WWE: Ranking Every PPV from 2016

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4. Royal Rumble

I mentioned before that the PPVs around Mania time in 2016 were not good. But Royal Rumble is the exception, and its not hard to see why. The Royal Rumble is one of the most anticipated events of the year and is one of the most fun matches to watch. And this one specifically had the stipulation that it would be for the WWE title itself, rather than just No. 1 contendership. And with Roman Reigns going in as champion and after all the backlash from the year prior, everyone pretty much knew he wasn’t going to win. That alone made it a fun show to watch.

Then you have the match itself. It started with a moment that we’ll look back on for years, as AJ Styles made his surprise entrance from the number three spot in the Rumble as the arena erupted. It marked the debut of someone who tore down the house all over the world and finally made his way to WWE, and his staredown with Reigns was the perfect way to kick things off.

Then we fast forward to the end of the match and we see something nobody saw coming. No I’m not talking about Triple H entering and ultimately winning the match as some people actually expected that to happen. I’m talking about the final two being Dean Ambrose and Triple H. No one expected Ambrose to be in that spot, and the slight hope that he could somehow become WWE champion made the end of the match infinitely more interesting than if it came down to Triple H and Reigns.

This along with some good matches on the upper card like Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose and Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio made Royal Rumble a very good show overall.