10 totally honest headlines about WWE in 2016, which no one would have believed one year ago.

If at the end of 2015, somebody were to show you this image, and told you that it would be happening in 2016, odds are that you almost definitely wouldn’t believe then.

SmackDown is live? AJ Styles is WWE Champ? And OH MY GOD James Ellsworth is… who’s James Ellsworth?

Looping best-of-three-PPVs feuds are so formulaic that it is easy for some to shrug proceedings off as boring. Has booking really been that uninteresting though? Of course not.

2016 sought to prove otherwise, and for better or for worse, did a great job. Over the last twelve months, WWE have dreamt up things that comedy sites like Kayfabe News wouldn’t have done. This is less about just devestating moments (for example, the retirement of Daniel Bryan caused massive upset), and more about the surprises. Here are some 100% true headlines surrounding booking choices that would have seriously confused any wrestling fan just one year ago.

CHRIS JERICHO (AT PEAK OF HIS CAREER) DEFEATS A.J. STYLES

(WrestleMania 32, April 3rd) 

Fans have been drinking in the Gift of Jericho. 2016 has been incredible for him, and he has been revered for his role in the top-tier, alongside Kevin Owens. He has been incredibly in touch with fans’ desires, even if it is wearing a scarf, growing a moustache and calling everyone “stupid idiots”. With such popularity, a victory for him might forgiven on most days. But this wasn’t ‘most days’. His opponent was A.J. Styles, who had arrived in Royal Rumble 2016.

The match itself was great, but the result angered many. Jericho had stated that he would be leaving WWE (liar!), and did not need this win. Regardless of the result, a lot of spectacular rare signature moves by Styles were wasted (such as Styles’ 450 Splash) and weakened in reputation by the 45-year-old Jericho kicking out. Looking back now, the result did no harm, and Styles is WWE Champion.

 THE ROCK DEFEATS ERICK ROWAN AT WRESTLEMANIA 32, TO MIXED RECEPTION

(WrestleMania 32, April 3rd)

This would have caused a lot of confusion, and disappointment when actually explained. This, for me, was the most infuriating part of WrestleMania – The Rock’s surprise appearance. It turned out that the disaster of his appearance at Royal Rumble ’15 was a one-off. Rocky came out to address the crowd for over twenty-minutes, reeling off (disproved) info on the record-breaking attendance, and the standard checklist of catchphrases.

The Wyatt Family arrived to face-off with The Rock. The Wyatts got a far more positive reaction than WWE had probably hoped, considering how The Rock insulted absolutely everything about their demeanour, rendering them obsolete. The last nail came when The Rock challenged Erick Rowan to a match, which lasted for six-seconds. Then a still injured John Cena helped take out the rest of The Wyatts.

Fans have wanted The Wyatts to catch their break forever. This segment was the epitome of booking stupidity.

SHANE MCMAHON’S WWE OWNERSHIP DREAMS REVIVED, AFTER HIS HIAC LOSS AGAINST THE UNDERTAKER, AT WRESTLEMANIA

(Raw, April 4th)

Where on earth does one begin with this one? How about at the end of the story. Shane McMahon was shockingly back and Vince McMahon welcomed him on the Raw after WrestleMania. However, the second half of the above statement shows that the journey to this point had been a ridiculous and messy one. Under what circumstance would Shane-o-Mac be booked to face The Undertaker at WrestleMania, in a Hell in a Cell match? As it turned out, according to his statement live on Raw, to give Shane “another fucking beating”. There really was little-to-no substance to Shane’s presence. Although this match started the road to the brand split, there is nothing to add to that headline, and nothing else to say.

The match itself was nothing to write home about. It was a show of Shane’s signature moves, leading to him throwing himself off of the cell, onto Taker. Fans had joked for a long time about one last jump, and said that it would never happened. Well now we’ve seen it. Sadly, too much of it, as the producers backstage screwed up and we got a full look at the airbag that he really landed on. And hilariously, you can also see Michael Cole reading his big “as God is my witness, he is broken in half speech” directly from a clipboard.

Looking back now, the end result was OK, but was a waste of a year for Taker, whose days are clearly numbered, and has a few dream opponents left who will never get their Taker at WM match.

AFTER CLEANLY DEFEATING ROLLINS AND REIGNS, FINN BALOR IS FORCED TO VACATE WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP DUE TO INJURY

(SummerSlam, August 21^st)

This really was a moment that took some people a while to comprehend. Finn Balor had been drafted to RAW, having graduated from NXT. On his first match on the main roster, Balor became the first man to cleanly pin the overly protected Roman Reigns, in four years. And what on earth is this WWE Universal Championship? It might sound like a really daft writing idea, belonging in the same canon as Broken Matt Hardy, but is (luckily) just RAW’s humourously desperate attempt at one-upping SmackDown’s World Championship. Hopefully neither brand will create a Galactic Championship, but it wouldn’t be of any surprise.

