Match, Moment and Breakout Stars of the Year all selected
Tuesday 27 December 2016 11:19, UK
With 2016 winding to a close, it's time to dish out our end-of-year WWE awards.
We've handed out eight gongs in total, including male and female Superstar of the Year, Match of the Year and Moment of the Year.
You've no doubt got your own opinions so let us know on Twitter @SkySportsWWE
Male Superstar of the Year - AJ Styles
Notable mentions: Kevin Owens, Dean Ambrose
This time last year the prospect of seeing Styles in WWE, let alone thriving in it, seemed remote but having finally inked a deal with Vince McMahon's company in January, and then impressed on debut as the surprise No 3 entrant in the Royal Rumble Match, The Phenomenal One went from strength to strength.
Styles became embroiled in high-profile rivalries with Chris Jericho and Roman Reigns earlier in the year - battling the former at his first WrestleMania - but things got even better for him after the brand split.
The Georgian downed John Cena in a brilliant SummerSlam bout and then scooped his first world title in WWE by beating Dean Ambrose in September. Styles, arguably the best in-ring performer in the company, remains World Champion on Smackdown to this day.
Female Superstar of the Year - Charlotte
Notable mentions: Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch
This could have gone two ways, with Charlotte and Sasha Banks impressing immensely during their heated and history-making battles over the Raw Women's Championship. Yet, with Charlotte starting 2016 as champion, likely to end it the same way, and remaining unbeaten in singles matches at main-roster pay-per-views, she gets the nod.
Charlotte has won each of her 13 title bouts at WWE's Sunday night specials, nine of them in 2016, including when she downed Banks and Lynch in a Triple Threat at WrestleMania 32.
Charlotte looks like a champion and certainly struts and preens like one, but she is powerful and effective in the squared circle, too, proving she does not need her father, Ric Flair, to earn success.
Rivalry of the Year - Charlotte v Sasha Banks
Notable mentions: AJ Styles v John Cena, Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn
Charlotte has doubled up in our awards, with her conflict with Sasha Banks earning both competitors our Rivalry of the Year gong. We had little choice really - despite Styles and Cena's beef and the grudge between Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens - with The Queen and The Boss taking women's wrestling in WWE to unprecedented heights.
Their title match in Los Angeles in October was the first time a women's bout had main-evented Raw in 12 years, while they were given the showpiece spot again in November when Banks beat Charlotte in a brilliant Falls Count Anywhere Match.
On pay-per-view, their showdown at SummerSlam was good, but their inaugural Women's Hell in a Cell Match and Sunday's Iron Man encounter were outstanding. Let's hope they do battle again down the line.
Tag Team of the Year - The New Day
Notable mentions: The Revival, Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton
Tough one this, with The Revival, an old-school tag team who deal in fists not flips, enjoying two reigns with NXT's twin straps and the peculiar pairing of Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton impressing late in the year, but it would be remiss to ignore The New Day, now owners of the longest reigning Tag Team Title reign in WWE history.
Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods trumped Demolition's 478-day spell with the belts shortly before losing them to Sheamus and Cesaro at Roadblock, while their matches are entertaining affairs.
That's certainly been the case over the last few months with the trio using a fair bit of skulduggery to keep themselves in line for a record reign - Woods' trombone, Francesca II: Turbo, usually proving key.
Match of the Year - Kevin Owens v Sami Zayn at Battleground
Notable mentions: Styles v Cena (SummerSlam), Zayn v Shinsuke Nakamura (NXT Takeover: Dallas)
Hopefully there are plenty more battles to come between Owens and Zayn but their singles scuffle at Battleground will live long in the memory. Zayn was desperate to beat friend-turned-rival Owens - the man he teamed with on the independent scene and who pinched the NXT Title from him in 2015 - at a pay-per-view and he did that in July.
Zayn looked done for after Owens turned a Helluva Kick into a Pop-Up Powerbomb, while Owens seemed in trouble when he was clattered onto the ring apron.
The end came at around the 18-and-a-half-minute mark when Zayn, seemingly on his last legs, nailed Owens with two suplexes and two Helluva Kicks, before sinking to his knees and letting his emotional success sink in.
Moment of the Year - Goldberg beats Brock Lesnar in 86 seconds
Notable mentions: Triple H turns on Seth Rollins on Raw, Styles' WWE debut
A match 12 years in the making lasted less than two minutes. Goldberg, who beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania XX in 2004 in his previous WWE match, took his tally against The Beast Incarnate to 2-0 with a crushing win at Survivor Series, the veteran pulverising Lesnar with two spears and a jackhammer.
WWE fans were left stunned by one of the biggest shocks since Lesnar shattered The Undertaker's unbeaten streak at WrestleMania, with most predicting that the Anomaly would continue his dominant ways and equalise Goldberg's win over a decade earlier.
Away from that, though, Triple H abandoning his former protégé Seth Rollins and helping Owens claim the Universal Title was a memorable moment - one Rollins certainly hasn't forgotten about.
Return of the Year - Shane McMahon
Notable mentions: Chris Jericho, Mick Foley
Chris Jericho has been royally entertaining during his latest run, Y2J not losing a step in the ring and providing laughs aplenty when adding names to his List of Jericho, while Mick Foley seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself as Raw General Manager.
Yet, the return that generated the most noise was surely McMahon's, with fans inside the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit going wild when Shane-O-Mac showed up in February for the first time in seven years.
McMahon showed his trademark daredevil side when he battled The Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell Match at WrestleMania, leaping from the top of the Cell and through an announce desk while trying to clock Taker with an elbow drop, while now, as Smackdown Commissioner, he is one of the many reasons the blue brand is must watch.
Breakout Stars of the Year - Enzo Amore and Big Cass
Notable mentions: Baron Corbin, Alexa Bliss
When grapplers progress from NXT to the main roster, they must dream of an instant connection with the WWE crowd. Enzo Amore and Big Cass certainly received that.
Debuting on Raw the night after WrestleMania, to interrupt The Dudley Boyz no less, Amore and Cass were welcomed with open arms, with Amore's gift of the gab and over-the-top personality impossible to ignore.
The Realest Guys in the Room teamed with John Cena to take on The Club at Battleground, while Cass earned a spot in August's Universal Title Fatal Four-Way, a match ultimately won by Owens.
Sticking with former NXT stars, Corbin and Bliss have also enjoyed stellar years - the former winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and the latter the Smackdown Women's Title.
