|
|
|
|
|
Submitted by Pt2 on Monday, January 3, 2005 at 12:05 PM EST
1995Wrestler of the year: The British Bulldog. 1995 was the year that Davey Boy Smith turned heel, and took on pretty much everyone that he hadn’t been able to take on before. Which meant that he got title shots at, and had great matches with, both Diesel and Brother in-law Bret Hart. Smith joined Camp Cornette and at the tail end of the year, really became the top heel - at least until the emergence of Vader in January. A great showing at the rumble, a great heel turn on Diesel, and some nice title matches win Smith the award in a year that was actually pretty quiet. Shawn Michaels and Jeff Jarrett were also both contenders for this award. Tag team of the year: Owen Hart and Yokozuna The odd couple before the odd couple team was fashionable, Owen and Yoko were dominant in 1995, winning the title from the Smoking Gunns at Wrestlemania, and not losing it until October. A really hated heel team, there was no-one else in 1995 who could have taken this award. Match of the year: Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels at Summerslam: The rematch from their classic Wrestlemania X ladder match the year previously. While not as good as their mania effort in my opinion this was still a great match and far and away match of the year. Pt2’s markout moment: Has to be at the Royal Rumble, where Shawn Michaels and Davey Boy Smith went in as the first two and were the last two left in the ring. Great performance from both guys for that one, and a great booked ending: I don’t think they’ll ever manage to pull off the first man winning as well as they did in this Rumble. Best Newcomer: Goldust. Could only be one choice for me here. Who else is going to topple Goldust in 1995? Waylon Mercy? Savio Vega? Dean Douglas? Goldust is legendary and would have a great run in 1996, but from the moment he debuted, you knew you had something fresh and different. feud of the year: This was the hardest award to give out. In 1995 very little struck me as awesome in the way of feuds, as feuds would be in years to come. However, after much deliberation, I think it was the resurrected Lawler Hart feud that wins it for me, with Lawler throwing everyone from Isaac Yankem to Hakushi at the Hitman. Not classic stuff perhaps, but the best in a weak year. 1996Wrestler of the year: Stone Cold Steve Austin Austin made the transition this year. His greatest popularity would be as a face, but the turnaround from a failing career into the WWE’s top star went down in this year. I still prefer him in this first role, as a heel, and after Ted DiBiase’s defection to WCW, Austin went on a role. Great character and great performances, culminating with a great Survivor Series match. Tag team of the year: Owen Hart and the Bulldog Owen and the Bulldog cleared up a pretty weak tag division towards the end of the year by leaving their mark on it. While it wasn’t as weak as it is now, you’d have a hard time picking a stand out team before they started teaming regularly. Easy choice Match of the year: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart @ Survivor Series Great match, often overlooked because of their Wrestlemania match in the following march. Still a great bout though, and for me it beats the Ironman match as MOTY by quite a large margin. Pt2’s markout moment: Before I decided to limit this to just the WWE, I had this as Scott Hall arriving on Nitro. Now I can’t have any NWO moments in the year they dominated, I think I’ll have to settle for the Undertaker coming out from under the ring during the cage match between Bret and Diesel. Best Newcomer: Mankind Mick Foley had one of the best debuts ever, when he came out and decimated the Undertaker. I don’t have to add any more about how good Mick was in these early days other than say, for that first mauling - watch the crowd. Kids crying, people looking concerned.... you believed he was psycho. Classic Mick. feud of the year: Diesel vs. Undertaker Started towards the tail end of 1995, but culminating at Wrestlemania, this two feuded mainly as faces, over who would challenge Bret Hart for the world title. A heel turn for Nash would follow, as would a classic big man match at Wrestlemania XII. For the WWE, in a year where the other major feuds would be Savio vs. Austin and the Smoking Gunns vs. Goddwinns, it didn’t get much better than this. 1997 Wrestler of the year: Bret Hart About 9 consistent months as the top guy on the roster wins this for the Hitman. Shawn was at his worst backstage - Austin and HHH were both heading for the top, but I think an amazing heel turn which only worked in one country, and the division of international and American fans means I have to give the nod to Bret. tag team of the year: Owen Hart and the British Bulldog For the second year in a row, I give it to Owen and the Bulldog. Furnas and LaFon failed to catch on, and Owen and the Bulldog kept on rolling with the titles, eventually only losing them to temporary main event tag teams. No team ever seemed as good as Owen and the Bulldog after they lost the titles either. match of the year: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart @ Wrestlemania XIII. the second match between the two, more epic than the first. Perfectly choreographed finish is still the thing of legend. It had to be perfect to turn both guys, and they nailed it. Easy choice. Pt2’s markout moment: As a European and an Englishman, there can only be one option for me. The re-unification of Bret Hart, Owen Hart, and the British Bulldog. Bret was the most popular wrestler in the rest of the world at the time, even though the Americans hated him, and re-uniting with our own countryman, Davey Boy Smith, and his brother, made for a great segment that was received differently here than it was in the arena that night. Best new comer: Ken Shamrock. Almost by default Ken Shamrock takes this. Can’t remember any other debutants making an impact on either 1997 or 1998, while Shamrock challenged Michaels for the title in December and had a big feud with the Rock in 98. Feud of the year: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin. Started in 1996, but never really finishing, this feud was kept fresh after nearly a year by moving Austin’s focus over to Owen Hart as Bret challenged for the World title. It eventually became a Hart Foundation vs. Austin feud. But it was great fun. 1998 wrestler of the year: The Rock The year of the Rock, easily the most entertaining thing on the Roster. A bit player for most of 1997, and the world champion at Survivor Series 98, shows you how far the man came in 12 months. Great performances at the Rumble, against Ken Shamrock, and against Triple H, make this an easy choice in a year that many people felt it hard to look beyond Austin and Kane. tag team of the year: New Age Outlaws. You may not like them. They couldn’t wrestle. But Billy Gunn and the Roaddogg were the dominant tag team of 1998, their matches were usually entertaining if not ground breaking and their affiliation with vignette friendly D-X meant they went from being over heels at the beginning of the year to over faces, and would be one of the most decorated tag teams in WWE history. Couldn’t have made my choice any easier really could they? match of the year: The Rock vs. HHH, Ladder match @ Summerslam. The attitude era wasn’t exactly a haven for great matches, especially in the WWE. But Triple H could put on a great match, and the Rock was becoming the legend that we know today. They had two great matches on two consecutive pay per views, but this one takes it for me because there is a pay off to it. Pt2’s markout moment: Hell in a Cell @ King of the Ring. Could it be anything else? It may not be an amazing match from a technical stand point, but I got goose bumps when I saw it, and I still do. It’s never been the same again, but you can’t fault Mick Foleys dedication to making a match as memorable as possible. Enough said, if you haven’t seen it see, if you have respect it. Best new comer: Edge Again a kind of default selection. He made an impact in 1998, and was an interesting character, and just edges out my second choice - the only other debutant to do anything I cared about all year was Test, and he was only around for about 3 weeks of 1998. Edge it is then. Feud of the year: Austin vs. McMahon. I can’t ignore the draw power. It wasn’t my favourite, but when it does draw that much you can’t really deny it. I won’t say much more. 1999 wrestler of the year: Mankind. I didn’t feel comfortable giving it to Triple H here, didn’t think he was quite ready for it until the very end of the year. So although Foley was often out of sorts in ring in 1999, he was usually involved in the great segments and the great storylines. And I do think he was better than the Rock for much of the year as well - the era of the Rock and HHH was yet to come. tag team of the year: Hardy Boyz. I don’t like that they spell it with a Z, but whatever. Under the tutelage of Michael Hayes the perennial Jobber team became the hottest part of the WWE tag division. Flashy moves and spotfests galore, when they were fresh, there was no denying they were an exciting unit. match of the year: Couldn’t pick one. My match of the year came from WCW. I really can’t recall a match from 1999 that I remember fondly enough that I’d want to call it match of the year. Find that quite disappointing actually. Pt2’s markout moment The debut of Chris Jericho. A great segment and the start of a much improved career for Jericho. Best new comer: Kurt Angle. Once every few years, a legend debuts. Kurt Angle was the most recent of them. Within a year of his debut, he was world champion. That is phenomenal. He may not be the best wrestler in the world, but improvement at that rate guarantees that he would have to be best newcomer ANY year he debuted. Feud of the year: Rock vs. Austin It wasn’t a great year for feuds in my opinion. I hated the Ministry stuff, so Taker vs. Austin, presumably most peoples choice, is out for me. It was a choice between The Tag team feud between the Hardys and E&C, or the Wrestlemania main event. Though the match was disappointing I thought that they build up was good, so the main event has it. 2000 wrestler of the year: Triple H. Half a dozen people could have won this