When years end, we tend to reflect on the previous twelve months and remember everything from the good to the bad. Everyone and their mother decides to take their favorite things from the year and make lists on what was the best and what was the worst. Well, I’m no different. 2016 was a crazy year for wrestling, with the Cruiserweight Classic, WWE signing AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, and the “Divas Revolution” actually turning into something. The question remains: Who were the best WWE Superstars of 2016?
This list was decided by who has consistently given the best performances throughout the year, whether it was through character work, ring work, or a combination of both. Superstars like Finn Balor and John Cena were left off of the list since injuries prevented them from wrestling for the whole year. Since there are so many Superstars who had a great year, we are going to name some Honorable Mentions before listing the official Top 10.
Heath Slater
Who would have thought Heath Slater could become something again? Slater started off the year teamed up with Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel as part of the Social Outcasts, and even though they were never successful, Slater still managed to entertain. That stable never went anywhere, and the group decided to go separate ways. In July, though, something amazing happened for the One Man Band.
Raw and SmackDown drafted their rosters for the brand split, and all seemed settled. However, they forgot about Heath Slater. Slater had to fight for his job for several weeks, convincing Mick Foley, Daniel Bryan, Shane and Stephanie McMahon to give him a contract. After several failed attempts, he would find help in ECW Original Rhyno, who would become his unlikely tag team partner. The two would gain massive support from the WWE Universe, and go on to become the first-ever SmackDown Tag Team Championships, and getting Heath Slater a SmackDown Live contract as well.
In just a couple months, Slater went from constant loser to fan favorite Tag Team Champion. After losing the belts to the Wyatt Family at TLC, hopefully Slater can still be a relevant player for Team Blue.
The New Day
On paper, The New Day has had an incredible year. Going into 2016, they were already the Raw Tag Team Champions (WWE Tag Team Champions at the time) and as of this writing, they have not lost them since. It’s been easy for them to stay champions since the Raw tag team division has been a joke all year. They feuded with the League of Nations (sorry for making you remember them), The Vaudevillains, and The Club just to name a few teams.
Their feuds this year have not been stellar, or great, or mostly good. Their redeeming qualities for the year have been that they have stayed entertaining, and they have been the best main roster tag team all year.
Samoa Joe
Since winning the first Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic with Finn Balor last year, Samoa Joe has been in the NXT Championship title picture. Joe spent the first half of 2016 trying to get the NXT Championship from Finn Balor, and when he did, he started feuding with NXT’s top prospect: Shinsuke Nakamura (more on him later).
Joe main-evented five NXT TakeOver specials in a row, which is the most out of any NXT Superstar (the second most is Sami Zayn, with four in a row). For being such an integral part of NXT, being the main event and having great matches against everybody, Joe needs a nod here.
Becky Lynch
When you think of Becky Lynch, you immediately think of the Four Horsewomen. Lynch was the only member of the Four Horsewomen to not capture the NXT Women’s Championship. After the “Divas Revolution” started, her first title opportunity was feuding with Charlotte for the Divas Championship, but she was screwed out of every match.
The first huge moment for Becky Lynch was competing in the Women’s Championship triple threat match against Charlotte and Sasha Banks at WrestleMania. She lost the match, but she was not thrown to the back burner. Lynch was the first woman drafted by SmackDown in the brand split, and she also became the first-ever SmackDown Women’s Champion before losing a tables match to Alexa Bliss at TLC. While Lynch has not had as many “history making” moments as Sasha Banks and Charlotte, the Irish Lass Kicker has a great year with only room to go up from here.
