Regardless of whether you believe it has been an amazing or atrocious year for WWE, 2016 has been nothing short of memorable, for better or for worse. Raw right now is almost as unbearable to watch each week as it was at the onset of the year, but at least the company has produced some stellar pay-per-views in that time.
All right, so WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Survivor Series did not need to be four hours long and weren't as excellent as usual, but WWE did a superb job with many of their B-level events this year. Whether it was due to entertaining in-ring action or the solid stories told, they simply left viewers satisfied once they were over, which is actually a rare feat these days.
With Roadblock: End of the Line now behind us, we thankfully won't have another pay-per-view until the Royal Rumble later in January. In the meantime, let's attempt to rank WWE's top five greatest shows from 2016.
#5 TLC (December 2, 2016)
TLC has traditionally been an exceptional event each year, and the fact this year's instalment was also awesome shouldn't have come as any surprise. After all, it was a SmackDown-exclusive event, and the blue brand has previously delivered two sensational shows with Backlash and No Mercy.
Truth be told, there wasn't a bad bout on the entire TLC card and every match seemed to offer something special. Two titles changed hands with Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton picking up the SmackDown Tag Team Championship and Alexa Bliss capturing her premiere SmackDown Women's Championship.
The night also featured two phenomenal matchups with The Miz successfully defending his Intercontinental Championship in a Ladder match and then AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose contesting a classic in a TLC match. And to think SmackDown only had two weeks to build to the pay-per-view.
#4 Backlash (September 11, 2016)
Coming out of the 2016 WWE Draft, it was revealed Raw and SmackDown would have their own exclusive pay-per-view events for the first time in nearly a decade. Of course, SummerSlam was a dual-branded show, so Backlash was the first true test as to whether this experiment would work.
On paper, the show didn't seem to have the strongest lineup, but it ultimately exceeded all expectations from start to finish. Among the six solid matchups was the crowning of the inaugural SmackDown Women's champion, as well as the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team champions.
In the main event, AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose produced an extraordinary match, with The Phenomenal One taking home the WWE Championship. It was the first of three fantastic shows SmackDown put on in the remainder of the year.
#3 Extreme Rules (May 22, 2016)
I might be a bit bias with this pick considering I was there in attendance, but Extreme Rules might go down as 2016's most underrated pay-per-view. While not every match carried an ‘extreme’ stipulation, there was a pair of memorable matches on the show that could be considered two of the best bouts of the year.
First up, we had a glorious Fatal 4-Way match for the Intercontinental Championship involving the likes of The Miz, Kevin Owens, Cesaro and Sami Zayn that tore the house down. Then, AJ Styles and Roman Reigns pushed each other to their absolute limits in their Extreme Rules WWE Championship match.
Elsewhere on the card, The Club beat The Usos in an enjoyable opener, while Rusev clinched his second United States Championship. The Women's Championship and Asylum matches prevented this pay-per-view from being perfect, but the good certainly outweighed the bad, especially with Seth Rollins' unannounced return closing out the night.
#2 Money in the Bank (June 19, 2016)
It can be argued that Money in the Bank is more of a “Big Four” event for WWE than Survivor Series and this year's instalment further solidified that. WWE went out of its way to promote the show as one of the greatest cards of all-time, and they definitely delivered.
In his first match in over seven months, Seth Rollins contended for the WWE Championship against Roman Reigns and surprised the world by winning in a clean fashion. That wasn't the end, though, as Dean Ambrose resurfaced and cashed in his newly won Money in the Bank briefcase to become the new champ.
Speaking of which, the Money in the Bank Ladder match that took place earlier in the evening was delightful, and you can't leave out a card that features a dream match between John Cena and AJ Styles. The show ran a little longer than it should have, but that aside, the top three matches were tremendous.
#1 Battleground (July 24, 2016)
If WWE officials wanted to end the promotion’s “old” era with a bang, they were successful in doing just that. A mere 24 hours before the Brand Split went into effect, several storylines culminated once and for all, including the long-awaited Triple Threat match between the three former Shield members in the main event.
In addition to the match being brilliant, Dean Ambrose retaining his WWE Championship was the right move. However, that wasn't even the night's best bout; Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens went to war and blew off their storied feud in a major way.
Elsewhere on the card, Bayley made her main roster debut, The Wyatt Family and The New Day produced a fun six-man tag team match, and John Cena led Enzo Amore and Big Cass to victory over The Club.
It was as close to an amazing pay-per-view as you'll get from WWE in this day and age, rightfully earning its place at the top of this illustrious list as the best live special WWE produced all year (excluding NXT, of course).
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