The Shimmy 01.12.09: Top 50 WWE Matches of 2008 (20-1)

Greetings, folks. We’ve got a big column this week with my Top 20 WWE Matches of 2008 and a look at my 411 Year End Awards ballot so I won’t do too much jibber jabber. On to the column!

20. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (Judgment Day)

Before we got into any of the real drama of their feud, aside from Jericho needling Michaels about lying to Batista and ending Ric Flair’s career, we had what pretty much amounted to a straight up wrestling match. Many people remembered their classic at WrestleMania XIX and were looking forward to seeing them hook up once again. As you can imagine they didn’t disappoint. This was a highlight of a show that I felt was one of the worst shows of the year, a match that pretty much kept it from getting that dubious distinction by most accounts.

19. Rey Mysterio vs. Evan Bourne (Raw, 10/27)

This was billed as a dream match of sorts (if you can have a dream match with a guy that’s only been in the company a few months) and it delivered. Rey has developed nicely as the elder high flier that sort of mentors guys like Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston on Raw. I apologize for a glaring omission from my list which was the Rey & Bourne vs. Miz & Morrison match that I just recently recalled. Bourne was involved in a good number of awesome free TV matches this year (his match with Chavo got some free TV Match of the Year votes by my colleagues), and this was the best in my opinion.

18. ECW Title Match: Matt Hardy© vs. Evan Bourne (Cyber Sunday)

Not all of Bourne’s great matches happened on free TV, as he got the biggest opportunity of his career on PPV and he had the fans to thank. Bourne stunned the world by actually winning the Cyber Sunday poll to get a shot at the ECW Championship, no doubt sending a message to WWE higher ups. Evan did not disappoint either as it looked like he might have scored the upset many times over the course of the match. Matt Hardy even showed some brief signs of the old Version 1 persona as he tried to put away the plucky underdog. This was one of the best “almost upsets” I’ve seen in some time.

17. No. 1 Contender’s, Elimination Chamber Match: Undertaker vs. Batista vs. Finlay vs. MVP vs. The Great Khali vs. Big Daddy V (No Way Out)

There were many people that enjoyed this match more than its Raw counterpart, and they have good reason. The only reason this is so far down the list is because the first portions of the match, largely controlled by Khali or Big Daddy V, were not particularly exciting. Once we got the final four participants though things got very good. MVP took one hellacious bump in this match and Finlay had me biting on a very good nearfall on Batista. In the end we got yet another classic confrontation between Undertaker and Batista as they both fought for the WrestleMania title shot. Taker’s reversal of Batista into the Tombstone is probably the best version of that finish that I’ve seen.

16. Steel Cage Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga (Raw, 1/7)

This match won the 411 Free TV Match of the Year Award and it’s no surprise why. Hardy and Umaga have great chemistry together and this might be their best effort yet. Hardy was red hot at this point and the crowd was eating out of the palm of his hand. The Whisper in the Wind off the cage was absolutely insane and a great finish for the match. Perhaps what was even more insane was that Jeff managed to top himself in the big bump department just a few weeks later.

15. No. 1 Contender’s, Fatal Four-Way Match: Matt Hardy vs. Finlay vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz (ECW, 7/22)

And here is my Free TV Match of the Year. One of the remarkable things about this match is that the first few minutes are extraordinarily sloppy but the match manages to recover so nicely that you forget all about it by the time the match is over. The match was just nearfall after nearfall after nearfall and you just couldn’t tell when the match would end. It helped that I had a rooting interest in the match (I was pulling for Finlay) that helped make each nearfall seem more important. All in all this is just a great, balls to the wall match and in my opinion the best match to not be aired on PPV all year.

14. World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge© vs. Batista (Night of Champions)

The title matches at Night of Champions had the very interesting dynamic revolving around the fact that Raw needed a World Champion. As it stood both the WWE Title and the World Heavyweight Title were on SmackDown, so in one of the two title matches you expected a Raw wrestler to win the belt. That made this match even more exciting than it might have been otherwise. Edge and Batista proved last year that they can have some very good matches with one another, but by the time this match was booked I think it seemed like we had seen it all. Untrue. For my money this is probably the second best match that they have had (with their Steel Cage Match from last year’s One Night Stand barely edging it out), and I’d be willing to hear arguments that it was their best. The ending belt shot was one of the better belt shots I can remember seeing too.