Of course, this closes on the sadder note as straight after Balor vs Rollins at SummerSlam, Balor was forced to vacate the title, due to a shoulder injury. One noteworthy moment of the match was Rollins unleashing the very dangerous God’s Last Gift move on Balor, which Rollins hasn’t performed since actually being ‘Seth Rollins’. It’s a pity that it was done so unceremoniously, and kicked out of afterwards. Speaking of which…

KOTA IBUSHI KICKS OUT OF BURNING HAMMER IN MATCH AGAINST BRIAN KENDRICK, FOR THE WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE

(Cruiserweight Classic Quarterfinals, August 26^th)

Impressed by the new WWE Universal Championship? You ain’t seen nothing yet.

Absolutely everything about the sentence above is completely mind-boggling. To start with there are the wrestlers – the presence of Japanese legend Kota Ibushi in a WWE tournament, and the return of The Brian Kendrick (who would later become the WWE Cruiserweight World Champion). Oh, and there is the fact that there is even such a thing as a WWE Cruiserweight World Championship – brilliant news, however purple the belt is.

The cherry on the cake here though is the use of a ‘Burning Hammer’, commonly considered one of, if not the most dangerous manoeuvres in wrestling. Considering the dark cloud surrounding the dreaded and forbidden piledriver, this was stunning. Sadly, Ibushi was booked to kick out of the move – a bigger waste than Jericho kicking out of Styles’ 450 Splash, and Finn Balor kicking out of Seth Rollins’ God’s Last Gift. It’s a disappointing ongoing policy of WWE – ever match that ends with a pin, can’t end with anything that isn’t a finishing move.

AFTER THE SPIRIT SQUAD ARE REMOVED FROM RINGSIDE, THE MIZ LOSES WWE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP IN A TITLE VS CAREER MATCH, AGAINST DOLPH ZIGGLER

(No Mercy, October 9^th)

Welcome to probably the best feud of 2016 – The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler. Considering Ziggler’s reputation as a fan favourite who is booked mostly as filler in the mid-card, it would have been baffling to even see Ziggler on the brink of becoming a champion once again. The fact that it would be booked as important enough to warrant a stipulation like ‘Title vs Career’ brings the highest degree of importance to the mid-card title. Oh, and who could ever expected the appearance of The Spirit Squad?

This feud was absolutely incredible, as it acknowledged the on-off history of Ziggler’s booking, and made The Miz the most horrid villain in the WWE. As top-tier heels have been misguidedly booked and perhaps been too likeable (for example, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho are too entertaining that nobody wants to see defeated. And AJ Styles is… AJ Styles). However, The Miz has been the most incredible man on the mic this year (peaking during his shocking segment in Talking Smack). The feud took the best possible route, as Ziggler won in a massive feel good moment at No Mercy, and lost the title weeks later in a brilliant ladder match with The Miz. With The Miz champion again, he is destined for another amazing feud in 2017.

CHARLOTTE DEFEATS SASHA BANKS TO BECOME THREE TIMES RAW WOMEN’S DIVISION CHAMPION, HEADLINING HELL IN A CELL

(Hell in a Cell, October 30^th)

There is a RAW Women’s Championship? Charlotte has won the title three times already? And the women have finally been allowed into the cell? And they headlined the event? It sounds like a dream come true, although some have since argued that this was not the monumental occasion that it should have been. To a point, I agree.

To start with, is the number of times that the title has changed hands. While there is no reason why it couldn’t happen, it probably shouldn’t have happened for two reasons: 1. Too much attention had been drawn to these two women over anybody else in the division, and 2. Having held the title three times in less than a year, somewhat dilutes its importance. As for the match, it was definitely styled to look like an important event – for example Sasha Banks being stretchered off having been put through a table, styled like a lighter version of Mankind’s famous fall from the cell in 1998. It wasn’t perfect, and as of December 2016, the title still seems to be fought for by only these two wrestlers. Hopefully, with the list of matches happening for the first time in the Women’s Division, is shrinking, more wrestlers will become involved.

ASUKA DEFEATS MICKIE JAMES, TO RETAIN THE NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP AT NXT TAKEOVER: TORONTO

(NXT TakeOver: Toronto, November 19^th)

On the other end of the scale, NXT really have opened up when it has come to opportunities. Look no further than the decision to bring Mickie James in for her first WWE match in six years, to take on Asuka – new champion in 2016. This could have been a very poor decision, and considering how one of the primary talking points of her career was when she grabbed Trish Stratus’ crotch at WrestleMania, one could be forgiven for being pessimistic. However, there was no need. While NXT has seen a few superior women’s matches, Mickie did not disappoint, delivering what some have called the greatest match of her career.

