10 Best Near Falls In WWE History
Best WWE kick-outs of all time
3. AJ Styles vs. John Cena - SummerSlam 2016
The third instalment in our accidental trilogy of John Cena moments took place at the 2016 edition of SummerSlam.
Cena had been embroiled in a dream feud with AJ Styles and the pair were tied up at one victory a piece. Now it was time to settle the score once and for all.
Much like with Punk five years earlier, fans were desperate to see AJ win. A loss to Cena on a big stage would do so much damage to the former TNA man and ruin what had been a pretty decent run in the promotion up to that point.
Knowing that they had the audience in the palm of their hands, WWE decided to mess about with our collective emotions by having Cena hit Styles with a top rope AA.
Right, that’s it. Match is over. Everybody burn your AJ Styles t-shirts and - oh my God, he kicked out!
The incredible nature of this near fall combined with Cena’s prolonged reaction to it transformed this entire match into an instant classic. And guess what? AJ actually won the whole thing! Clean, too.
Sometimes dreams do come true.
