Now that the playoffs are over, and the end of Season 16 is coming next week, I thought it would be a good time for us to look back at the past. We've had 15 seasons, 15 playoffs, and 15 championship games. Over the next week, I'll be ranking the previous season's championship games beginning with what I think is the worst championship game we've ever had. Keep in mind, this is completely my opinion and should not be taken as an argumentative piece of writing. I ranked the games based off of how close they were along with the storylines surrounding them. That said, let's take a look at the first three games on my list...
#15) Season 4: Brandon defeats Jacob 90-30
This game took place at the 2015 Royal Rumble at the end of one of the shortest seasons we've ever had. The league was a keeper league at the time, meaning that everyone kept the same team as they did from the previous season. That, combined with how short the season was, essentially guaranteed that Brandon would return to the championship game. And with Roman Reigns on his team, it seemed incredibly unlikely he would be defeated.
As a 26-point favorite, no one thought this would be a good game. And it wasn't. A 60-point win and it never even looked close. There was no interest and no question as to how the match was going to go. Right before the match began, Jacob picked up The Rock just in case the WWE decided to have him win the Royal Rumble. Instead, Roman Reigns won one of the most boring Royal Rumbles ever. And to make it even worse, the show ended with The Rock raising Reigns' hand in victory.
This game takes the bottom rank on my list because it wasn't a close game and had next to no entertainment value.
#14) Season 9: Jeff defeats Bo 60-46
This championship game took place at Battleground 2016 and was the end of the first era of the league. Jeff won the title, the belt was retired, and the league ended following this game. In Season 9, we actually had the playoffs at a pay-per-view. This was interesting since it gave a championship feel to the playoff games but it also had the negative effect of having a month between the playoffs and the championship. So, by the time this game actually got started, it had the disadvantage of everyone losing their interest in the season a full month before.
Only some people that play this game will be very interested in a championship game they aren't a part of and that number gets even smaller when you have a month of waiting. The game itself was decent but not very entertaining. Jeff was a moderately big favorite and won by 14. This is the closest game that is this low on my list and a lot of that has to do with the structure of the season itself.
The game went exactly as expected and Battleground wasn't a good pay-per-view to end things with, so this ended up being a relatively unentertaining game. It does, however, mark an important milestone in the league's history.
#13) Season 7: Bo defeats Ross 70-32
Season 7 ended with Night of Champions 2015. As the first season to use an all-play system for standings (where everyone played against everyone every week), this was certainly an interesting season to take part in. It also was the debut season for both Bo and Ross. That fact alone is almost the entire reason why this game is ranked above the last one on the list. And the score is almost the entire reason why this game is ranked below the top 12 games.
Both Ben and Terry had excellent teams in this season, and both of them reached the playoffs, so almost everyone was expecting a rematch of the Season 6 Championship game. But, two upsets in the playoffs meant that instead of the two former champions battling again, we had a battle of the two new guys.
But, the game itself was a blowout. Bo was a 20-point favorite and won by 38 points. It was never close and the result was never in doubt.
And there's the first part of my list. Do you agree with these three being at the bottom of the list? If not, what games would you have at the bottom? The whole list will be revealed throughout the week with the final part the day before the Royal Rumble where Madelyn will face Terry for the Season 16 Championship. Tomorrow, the second part of my list will reveal #11 and #12.
Here is a full list of the championship games:
Season 1: Ben beat Chris 64-61
Season 2: Terry beat Austin 62.5-44
Season 3: Brandon beat Jordan 56-50
Season 4: Brandon beat Jacob 90-30
Season 5: Jeff beat Brandon 72-42
Season 6: Ben beat Terry 72-50
Season 7: Bo beat Ross 70-32
Season 8: Austin beat Ben 122-104
Season 9: Jeff beat Bo 60-46
Season 10: Terry beat Bo 66-54
Season 11: Austin beat Terry 88-60
Season 12: Austin beat Jeff 48-36
Season 13: Ben tied Terry 76-76
Season 14: Tess beat Ben 80-72
Season 15: Austin beat Jacob 74-68
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