award, but if you look at all the Match of the Year contenders, HHH was in all of them. He was on fire this year, had a great match at least once a month, worked well with The Rock, Jericho, and Angle, in a great year for the WWE. tag team of the year: Edge and Christian. Following their heel turn E&C really came into their own. Cockiness was their middle name, and their friendship with Kurt Angle led to some great segments. My favourite had to be the jug band. I know it’s cliched to say that, but it was brilliant, and they were a great team - easily for me the best of the three major teams at the height of the WWE attitude tag division. match of the year: HHH vs. The Rock, Ironman match @ Judgment day. I’m a Shawn Michaels fan. I’m a Bret Hart fan. But in all honesty, the Rock and HHH blew their Iron man match out of the water. It’s the best Ironman match there has been, a great bout for the world title, and just eclipsing HHH vs. Jericho’s last man standing match as 2000 match of the year, in my opinion. Pt2’s markout moment: Jericho winning the world title from HHH on Smackdown It was unexpected, completely out of the blue, and if you didn’t have access to the net, for a couple of days you thought Chris Jericho was the world champion. It was shocking, the good kind, and brought a great sense of unpredictability to the product. Many complained when it was taken off, but I didn’t mind really - showed how heel the Regime was, and made you get behind Jericho all the more. Best new comer: Chris Benoit. Jumped ship from WCW. Would take him a year to hit the main event as a serious contender, but was in or around it really from his debut. Title match with the Rock only a couple of months after his debut, and was easily the biggest star of the defecting radicals, in those early days. Feud of the year: HHH vs. Angle vs. Rock. For most of the year it was the Rock vs. HHH, but the inclusion of Angle and Stephanie McMahon really kicked this feud up a notch, making it the best soap opera style angle since Savage, Hogan and Elizabeth in the late eighties. The feud between Rock and HHH was good... the inclusion of the mega over rookie Angle as a rival of Hunters just iced the cake. Great feud. 2001 wrestler of the year: Chris Jericho/Kurt Angle Split award. Angle was better for most of the year, but towards the end, Jericho put out the performances of a life time in his feud with the Rock. Despite the man handled invasion angle, in these two the WWE had two wrestlers putting in great performances all year. tag team of the year: Dudley Boys The third of the holy trinity of WWE tag teams get their recognition here, and their involvement as main eventers in the invasion angle and their superiority over the Hardys and E&C at this time means that I have no problem saying they were the best of the year. They haven’t been the same since, but then, they were more than solid. match of the year: The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin @ Wrestlemania XVII the best match between Austin and the Rock. A great finish that shocked the world. What more can you ask for? This was the crowning moment on the greatest show of the attitude era - kind of ironic it should be the last great show of that era, really. Pt2’s markout moment I don’t care if this isn’t strictly WWE. As a WCW fan, nothing compares to the final nitro, and the match between Flair and Sting. Not a technical marvel? I don’t care. I’d watched WCW for years and was sorry to see it die, but proud to see the emotion on the show. Best new comer: Rob Van Dam The invader with Tommy Dreamer. While you could say they under-utilised Dreamer, you couldn’t say the same thing about RVD. He got over with his flashy moves quickly and reached the upper midcard level by the end of the year. Don’t know if he’ll ever go any higher, but in 2001, RVD was fresh, new and the fans were hot whenever he was in the ring. Feud of the year: Rock vs. Austin. Short feud, but a good one. Only lasted from Austin winning the Rumble until the match where HHH and Austin formed the Power trip, but the pre Wrestlemania build up was so good that I can’t ignore it here, and have to give it the props it so richly deserves. 2002 wrestler of the year: Undertaker. A strange choice, some of you will be thinking? Well, he freshened up his act a little, went heel on everyone and was a pretty decent champion. Who else actually did anything well in 2002? Face it, Taker was the best thing going at the time. tag team of the year: Billy and Chuck The second tag entry for Billy Gunn. They are both out of a job now so this proved to be their last hurrah, but until that damn wedding this was an entertaining heel pairing. Probably the best thing going in the tag division at the time, and probably better than anything since. match of the year: Shawn Michaels vs. HHH @Summerslam. If you haven’t seen HBK’s comeback, I advise you check it out. It’s hard to think of a better match since Wrestlemania XVII, let alone in 2002. Pt2’s markout moment I didn’t mark out that much in 2002, but the return of Eric Bischoff was more than a bit special. The man was one of the main guys in the war between WCW and the