Gimmick Some Lovin': The Survivor Series Match

2016's Wild Wrestling Year

Because, clearly, every great wrestling idea has to have a McMahon directly involved, for some reason

This match was the culmination of a pretty big turning point year for World Wrestling Entertainment.

After a 2015 which was pretty disappointing for a lot of fans, and which limped into the new year with a string of high-profile injuries that devastated the company's active roster, 2016 dawned with a semi-retired executive taking the World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble match and beginning a lackluster feud with former champ Roman Reigns, blown off in the plodding main event of a marathon Wrestlemania.

That show cobbled together its best attempt at a high-profile spectacular but, outside of the opening ladder match, women's match, and Wrestlemania debut of high-profile signee AJ Styles, the injury bug very clearly held the show back from greatness.

As Mania season passed, though, the myriad strains, sprains, tears, and breaks which doomed that show seemed to all heal nearly simultaneously which, combined with the annual call-ups from NXT, took the company from attempting to fill shows with a threadbare main event scene to having an embarrassment of roster riches.

Early in the spring, WWE announced first through entertainment industry trade publication Variety, then through its own traditional sources, that a relaunch of the brand extension would take place that summer. RAW and Smackdown! would once again become distinct brands, whose rosters would travel, wrestle, and exist totally separately (except at the Big Four).

Additionally, Smackdown, long the neglected and pre-taped B-show that often featured enjoyable-but-meaningless matches, was getting a significant upgrade: rather than taping Tuesdays and airing Thursdays, the show would be broadcast 100% live on Tuesday nights.

Only a few times in the show's history had Smackdown! broadcast live (the shows immediately after the 9/11 attacks and after the 2015 blizzard which cancelled Monday Night Raw, for instance), but the program was going fully live every week for a much-needed shot of importance.

It took months of destroying enhancement talent, but the brand split let WWE rebuild a Wyatt Family also-ran into a Monster Among Men

The shows would receive their own separate rosters, championships, and leadership teams, each one helmed by a McMahon (Shane for Smackdown and Stephanie for RAW) and insanely popular retiree (Daniel Bryan and Mick Foley, respectively).

Despite being another instance of 'McMeddling', early returns on the brand split gave mid-card stars like The Miz a new chance to shine, misused talent like Breezango and Braun Strowman time to reboot, and fan favourites like Kevin Owens and AJ Styles their first taste of main event championship gold.