XXIX_MPFW

This time, we have The Best of 2008 Pro Wrestling Awards! Let's see. For music this time, play "The Final Countdown" by Europe. It's a good fit since Bryan Danielson uses it, and it is the pro wrestling awards. I got a lot for you today. I got awards for Rookie of the Year, ROH wrestler and match of the year, CHIKARA wrestler and match of the year, CHIKARA DVD art of the year, the top 3 DVD's of the year and the top 5 live shows of the year. Remember to leave a comment for your chance to win a prize.

I have barely watched any WWE, so I don't have much to say besides my two choices here. WWE Moment of the Year was CM Punk winning the world title and WWE Match of the Year was Rey Mysterio and Evan Bourne vs. The Miz and John Morrison from Raw. That whole moment was amazing, and that match was the most excited I got for a WWE match in a long time. Nothing from TNA here since it is near impossible for me to watch. Now onto the good stuff.

Rookie of the Year

I consider a rookie someone who is wrestling for their first year in the independents, or making their debut on WWE TV after going through developmental without being well known in Ring of Honor, or CHIKARA or other independent promotions. For example, I don't consider Evan Bourne a rookie since he has been in ROH and other indy promotions in the past.

Honorable Mention: Jack Swagger

The "All-American American" has been very imprethive thince debuting on ECW. I have become a fan of him and I feel he will be pushed like Brock Lethnar. He has defeated Tommy Dreamer in a recent feud. He thtopped Ricky Ortiz's undefeated thtreak and is thetting his thights on the ECW title. (Sorry if that was hard to read. I just had to do it.)

Runner-Up: Kofi Kingston

Since debuting in early 2008, he's been quite entertaining to watch. He went undefeated for some time until losing to Shelton Benjamin. He was later drafted to Raw where he won the Intercontinental Championship from Chris Jericho. Later in the year, he became one half of the World Tag Team Champions along side CM Punk.

Winner: Miss April

After one appearance at WSU, the lovely Miss April went from unknown to huge over with everybody attending the show that day. She fell short of winning the WSU Tag Team Championship with Malia Hosaka, and later lost a good match to her partner. She's got loads of potential and I hope to see her in SHIMMER in the future.

ROH Wrestler of the Year

The title speaks for itself. The winner was an easy pick, but the runner-up was tough for me to pick.

Runner-Up: Tie between Tyler Black and Bryan Danielson

I couldn't chose the better man between these two. From what I've heard, they had some pretty good singles matches between them and an awesome tag match against each other at "Respect is Earned II". Black held the ROH World Tag Team Championship with partner Jimmy Jacobs and came very close to winning the ROH World Championship at "Take No Prisoners" and "Death Before Dishonor VI". Danielson has been chasing the world title on the PPV's and has had great match after great match including my pick for Best ROH Match of 2008 and a very good match against Katsuhiko Nakajima at "Glory By Honor VII".

Winner: Nigel McGuinness

Hands down winner this year. He is doing an excellent job as mega heel and it was shown when it all started at "Sixth Anniversary Show". To get a good taste of his heel character, find the ROH videowire(s) where he's interviewed by Dave Prazak. He held the belt the entire 2008 calendar year last defeating Naomichi Marufuji at "Final Battle 2008". Involved in many great matches, he successfully retained the title this year over all challengers: Chris Hero, Roderick Strong, Bryan Danielson, Tyler Black, Austin Aries, Erick Stevens, Kevin Steen, Claudio Castagnoli, Go Shiozaki, Adam Pearce (sort of), Ruckus, El Generico, Jimmy Jacobs and Jerry Lynn.

ROH Match of the Year

Here's my pick for match of the year out of all the matches I've seen from Ring of Honor this year.

Runner-Up: Brent Albright vs. Adam Pearce from "Death Before Dishonor VI"

A lot of people looked back on this match and thought it wasn't all that great, but I still think it was an awesome match live and I'm making it the runner-up. This was the hottest I've ever seen a crowd for a match ever. I didn't mind all of the false finishes near the end of this . Brent Albright was monstrous over in Hammerstein and the crowd ate up every second of it. The crowd exploded when Albright won the match and captured the NWA World Heavyweight Championship.

Winner: Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness from "Sixth Anniversary Show"

I had to watch this match since it's getting much love on the ROH boards. I watched it and I loved it. The story was that Bryan Danielson promised Nigel McGuinness he would not strike him in the head. Nigel gets dropped on his head early on (if I remember correctly), strikes the referee and gets DQ. This leads to Nigel's heel turn and refuses to continue wrestling, but the locker room led by Austin Aries refused to let that happen and the match gets restarted. Once the match restarts, the actions picks right back up and it's awesome. The type of great stuff you'd expect from these two. Danielson still refuses to strike Nigel in the head, however, Nigel resorts to using the elbows to the head move on Danielson. Just watch this match already.

CHIKARA Wrestler of the Year

Here's my pick for the wrestler who performed the best in 2008.

Runner-Up: Vin Gerard

Great heel character and he might be the best heel CHIKARA has ever had. He's awesome at it whether it's being a real jerk, trolling on the MySpace or resorting to dirty tactics. He went undefeated as his new persona until losing in the finals of Young Lions Cup VI to Fire Ant. He later won (be cheating) the Young Lions Cup trophy from Fire Ant at "Tragedy and Triumph". He became the leader of the rejects of CHIKARA, The UnStable, with STIGMA (the former Shane Storm) and later Colin Delaney. He began a feud with Jimmy "The New Equinox" Olsen and held the trophy for the remainder of the year until being stripped of it at "Duel and Duality".