Looking back on this, I am in two minds about this event. I’m very positive due to the quality of the match itself, however I was admittedly quite disappointed when this match was first announced. This was the first women’s TakeOver match to be more novel that a standard singles match, since TakeOver: Respect (headlined by Sasha Banks and Bayley’s Iron Man match), and NXT decided that the twist would be from bringing in another veteran. This to me indicates the confirmation that NXT has well and truly lost the agenda of being developmental territory, and has grown to a scale that it can never step back from. Fingers crossed that this doesn’t jeopardise the progress of talent such as Peyton Royce and Liv Morgan.

GOLDBERG CLEANLY DEFEATS BROCK LESNAR AT SURVIVOR SERIES, IN EIGHTY-SIX SECONDS

(Survivor Series, November 20^th)

For the most part when writing these, it has been a matter of shoehorning as much unlikely information into the space of one sentence. In this instance, there is no point. Bill Goldberg showed up, was signed up for a match against the unstoppable Brock Lesnar, and he won. This is perfectly representative of WWE being so painfully formulaic that something so barmy as a 49-year-old wrestler, turning up for his first match in twelve years and defeating Lesnar in eighty-six seconds, is accepted.

Fans even surprised themselves, pondering “why am I so happy about this?”. Venturing a guess, this was the opposite of the upset surround The Rock and The Wyatts at WrestleMania – neither side needed a victory, so the most ridiculous enjoyable result was allowed to happen. If Lesnar had done the same thing, groans would resume about the pointlessness of the match.

While it’s confirmed that Lesnar and Goldberg will be in the 2017 Royal Rumble, we can’t be entirely sure what comes next. The novelty might wear off quickly, but for the time being? Wow.

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA BECOMES FIRST TWO-TIME NXT CHAMPION IN MATCH WITH SAMOA JOE, AT OSAKA HOUSE SHOW (NXT, December 3^rd)

The NXT singles championship has changed hands at a house show before – Samoa Joe won his title at a house show Lowell, Massachusetts in April 2016. However, this is not what makes the matter especially shocking. It is the fact that the title was taken by SHINSUKE NAKAMURA!

His shocking arrival in 2016 was great, debuting in-person (having challenged Sami Zayn to a match on the screen in the Full Sail studio) at NXT TakeOver: Dallas, in what might be my favourite match of 2016 – Nakamura vs. Zayn. NXT promoted his arrival as though it was the most important moment in the history of NXT. If the promotion has decided that it isn’t developmental any more, it may as well do things properly, and man they are.

And most surprising of all? Considering how the company have changed names to mononyms, such as (Adrian) Neville, Big E (Langston) and (Alexander) Rusev, Shinsuke Nakamura is at least as of December 2016, still called Shinsuke Nakamura. Will it last?

Which other WWE moments of 2016 would have sounded outrageous in 2015, and what is the most outrageous thing that you think is actually possible in 2017? Post below.

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The tidiness of SmackDown is a great new canvas for Wyatt Family chaos

I have spoken before about how I think that the best-of-three/five/seven format of feuds, as recently seen between Sheamus and Cesaro, would be brilliant to use more often, because it is a new tidy format, providing something new to break in the future. This frame of mind matches SmackDown perfectly, at least as of now.

SmackDown has been onto a winner since the brand division with its tidy format, and if anything falls out of sync, it can be portrayed as a massive problem. The main, two-hour show is devoted very much to (usually complete) matches, and the odd promo segment. Most of the trash talk is reserved for the brilliant Talking Smack. With two different shows to cover the progression of the brand it is easy to follow – a PG sport-orientated show in one, and contained fury in the other. RAW, on the other hand, is one massive three-hour montage of problems, making very little seem like an especially big deal. The Wyatt Family faced this difficulty somewhat when in a feud with The New Day. The babyface opposition were goofy and nutty enough that Bray Wyatt would have put an almost impossibly massive foot down to come across as a force to be reckoned with, bringing misery to the jolliest tag team that WWE has seen in years.

Unfortunately, this was an opportunity that was not put to use, and arguably couldn’t, due to how both RAW and SmackDown at the time (pre-brand divide) were chaotic enough that nothing could come across as a big issue to the kayfabe managers, such as Triple H, Daniel Bryan and the McMahon siblings.

The idea of a massive problem is exactly what The Wyatt Family have been about, with little focus on titles, and more on throwing a spanner in the works during shows, to stand in the way of various other figures’ progress. The tidiness of SmackDown, and the formation of its own universe due to two shows, means there can be a huge emphasis on chaos.

