The Best Of WWE In 2016: AJ Styles’ Debut, The List Of Jericho, The Brand Split, And More [Opinion]

The year is almost over, and more and more sites are coming up with their WWE year-in-review retrospectives and looking back on the memorable debuts, forgettable storylines, and other ups and downs that took place in 2016. But we shall now be looking at the best of WWE in 2016, rather than the worst, as we’d like to focus on why this past year was so awesome for the WWE Universe.

Let’s start out with one of the most electrifying WWE debuts fans witnessed in a long time — the debut of AJ Styles.

A “Phenomenal” WWE Debut

The rumors were swirling in the run-up to Royal Rumble 2016, and they turned out to be more than accurate when AJ Styles was announced as the third entrant in the Royal Rumble match. The “Phenomenal One” didn’t win the 30-man battle royal as many had hoped, but it had established the then-38-year-old ROH, TNA, and New Japan veteran as a force to be reckoned with, and every bit worth the hype. But while he was more than good enough as it is playing a babyface character and using his tremendous wrestling skills to get over with fans, he proved to be even better when he turned heel on John Cena following the Extreme Rules pay-per-view.

As a villainous character, Styles delivered some of the best promos of his long pro wrestling career, while also bringing it to the ring, with his matches against Cena standing out. And it was just eight months into his WWE debut that AJ Styles won his first WWE World Championship — he still holds the belt as of this writing, and as we saw in his vicious beatdown on James Ellsworth on last Tuesday’s SmackDown Live, he’s right up there with The Miz and Kevin Owens as one of the top male heels in WWE these days.

Drink It In, Man! You Just Made The List Of Jericho!

While AJ Styles was wowing fans who finally got to see him as a full-time WWE competitor, Chris Jericho was enjoying a true career renaissance, thanks to a heel turn that happened to start when he turned on Styles in March. Despite turning 46 this year, Jericho remained a top-level competitor in the ring, but it was on the mic where he had truly stood out, as his “List of Jericho” — a list of people he doesn’t like — became one of the most popular storyline devices of 2016. And that’s not even mentioning his entertaining storyline with “best friend” Kevin Owens, and the catchphrases he made popular this year — “drink it in, man!” and “stupid idiot.” When talking about the best of WWE in 2016, you don’t want to leave Jericho’s career revival out of the equation.

Wrestling fans were truly fortunate to drink in the “Gift of Jericho” in 2016, though as Wrestling Inc reported, Y2J may be taking time off from WWE once again in 2017, as he prepares to go on tour with his heavy metal band Fozzy, with dates starting after WrestleMania 33.

What does the @WWE #BrandSplit mean for #WWERaw and #WWESmackDown, find out here! https://t.co/MAOMmnLT5K pic.twitter.com/ycQvID6WDC

— Ramblings of a Wrestling Fan (@Worked_Shoot) July 20, 2016

The Return Of The WWE Brand Split

Shane McMahon may have had a confusing storyline with The Undertaker in the lead-up to WrestleMania 32, one where he was back on WWE television after losing a match to determine whether he’d get to control Monday Night RAW or not. But Shane’s return to WWE was well-received for the most part, and it served as a catalyst for something that was coming back after several years — the brand split.

Effective July 2016, WWE’s roster was split into two brands and TV shows — Monday Night RAW and SmackDown Live — and that helped allow a bevy of wrestlers greater opportunities to move from the lower card to the mid-card, or from the mid-card to the main event. One good example is Heath Slater, who was ironically the only man not to be drafted by either brand; thanks to an engaging storyline, the erstwhile jobber made repeated tries to get signed by either brand, and when he finally made it to the SmackDown brand, he and Rhyno were on their way to becoming the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions.

You can also count Braun Strowman as another example of someone who benefited greatly from the WWE brand split. Once a Wyatt Family lackey, he’s been pushed recently as a near-unstoppable monster heel on the RAW brand. Or what about Baron Corbin, who started the brand split era slow, but is now in the WWE World title picture, with a title match against AJ Styles and Dolph Ziggler on tomorrow’s year-end SmackDown Live?

Tonight, history will be made #HellInACell #SashaBanks #Charlotte #HIAC pic.twitter.com/26sTP93v5D

— Nate Morris (@TheBeans410) October 30, 2016

Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks: Greatest Women’s Feud Of All Time?

The Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks feud is, for the meantime, over, with Charlotte vs. Bayley and Sasha vs. Nia Jax looking to be the top feuds in the RAW Women’s Division heading into 2017. But as many see it, that rivalry may actually end up topping Trish Stratus vs. Lita as the greatest women’s rivalry in WWE history.

Cageside Seats probably said it best, as writer Andrew M. Swift described Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks as wrestling’s “feud of the year” for 2016.

“They both want to prove they’re the top female wrestler (though for very different reasons). They are incredibly evenly matched in this struggle, so much that they continuously trade the championship back and forth. They both have massive egos and desperately want to be acknowledged as the best, making their matches consistently more destructive and chaotic.”

One complaint this writer has about Charlotte vs. Sasha is how it had resulted in the RAW Women’s Championship getting hot-potatoed between both women. But other than that, it still holds its own among the best of WWE in 2016, and definitely deserves mention alongside Trish vs. Lita as far as all-time great women’s wrestling feuds go. And why not? The feud has featured intense, skillful matches all throughout, and history-making feats such as the first-ever Hell in a Cell match with female competitors.

The Miz’s Awesome Intercontinental Championship Run

A lot of fans were less than pleased when The Miz ended underdog hero Zack Ryder’s Intercontinental Championship reign after just one day, beating him on the RAW immediately following WrestleMania 32. But it’s safe to say that those fans are mostly glad to see Miz still holding the belt with 2016 almost over. The Miz has been enjoying the best run of his career since his time as WWE Champion more than five years ago, but it’s not because he’s held the belt for so long in two combined title reigns this year.

We saw The Miz blur the lines between kayfabe and shoot during that memorable Talking Smack verbal duel with SmackDown GM Daniel Bryan. A lot of his comments, while mentioned for storyline purposes, hit very close to home for the recently-retired Bryan, but that wasn’t the only controversial thing he was up to following the brand split. Most recently, he injected some reality into his ongoing IC title feud against Dean Ambrose, revealing for the first time on WWE TV that Ambrose is “sleeping with” interviewer Renee Young.

It will be interesting to see how Ambrose reacts on tomorrow’s SmackDown Live year-end episode, but as we’ve seen throughout the year, The Miz’s fantastic heel work has made him worthy of being mentioned as one of the best WWE villains of 2016.

[Featured Image by WWE]