13 Best WWE Matches Of 2016 (So Far)
11. Fatal 4-Way No. 1 Contender's Match: AJ Styles Vs. Cesaro Vs. Chris Jericho Vs. Kevin Owens - Raw, 4 April
Just 24 hours after the WrestleMania, four Superstars battled for the right to challenge Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at Payback and in the process, delivered a bout better than anything that unfolded in front of 100,000 fans one night earlier.
Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and AJ Styles were originally to be joined by Sami Zayn but a sneak attack backstage by Owens left the former NXT champion out of action. Cesaro would return later in the night, taking Zayn's place.
The Swiss Superman unloaded with a series of his signature uppercuts, including a nasty one to AJ Styles, whom he had thrown high into the air moments before. The Superstars exchanged their trademark maneuvers, taking turn blasting their opponents as they looked for a three-second window to score a victory.
Owens delivered a Popup Powerbomb on Styles for two. Styles delivered The Phenomenal Forearm in retaliation, but walked into a Codebreaker from Jericho. Just as it looked as though Y2J would followup his win over Styles from WrestleMania, The Phenomenal One recovered and planted him with The Styles Clash for the pinfall win.
The emotion showed by Styles after the victory demonstrated just how much it meant to him to stand in a WWE ring, the top contender to a title he had never had the honor of competing for.