked out and finally locking in a Banks Statement on a guard railing amongst the crowd when Charlotte finally tapped out.
As an added caveat, Ric Flair made his way out after Sasha won, to congratulate her.
As bad as the Divas Revolution of 2015 was, 2016 was the best year in the history of women’s wrestling – a large part of that being Sasha Banks and Charlotte.
6: Dolph Ziggler vs The Miz – Career vs Title match at No Mercy
Dolph Ziggler and The Miz’s rivalry over the WWE Intercontinental Championship has been one of the highlights of SmackDown Live since the brand split. Back in October, Dolph Ziggler volunteered to put his career on the line for one last shot at Miz’s Intercontinental Championship. Looking to end Ziggler’s career, the Miz agreed as the two tore the house down at No Mercy.
The Miz has done the best work of his career this year and Ziggler, for his part, has been on fire since the brand split. They started the match off at a furious pace and they weren’t afraid to be stiff.
The Miz came close to winning on a number of occasions and wasn’t afraid to fight dirty. Ziggler looked down and out on a Figure 4 Leglock but somehow reached the ropes. Dolph even kicked out after running face-first into an exposed turnbuckle and getting Powerbombed afterward.
A frustrated Maryse even sprayed Ziggler in the face. Miz hit a Skull Crushing Finale after that but even that wasn’t enough. Maryse then called out the Spirit Squad but even that wasn’t enough as Ziggler fought for his career and fought them off before the referee ejected Maryse and the Spirit Squad as the crowd went into a frenzy.
Ziggler then nailed a Superkick on The Miz to pick up the win as Ziggler saved his career to retire another day.
5: The Revival vs DIY – 2-out-of-3 Falls match at NXT TakeOver: Toronto
At #5 is a match that shows how far NXT has come. The Revival enter the list at #5 along with Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa, four men who were virtually unknown to the casual WWE fan even a year ago.
They enter the list for their match at NXT TakeOver: Toronto which tore the house down. TakeOver: Toronto featured a lot of stellar matches with many bigger names on the card but these four men were universally acclaimed for having the match of the night. The 2-out-of-3 falls they put on was as close to a clinic as possible.
The Revival won the first fall early, hitting the Shatter Machine on Johnny Gargano. DIY came close to winning the titles at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn II and it looked like they could end up short again.
The Revival rotated tags and isolated Gargano but he eventually managed to tag Ciampa in. Tomasso Ciampa, the powerhouse of the team, fought back for them as they isolated Scott Dawson and hit their patented Superkick/Running Knee combo to even the match at 1-1.
The Revival’s plan for the rest of the match was isolating Johnny Gargano but in the end, it failed as DIY regrouped and locked in dual submissions on the “top guys” as they tapped out simultaneously to earn DIY their first NXT Tag-Team Championships.
These two teams showed that they were main roster material after putting on an absolute clinic. I’m so glad that Gargano and Ciampa didn’t get called up as part of the ailing Cruiserweight Division. They deserve so much better.
4: 5 on 5 Men’s Survivor Series Match – WWE Survivor Series 2016
Survivor Series 2016 will probably be remembered down the line mostly for Goldberg squashing Brock Lesnar. However, Survivor Series also gave us on of the best 5-on-5 Survivor Series style elimination matches of all time when the men from Raw took on the men from SmackDown Live.
The 10 Superstars tore the house down, going at it for almost an hour. The Raw team included Universal Champion Kevin Owens, Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns and Braun Strowman. The SmackDown Live team consisted of WWE World Champion AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Bray Wyatt and SmackDown Live GM Shane McMahon along with James Ellsworth as their mascot.
The match veered back and forth between the red brand and the blue brand and the highlights of the match included Roman Reigns spearing Shane McMahon into oblivion from an attempted Coast to Coast, Ambrose getting screwed by Styles which ended in him returning and helping Rollins and Reigns powerbomb Styles through a table in a mini-reunion of sorts as well as Braun Strowman absolutely destroying James Ellsworth after Ellsworth caused him to get counted out.