13. Money in the Bank Ladder Match: CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. John Morrison vs. Carlito (WrestleMania XXIV)

The Money in the Bank Match is practically guaranteed to be a Top 15 Match every year, and it’s just a testament to some of the great matches this year that it isn’t in the Top 10. This year’s match had a lot of things going for it, including the usual crazy spots, no clear favorite heading into the match, the crazy pop for Matt Hardy’s surprise return, and the moments where they played off past MITB Ladder Matches like with Punk and Kennedy. All these guys took at least one crazy bump, with Shelton Benjamin, naturally, taking the cake. One of my favorite moments of the match was the Shelton’s ladder being tipped over only for him to walk along the top rope with this incredulous “You can’t tip me over, bitch” look on his face.

12. World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge© vs. Undertaker (WrestleMania XXIV)

And we come to what I would imagine to be my first Top 10 “controversy” as I have this match listed this high on the list. Hey, I think Top 12 is pretty impressive. Both of these men had a tough job ahead of them, following the emotional Flair-HBK match, the Triple Threat Match that prior to WrestleMania had seemingly been the real main event, and the big mainstream match with Floyd Mayweather. All things considered heading into Mania and this was probably the main event match with the least buzz, especially since most people expected Taker to win. The early portion of this match suffered from a seemingly apathetic reaction from the crowd, but both men showcased their ability to pull a crowd into a match. One minute and you’re watching the most anticlimactic main event since Chris Jericho-Triple H, the next minute you’re watching a Match of the Year Contender. Edge probably deserves a lot of the credit for making the fans buy into the fact that he just might win. Trust me, this is not the last you will see of either man on this list.

11. WWE Title Match: Triple H© vs. Jeff Hardy (No Mercy)

Great match, by far the best one-on-one contest Jeff Hardy and Triple H have ever had against one another. The crowd was buying into everything and both men busted their asses off. I mentioned in the Hardy Report Card that the only real drawback to this match was the rather doofy position they put Jeff in to get the finish they wanted, but otherwise this was a great match and would have been a worthy main event on any other show.

10. Batista vs. John Cena (SummerSlam)

Let me save you the time: “OMG that mach was so overrrrated, all it was was a bunch of moov!!11one.” There you go. This was billed as a clash of titans and that’s what we got. Those of you that criticize this match for only being finishes are, well, delusional. I just rewatched this match on WWE 24/7 and there was indeed a match preceding the finish. And quite frankly even if there weren’t the finish was so hot that that alone would have propelled this match to a good rating. This was a great duel between two of the biggest stars in WWE and it lived up to the hype. Just like the Triple H-Jeff Hardy match this could have main evented just about any other PPV. It’s a shame we won’t be able to see the rematch on a bigger stage at WrestleMania.

9. World Heavyweight Title Match: Undertaker© vs. Edge (Backlash)

Yeah, I enjoyed the Backlash match more than the WrestleMania match. That’s saying something because I think the crowd probably bought a title switch even less this go around. Still, I thought the action was crisper and the overall storytelling was just better. I will say that it certainly helped to have Mick Foley calling the action for this match instead of the Michael Cole/Jonathan Coachman combo from WrestleMania.

8. No. 1 Contender’s, Elimination Chamber Match: Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho vs. Umaga vs. JBL (No Way Out)

Great, great match and possibly my favorite Elimination Chamber Match. All six men contributed to the match perfectly and we very nearly got all the participants in the ring at the same time for the first time in EC history. The action throughout the bulk of the match was great, but the best part was the finishing sequence between Triple H and Jeff Hardy. Jeff kicking out of the Pedigree was one of the biggest mark out moments of the year in my estimation. This was a perfect example of both men looking great in the end instead of one guy getting the win and the other guy looking like a scrub. We can only hope we get something this good at this year’s No Way Out show.

