13 Best WWE Matches Of 2016 (So Far)

Shinsuke Nakamura took the wrestling world by storm in the first-half of 2016, earning rave reviews for his performances and generating crowd reactions from NXT faithful typically reserved for the likes of Finn Balor and Bayley. One person he did not impress, though, was Austin Aries.

The Greatest Man That Ever Lived took exception with the reactions for the Japanese export, suggesting that Nakamura could settle for trying to be the best because Aries as simply great. General manger William Regal, intrigued by the mounting tensions between the competitors, announced a match between them for TakeOver: The End.

There, in front of the NXT fans at Full Sail University, Aries and Nakamura delivered a match that added to the sparkling resume of the latter while providing A-Double with the breakout match he desperately needed.

Fans sang along to Nakamura's theme music at the start but all fun and games ended once the bell rang and the Superstars made contact for the first time. Aries worked the knee of his opponent, trying to take away the Kinshasa finisher that had downed so many other NXT Superstars. He even trapped The King of Strong Style in the Last Chancery but could not prevent him from making it to the ropes, where he would legally break the hold.

Aries, chasing greatness, dove through the ropes in a last-gasp attempt to put a reeling Nakamura away. He knocked himself loopy, though, landing head-first into the guardrail. Moments later, his opponent exploded off the middle rope with the Kinshasa and scored the hard-fought victory.

Not only did the match serve as another high-profile win for Nakamura on his march toward the NXT Championship, it put Aries over as a guy on the verge of doing what no other man on the roster had done to that point: beat Nakamura. Had it not been for his own hubris and an ill-timed dive, he would have.