Wrasslin 2016

Caveman's WRESTLING RETROSPECTIVE 2016

2016 was a terrible year BUT the wrestling was pretty good.

Standout performers:
Top 3 is easy, and oddly enough, they all started out the year with losses at Wrestle Kingdom 10. To say they have recovered from this loss would be an understatement; the top 3 have overcome any obstacles in their way, rising up to finish 2016 as top stars in their promotions.

1. AJ Styles: The phenomenal one has had an excellent year, starting out with one of the best matches of the year, albeit losing to Shinsuke Nakamura at WK10. His final appearance with New Japan at New Year Dash saw him being betrayed by fellow Bullet Club stablemates, Kenny Omega having ousting him as leader. Post beating, as Styles struggled to get himself back to his feet, say him getting an emotional sendoff from the promotion, bowing to the crowd as they chanted his name. And So, AJ Styles was on the way to WWE. Debuting at #3 in the Royal Rumble resulted in one of the biggest crowd reactions of the year. Following this, Styles initial run in WWE was a bit rocky, feuding with Chris Jericho. While the matches with Jericho were good, the writing made no sense, culminating in Jericho beating Styles at Wrestlemania, which of course led to Styles becoming the number one contender to Roman Reigns WWE Championship on the following RAW. After this however, and now joined by fellow Bullet Club expats Karl Anderson and Luke don't-call-him-Doc Gallows, Styles WWE career changed for the better. To say nothing of the great matches with Roman, Styles heel turn intrigue with The Club was the most compelling WWE storyline this year, culminating with a phenomenal heel turn on John Cena. Their match at SummerSlam was one of the best WWE matches this year, with Styles beating Cena clean. The momentum from this win led to Styles beating Dean Ambrose and becoming WWE Champion in his first year in WWE. You could argue that his title reign has been marred by being the champion of SmackDown, which in storyline is the "B" show, as well as his feud with Dean Ambrose and James Ellsworth, but on the other hand, SmackDown is a more entertaining show than RAW, and Styles recent feud, while comical, was entertaining. WWE is far from my favorite wrestling promotion, but seeing Styles rise up from questionable booking and writing to becoming one of the company's top stars by the virtue of his work has been one of the most compelling things in wrestling in 2016, and in my opinion places AJ Styles as the #1 wrestler of 2016.

2. Kenny Omega: 2 and 3 are honestly a toss up, interchangeable with each other and being standout performers for really the same exact reasons. BUT I flipped a coin and called heads, so Kenny Omega gets to be #2. If you look at a picture of Omega from the beginning of the year and one from today, he really looks like a different person. Starting the year losing his IWGP Jr. Heavyweight championship to Kushida, rather than challenging for a rematch, much bigger things were in store for Omega. With Styles leaving, Bullet Club needed a new leader for the heavyweight division, and Omega took the opportunity, laying Styles out with his own move and delivering an excellent promo. Omega challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for his Intercontinental title, but like Styles, Nakamura was also leaving for WWE, leaving the championship vacant. Winning it over the ace of New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi cemented Omega as one of NJPW's top stars. Kenny made 2 historical landmarks in company history, with the first ladder match in New Japan against Micheal Elgin, and of course, perhaps the single biggest accomplishment in wrestling this year, being the first gaijin to win the G1, winning his block, which in and of itself is a huge accomplishment with a victory over LIJ leader Tetsuya Naito in one of 2016's marquee matches, and eventually winning the whole thing over Hirooki Goto in yet another fantastic match. Raising the Bullet Club flag high in celebration and cutting yet another excellent promo (Omega may well be the best promo of the year) got the entire wrestling world talking about this monumental event. Defending his G1 prize (being a contract for the main event match at Wrestle Kingdom 11 against Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight title) with a whatever match against Yoshi-Hashi and another fantastic match against Goto sees Omega in a great position ending 2016. With New Japan wanting to expand into the western market, it seems inevitable that Kenny Omega will start out 2017 as the champ.

3. Tetsuya Naito: Rounding out the top 3 is of course Tetsuya Naito. Also losing his match at WK10, being a pretty good match with Goto. In hindsight, this loss really doesn't make sense, and it left Naito's 2016 up in the air. However, he turned it all around when he beat Okada and became IWGP champ. A memorable, if perhaps brief title reign, Naito, as per his Los Ingobernables De Japon gimmick, held the title in utter disdain, haphazardly throwing it into the air and showing general disrespect to the company. During this time he had an excellent defense with Tomohiro Ishii and another great Okada match, where Naito eventually dropped the belt. Despite the loss, Naito's reign, match quality, and charisma skyrocketed LIJ in popularity, eventually surpassing the juggernaut that is Bullet Club in merchandise sales. A generally strong showing in the G1, including the aforementioned MOTY candidate with Kenny Omega, saw Naito leaving with a shot at Michael Elgin's Intercontinental championship, which he eventually won. Naito unfortunately injured Elgin with a cracked orbital bone, but it all worked out, as Hiroshi Tanahashi steps up to the plate to challenge Naito for the belt at Wrestle Kingdom 11. I feel like now is the time for a big Naito win; it would be the culmination of the entire LIJ storyline, coming full circle as his loss at WK8 and the apparent betrayal by the fans being the catalyst for his current heel persona.