The match ended with Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton standing tall for SmackDown Live after a surprise appearance from Luke Harper who helped sway things in the blue brand’s favour.
All in all, it was a match for the ages. One of the best Survivor Series style matches that we’ve ever seen.
3: Shinsuke Nakamura vs Sami Zayn – NXT TakeOver: Dallas
Shinsuke Nakamura’s debut at NXT TakeOver: Dallas was one of the most awaited debuts of 2016 and he didn’t disappoint. He faced the ‘heart and soul of NXT’ on Wrestlemania weekend and with a hot crowd waiting for them, they delivered.
From Zayn’s entrance with the crowd singing along to his themes song to everyone going nuts when Nakamura’s music finally hit and he made his way down – the match was one to remember. It was the kind of match you tell your friends that you saw live.
Zayn and Nakamura were respectful to each other but that didn’t mean that they went easy on one another – quite the opposite. Nakamura’s kicks and knees were as brutal as always, not to mention a nasty Michinoku Driver that Zayn delivered.
The emotion was heightened further by the fact that this was Sami Zayn’s last match in NXT. He wanted to leave on a high note as much as Nakamura wanted a win on his debut. Zayn came milliseconds away from winning on a couple of occasions but it was Nakamura who picked up the win in the end, pinning Zayn after a Kinshasa to the back of the head, off the middle rope.
An incredible debut, this match showed us what Wrestlemania could have been but chose not to be.
2: AJ Styles vs John Cena – WWE Summerslam 2016
AJ Styles and John Cena met for their second one-on-one matchup at Summerslam this year. Their first match earlier in the year was excellent but ended with a dusty finishing when Gallows and Anderson helped Styles defeat Cena.
Styles and Cena’s feud heated up and culminated at Summerslam as the “Face that runs the place” met “The champ that runs the camp” and fans at Brooklyn were treated to a masterpiece of a wrestling match.
Styles and Cena put on a clinic as they showed the rest of the roster how it was done, with the crowd watching on with bated breath as the face of WWE and the former face of TNA laid it all out on the line. They hit each other with their finishers but both men kicked out, sending the fans into a frenzy. Cena applied his STF on Styles but Styles managed to reverse out of it.
Styles then hit a Phenomenal Forearm but Cena kicked out of it before hitting an Attitude Adjustment from the top rope. Styles somehow kicked out of it and sent the crowd wild frenzy. Styles then transitioned an AA attempt from Cena into a Styles Clash. The Phenomenal one then hit the Phenomenal Forearm on Cena to pick up the win.
This match was one of the best pro wrestling matches held by any promotion this year as we saw two stalwarts of the business hang it all out to dry as they tried to outdo each other. Absolutely brilliant match.
1: Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens – WWE Battleground
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are, in their own words, destined to fight forever. They are best friends in real-life and bitter enemies on-screen. Their rivalry has been around since their days on the indies and has continued in the WWE since they both signed for NXT.
The first time the main roster got a taste of their rivalry was at the Royal Rumble 2016 when Zayn eliminated Owens from the Rumble match. Their rivalry continued throughout the year and continued onto Battleground where they tore the house down.
Zayn and Owens have this innate ability to create magic in the ring with each other. Every move means something and their ‘hatred’ for each other is palpable in their faces. A sign of a good match os when you can picture it later and I certainly remember most of Zayn vs Owens.
They hit each other with everything but the kitchen sink including a scary spot when Zayn almost landed on his head only for Owens to catch him at the last moment. The look on Owens’ face near the end of the match when he knew that Zayn had his number was priceless. It mimicked pure hatred at Zayn and anger at himself at the same time as Sami hit him with the second Helluva Kick to pin him.
The crowd roared as Zayn won and got up for a standing ovation for both men. Who would have thought in 2013 that El Generico and Kevin Steen would have the Match of the Year in 2016. They have bright futures ahead of them, and I for one want to see more match between the two of them. I certainly they get to main event Wrestlemania one day in a singles match.
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