Tag: 2016

In our first look at our most viewed news stories of 2016, the emphasis was on injuries and WWE signings.

But that was 6-10, and we find ourselves ready to present the top five most viewed stories on WrestlingObserver.com of 2016 featuring two backstage scuffles and talents either on their way out of WWE or blocked from coming back in.

5 — Chris Jericho & Sin Cara bus altercation (November)

The List of Jericho got a name written in bold in November as Sin Cara (Jorge Arias) and Y2J got into an altercation on a bus in England during WWE’s fall overseas tour of the United Kingdom. It seems Arias was annoying some of his fellow wrestlers and when Jericho confronted him in an effort to get him to quit it, things got ugly. A finger bite later, the two were separated and Arias was kicked off the bus, left to his own devices.

Both men had quite a year with backstage frays, so this was the icing on the 2016 cake. You’ll be hearing more about the Jericho Fighting Championship in a few paragraphs.

4 — WWE removes Jerry Lawler & Lita from on-screen duties (December)

For many, the voice of “The King” was part of their wrestling upbringing, for better or worse. Along with Jim Ross, the dirty old man who never thought he was old was synonymous with the experience of watching Raw and most PPVs.

In recent years, Lawler had been moved around from property to property and in December, he finally ran out of real estate. Both he and fellow WWE Hall of Famer Lita (Amy Dumas) were removed from the pre-show panels, signifying the end of an era in the case of the former.

While they did both ink Legends deals, Lawler and Dumas now become the equivalent of retired hosts in the Westworld warehouse, waiting to be programmed again to have usefulness for the big show.

3 — Kurt Angle not coming back to WWE (June)

Arguably the biggest WWE alumni member still on the outside looking in, Angle will remain in that role for the foreseeable future, according to a WWE official our Dave Meltzer spoke with in June following a radio interview Angle did.

Since then, the wrestling content world has changed incredibly. More and more emphasis is being put on name value as opposed to pre-conceived notions about what a pro wrestler is in 2016. However, Angle’s checkered past and battles with his demons have cast doubts about whether Vince McMahon is willing to sign off on bringing him back.

Then again, a 50-year-old Goldberg just decimated Brock Lesnar in a few minutes at Survivor Series. As always, card subject to change.

2 — The NJPW Four head to WWE (January)

To give you an idea of how big this story was, the views for this post were nearly double that of #3 on this list.

It’s cliche to say “the year started off with a bang” but in this case, that would be fitting as this was a massive story to kick off 2016. When two of the world’s best and one of the most notable American teams in NJPW decided to turn their gaze to Titanland, it raised eyebrows and set the course for a wild news year with lots of moves by lots of top talent partially driven by content needs.

Since then, we saw AJ Styles debut at the Royal Rumble, lose to Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania, have a tremendous feud with John Cena, and go on a run that sees him finish off the year as WWE Champion. Nakamura is the NXT Champion and is still working in front of a few hundred people a night at armories in Florida instead of thousands on the road for the big club.

And then, there’s Anderson and Gallows. Let’s just move on.

1 — Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho tangle backstage at SummerSlam (August)

This was one of those stories that we knew would be huge, but we didn’t expect this to be the biggest post of not just the year but of all-time for our website.

Pretty simply, Jericho was curious as to what happened in the finish of Lesnar’s memorable match with Randy Orton that left Orton in a pool of his own blood and viewers with mouths agape. Lesnar walked backstage, heard something he didn’t like, and it…was…on.

Jericho has never backed down from a challenge (Goldberg, anyone?) and apparently, Lesnar wasn’t going to be the first. You know this was wild and crazy when Vincent Kennedy McMahon gets involved in breaking it up.

Backstage fights will always generate interest, but one with a former UFC champion and a fiery Canadian who has hockey in his blood? That’s gold, Jerry. Gold.

Next up on our year-end countdown of lists: the most-viewed wrestling events of 2016.

