Another year of professional wrestling is winding down as we head into December. Many people are ready to forget 2016 or wished that these past 11 months never existed. As terrible as 2016 has been, we take a look at the stars of professional wrestling that made the most out of their opportunities and ascended to the top of the food chain. Regardless of the brand or country, pro wrestling is always a mix bag of amazing matches, terrible gimmicks and WTF moments. Even with all of that madness, we’re now in a new era of wrestling driven by youth, indie talent and five-star entertainers. Here’s the best of the best when it came to 2016!
Honorable Mentions:
- Samoa Joe
- The Revival
Kenny Omega
The greatest wrestler outside of WWE is “The Cleaner” Kenny Omega. The casual wrestling fan may not know of Kenny, but boy are they missing out. Performing out of Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), Kenny is the #1 wrestler on WWE’s wish list. If you haven’t seen him, imagine Shawn Michaels, mixed with some Brian Pillman and a dash of video game geek and you get the awesome that is Kenny.
From his epic entrance to delivering match-of-the-year candidates every time he steps into the ring, and cutting vicious and hilarious promos on the mic, Kenny has the “It” factor that only few wrestling superstars have. Omega started the year by removing AJ Styles as leader of Bullet Club and took over the role. On top of winning the IWGP Intercontinental Champion and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship this year, Kenny became the first ever Gaijin (foreigner) to win the G1 Climax tournament. With a Heavyweight Championship run in his future, Kenny is solidifying his place as one the Elites.
Asuka
No woman in professional wrestling had a better 2016 than the “Empress of Tomorrow.” Upon arriving in NXT in late 2015, Asuka has been exactly as she was billed as, an unstoppable force in the women’s division. In April at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, Asuka beat Bayley to win the NXT Women’s Championship. Since then, all that she’s done is go undefeated and literally cleaned out the NXT women’s division. Bayley, Nia Jax, Eva Marie, Dana Brooke, Emma, Alexa Bliss and Carmella all left NXT with losses to Asuka on their resume.
Having just defended her title against soon-to-be Hall of Famer Mickie James at NXT TakeOver: Toronto, what’s next for Asuka? Outside of a feud with Mickie or the fast-rising Ember Moon, there’s not much left for her to do in the division. Having Asuka feud with a male competitor would make things really interesting and give her character a different spin that not many women could achieve.
A.J. Styles
A year ago AJ Styles was in NJPW battling for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Today he’s the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. No one would have believed that the former TNA Champion would reach the heights he’s had in WWE. But AJ’s broken that TNA glass ceiling and made himself a top WWE Superstar.
From making his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble in January to then reuniting with Bullet Club members Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as The Club, Styles has turned into a fan favorite. He spent much of the summer doing one of his favorite things: beating up John Cena! Pinning Cena a few times and dubbing himself the “New face that runs the place,” Styles set his sights on the WWE championship. At Backlash in September, AJ won his first WWE Heavyweight Championship by beating Dean Ambrose. Since then he’s been in an ongoing feud with Dean. With no signs of slowing down, we better get used to Styles being the top man on Smackdown Live.
Broken Matt Hardy
Had Matt not accomplished anything in the ring in 2016, he’d be on this list just for his epic YouTube videos. The Hardys (Jeff and Matt) have been floundering in TNA the past couples of years, so no one was expecting much of anything from Matt. This summer, however, Matt proved us all wrong when we were introduced to his new persona, Broken Matt Hardy. Sounding like a bad Shakespearian actor and sporting a new white streak in his fuzzy black hair, Broken Matt became “must-see” TV as he released bizarre, low-grade productions of his feud with brother Jeff that he renamed “Brother Nero.”
Channeling his best Tommy Wiseau impersonation, Broken Matt created these long, deliciously awful videos that are on par with anything seen in Wiseau’s The Room. With TNA’s current murky future, these viral videos are the best thing the company has produced in 2016. Even fellow wrestlers like Chris Jericho are fans of videos like “The Final Deletion.” Now with Brother Nero fighting alongside Broken Matt as Tag Team Champions, let the campy goodness continue!
Shinsuke Nakamura
For years WWE had a bad track record in utilizing and pushing Japanese stars. When news broke that “The King of Strong Style” Shinsuke Nakamura was heading to WWE, many fans, including us, were nervous about how Vince and company were going to use the enigmatic star. Upon arriving to NXT in April at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, it’s been nothing but money as the Nakamura craze has taken over WWE.
The man can wrestle, as we’ve seen in classic matches against the likes of Sami Zayn, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe. His charisma and energy is contagious the moment his entrance music hits, driving the crowd to serenade him with his own theme song. It’s easily one of the most impressive things you’ll ever see in wrestling.
Nakamura topped off his magical run by winning the NXT Championship against Samoa Joe at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn in August. Even though he just lost the belt back to Joe, we couldn’t have scripted a better first year for Shinsuke in WWE.
Charlotte Flair
When you’re the daughter of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair, you’re already winning in life. While fans love to cheer and fanboy/girl over Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch, the most consistent female performer on the main roster has been Charlotte. It’s easy to hate Charlotte because of her lineage or because WWE positioned her as the face of the women’s division, but all she does is deliver week after week.
“The Queen” has had quite the marquee year, highlighted by becoming the first new WWE Women’s Champion at the biggest stage of them all, WrestleMania 32. Charlotte has made 2016 her year by being involved in the most talked about and important women’s main events. Additionally, she keeps improving as a wrestler in every match. Even though she’s been playing hot potato with the championship belt with Sasha Banks (having just lost the title to Sasha again this week on RAW) since WrestleMania, using Charlotte as a pillar to build the women’s division on, is what’s best for business.
Kevin Owens
What did you accomplish this year? Kevin Owens won the Intercontinental Championship, got the best of his longtime rival Sami Zayn in their feud, became the new WWE Universal Champion and had the best bromance of 2016 with his friendship with Chris Jericho. I’d say all of that qualifies as a pretty good year.
At this point, Kevin should have merch with “Entertain Owens Entertain,” because that’s all he does every time he comes on TV. We’ve already declared our love and admiration for KO, and 2016 just cemented his position as one of the pivotal stars of the current WWE generation. Owens is 100% a classic wrestling heel and loves wearing that black hat. In a time when most wrestlers love getting the cheers and chants from crowds, Owens spends his time insulting the WWE Universe and doing anything he has to in order to stay on top of the mountain. He does underhanded and conniving very well, and the wrestling galaxy is lucky to call him champ.
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