7. WWE Title Match: Triple H© vs. John Cena (Night of Champions)

Cena and Triple H had one of my favorite matches at WrestleMania 22, a match that had the crowd as involved in a contest as I’ve ever seen. I’ve often cited that match as the day that I really became a John Cena fan. That being said, as great as the match was it was hardly a workrate extravaganza. This go around though and John Cena was a much more seasoned performer and Triple H brought his work boots. Add in the big match feel for big rematch and the previously mentioned pressure for Raw to win a title and you had the ingredients for a fantastic match. The great thing about the “Raw has no World Title” scenario is that it made Triple H winning to tie up the series at one apiece seem less like a sure thing. That ultimately made the finish even more rewarding and a nice capper to a great match. Here’s hoping we get the rubber match in 2009.

6. World Heavyweight Title, Ladder Match: Chris Jericho© vs. Shawn Michaels (No Mercy)

So I know you want to tar and feather me because I don’t have this match higher. It’s not that this isn’t a phenomenal match, it’s just in my opinion there are other matches I liked more. I can’t really say anything negative about this match. Jericho and Michael continued their string of awesome matches and the finishing sequence was probably the best Ladder Match finish I’ve ever seen. It took some real balls for Jericho to take that one big bump off the ladder and him breaking his tooth really just adds more to the legacy of this match.

4. World Heavyweight Title, TLC Match (Undertaker Banished With Loss) [vacant]: Undertaker vs. Edge (One Night Stand)

Yes, I enjoyed this Ladder Match better. And while I can’t criticize the Jericho-HBK match, I can criticize this one as there were some spots that, as nice as they were, did seem pretty damn contrived. I had the words of JD Dunn’s review of this match ringing in my head when I put this together, but in the end I had to go with my gut. I just enjoyed this match more for one reason: it felt like a bigger deal. This just really felt like a big match, perhaps because at the time it felt like the blowoff of the feud and that ratcheted up the enjoyment level. The Jericho-Michaels match would probably be technically considered the better match, but in my estimation this match just barely (and boy do I mean barely) edges out its top ladder competition for better entertainment value.

5. Unsanctioned Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (Unforgiven)

Another reason I felt somewhat comfortable putting the TLC Match ahead of Jericho and HBK’s No Mercy Match was because I felt it wasn’t even their best work. As epic as the Ladder Match was, the Unsanctioned Match at Unforgiven was far and away the better match. The intensity was just off the charts, with HBK playing his role beautifully as the guy that is reluctant to go that far but just finally snaps. I’m generally not a fan of referee stoppages in wrestling matches, but based on the storyline and the violence in the match it made sense. To me this was the pinnacle of the Jericho-HBK feud, while the Ladder Match was just icing on top.

3. WWE Title, Triple Threat Match: Edge© vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Triple H (Armageddon)

Being a late add to the list I struggled with where to put this match. I didn’t want to get too caught up in the excitement of Jeff Hardy’s title win or be overwhelmed by the newness of the match and end up overrating it. I had it at No. 7 on my list just to be safe. But after watching the match again (twice actually) and thinking it over, I think this match is right where it belongs. Great action. Great nearfalls. Great storytelling. A big moment to cap everything off. That’s about all you can ask for right there. This match probably could have been a WrestleMania main event and in many people’s estimations probably should have. While I only have this match listed as my No. 3 best match of 2008, I think it may be my favorite match of 2008.

2. Career Threatening Match: Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels (WrestleMania XXIV)

Let me state for the record that did not switch this match up to “swerve” anybody or just to be different. This was a great match, storytelling at its finest and while I could pick out some flaws with the match they are overshadowed by the enormity of the story and the overall entertainment value of the match. Even still, I couldn’t have it be my No. 1. I’ve got no beef with anyone that calls this the Match of the Year, and from a historical standpoint it fits. I’m just not quite willing to give it that much credit. Even still, for a guy the age of Ric Flair to be able to put on this good of a performance on such a grand stage is truly a feat in and of itself.

1. Hell in a Cell Match: Undertaker vs. Edge (SummerSlam)

And here we go, No. 1. I’ll admit, it was a tough call between Flair-HBK and Hell in a Cell, and I wavered a bit as the year drew to a close, but at the end of the day I think this was the right call. Again you have great storytelling in the match as you essentially get a flashback throughout the match of the entire feud as Taker and Edge either revisit things that worked or try and get revenge on things that happened in the past. Plus with the storytelling you had the big match feel and the tremendous work of two immensely talented individuals. There were a lot of great moments in this match and those moments all add up to what, in my opinion, was the best WWE match of 2008.