2016 was a banner year for the business of pro wrestling from top stars moving to new in-ring zip codes, new technology affecting everything from how wrestling is presented to how talent gets signed, and several surprising in-ring results and happenings that had our faithful readers buzzing.

Unless something else substantial happens in the next few days (on Wednesday of course), the following is #6-10 of our most viewed news stories for the year that was 2016 — a mix of legal happenings, signings, and injuries.

10 — Bayley gets ‘injured’ at NXT tapings (April)

Well, even those working for pro wrestling websites can get swerved from time to time. And by “those”, I mean “me”.

We got a note from a reader that Bayley had hurt her knee in a match with Nia Jax at a set of late-April tapings, and thanks to our roving reporter JJ Williams, we even had a few pictures. Seeing as she was one of NXT’s biggest stars, this was a no-brainer to do a story on.

However, it was soon pointed out that one of the medical personnel attending to her was actually a developmental talent, so “(maybe)” got inserted into the headline soon thereafter. The injury was part of a storyline and now both Bayley and Jax find themselves on Raw every Monday sans recurring knee injuries.

9 — Documents get unsealed in Billy Corgan vs. TNA lawsuit (October)

One of the stranger news stories of the second half of the year was the Billy Corgan and TNA/Dixie Carter business marriage quickly turning into divorce. It culminated with a lawsuit by Corgan in an attempt to gain control of the company based on money owed to him and some terms in the contract he signed.

The documents becoming unsealed moved things forward to what ultimately was a court loss for Corgan. However, he was soon made whole by eventual TNA financial angel Anthem Sports & Entertainment and settled everything with the company. Individuals? Not as much yet, but you can hear more about that in his interview with Dave Meltzer & Bryan Alvarez.

8 — Finn Balor injures shoulder at WWE SummerSlam (August)

Following in the footsteps of Daniel Bryan, Finn Balor became the latest anti-establishment wrestling star to get injured just when it looked like he had broken through the McMahon double-tempered glass ceiling.

In his eventual successful win over Seth Rollins to win the first WWE Universal title at SummerSlam, Balor suffered a labrum tear on a power bomb spot into the barricade outside the ring, putting him out of action for what was expected to be 8-12 weeks and soon turned into 4-6 months.

After surgery, the injury was worse than they expected and as we turn the corner into 2017, there’s no timetable for his return although plenty of fans are hoping it will be at this year’s Royal Rumble even though that would be at the short end of the recovery spectrum.

He has been making appearances in the UK and was on stage at the announcement of WWE’s UK championship tournament, so he’s not completely out of sight. However, we’ll be more excited to see him back in the ring competing in 2017.

7 — Matanza slices open arm at Lucha Underground tapings (April)

Even if LU isn’t the most watched pro wrestling show out there, a freak injury to one of their top stars was enough to get this story in our top 10.

In a deathmatch against Dragon Azteca, Mutanza (aka Jeff Cobb) punched through a window and sliced a vein in his arm badly enough to the point the match had to be stopped and he had to be sent to the hospital.

Cobb was fine and re-taped the match with Azteca at a later date.

6 — Chris Hero heading back to WWE (December)

Hero had another fantastic in-ring year on the indies, drawing praise for his matches in PWG, EVOLVE, and in various UK promotions. Regardless of who he worked for and where, reports sent into us always featured glowing remarks about his matches.

That’s what made his soon-to-be inked deal with WWE of such interest. He had already had one run in the company’s developmental group and was a member of NXT before it was truly NXT. That he would be returning to the promotion in any form or fashion was a surprise, but in the Content Era, all bets are off.

As of now, we’re still waiting to hear if all of Hero’s medicals and other pre-contract tests are a go, clearing the way for his signing. Where he goes from there and his course of action will then be another story of interest for our readers.

Later this week, we’ll run down our top five stories of 2016 and will follow up with the top 10 wrestling shows of the year after that.