10 WWE Title Wins We Need To See In 2017
New year, new champions.
For all of its faults, WWE's 2016 was a year of unpredictability in a largely positive way. Not only did many new faces turn up in the company, but some of the old ones reached surprising new levels of success. It was a year of great performances, and while the creative direction was often lacking, the product was still dominated by talent.
Often, that talent was reflected in the title scene, with some unexpected (but still deserved) championship wins being mixed with others that felt like they were a long time coming. Obviously, the most notable were AJ Styles winning the WWE World Championship and Shinsuke Nakamura winning the NXT Championship - two men who were in New Japan at the beginning of the year (and even competed against each other in a classic match at Wrestle Kingdom 10), but came to WWE and made a huge splash. Nobody could have predicted their paths in 2016.
Elsewhere, Dean Ambrose finally scored a big WWE World Championship win, and while his reign fizzled out, his having captured the belt was appropriate. Miz became Intercontinental Champion again, which was no surprise, but what he did with the title was impressive. And finally, WWE revived the Cruiserweight Championship, creating a whole new division full of fresh faces.
So what do we want in 2017? Here are 10 title wins we need to see this year:
10. The Club - Raw Tag Team Championship
When AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura were announced as leaving New Japan, they weren't alone. Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, three-time IWGP Tag Team Champions and the centerpieces of the company's tag team division, were also departing for WWE. They left the company in February and debuted on Raw in April.
So far, the move hasn't been kind to The Club - though I'm sure they don't mind working in the same country that they live in and getting a huge salary bump. The pair were first lackeys for AJ Styles which, although it afforded them a high profile, didn't translate to much success on their own, and then became doctors or something, making a failed run at the tag titles. Now, they're pretty much a lower-tier tandem.
There's a lot of untapped potential in The Club, and some rehab for the two - perhaps in the form of an association with Finn Balor, though Balor needs to be a babyface for a while - could help them get where they need to be. After that, the titles should follow.