WWE: 10 biggest stories of 2016

7. The New Wyatt Family

Okay, there may be a little personal bias here as I’m a huge fan of Bray Wyatt, but there’s no denying that this new edition of the Wyatt Family that includes Randy Orton is fun to watch. And they’re winning things now as well. About time, don’t you think?

Since their debut on the main roster in WWE three years ago, the Wyatt Family has been one of the best things going in the company, despite some of the injuries that may give them some different looks from time to time. But Bray Wyatt had never really elevated to that next level and always seemed to lose every big match that he was in. Sure, he would pick up some victories at the weekly shows but when it came time for big matches against John Cena or The Undertaker or Roman Reigns, he would always come up short. Harper and Rowan would find some success here and there as well, but they were in and out of the stable for a while. They added Braun Strowman to the mix, which worked for a little bit, but then comes something like this year’s WrestleMania when they were completely squashed by The Rock and John Cena in an embarrassing segment, and there seemed to be nothing that could work to bring them back from that.

They tried a brief feud with The New Day and got a win on a pay-per-view but it was a non-title match. And then came the brand split. While Bray and Rowan were drafted to Smackdown Live, Strowman was drafted to RAW and he was on his own to become this monster. That left Rowan and Bray, and we thought that might be over once Bray walked away from him on an episode of Smackdown Live, even leaving Rowan’s sheep mask on the rocking chair. But then Rowan attacked Randy Orton on behalf of Bray Wyatt, got that feud going and the rest is history as Orton would eventually join the Wyatt Family.

What I like about this is that, after 14 years, Randy Orton can still make things interesting. It’s hard to keep things fresh after that many years, but this is something new for Orton and I like what they’re doing with it. He’s sacrificing himself for Wyatt at points and Harper’s return from injury only added to the mix. Naturally, Rowan is now out with an injury but that just sets up another return that they can play with. As I said earlier, they’re winning big matches now. Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton were the last two men standing in the amazing Survivor Series elimination match and won the tag titles shortly after. While most still expect Orton to turn on them at some point, much like Daniel Bryan did years ago, this is a fresh version of the Wyatt Family that may finally get them to bigger and better things.