Smark Out Moment

Welcome to a special edition of Power Rankings from Smark Out Moment! We will be looking at the best wrestlers in WWE for this year. Factoring in things such as wins and losses, suspensions, injuries, making a name for one's self, being humiliated, and more, who is at the top of the food chain and who needs to make up some ground next year?



Rich Swann ended the year as Cruiserweight Champion. He's my least favourite of the three Cruiserweight champions and I'm including every champion from this year so, this is probably the right place for him.


T J Perkins won the Cruiserweight Classic to become the 'inaugural' Cruiserweight Champion. Because we should all forget the other Cruiserweight title.


The Brian Kendrick was the best of a bad bunch when it came to the Cruiserweight division, so he gets 23rd


American Alpha made their debut at the brand split and haven't been as good as I would have hoped this year. I'm glad they weren't given the title straight away, but it seems like their push has been a bit stop-start. They ended the year as SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions and I hope that this is the start of a good run for them in 2017.


Goldberg beat Brock Lesnar in less than 100 seconds. It might be the only thing he did this year, but it's still pretty noteworthy.


Triple H won the Royal Rumble to become WWE World Heavyweight Champion or whatever the title was called back then, it must have changed names two or three times this year. That and Triple H has to be above Goldberg because LOL WWE are better than WCW.


Kalisto held the US Championship twice, was part of the best chairs match of all time and did a good, Lucha... thing.


Heath Slater and Rhyno were the inaugural SmackDown Live Tag Team Champions. Heath was great when he had no contract and is still quite good whenever he's on screen, a good year for him.


Alberto Del Rio started the year as US Champion. I liked him for a bit last year and didn't hate his run with the League of Nations.


Dolph Ziggler has had a good year, he held the Intercontinental Championship for a little while and had a good feud with The Miz.


Rusev is always great and he held the US Championship for a while this year. A fairly average year, but Rusev is a great heel, who sticks in your mind.


Becky Lynch won the first SmackDown Live Women's Championship. I got a bit bored of her this year, but she's always good in ring and the brand split has helped her stand out.


Seth Rollins was WWE Champion, I have no idea what it was called at this point, for a few seconds at Money in the Bank in what was an incredible few minutes where all three members of The Shield held the title.


Cesaro and Sheamus went from being involved in an awful feud that seemed like it would never end, to being one of my favourite tag teams and ending the year with the Raw Tag Team Championships. Incredible.


Roman Reigns spent an entire year getting boo'd out of buildings and yet still managed to start the year as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, win the main event of WrestleMania and end the year as US Champion.


Sasha Banks won the Women's Championship three times during 2016, winning all of them on Raw. She would have been much higher but unfortunately kayfabe plays a small role in how I choose these rankings.


The Wyatt Family transformed throughout the year. Braun Strowman, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt and now Randy Orton have all been a part at some point, but they managed to win their first major championship and become the most interesting they have ever been in the past few months and I'm glad they got a run with the SmackDown Live Tag Team Championships.


Like I said, kayfabe plays a role in these rankings and being the longest reigning tag champs in WWE history is extremely impressive, so of course WWE's merchandise machines are the top tag team of the year.


The Miz held the Intercontinental Championship twice during the year and even ended the year with the title. But more importantly, he made the title relevant again, something WWE's star boy Roman has failed to do with his title.


I've fallen out of love with Dean Ambrose this year. His WWE Championship run was a little stale and was always going to seem bad compared to AJ Styles, but he's still had a very good year.


Finn Balor was the inaugural Universal Champion and even though he's technically only been on the roster for around a month, his return is perhaps the most anticipated.


Alexa Bliss shocked everyone this year by becoming one of the best performers in the company. She ended the year as SmackDown Live Women's Champion.


Charlotte is WWE's queen at the moment. She started the year as Diva's Champion, was the 'inaugural' Women's Champion and ended the year as a four time and reigning Women's Champion. Then, to top it all off, she won at every pay-per-view this year. Incredible!


Team Kevin and Chris were always going to be high and only one person had any chance of beating them to top spot. The longest reigning Universal Champions of all time may be my favourite partnership in WWE history.


AJ Styles had the most incredible year! His match of the year candidate and phenomenal (haha, get it?) debut at the Royal Rumble mean't that even by the end of January he had achieved a lot, but he has since had some of the best feuds of the year, he's BEAT UP JOHN CENA and ended the year as WWE Champion. What a year, for a truly phenomenal performer!