WWE: Ranking Every PPV from 2016

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13. Payback

It’s no surprise that most of the year’s worst PPVs occurred right around Mania time. Fastlane was the final PPV before WrestleMania 32, and Payback was the first one after it. Once the storylines that had built up to Mania began to wear off, things improved quite a bit. As for Payback, it was still feeling the effects, but it wasn’t an all-around bad PPV.

One of the positives of this PPV was the main event, which was one of the best matches of the entire year. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns faced off against AJ Styles in a match that went a long way toward putting the “Reigns can’t wrestle” idea to bed. The two men put on a classic that featured one of the best spots of the entire year as Styles hit Reigns with a phenomenal forearm through the announce table. The match also marked Styles’ coronation into the main-event scene in WWE, a welcome sight for anyone who was nervous about his success in WWE.

As for the negatives, one thing that stands out was the re-creation of the Montreal Screwjob during the Natalya vs Charlotte match. It was a weird angle that was never really followed up on as it relates to referee Charles Robinson. There was also the unfortunate ending to the Vaudevillains vs Enzo and Cass match where Enzo was knocked unconscious. Obviously that wasn’t WWE’s fault, but it was a downside nonetheless.

Payback wasn’t necessarily bad, but not much of significance happened, thus it comes in as the third-worst, or 13th best if you’re an optimist, PPV of 2016.