The Best And Worst Of Wrestling In 2016

Biggest Disappointment Award: Finn Balor’s Injury

Balor’s injury could not have possibly come at a worse time

Runner-Up: Mass Departure of long-time wrestlers, the Cruiserweight Division, Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose @ WrestleMania 32, Roman Reigns main event victory @ WrestleMania 32, Daniel Bryan’s retirement

Many things disappointed in wrestling this year, from TNA’s perpetual downward spiral, to NJPW’s dwindling attendance numbers, to Daniel Bryan’s retirement. But these things aren’t as bad as most people think in the grand scheme of things.

NJPW is still doing very well financially, TNA has experienced a mild resurgence thanks to Matt Hardy, and Bryan has transitioned quite well into an on-screen authority figure.

The same cannot be said of Finn Balor, who got injured in the opening moments of his WWE Universal Championship match. Balor fought well against Seth Rollins and even popped his shoulder back into its socket shortly after he got hurt. Alas, he was forced to relinquish the belt the following night on RAW, and was shelved for at least six months.

This was a crippling blow to Balor’s growing career, as he was an obvious big star earmarked for early success.

Balor wasn’t the only wrestler to experience disappointment in 2016. Several top stars departed WWE on bad terms (Ryback and Cody Rhodes especially), showing a glaring flaw with WWE’s treatment of its mid card talent pool. Both the

Both the Lesnar/Ambrose and HHH/Reigns matches at WrestleMania 32 were dismal performances in hindsight, the former being a lost opportunity to build Ambrose into a bigger star and the latter an unmitigated disaster mired in poor execution and a hostile audience.

Finally, there was so much hope that the new Cruiserweight Division would be a huge draw on RAW, featuring the same kind of wrestling seen in the Cruiserweight Classic Network Special. Instead, the Cruiserweights were forced to subdue their style and have ended 2016 with the same booking influence as the rest of the roster.

The only real difference between the Cruiserweights now is that the ring gets special purple ropes now as if that really makes any major difference.