After their experiment of unifying the WWE & World Heavyweight titles didn't go well with the fans, and with their global expansion bringing in more superstars, the company had to split the brands once again and give each brand their unique rosters. It came to fruition on the July 18, 2016, episode of Raw where the newly appointed Commissioners and General Managers of Raw & SmackDown Live picked the superstars to be on their respective brands.
It remains the same to this date regardless of the company making regular changes like the wildcard rule. A lot has happened in the WWE after the 2016 brand split including the introduction of the Universal Championship. We witnessed some memorable & lackluster storylines during the three years, and let's take a look at five entries from both categories.
10 10. Best - AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe
AJ Styles was amid his record-breaking second WWE Championship reign after overcoming the challenges of Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev. Little did he knew that his toughest challenge is yet to come, and it came in the form of Samoa Joe in the summer of 2018
The two former TNA colleagues collided for the WWE Championship four times, and the Phenomenal One managed to hold on to his title on all the occasions. What made this special was the history between the two superstars and having Samoa Joe making things personal by bringing up Styles' family into the mix. It was a perfect storyline pitting a monster heel against a superstar trying to defend both his championship and the honor of his family.
9 9. Worst - D-Generation X vs. The Brothers Of Destruction
WWE entered a ten-year strategic business partnership with the Saudi Arabia Sports Authority and has hosted four events in the country so far. WWE is doing whatever it takes to honor their multi-million dollar deal, and the worst thing they had done was bringing Shawn Michaels out of retirement to compete in a tag team match with Triple H against The Undertaker & Kane at Crown Jewel 2018.
The reason this is one of the worst storylines is that they brought HBK out of retirement against the wrong opponents. While the fans were talking about a dream match between Michaels & AJ Styles, WWE pitted HBK against The Undertaker & Kane.
Things didn’t go out well for DX, as despite winning the match, Triple H tore his pectoral muscle putting him out of action until WrestleMania 35. WWE put this match together only to satisfy the Saudi Arabian officials, and it was visible that Michaels had a hard time pulling it off and it makes us wonder if the WWE had wasted an HBK return match for the sake of some Saudi money.
8 8. Best - Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
Randy Orton's feud with the Wyatt Family in 2016 enabled the fans to witness the classic Viper as the storyline had the right mix of emotions at the right places. Orton uttered the words "If you can't beat them, join them, and when the moment is right, screw them" that's what exactly he did to Bray Wyatt after winning the 2017 Royal Rumble.
Randy Orton burning down the Wyatt Family Compound will always remain one of the iconic moments in the Viper's career. Bray Wyatt also won his first WWE Championship during the storyline, and it remains as the most legitimate feud for the Eater of Worlds till date.
7 7. Worst - Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker
Vince McMahon was hell-bent on making Roman Reigns as the next face of the company, and his strategy to achieve the goal caused a severe uproar among the fans leading to The Big Dog receiving nuclear heat from the crowd. When WWE booked Roman Reigns against the Undertaker at WrestleMania 33, the fans had no problem figuring out the result of the match.
Roman Reigns was already the most hated superstar among the fans at the time, and WWE's decision to pit him against The Undertaker appeared to be the last nail in the coffin. They could've waited until Reigns won back the crowd and as expected the aftermath of the match was not favorable for the Big Dog. Only a revelation on his battle with Leukemia enabled him to get over with the crowd.
6 6. Best - Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
The WWE Universe hadn't seen Goldberg for 12 years since his last match against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 20. The fans at Madison Square Garden showered both superstars with a chorus of boos since they knew Lesnar & Goldberg were set to leave the company after the match. While Lesnar made his return at 2011, it took WWE five more years to bring back the WCW legend.
It was quite poetic to bring Goldberg back to face the same opponent he took on in his last match 12 years ago. The two powerhouses clashed at Survivor Series 2016 where Goldberg squashed Lesnar in under two minutes announcing his return in grand fashion. It was the perfect way to reintroduce the Goldberg to the pro-wrestling fans and Survivor Series 2016 will always remain as one of the iconic moments in the WCW legend's career.
5 5. Worst - Goldberg vs. Kevin Owens
The Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar feud already had everything to have a proper culmination at WrestleMania 33 and didn't require the Universal Championship on the mix. However, WWE decided to put the strap on Goldberg at Fastlane 2017, and Kevin Owens had to suffer the unfortunate fate of having to drop the Universal title to a part-timer in a squash match.
WWE had the perfect opportunity to have a great Universal Championship match in Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 33, but unfortunately, Vince McMahon saw more money in having Goldberg walk into the show as the Universal Champion.
4 4. Best - Kofi Kingston's Road To The WWE Championship
"If you fight for your dreams, your dreams will fight for you" Daniel Bryan's inspirational words came back to haunt him in the form of Kofi Kingston at WrestleMania 35. After 11 years in the company, Kofi Kingston got his first one-on-one match for the WWE Championship against Daniel Bryan at WrestleMania 35 and emerged as the first African born WWE Champion in the company's history.
It was the perfect Cinderella story, proving patience & perseverance can do great things for a person at the right time. Starting from the Elimination Chamber match, WWE did a great job booking the storyline leading to Kingston's crowning moment at WrestleMania 35, and the fans will remember Kingston's post-match celebration with his kids & his New Day brothers for a very long time.
3 3. Worst - Bray Wyatt vs. "Woken" Matt Hardy
After winning a prolonged legal battle with Impact Wrestling over the ownership of the Broken Universe gimmick, Matt Hardy debuted his Broken character in the WWE and his first victim for deletion was Bray Wyatt. The only good thing that came out of the feud was the Ultimate Deletion match which took place on the March 19, 2019, episode of Raw.
Wyatt & Hardy traded victories over each other before WWE culminated the storyline with the Ultimate Deletion match. The two superstars found themselves cutting cryptic promos on each other during the feud which was not received well by the fans. The rivalry had great potential but couldn’t make an impact due to some lackluster booking, and the two superstars ended up becoming a tag-team until they broke up after Hardy had to take some time off to heal his injuries.
2 2. Best - Becky Lynch's Rise To The Top
Becky Lynch's transition from the Irish Lass Kicker to the Man started at SummerSlam 2018 where she turned heel on Charlotte Flair but little did she knew that the fans would turn heel with her. Lynch became super over with the crowd which took the WWE & Vince McMahon by surprise.
Mr. McMahon started to see money in the new Becky Lynch, which resulted in her becoming a part of the historic first-ever women's WrestleMania main event. WWE made sure Lynch looked like a star in the process, making her overcome all the obstacles to defeat Ronda Rousey & Charlotte Flair at WrestleMania 35 and win both Raw & SmackDown Women's titles.
1 1. Worst - Jinder Mahal as the WWE Champion
WWE identified India as one of the potential markets they could exploit in the future, and the first step they took was to put the WWE Championship on Jinder Mahal, a superstar of Indian origins who was born in Canada.
WWE knew the fans in the US wouldn't like to have Jinder Mahal as the champion, but to their surprise, even the Indian fans were not thrilled with WWE's decision to put the title on Mahal. The company had to sacrifice Baron Corbin's Money In The Bank Contract and Shinsuke Nakamura's push before they could realize their experiment had failed.