For those wondering, here are the final breakdowns of how many wrestlers were in my Top 50.

1 = The Brian Kendrick, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, Tommy Dreamer, Hornswoggle, Shad Gaspard, JTG, Jimmy Wang Yang, Shannon Moore, Ric Flair, Mr. Kennedy, Big Daddy V, The Great Khali

2 = Evan Bourne, Rey Mysterio, Umaga, Carlito, Kofi Kingston, Mark Henry, Randy Orton

3 = Big Show, JBL

4 = Batista, MVP, John Cena, Chavo Guerrero

5 = Shelton Benjamin, Edge, The Miz

6 = Finlay, John Morrison

7 = Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Jeff Hardy

8 = Matt Hardy, CM Punk

9 = Undertaker

11= Chris Jericho

So there you have it folks, my Top 50 WWE Matches of 2008. I told you guys last week that I’d give you a glimpse at how I voted in the 411 Year End Awards, so here is my ballot and a brief explanation for some of the awards. I’d like to mention a few things before we get to the ballot though.

First and foremost, I’d like to give tremendous props to JT for all the work he did in putting together the awards (you can check them out here . They came out great and JT busts his ass to make sure that everyone is organized and we do the best we can on these things. The guys that submitted blurbs on the winners also deserve kudos as well. As in any situation there may be some disagreement on some issues, and those issues get discussed and ultimately a final call is made. I tell you this in order to make a point crystal clear: any criticisms I may have about the process or the awards merely represent my feelings on the matter and do not reflect the opinions of anyone else here at 411, nor are they meant as any sort of attack. We had some extremely hard working people pumping those bad boys out and I do not want to come off as disrespectful to those that worked so hard on these awards.

I should also mention that I abstained from a few categories. I did not vote in any individual worst awards (Worst Male Wrestler, Worst Female Wrestler, Worst Tag Team) because I’m just not a fan of picking wrestlers apart like that and I normally try and find the good in just about anyone. I did vote for Worst Manager of the Year, but that’s because I generally don’t like managers anyhow, and Worst Announcer of the Year, because announcing is so critical (probably even more so than actually wrestling in some cases) that bad announcing can really kill a match. Plus one word: Adamle. I also didn’t vote in the Best Indy Show of the Year category because, well, I have seen a grand total of one indy show over the past year and didn’t feel particularly qualified for the voting. I didn’t vote in the Rookie of the Year category either, because I have a hard time with how the modern wrestling world causes people to look at that award. In the good ol’ days of two (maybe three) big companies, a “rookie” would be considered someone that debuted with one of the big companies. Nowadays things are muddier. Ring of Honor lives in this sort of in between realm, stuck halfway between full on independent and third national promotion. As such it’s difficult to really define “rookie” as much of the talent in ROH also works in real indy indies. You almost have to look at legitimate rookies to the business to fill out there award and I think it’s a bill to fit in my opinion.

That also leads me to my discussion on how I determined what “qualified” per award. There seems to be two overriding thought processes amongst many wrestling fans, judging by the comments. Either WWE (and to a lesser extent TNA) is the only ballgame that matters and ROH (and to a lesser extent lucha and puro) are completely ineligible for anything, or that all promotions are equal and all matches/wrestlers/companies should be viewed on an equal playing field. I don’t agree with either of those philosophies. I think you can hold a little bit of each, but just keep things in perspective. If you look at the distribution of awards this year I think 411 actually does a great job at fairly representing everybody.

I largely put most stock in WWE and TNA because as the big promotions, what happens there has much more value overall. Over the years, though, ROH has taken great steps to really put themselves out there to receive some attention. A few years ago and I probably would have stooped to K-Money levels of complaining about ROH, at the time still just a glorified indy, getting any sort of big promotion (Joe-Kobashi winning Match of the Year didn’t set to well with me). But since then ROH has managed to get on PPV, sign a national distribution deal, stopped using TNA talent on a regular basis, cultivated relationships with major international promotions like NOAH and AAA, and just recently received an offer for a TV deal. All those things to me mean that you at least have to take a look at what they have to offer.