Honorable mentions! Other standout performers that for one reason or another did not shine as brightly. Or, alternatively, I just did not want to write paragraphs for all these dudes. They all had great years in my eyes regardless. This is pretty much in order.

"Broken" Matt Hardy
Michael Elgin
Chris Jericho
Kevin Owens
Charlotte
Kazuchika Okada
Roman Reigns
Ricochet
The Miz
Shinsuke Nakamura

Standout Tag Teams:
2016 was a year of great tag team matches, and looking back, all of them had one of these 2 teams. In my eyes there are 2 teams that stood above the rest in 2016.

1: The Young Bucks: The Young Bucks are going into 2017 as IWGP Jr. Tag Champions, ROH Tag Champions, and PWG Tag Champions. Enough said, but I'll say a little more. The world traveling brothers regularly have world class matches, whether it be as a tag team, part of "The Elite" trio with either Kenny Omega or Adam Cole, or just as run in guys for their fellow Bullet Club members, the Bucks of Youth always seem to stand out. Their crisp double team maneuvers, over the top finishers, and bevy of superkicks just works for me. Some people hate em, but I don't care about people who are wrong.

2: The Revival: NXT has fallen off a cliff as of late, but the one constant is that every takeover will have a fantastic Tag match. Dash and Dawson ARE the NXT tag division, becoming the first 2 time champions in NXT history. Their old school offense harkens back to the glory days of tag team wrestling, and they are easily the most convincing heel team in WWE. Their style could not be any more different to The Young Bucks, with the Revival's moniker being "No flips, just fists," but either way, I love me some good tag team wrestling, and The Revival delivers.

Honorable Mentions:

The New Day
American Alpha

Dishonorable Mentions:

The New Day
American Alpha

MOTY:
I won't write about these move for move, I'll just list them and y'all can look it.

Kenny Omega v Tetsuya Naito - G1 Climax
Kazuchika Okada v Hiroshi Tanahashi - Wrestle Kingdom 10
Shinsuke Nakamura v Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover Dallas
Shinsuke Nakamura v AJ Styles - Wrestle Kingdom 10
Tomohiro Ishii v Kazuchika Okada - G1

Best show:

TNA Impact: Alright hear me out. TNA may be the absolute worst wrestling COMPANY in the world, but aside from not paying the light bills, their shit usually does not leak out onto the ring. Full disclosure - Broken Matt Hardy IS the reason I started watching TNA again, but honest to god there is some good stuff on the show, not the least of which is Maria Kanellis's ass. The wrestling is pretty good too, the highlight being Bobby Lashley's reign of terror as he tore through the entire roster, winning every singles championship. Matt Hardy's broken brilliance is the real reason I watch, but over all the show is not bad. Certainly better than WWE, which regularly cranks out no less than 7 hours a week of the worst TV on Earth.

Cruiserweight Classic: Alright from a wrestling standpoint it probably is the best show of the year, but you have to remember than not every match was Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. Need I remind everyone of Ho Ho Lun? The booking was generally good but it was structured so that the last guys were not necessarily the best (looking at you Noam Dar.) The story of the CWC didn't really make much sense either. The supposed prize was that one (1) guy, the winner, would get a WWE contract, so you had compelling stories like Brian Kendrick fighting for his last chance. He NEEDED to win the whole thing, which made his matches so emotional, having to resort to underhanded tactics including, but not limited to, dropping Kota Ibushi on his head with a fucking burning hammer. Fast forward to now and like what 80% of CWC participants are on RAW? To say nothing of the actual cruiserweight division, or snoozerweight division which I like to call it on the main roster. The Cruiser Weight Classic is a distant memory, but a fond one.

Talking Smack: Honestly reluctant to even include this because there is no actual wrestling on the show, but it's damn entertaining. So the gimmick here is, because the (over)scripted promos on Raw and Smackdown are so god damn horrible, rather than simply let the wrestlers cut their own promos on TV, WWE thought it would be more prudent to create ENTIRE NEW SHOWS for this express purpose. Which is of course, god damn stupid, and almost impossible to explain to a non-wrestling fan, but there you go. Either way, Talking Smack is a pretty good show, and the shorter length of Smackdown compared to RAW makes it not impossible to watch. Much of the momentum the show has is a result of The Miz, who pretty much is the star of the show, cutting the best promo in WWE on the premier episode.

And that's it. Can't think of anything else to write about other than Wrestlemania sucked 8 kinds of ass. Hype For Wrestle Kingdom 11 in a few days.