<p>The game I'm running has been the longest I've ever ran. Just hit the 2 year mark. I started as WWE in January of 2016. Here's a recap of the major storylines that took effect in 2016. I'll dedicate a separate post to 2017.</p><p> </p><p>
The rise of <strong>Dean Ambrose</strong> was a focal point of early 2016. He lost a triple threat match at the Royal Rumble against Roman Reigns & Triple H (Triple H won), only to bounce back and win the rumble itself. Reigns had a rematch against Triple H at Fastlane where he failed to secure the title, so the Wrestlemania 32 main event was set: Dean Ambrose vs. Triple H. Ambrose successfully defeated Triple H and ascended to the top of WWE at Wrestlemania 32.</p><p> </p><p>
Another major event at the start of the year was <strong>Kurt Angle's</strong> return to in-ring action. Angle was a heel and immediately established himself in the title hunt, but Dolph Ziggler put himself in the way of the returning legend. Ziggler couldn't hold off Angle, though, and Angle secured the victory at the Royal Rumble. Angle unsuccessfully fought for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Elimination Chamber (I ran a Fastlane and an Elimination Chamber) but Triple H retained against Angle, Reigns, Big Show, Dolph Ziggler, & Finn Balor. The Ziggler/Angle feud would continue through Wrestlemania with Angle picking up the victory in an ultimate submission match. </p><p> </p><p>
Wrestlemania 32 itself was a pretty great event overall. It got a B rating. I had a lot of fun feuds. One was <strong>John Cena</strong> successfully challenging <strong>Chris Jericho</strong> for the Intercontinental Championship (chasing the only title to elude him for his career.) Another was <strong>Undertaker</strong> defeating <strong>Kevin Owens</strong> after a vicious match that tied <strong>Ziggler/Angle</strong> for match of the night. And in what was a really surprisingly good match, <strong>Brock Lesnar</strong> defeated <strong>The Rock </strong>in the co-headlining match. Overall, it was a really solid Wrestlemania that gave me a lot of options moving forward.</p><p> </p><p>
The night after Wrestlemania, I had the <strong>American Wolves</strong> debut on Raw. I combed these guys to be the next great team. </p><p> </p><p>
Extreme Rules was the first post-WM PPV I had, and I really wanted to start laying out the backbone of my roster. In keeping true with WWE, guys like Undertaker, Lesnar, & Rock don't typically work these lesser PPV's, so I was limited in their appearances. <strong>AJ Styles</strong> returned from injury and I had him immediately capture the US Championship. <strong>Big E </strong>turned on <strong>Kingston & Woods</strong>, turning heel in the process. <strong>Sting</strong> returned to in-ring action but came up short against<strong> Randy Orton</strong>. I had <strong>Chris Jericho</strong> form a stable with<strong> Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards</strong>, dubbed "The Wolves Of Jericho" that would become my favorite stabled that I booked. And the new #1 contender<strong> Kurt Angle</strong> fell to <strong>Dean Ambrose</strong> in the main event. This Extreme Rules was possibly one of the most important PPV's in 2016 because I laid down my booking to give myself options, but I had specific paths I wanted guys to follow.</p><p> </p><p>
The next PPV was Judgment Day. Not a terribly eventful PPV, save for me forming the faction of <strong>The Usos, Rikishi, & Roman Reigns</strong> to fight the <strong>Wyatts</strong>, and the main event of <strong>Dean Ambrose</strong> defending the WWE title against <strong>Cesaro </strong>and <strong>Kurt Angle</strong>. I was cautious about pushing Cesaro because the main event was crowded, so I had Ambrose retain. I also booked <strong>Jericho</strong> to pick up his IC title back from <strong>John Cena</strong>, further cementing his legacy and to give some legitimacy to the "Wolves Of Jericho". </p><p> </p><p>
Payback came at the end of May. The American Wolves were booked strongly with a victory over the Usos, but I had Jericho drop the IC title to Reigns just a month after winning in both to plant some seeds and also get the focus back on Richards/Edwards. Randy Orton captured the US title from Sami Zayn. Cesaro and Angle had an absolute clinic in wrestling where Angle just edged out Cesaro, and Ambrose defeated Sheamus in the main event. </p><p> </p><p>
Money In The Bank was my next big PPV. I tried to book it on the scale of the Big Four.<strong> Big E</strong> defeated both<strong> Kingston & Woods </strong>to get his singles career off to a bang. <strong>Samoa Joe</strong> defeated a returning <strong>Goldberg</strong>. <strong>Cesaro</strong> went the distance and defeated <strong>Kurt Angle</strong> in an iron man match, scoring just as high as their last bout. I booked<strong> Orton</strong> to retain the US Championship against <strong>Cena </strong>and <strong>The Miz</strong> to bring some legitimacy to the title. <strong>The American Wolves</strong> assaulted the WWE Tag Team Champions (<strong>The Dudleyz</strong>). <strong>Luke Harper </strong>won the MITB briefcase. <strong>Ziggler</strong> turned heel earlier in the month, joining the Authority, and unsuccessfully challenged <strong>Ambrose</strong> for the WWE title. Post-match, <strong>Undertaker</strong> returned and took Ambrose out, making his own challenge for the title apparent.</p><p> </p><p>
And this is going a lot longer than I expected, so I'll make another post covering the back-half of 2016. There's some pretty surprising twists and turns! Thanks if you read this!</p>