So my feelings are this. I’m cool with ROH (or a major international promotion) winning pretty much any award except Match of the Year, Wrestler of the Year, or Promotion of the Year, and two of those have their exceptions. There are some cases where an international star (like Mistico a year ago) might have a valid case at Wrestler of the Year. And really I can’t fault a promotion from winning Promotion of the Year if only to break up the monotony of WWE winning because they have the most exposure (regardless of whether I agree or not). Match of the Year is my only hardline stance. If you want a ROH or Mexican or Japanese match to come in second or third then be my guest. But as far as I’m concerned Match of the Year needs to be reserved for the big boys, and right now that’s WWE and TNA. The overall importance of the match is a key factor in finding the match of the year, and that’s just not something you can get in one of the smaller promotions. Personally I didn’t vote any TNA matches in my top three, but that’s just because I hadn’t seen that many of their great matches so I couldn’t really put things in the proper context for the company.

OK, I think that’s all with the qualifiers, now onto my votes.

ANNOUNCER OF THE YEAR

1. Matt Striker
2. Jim Ross
3. Mick Foley

This was a pretty easy one. I’m cool with JR winning the overall votes because he’s great and I’m a huge fan, I just thought that Matt Striker deserved some props for the great work he’s done this year.

BREAKOUT OF THE YEAR

1. Evan Bourne (WWE)
2. Kofi Kingston (WWE)
3. Tyler Black (ROH)

Pretty good group I thought. Bourne really came out of nowhere in WWE, and Kofi started strong, petered out a bit on Raw, but then regained some momentum as a World Tag Team Champion. Tyler Black looks well on his way to becoming the next big thing in ROH with some great matches with Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness.

COMEBACK WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

1. Chris Jericho (WWE)
2. John Cena (WWE)
3. Jerry Lynn (ROH)

Again this one was easy for me. Jericho’s first full year back in WWE was incredible, and while a large part of Cena’s return did suck because he was turned into Super Jobber there were enough big moments (winning the Rumble, kickass WrestleMania entrance, vs. Triple H, vs. Batista, winning the World Title) to merit a vote. Jerry Lynn has had a bit of a career resurgence in ROH and it actually looks like either he or Black will be the one to finally dethrone Nigel as ROH Champ.

DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR

1. Jeff Hardy fails his second Wellness test, loses the Intercontinental Championship, gets pulled from WrestleMania, and fucks his major push (WWE)
2. John Cena returns to WWE much earlier than expected but loses a number of high profile matches before getting injured once again. (WWE)
3. Nigel McGuinness: STILL ROH Champion (ROH)

If you’ve read me for a while you notice that I’m a big fan of both John Cena and Jeff Hardy, so those top two make sense. Hell, I think people that aren’t even Jeff Hardy fans were disappointed in that one. I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that voted for Nigel still being ROH Champ. I used to decry the Bryan Danielson title reign but that was mainly because I was tired of everybody going on and on about the guy (I’m actually a fan of his now) and the fact that there were lots of good opportunities for him to have lost the belt (coughkentacough), but in hindsight it was a good reign. Now take those two problems and add in an extremely overrated and uninteresting wrestler and you have my issues with Nigel.

FREE TV MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. Matt Hardy vs. Finlay w/ Hornswoggle vs. John Morrison vs. The Miz in a Fatal Four-Way Match for the ECW Number One Contendership (ECW, 07.22.08)
2. Kurt Angle © vs. Yugi Nagata for the IWGP 3rd Generation Championship (TNA Global Impact, 01.17.08)
3. Jeff Hardy vs. Umaga in a Steel Cage Match (WWE Raw Roulette, 01.07.08)

You saw me mention the two WWE matches earlier in the column. Angle vs. Nagata was a great match and I can only hope we get something of that quality on the next Global Impact show.

STORY/SURPRISE OF THE YEAR (NON-KAYFABE)

1. John Cena returns at Royal Rumble (WWE)
2. Jeff Hardy wins WWE Title (WWE)
3. CM Punk wins World Heavyweight Title (WWE)

All big moments for guys I like, and they were all moments I was marking out like crazy for at home.

