5. Dean Ambrose Wins Money in the Bank and WWE Title on the Same Night – June 19
I’m a big fan of the Money in the Bank match and the concept of somebody holding a briefcase that grants them a WWE Title shot any time they want in the next year.
This year’s Money in the Bank match took place on June 19 on a show headlined by Seth Rollins challenging Roman Reigns for the WWE Title. The MITB match featured Dean Ambrose, Cesaro, Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Alberto Del Rio. In my preview of the event on this fine website, I picked Kevin Owens to win. Oops. It’s okay. I’m happy to be wrong about it.
Ambrose won an exciting ladder match to hold the Money in the Bank briefcase. I remember thinking immediately how it would be cool if he cashed in later that same evening right before the Rollins vs. Reigns match to give us the triple threat match we were all hoping to see. Instead, Ambrose waited and so did we.
Rollins went on to beat Reigns for the WWE Title, which was a good story because Rollins missed seven months of action due to a torn ACL injury to his right knee. It was a great comeback story for him.
After Rollins celebrated the win, Ambrose showed up with the briefcase in hand. Ambrose nailed Rollins with the briefcase, he hit Dirty Deeds and Ambrose became the WWE Champion for the first time. It was a great moment that drew a huge ovation from the crowd.
By the end of the night, all three Shield members held the WWE Title. One month later they had the first-ever Shield triple threat match at Battleground, which I felt was a huge mistake because a match like that should have been saved for WrestleMania or at least SummerSlam.
It was a great night for Ambrose, who has been one of WWE’s best and most consistent performers in the last four years. He’s durable, he’s entertaining and he’s had a lot of great matches as well. I’m happy he was able to have such a big moment this year.
4. Goldberg Beats Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series – Nov. 20
This is the only moment on this list that I attended. It was one of the most surprising moments I’ve ever witnessed and something I did not anticipate.
When Bill Goldberg’s match against Brock Lesnar started at Survivor Series in Toronto, it was around 10:30 p.m. ET. The pay-per-view started at 7 p.m. ET with the belief that the run time would be around four hours. That’s what we paid for, so that’s what we expected to get. Wrong.
When the bell rang, Lesnar went for a takedown. Goldberg shoved him down. Lesnar was shocked by it. Goldberg nailed a Spear. Lesnar was staggered, so Goldberg hit another Spear that was more devastating than the first one. Goldberg hit a Jackhammer immediately after and pinned Lesnar to win the match in 1 minute and 26 seconds.
What? That’s it? People were stunned by the result of the match and how quickly it was over. Yes, that’s the way that Goldberg won a lot of his matches in WCW from 1997 to 2000, but this was 2016 and it was his first match in a WWE ring in 12 years. Most of us expected a decent battle and Lesnar would come out victorious. Instead, Goldberg was the guy who destroyed the most dominant WWE performer of this decade.
The reason for the quick match was because Goldberg probably wasn’t ready for a long match and also because it will build to a rematch. Both guys are part of the Royal Rumble next month. Neither man is expected to win, but something should happen there to set up a WrestleMania match two months later. If that match is as short as this one, I’ll be very surprised.
Goldberg’s quick win was a match I’ll never forget and it’s not because it was a classic battle. The reason it’s memorable is because it was shocking and a reminder that every once in a while WWE can still surprise us.
3. Shane McMahon’s Return – Feb. 22 (Raw)
Vince McMahon was in the ring to present a “Vincent James McMahon Legacy Award” named after his father. He presented the award to Stephanie McMahon, which led to boos from the crowd since she has been a heel for several years now. The award was something that was made up just to get Stephanie some heat. It was also done to set up a return.
When Stephanie was ready to deliver a speech about the award, Shane McMahon showed up. It was the first-time Shane had been on WWE television since leaving the company in 2009. The ovation for Shane that night in Detroit was huge. There were loud “Shane O Mac” chants as Shane was out there sweating through his suit.
As a moment, Shane’s return shocked us and surprised us in a good way. Fans were sick of Stephanie and Triple H running the show using the same “power hungry bosses” storyline that WWE does too often. Shane represented change. That’s why fans loved him more than any of the other people in the McMahon family.
The storyline for Shane’s return could have been better. He wanted control of Raw, Vince said no, Shane said he had some mysterious lock box power over his dad because he bailed him out with some money years ago and Vince said that Shane had to beat Undertaker in a match at WrestleMania. Shane ended up losing that match, yet he was still on television regularly after it was over and eventually became the Smackdown Commissioner.
In addition to his return on Raw, Shane gave us another memorable moment this year by doing a flying elbow off the Hell in a Cell structure at WrestleMania. The Undertaker moved, so Shane went crashing onto a table. It was a crazy spot that reminded us that Shane was always willing to do anything to entertain us.