WWE, definitely the dirtiest player, and I never thought I’d see him on WWE TV. Having him be the general manager of RAW, was, not to put too fine a point on it, a fucking masterstroke. Best new comer: Brock Lesnar. Based purely on the size of his push it couldn’t be anybody else, could it? World champion in about 5 months? It’s not right, but makes him the best newcomer of 2002. Feud of the year: HHH vs. Shawn Michaels. The best. Simple former friends material done pretty well. Nothing else comes close from a poor, poor year for the WWE. 2003 wrestler of the year: Kurt Angle. Wanted to give this award to Raven, because I think he was far and away the most entertaining wrestler in 2003: by a long shot. Probably would have followed that up with AJ Styles. But Kurt was probably the best WWE worked despite being out injured. HHH would often phone it in on RAW, Goldberg was meh, Nash had one decent match, Booker got crushed.... I could list everyone who could *possibly* win, but only Angle was good enough to get the nod. tag team of the year: Booker T & Goldust/ Team Angle Split award. One great team on each brand. Haas and Benjamin were great in the ring, Booker and Goldust have the best segments on RAW for months, prior to that tourrettes shit. Wouldn’t be fair to victimise either team I think, so we’ll call it a draw. match of the year: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho @ Wrestlemania XIX Sensational matches were few and far between in 2003, but there were good matches at Wrestlemania and there were good matches at Survivor Series. For me, this was the best singles match, and it was the highlight of Wrestlemania... unless you like seeing Lesnar fall on his head. Pt2’s markout moment: Was there one? I’ll take Hunter losing the world title. He was a major heel during his reign, so seeing him lose to whoever was pretty sweet. Best new comer: Shelton Benjamin. The better half of the WWE’s top tag team. Now a singles star, and with any luck he’ll be around for many more years. Your usually guaranteed something watch- able with Shelton in the ring. Feud of the year: Lesnar vs. Angle: Once again the feud of the year award goes to the feud surrounding the Wrestlemania main event. Not surprising really, is it? the great thing about this feud is that it didn’t end at Wrestlemania, resuming when Angle returned from injury with more great matches. i don’t think anything on RAW could touch this, for a lasting coherent feud. I actually wanted to say Raven vs. Jarrett from TNA. 2004 wrestler of the year: Chris Benoit The year Benoit finally won the big one. Out of the half a dozen guys who could have won the award for 2004, he was over the most for longest, he had a decent world title reign, he’s still very much in the title picture, he had great matches, he improved his promo work.... everything you could want to say about the guy, you can say. My pick, Chris Benoit. tag team of the year: Regal and Eugene Why? Why not. Who else is there? and there’s no denying that they’ve been fun. It was either these guys or Rey and RVD, and at least Eugene and Regal have a reason to be a tag team. It’s not a healthy time for the tag division. match of the year: Chris Benoit vs. HHH. vs. Shawn Michaels @ Wrestlemania XX Chris Benoit finally wins the big one. It wasn’t a perfect match, but Triple threat matches rarely are. It was, very good, on a very emotional night - I really don’t think I need to say anymore. Pt2’s markout moment As you’ve probably guessed, Benoit winning the world title by submission at Wrestlemania. Best new comer: Eugene. Eugene is a controversial gimmick, but it’s one that Nick Dinsmore really pulled off. Eugene has been entertaining. He may not be around for ever, and a gimmick like Eugene will undoubtedly run it’s course, but in fairness he’s made an impact, which is more than I expected him to. Feud of the year: Shelton vs. Hunter. That probably shocked you. It was only a mini-feud, but the 3-4 weeks or whatever it was where Hunter was trying to beat Shelton, and couldn’t no matter what he tried, made for great TV. Really helped get Shelton over as a singles star, and made Hunter look funny, which as a heel is good, from time to time. There’s a time to fear a heel and a time to laugh at them. This worked, and for me it worked better than all the major feuds last year. That's the end of a decade full of awards. I hope your all still with me, because there’s quite a lot to get through there. Anyway, things are looking up for the WWE heading into this third decade - I wish them all the best. Anyway, now all that is out of the way, are there any fans of You be the Booker reading? As you know at the end of the month we have a Royal Rumble going down, to find out who is going to face the YBTB World Champion. Well, now you get to hear from one of the entrants, and hear the thoughts of the champion himself, Xanman. But first it’s words from a member of the Revolution.... it’s Adeaton..... 