WORST STORY/SURPRISE OF THE YEAR (NON-KAYFABE)

1. Jeff Hardy fails Wellness test, suspended 60 days. (WWE)
2. Gabe Sapolsky removed as ROH booker (ROH)
3. Kurt Angle refers to Jeff Jarrett’s dead wife in promo (TNA)

We run the gamut on the three main promotions here. We covered Jeff’s Wellness issues already (not to mention his house burning down and losing his dog). In retrospect Gabe’s firing really shouldn’t have been my second place vote because the writing was kind of on the wall, and Angle invoking the name of Jill Jarrett (and the implied rape of Jeff’s daughters) is significantly worse.

WORST FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. Jay Lethal vs. Sonjay Dutt (TNA)
2. Austin Aries vs. Jimmy Jacobs (ROH)
3. John Cena vs. JBL (WWE)

Lethal vs. Dutt had ONE redeeming quality and that was the Ladder Match. Cena-JBL was not only long and not only uninspired, but Cena ended up losing the biggest match (after no selling being in a flaming car of course). And yes, I’m the guy that voted Aries-Jacobs as Worst Feud of the Year. I did so because there were no faces in this feud. Sorry, I don’t care if I’m supposed to think of Aries as a face but he came off like a world class douchebag throughout this entire thing. No wonder they ended up turning him heel anyway.

FEUD OF THE YEAR

1. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (WWE)
2. Shawn Michaels vs. Batista (WWE)
3. Undertaker vs. Edge (WWE)

Tough choices this year. Obviously HBK-Jericho was No. 1, but for a large chunk of their feud I still would have had HBK-Batista ahead of them. I became a believer right around the time Jericho punched HBK’s wife in the face. I wish I could have included Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens or Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin.

WORST STORYLINE OF THE YEAR

1. Austin Aries-Jimmy Jacobs-Lacey love triangle (ROH)
2. TNA’s Deuces Wild Tag Team Tournament (TNA)
3. The Mike Adamle Saga (including Jeff Harvey, WWDF Championship, ECW commentary, Raw GM, stepping down as Raw GM) (WWE)

I just discussed my dislike of the ROH love triangle, and my colleagues did a great job of talking about how much the Deuces Wild Tournament sucked, and I don’t think you really need an explanation on the Mike Adamle fiasco. Although I will say that Adamle’s appearance on the séance edition of The Dirt Sheet almost salvaged the whole thing. “Yo mama, you mama, yo mama, you Jamaican me crazy…”

STORYLINE OF THE YEAR

1. The Shawn Michaels Saga (WWE)
2. The Jeff Hardy Saga (WWE)
3. The Chris Jericho Saga (WWE)

I’ve very glad that the Shawn Michaels Saga, which included HBK-Flair, HBK-Batista, HBK-Jericho, and I guess part of HBK-JBL, got the final win over the Jericho saga. Originally I didn’t have anything about the Jeff Hardy title chase in here but when he won the title I really appreciated the whole thing a bit more. The Vickie Guerrero Saga had actually jumped from my Worst Storyline of the Year vote into this one, although stripping Taker of the title and the whole Alicia Fox thing were black marks on that one.

WORST FED OF THE YEAR

1. NWA
2. TNA
3. ROH

I’m pulling for the NWA to make a comeback, but they just can’t get their shit together. I mean seriously they can’t even update their freaking website. In many ways I guess TNA probably got a bad rap this year because there was some good (MEM vs. Frontline, Joe finally winning the title, World X Cup, Angle-Jarrett) but there was also a lot of crap that just weighed it down. I’m probably the only person that gave ROH a vote here, but that was more because I needed a third vote and because their quality was down for a good chunk of the year.

WORST PROMO OF THE YEAR
1. Chris Jericho blames the fans (WWE Raw, 06.16.08)
2. Booker T BERRIES AJ Styles (TNA Impact, 05.01.08)
3. Roddy Piper trains Jimmy Kimmel’s Cousin Sal (WWE Raw, 05.26.08)

Honestly I didn’t have very strong feelings about votes two and three. That Jericho promo was downright awful. It took Jericho a few weeks to really get that monotone heel promo down but thankfully he finally figured it out because I couldn’t have taken much more of that. Blech.