I’m glad Shane is back in WWE. He seems happy to be there and it’s where he belongs. I certainly didn’t expect to be writing about Shane or Goldberg back in WWE this year, but it happened. Can we get a Kurt Angle return next year? I sure hope so.
2. Daniel Bryan Announces His Retirement – Feb. 9 (Raw)
“It is with a heavy heart and the utmost sadness that I officially announce my retirement.”
This was a sad moment, but it’s impossible to ignore it as well. Daniel Bryan had a connection with the WWE fans that nobody else had over the last five years. He was the most popular wrestler in WWE, even though his push didn’t always represent that. Yes, he had that moment in the main event of WrestleMania 30 in 2014, but it could be argued that he should have had more moments at the top.
Bryan stood in the ring in Seattle that night, which was considered his hometown crowd since he grew up in the state of Washington. He spoke about how much he loved being in a wrestling ring and how he loved it more than anything in his life. However, he also told us that he couldn’t do it anymore due to a number of serious concussions he suffered in his career.
During the speech, Bryan noted that he felt nothing but gratitude because he got to do what he loved for nearly 16 years. He talked about how grateful he is because he got to meet his wife (Brie Bella) because of wrestling and he got to live his dreams in front of all of us.
The speech ended with Bryan leading the crowd in “YES” chants as a way to lift our spirits and help him feel the energy of the crowd one more time.
I’m not going to rate retirement speeches in terms of the best ever, but this was one of the better speeches in that regard. Not everybody gets to retire in the middle of the ring in the main event of Raw. I’m glad that Bryan got this moment in his home state in front of the people that watched him grow up in a wrestling ring.
Bryan’s absence from Raw lasted a few months until he returned in July as the General Manager of Smackdown. Will he have one more match one day? Probably not, but you never really know in the wrestling business.
1. AJ Styles Makes His WWE Debut at the Royal Rumble
During the first week of 2016, there was a report stating that AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were leaving New Japan to join WWE. It didn’t seem real at first, but it was true and it led to a lot of fans speculating about when they might show up in a WWE ring.
The Royal Rumble is one of the most important matches of the year. Roman Reigns started the match and quickly eliminated Rusev before the third man could enter the match. The clock ticked down, the crowd counted along with it and a new song played that we had not heard before. Then it said “I Am Phenomenal” on the video wall. The fans knew right away. It was “The Phenomenal One” AJ Styles.
The reason this was such a big moment is because Styles was the best wrestler in the world that was not in WWE. Styles was a 18 year veteran that made a name for himself in TNA Wrestling, which is not mentioned on WWE television. Styles spent the previous two years having amazing matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling. To see him in a WWE ring finally was a huge moment that I will never forget. (I should point out as well that he actually had a tryout match in WWE when he was much younger, but he was not under contract at that point.)
Styles lasted 28:58 in the Rumble match, which was a good showing. He eliminated two people and was eventually dumped out by Kevin Owens. Could he have lasted longer? Sure, but that’s okay. His debut got people talking more than Triple H becoming the oldest man to win the Royal Rumble match, which also meant Triple H won the WWE Title as well.
Signing Styles to a contract was the best thing that WWE did this year. He is the complete package capable of having great matches with anybody, delivering quality promos and making us say wow with the things he can do in the ring. It’s a shame that it took 18 years to get him in a WWE ring and that being 39 years old means that he may only have a few years in WWE, but I’m happy that he’s there. I think he’s on a level with guys like Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle when they were in the prime as the best overall performers in the business. There’s nothing Styles can’t do in that ring.
Following the Rumble match, Styles went on to have several classic matches this year and in my opinion was the easy choice as WWE’s Wrestler of the Year. His summer feud with John Cena was amazing and I’m glad that he won the WWE Title at Backlash in September because he earned it. I hope he retains the WWE Title all the way until at WrestleMania, but it’s certainly possible that he loses it before then.
In Closing
This wasn’t the best year in WWE history by any means, but if you’re a fan of the wrestling business then you know that every year there are moments we are going to remember forever. I hope you enjoyed this look back at the top ten WWE moments of 2016.
To wrap this up, let me just say that I have really enjoyed writing about WWE here at The Comeback. Most weeks I contribute two articles per week, one of which is a Raw review, and I get a lot of great feedback from readers about the wacky world of professional wrestling. I enjoy what I do because I never take it too seriously and always remember there’s probably some six-year-old kid watching the product just like I was 30 years ago. There’s no offseason for WWE and no offseason for me.
I’ll be back next week for more with a reaction to the first Raw of 2017. Happy New Year, my friends.
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