5 best single-branded PPVs of the New Era

#3 TLC 2016

AJ Styles and Dean Ambrose were on the top of their game at the end of 2016

TLC 2016 is yet another example of when Smackdown was the best show on WWE television. With the year drawing to a close, Smackdown was delivering the best shows on television, week in, week out and TLC 2016 saw them close out the year with a legitimate match of the year contender.

The main event match, which saw AJ Styles defend his WWE title against Dean Ambrose in a TLC match was, despite being lumbered with James Ellsworth, perhaps the finest WWE match of that calendar year. The two men had been having an excellent feud for a few months by this point, and this was their final encounter. Even though the result was obvious, the match was still thrilling to watch and featured plenty of innovative and exciting moments.

Dean would move to Raw after Wrestlemania and has not quite been able to get into the main event scene on Monday nights, but this was a fine example of his in-ring ability and a great testament to the excellent in-ring chemistry the two men shared.

The rest of the card was solid as well, with Alexa Bliss defeating Becky Lynch to launch her into the stratosphere, and Baron Corbin defeating Kalisto in what was arguably his finest singles PPV match ever. This was Smackdown firing on all cylinders and a nice reminder of how great the show was before the superstar shake-up.