WORST PAY-PER-VIEW OF THE YEAR

1. WWE Judgment Day
2. WWE Great American Bash
3. WWE Survivor Series

I didn’t see any of the bad TNA PPVs so I couldn’t add in any votes there. Judgment Day seems to get a free pass because of Jericho-Michaels, but it shouldn’t, especially with that exceptionally boring main event. The Bash was more unremarkable than flat out bad (at least by Bash standards) and Survivor Series was saved from the top spot by the two big title changes.

WORST MATCH OF THE YEAR

1. Batista & Chris Jericho or maybe Batista vs. Chris Jericho in an Adamle Original Gauntlet Match (WWE Raw, 10.20.08)
2. Batista vs. Kane (WWE Raw, 08.25.08)
3. John Cena vs. Randy Orton with Special Guest Referee Triple H (WWE Raw, 02.18.08)

Sue me, but I didn’t have that big of a problem with the Rats on a Pole Match. The Adamle Original was not only bad but it was confusing as well, two traits you don’t want in a wrestling match. Batista vs. Kane was bad and boring, again not optimum adjectives. The Cena-Orton match was my own baby and I think it got shafted by a lot of people. Sure, there were probably matches that were worse (not many) but above all else I expect better from these guys.

WORST MANAGER OF THE YEAR

1. Raesha Said (TNA)
2. Sharmell (TNA)
3. Bam Neely (WWE)

The Raesha Said gimmick is stupid. I have NEVER been able to stand Sharmell, she’s the most annoying manager this side of Bill Alphonso. And poor Bam. It’s not his fault he was born bland and booked to be the most ineffective bodyguard of all time. I will say that Bam had some pretty good facial reactions and body language in a lot of the La Familia scenes, especially at the wedding reception.

FED OF THE YEAR

1. WWE
2. TNA
3. ROH

Small quibble, but I don’t like that we couldn’t break up WWE into three brands. Had the votes counted that way I probably would have gone 1) ECW, 2) SmackDown, 3) Raw.

PROMO OF THE YEAR

1. Mick Foley / Edge – “Find that Edge!” (WWE Smackdown, 08.01.08)
2. Shawn Michaels / Chris Jericho – “Go home and tell your children that daddy will NEVER be Shawn Michaels.” (WWE SummerSlam, 08.17.08)
3. Shawn Michaels and Batista on the Highlight Reel – “Look at these hands…” (WWE Raw, 04.07.08)

I felt pretty strongly about this one and think it should have won. This may very well be the last great Foley promo and it was one hell of a note to send his WWE career out on. The SummerSlam promo was a great one as well, and I think a lot of the great Michaels-Batista mic work was forgotten about thanks to all the stuff Michaels and Jericho did together. I really wanted to include Edge’s pre-match promo from WrestleMania as well.

PAY-PER-VIEW OF THE YEAR

1. WWE WrestleMania XXIV
2. WWE No Way Out
3. WWE No Mercy

I was thinking about this the other day and I think if I had to do it over again I’d switch Mania and No Way Out. Otherwise though these were all great PPVs from a year that had a lot of great PPVs to choose from. For the record I only saw one ROH PPV this year and the big three TNA PPVs.

MANAGER OF THE YEAR

1. Tony Atlas (WWE)
2. Larry Sweeney (ROH)
3. Runjin Singh (WWE)

Poor Tony Atlas started strong but then lost momentum once Mark Henry lost the title. Larry Sweeney is all kinds of awesome in ROH. Runjin Singh really picked up steam with Khali’s new “Punjabi Playboy” gimmick.

TAG TEAM OF THE YEAR

1. John Morrison & The Miz (WWE)
2. Kevin Steen & El Generico (ROH)
3. Beer Money Inc. (TNA)

This was an easy vote, the only question would be how to order votes two and three. Undoubtedly the three best tag teams of 2008 (at least in American wrestling), representing the three main promotions.

WOMEN’S WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

1. Beth Phoenix (WWE)
2. Awesome Kong (TNA)
3. Mickie James (WWE)

This was a two horse race and Mickie got the third vote almost by default. I just enjoy watching Beth Phoenix more than I enjoy watching Kong so that’s how that played out.