'A’ promo Welcome my son, Welcome to the machine. The You Be The Booker Royal Rumble, and I, Adeaton, am I part of it. This is my first shot at the title currently held by that aggravating Xanman, and I know full well that it could be my last. I look at the card and see many notable names, all of whom are probably considered “better” than me. Well, I’ll show them a thing or two, mark my words. I was also told that the rest of my ka-tet is involved in this thing, and I guess I’m happy about that, as I can use all the help I can get. I’m not an egotistical maniac like a lot of the other people around here, I admit that I cannot go through all these other guys on my own. So Stinger, Morpheus, I’m glad to have the back-up, thanks for pitching in. One thing though, if either of you want to dispute the fact that we look out for me and me only, there will be hell to pay. But back to that title belt, it’s very beautiful, and hard to get. Xanman has certainly a worthy booker, to that awful and unfair judge; I think his ideas suck most the time. A collective “Ohhhhh…disssss” is heard throughout the IWC Random got screwed, but I don’t care anymore. The only thing I care about is being able to survive the Rumble and go on to win that title from Xanman, no ego and no frills involved. To those that decide to stand in my way, to those that think they deserve my title more than I do, I tell them that they better just stand back. If I was to win this Rumble and then take my title, I would have no problems accepting challenges from anyone willing to step up and face me like man. The Rumble is in a few weeks, and I’m preparing for it. I can guarantee you that once the dust settles I will be the only one left standing. As I stated before, that is not through ego, that is through truth. My name is Adeaton, and I own your soul. Adeaton seems to want to prove a few people wrong. The favourites in this thing better be on form, otherwise the likes of Random Guy#5, Phantom Lord and Morpheus may end up being surprised by the man from Toronto. But even if he wins, to get the money, power and the women, he needs to beat the man we can hear from now.... it’s the champion. Allow me to introduce myself for those of you who don't know. I am the man who puts the X in wrestling; the Captain of The Northern Star; co-host of Excuse the Aggravation; and your Ambassador of X. I have been dubbed LOP's Living Legend; and recently I defeated my fellow columnist and friend, Random Guy #5 for the You Be The Booker Championship. And, embodying George Carlin's "Well, if it's undisputed; what's all the fighting about?" my opponent considers it very controversial. You know, for a guy who decided his internet handle would be Random Guy #5, he sure does do a lot of whining about wanting recognition. If he wanted to be so recognized, why try to pass yourself off as random? Doesn't that make you just another sucker? Sure seems like it. Anyway, this guy, this "random" guy is pissing and moaning about being defeated in the You Be The Booker contest due to a trivial rule. Well, what he fails to mention in his little diatribes is that if neither of us had been penalized, he still would have lost. He simply got out-scored. End of story. At least it should be. But, no, we have to endure two more weeks of him showing off his inferiority complex. I welcome a challenge from this angry young man, especially since the former "people's champion" showed that he'd rather not face the true Booking Champion. Being Xan, I consider myself above insults for the most part; but to call my supposed challenger cowardly would be to do him justice. You, the people, clamored behind him when you thought he was jobbed(much as random would have you do), yet he failed to show for the big battle. In essence, he rained his spit down upon you. So, I say throw RG5 and myself in the virtual ring again, and let the best man win--again. But, the GM, Pt2 has decided against this idea. Instead, someone else gets to earn a shot--you know, the way Billy did. I earned my shot the way Random Guy #5 and Tina Ali before him did. By writing kick-ass wrestling columns and proving I could bring it. Random and I write two of the premier columns here at LOP, be it the Main Page or the column section. That's why I hope, regardless of the Royal Rumble outcome, that Random gets his rematch. Despite the face he's lost due to the bitching and moaning, he's earned it...and I relish the chance to kick his ass a second time. In the meantime, I will be happy to show any other challenger what RG5 and Pt2 already knew and had re-asserted for them. It's good to know, and it's a simple fact of life. What is it? Being good...good, but Xan...legendary I think I’ll end this there. I hope you’ll join me next time, because it’s my 100th column, and we’re having the YBTB Royal Rumble. That’ll be at the end of the month, after everyone has done their bit. I’m really looking forward to this, I hope you’ll join us all for it. Until then, if you’d like to get in touch with me about this column, or would like to leave a message for Xanman or Adeaton then you can do it by mailing me at Takeupthywrestlingboots@gmail.com Until next time, thanks for reading, and take care. Pt2 >>*PLAY NOW*<< Fun, FREE, WWE Online Games! Fight Cena, Kick Hogan, TONS MORE! PLAY NOW!
[Back to LOP] [News Archives] [Results] [Columns] [Forums]
|
|