WWE: Ranking Every PPV from 2016

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9. Backlash

Backlash was SmackDown’s first brand-exclusive PPV, and it allowed them to set the table for the future. It will mostly be remembered for crowning a litany of new champions and marking one of the first times SmackDown has felt relevant in years.

SmackDown’s first Women’s champion was crowned through a six-pack challenge that ultimately saw Becky Lynch come out on top. It was a big moment for both SmackDown and Becky, as she had felt like the overlooked member of NXT’s four horsewomen up until that point. Charlotte and Sasha had both been Raw Women’s champion by this point and Bayley was allowed to run NXT on her own. But finally, Becky got some of the spotlight.

And while we’re on the subject of feel-good title victories, Heath Slater and Rhyno defeated the Usos in the finals of a tournament to crown SmackDown’s first tag team champions. Slater went from being one of the most irrelevant members of the WWE roster to being tag team champion in just a few short months, all because he was given a sliver of opportunity after he became the only undrafted superstar in the WWE draft. It was a legitimate feel-good story that finally reached its peak.

And to top everything off, AJ Styles won his first WWE world title by defeating Dean Ambrose in the main event. This isn’t to say that taking the title off Ambrose was an undoubtedly good idea, but a title change was reasonable by this point, and Styles is more than capable of anchoring the blue brand as champion. It was a somewhat surprising result as well, adding to the quality of what was already a very entertaining PPV.