WRESTLER OF THE YEAR

1. Shawn Michaels (WWE)
2. Chris Jericho (WWE)
3. Jeff Hardy (WWE)

Jericho has had a really good year, but Shawn Michaels should have won Wrestler of the Year. In 2008 HBK had leftovers from his feud with Mr. Kennedy, a great showing in the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber, the big sendoff for Flair, the great work with Batista, the feud of the year with Jericho, the makings of a good storyline with JBL, great promo work, and at least four Match of the Year Contenders. Jericho on the other hand meandered a bit at the beginning of the year and what few problems I had with the HBK feud were all on Jericho’s end (the bad heel promo work initially, the rehashed “I ended Shawn Michaels career” stuff). He still had a phenomenal year but it just wasn’t as good as HBK. Hardy was a late addition to my ballot, just edging out (pardon the pun) Edge for my third spot.

SPOT OF THE YEAR

1. Jeff Hardy’s Swanton Bomb from the second tier of the stage (WWE Raw, 01.14.08)
2. Shawn Michaels’ Asai Moonsault through the Raw announce table (WWE WrestleMania 24, 03.30.08)
3. Solider Ant jumps on the invisible grenade, taking one for his troops and everyone evacuates the ring before it “explodes”. (CHIKARA AnniversarioCT, 05.24.08)

It’s a shame Jeff’s big spot seemingly got forgotten by the end of the year. HBK’s spot will live on in WrestleMania highlights packages forever. I’ll be honest, I didn’t see the third spot I voted for, but it just sounded too awesome.

QUOTE OF THE YEAR

1. “I’m sorry. I love you.” – Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 24, 03.30.08)
2. “Just so you know, I don’t love you, and I’m not sorry.” – Batista (WWE One Night Stand, 06.01.08)
3. “Go home and tell your children that daddy will NEVER be Shawn Michaels.” – Shawn Michaels (WWE SummerSlam, 08.17.08)

All great stuff here. “I’m sorry. I love you” is going to go down as an iconic wrestling moment.

MARK OUT MOMENT OF THE YEAR

1. John Cena returns to the ring and wins the Royal Rumble (WWE Royal Rumble, 01.27.08)
2. Jeff Hardy wins WWE Championship (WWE Armageddon, 12.14.08)
3. Ric Flair’s Retirement Ceremony (WWE Raw, 03.31.08)

As the title indicates these were all things I marked out about at home. CM Punk winning the World Title just barely missed the cut.

WORST ANNOUNCE OF THE YEAR

1. Mike Adamle (WWE)
2. Jonathan Coachman (WWE)
3. Michael Cole (WWE)

Was there any question? Coach just seemed very uncomfortable in his position on SmackDown and Michael Cole, a guy I used to really like and defend, has been downright awful for most of the year. Cole really depends on having strong chemistry with his partner and he does not have that with King nor did he have it with Coach. The only reprieve he had was with Foley. Here’s hoping either JBL gets added to the Raw broadcast team or Cole ends up working with either Tazz or Striker in 2009.

The Shimmy Likes It Raw!

What’s on tap for tonight’s show?

John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels; I guess that’s to put an end to any hopes of getting that match at WrestleMania. Should still be awesome. For the record I’m still thinking Cena vs. Hardy would be money at Mania, but I doubt they’d listen to me.

Kane vs. Randy Orton; Kane is looking to eviscerate Orton. And yes I really just typed that sentence to see if Word would tell me I spelled eviscerate wrong (I didn’t, hooray!).

Intercontinental Title Match: William Regal© vs. CM Punk; I love how Stephanie refused to let the first title match of 2009 end by disqualification…by letting it end by disqualification. Thank God Vinnie Mac is back next week.

Vague preview for One Tree Hill tonight. I think Lucas and Peyton are playing babysitter for Jamie and Q’s brother. Last week’s episode was good but I’m surprised they blew through the whole “Sam is hanging out with Q’s killer” story so fast.

And that’s all we’ve got. Big column this week, and next week should be another big one as it’s the Royal Rumble Preview and Cheat Sheet. Aside from my birthday WrestleMania predictions column this is my favorite annual column. I’ll see you all then. So until next week, don’t die. Clark…out.