Superstar of the Year
Chris Jericho Yeah he came back looking like a moron, he'd cut his hair and at the start of the year he was in a dogged feud with
JBL, thankfully in the run up to
Wrestlemania things picked up for him. He won the
IC Strap cleanly in a really good bout with the suspended
Jeff Hardy (who but for missing a good chunk of the year was my other consideration), performed well in a really enjoyable
Money in the Bank at
'Mania and the next night defeated
CM Punk in another good match, although this result was somewhat strange.
After initially taking a backseat in the
Batista vs
Shawn Michaels feud he gradually got more involved, stirring up trouble between the two at
Judgment Day he and Shawn had a really good match followed by a taunted heel turn before he decided to just "shake hands". After pretending to "help" Shawn in a Stretcher Match with Batista (when all he was doing was putting him back in the match for more punishment), he went on to turn heel in a great segment on
RAW when he
Marty Jannety'd Shawn Michaels.
At
Night of Champions he had a forgettable match with
Kofi Kingston with no prior promotion, dropping his title after Shawn ran-in costing him the belt, the match helped progress their feud, the title was an afterthrought.
At
The Great American Bash they had my favourite match of the feud when Jericho won by referee stoppage after Michaels could not continue, the over-acting that Shawn modelled on
Flair I thought worked really well here and the heated feud got one bit better. Selling the injury and making out he was going to retire, at
Summerslam, with his wife present, he tried to retire, Jericho showed up though, interupting proceedings in a segment that was the best past of the show, and that's not to say it was a bad show, the segment was just that damn good.
The feud lost a little steam at
Unforgiven when Jericho lost in an unsanctioned match, the bout was a fitting end but didn't live up to the standard set by the previous match, but with Michaels and Jericho you always have high standards, it was still very watchable stuff. Later that night Jericho entered the last Scramble match, injured, and won the belt in a strange turn of events that didn't make much sense, but it showed the company had faith in him and his new heelish character that had emerged throughout the feud with Michaels. New ring attire, No more Highlight Reel, a very serious Jericho, he had completely reinvented the Chris Jericho character, to in many ways suit a more mature Chris Jericho.
Following this he finished his feud with Michaels (except for a random match in Manchester on RAW), defeating him in a hard hitting Ladder Match before moving on to feud with Batista. Initially he was poorly booked, Batista was made to look far better (logic dictated then he'd get his heat back on PPV), he then lost at Cyber Sunday in a very entertaining match with enough run-ins and bumps to make you think the Attitude Era was back for one match only. Thankfully he regained the belt in a poor Cage match on RAW 8 days later moving on to face
John Cena at
Survivor Series. Although the match was nothing to write home about, his promos prior to and since the match have been of a very high standard and going into
Armageddon, the result seems obvious, he is losing again, which is a shame, but it looks like 2008 has been the year where Chris Jericho has finally solidified himself as a Main Eventer, true he'll never be on a John Cena level, but "hopefully" he won't become an
Intercontinental Champion ever....agayn!
Tag Team of the Year
Miz N' Morrison, they are probably the only consistent team on
WWE Television, and it's only right they have Gold now considering how much exposure they get, between wrestling on all 3 shows and having their wonderful online
Dirt Sheet. From mocking
D-X to their
Slammys acceptance speech, I've found these guys highlight entertaining...Hoo-Rah!
Honourable mention
Beer Money Inc, My favourite team in
TNA, I've been a fan of
James Storm since the beginning of the company and finally, after his horrible singles career
Robert Roode has a decent role. Their backstage segments and general antics I find highly amusing and the guys can go in the ring to.
Feud of the YearChris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels - For the many reasons listed in the Chris Jericho Superstar of the year speel...
Best DebutI was tempted to go with
The Brian Kendrick since he pretty much re-debuted as a completely different yet superb character, and there's
Ted Dibiase, but his year was cut short, then
Jack Swagger but he has shown potential rather than done great things, battering
Tommy Dreamer nearly every week gets really boring really quickly, so for the comedy value of it alone, yeah I marked for it...
SuicideMatch of the Year
Undertaker vs
Edge at
Wrestlemania, a classic Main Event, the pinnacle of their feud!
PPV of the YearWrestlemania, heck with 'Taker vs Edge, the emotional Flair vs Michaels and the
Money in the Bank it was a winner for me!
Commentator of the YearHas to be
Matt Striker - The ultimate wrestling geek, anyone who mentions
Alex Wright and
Duke "The Dumpster" Droese when only Hardcore/IWC fans will get the references is a winner in my book, and heck he even mentioned
Chinese Democracy, albeit in a negative light, but what the heck!
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