When the brand split happened back in July, many WWE fans thought that Monday Night Raw will bury SmackDown Live because of the big names on their roster. However, the year ended with SmackDown being the better show overall.
The final Raw of the year was just a rehash of the weekly shows they have been putting on. Though there was progress in storylines, it was an overall mediocre show, unlike SmackDown Live. The blue brand ended the show on a high note.
As recapped by WWE.com, John Cena returned after a three-month hiatus. He was intense in his opening promo and a possible heel turn was teased. There were only three matches but all of them were for the brand's championships.
Alexa Bliss retained the women's title against Becky Lynch in an okay match. American Alpha shocked the world by defeating The Wyatt Family, The Usos and Heath Slater & Rhyno in a Four Corners Elimination Match to become the new tag team champions.
Finally, A.J. Styles successfully defended the WWE championship by defeating Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler in a Triple Threat Match. It was a great main event that capped off 2016 for SmackDown Live. There was a bonus as Cena and Styles shook hands to end the show.
The final SmackDown of 2016 was arguably one of the best shows since the brand split. Besides the on-point storytelling, great wrestling, and pure entertainment, SmackDown showed this week another reason why they were better the show than Raw.
Blake Oestriecher of Forbes pointed out that SmackDown is making good use of their veteran superstars like Cena and Randy Orton. He noted that Cena put over Ziggler and Corbin big time during his opening promo.
Even though Ziggler and Styles are veterans, they can take Cena's place when he goes into another hiatus for Hollywood. On the other hand, Orton elevated American Alpha when he took the pin in the tag team title match.
Chad Gable and Jason Jordan are both under 30 wrestlers and they have the potential to be huge singles stars. Orton getting pinned by the two young superstars elevates their status in front of the casual fans. That is how the WWE should book half of their stories to create new stars.
Raw has been dependent on Brock Lesnar and Bill Goldberg for ratings. They cannot do that all the time and rehashing matches and stories every week does not help either. Nevertheless, both brands will start fresh in 2017 and WWE fans are certainly hoping that Raw improves the overall quality of their product.
Check out the video below to watch Cena's opening promo on SmackDown Live. For more WWE news, rumors and updates, follow me on Twitter @johnnyrundown.