SmackDown has already teased somewhat that The Wyatt Family are positioned to remain detached and mysterious, as besides The Wyatts crashing an episode of Talking Smack, it is the one big storyline that has not yet been given coverage by interview. Even in spite of the inclusion of Randy Orton, it has not featured, but isn’t ignored. They are highly conceptual and the most appropriate wrestlers to hijack a SmackDown main event and for Daniel Bryan and Renee Young in a kayfabe state of panic of Talking Smack.

Fingers crossed that this opportunity is taken.

Emma’s “Emmalina” rebranding is atrocious, but sadly might be appropriate for as long as fans want the Women’s Division to grow.

What on Earth does WWE have in mind as they rebrand Evil Emma as “Emmalina” upon her long awaited return? The announcement of her character change since her brilliant showing as Evil Emma before her injury-induced hiatus has irritated many fans, myself in included.

Unfortunately, this is pretty much what fans asked for in the first place when they requested equality in booking. There is something that the Women’s Division does not have yet that the men have had for a long time, and someone had to be sacrificed for its creation: a comedic low-card.

Why should we be upset that it is Emma?

Months ago I wrote about how her evil diva-like character felt like a great ‘final boss’ for faces, if that kind of character continued to be booked like a deliberate smear on the new Women’s Division – replicating the attitude that fans sincerely feel about Eva Marie. I felt especially strongly about this since Asuka vs Emma took place at NXT TakeOver: London, and it became my match of the night. This was her role. The closest thing that the NXT roster had to a Diva in character, up against a dearly beloved and skilful wrestler, as well as wrestling brilliantly too.  

Who, me? Emma seems pretty proud of it too.

I have written before that I was concerned of what would become of Emma when she returned, because at the moment, the role of “miserable bitch heel” is elusive. I said this before the Raw/SmackDown draft as I rooted for Evil Emma to be assigned to whichever would lead to a high-card feud with Becky Lynch, but mentioned how “even” (the nonetheless awesome) Alexa Bliss may have taken that position by the time Emma returns. To my surprise, that’s actually what happened, as Alexa skipped being NXT Women’s Champion, in favour of being in the main roster.

Evil Emma was beaten to SmackDown by the nonetheless awesome, and terrifying “five feet of fury” Alexa Bliss

Until the “Emmalina” announcement, I had my hopes up that Emma would find her way to SmackDown perhaps to do a proper job in trying to get the SmackDown Women’s Championship upon Alexa’s failure. Emma and Alexa could also have been either a great partnership, or entertaining feud for No.1 Contendership. But no.

Bizarrely, while this is massively disappointing, there is an irritating truth that has to be considered. We can say “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” all we like, but the sad fact of the matter is that to a point, something is “broke”. Certainly not the character of Emma, but the division itself. In spite of the growth of the Women’s Division, if fans want true equality, there is a part of the card that has yet to be created: the daft, low-card region where the likes of Tyler Breeze, Fandango and Curtis Axel are found – a troupe commonly considered by fans as ‘victims’.

Why should fans be expected to be upset?

Are we finished we NXT-style Emma?

The reason that this appears so problematic is that the attitude surrounding the Women’s Division has been highly connected the revolution and times of change. No matter which talent drew the short straw, it was always going to be a big disappointment – a plummet from the suppressed perfection that fans have come to hope for from the women. If Emma hadn’t had to take her hiatus, then it is just as likely that Alexa Bliss would instead be in a low-card position, making a mockery of being short.

The acceptance of the creation of a lower card, based around goofiness, also isn’t helped by the conciseness of NXT. One PPV-style event every two months, and four one-hour episodes recorded per month, meant that the canvas had very little room. Too little room to allow space for a humorous low card whether for men or women, even if there have been tongue-in-cheek characters spattered around the card, such as Tye Dillinger, No Way Jose, Bull Dempsey and maybe even Blue Pants. Subsequently, anybody who has been witnessed as great on NXT, will seem to be poisoned as light-heartedness and comedy quickly overtake wrestling prowess. It doesn’t help that Emma previously featured alongside Santino Marella. Having seen her wrestling suppressed in favour of being Marella’s sidekick, means that fans will struggle to trust WWE writers when assigned a comedic character.

A few months ago, the “Emmalina” debacle might not have cause much upset to begin with, on the grounds of it either being a heel character, or somebody just waiting to turn her back on that character. After all, she is returning as a stereotypical ‘model’ Diva character, and as the ‘revolution’ theme was in full force, it wouldn’t have been any surprise if she were to join in and make a point of not being a Diva anymore. Unfortunately, that ship has now sailed, leaving behind only a vacancy for silliness that isn’t much more sophisticated than an overly flatulent Natalya.

This might not be all bad in the end. Stranger things have happened, but it is no surprise that this might be a problem.