5 Best Wrestling Matches Of 2016

#3 John Cena vs. A.J. Styles - SummerSlam 2016

This was one of the best matches of John Cena's career

This was a dream match of epic proportions. Fans had been clamoring to see Styles in WWE for years, and on the second-biggest WWE show of 2016, he faced the biggest star in the entire company.

From the beginning, Cena knew that he’d need to go the extra mile if he had any hopes of beating the legendary A.J. Styles. To that end, Cena busted out some of his rarest moves and best grappling game. We saw things from Cena that were incredibly rare, such as a Yoshi Tonic and reversing out of one submission after another.

But Styles proved to everyone watching why his name carried so much weight. He hit power moves like Cena, showed Shawn Michaels-level technical grappling, Undertaker-like endurance, and even hit a Kota Ibushi-style springboard frankensteiner onto Cena while Cena was on the top rope. He was the perfect wrestler on this night and showed everyone what he could do.

This match will be remembered for solidifying Styles as a true WWE main eventer. He could no longer be seen as just another indy guy that had a cult following; he cranked things up to eleven in this war with WWE’s biggest star and won. It was easily the best match on the SummerSlam 2016 card and the best match on WWE’s main card for the entire 2016 calendar year.