Winner: Claudio Castagnoli

HEEEYYY!!! One of my favorite wrestlers had a great 2008 in CHIKARA. He was part of a great trios match from "Grit and Glory", formed the short-lived tag team of Swiss 'n' Sour with Larry Sweeney, which now looks like it's moving towards a feud with The Fabulous Three. Most of this CHIKARA year, Claudio was involved in a feud against "The Big Rig" Brodie Lee which was ended in the great cage match from "Style and Substance". As the last surving member of Team CHIKARA, he was able to get the win for his team by pinning Daisuke Sekimoto of Team Big Japan in the Global Gauntlet. From what I've heard, he's had an amazing match with Mike Quackenbush at "Tag World Grand Prix 2008 Night 2".

CHIKARA Match of the Year

My picks for the best match of CHIKARA in 2008 of what I've seen.

Runner-Up: Mike Quackenbush, Jorge Rivera and Turbo vs. Claudio Castagnoli, El Pantera and Sonjay Dutt from "Grit and Glory"

One word for this match: LUCHA-RIFIC. Awesome, too. It's always amazing whenever Quack and Claudio go against each other. The interesting teams led to some interesting match-ups during the match and they were all fantastic. The dive-fest to the finishing sequence was quite intense. I loved this match live and was just as good on DVD.

Winner: Fire Ant vs. Vin Gerard from "Young Lions Cup VI Night 3"

No other CHIKARA match this year had more emotion than this match. This was the most I've ever seen a CHIKARA crowd get into a match, even in Hellertown. Do yourself a favor and watch this match in its entirety. The clip from the podcast isn't enough to capture the awesomeness of this match.

CHIKARA DVD Cover Art of the Year

I always looked forward to the releases of new CHIKARA DVD's not just for the great wrestling, but for the artwork featured on the cover. I owe it a category just because the covers are always so good. There's been some great drawings as usual and even the use of some nice photographs. So here's my picks:

Runner-Up: Tag World Grand Prix 2008

I love the idea of the split-up artwork, making you want to buy both (which I still need to do!). The legendary Johnny Saint goes to do epic battle with Mike Quackenbush! My only complaint is that "Night 1" and "Night 2" aren't present on the cover, but it's all good.

Winner: Young Lions Cup VI Night 3

A spoof of a Fantastic Four cover. This one screams awesome to me. Don't know why, but I just love it. The massive jerk Vin Gerard is in the background while Drake Younger, Fire Ant, Stupefied and Tim Donst blast off like rockets.

Top 3 DVD's of the Year

These are shows that I didn't attend live. I didn't have to time I wanted so I can watch some DVD's of this year, so I just got these 3 to list:

3. CHIKARA "Vanity and Violence"

This was a fun CHIKARA show. A few good matches, but nothing really fantastic. Good show from top to bottom.

2. CHIKARA "Aniversarioma"

Another fun CHIKARA show I really enjoyed. The atomicos increibles and Jorge Rivera vs. Pantera were verry good. I recommend it since it's a nice show overall.

1. ROH "Supercard of Honor III"

This is probably one of the best ROH shows all year. The first two matches were fun, the Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens brawl was brutal, Briscoes vs. Jacobs and Black was good with an awesome ending, Steen and Generico vs. Shingo and BxB Hulk was awesome, Nigel vs. Aries was very good, and the Dragon Gate six-man was awesome as expected. Go get this DVD if you haven't.

Top 5 Live Shows of the Year

5. ROH "Glory By Honor VII"

ROH's return to the former ECW was a very enjoyable marathon. The matches were all pretty good, but Claudio Castagnoli vs. Kensuke Sasaki was disappointing. Some of the better matches happened before the first intermission, including Kevin Steen vs. Go Shiozaki and Bryan Danielson vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima.

4. CHIKARA "The Global Gauntlet Night 2"

In my opinion, the best overall card of CHIKARA that I've seen this year. The undercard matches were all good. Super Smash Bros. vs. The Osirian Portal was amazing and probably one of the best CHIKARA tag matches of the year. The main event started out slow, but got a lot better towards the end. The whole Global Gauntlet deal felt successful and Big Japan had an impressive showing.

3. CHIKARA "King of Trios 2008 Night 2"

This was the most fun I've had at CHIKARA this year. My favorite night of the epic King of Trios 2008. Three reasons that this was an awesome show: 1. Team F1RST vs. Team IWS was my favorite match from the whole tournament, 2. Da Soul Touchaz's performance and their ovation afterwards, and 3. Glacier.

2. ROH "Respect is Earned II"

After not being able to attend "Take No Prisoners", I was anxious to get back to seeing ROH live, and this show delivered. This show was taped for PPV and the crowd was pretty good. Pretty solid matches on the undercard. The Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens Fight Without Honor was just insane. Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson vs. Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black was very good and one of the best tag team matches I've ever seen. Jay Briscoe vs. Necro Butcher was also a very good street fight.

1. ROH "Death Before Dishonor VI"

This has passed "Death Before Dishonor IV", my first-ever ROH show, as my favorite live show of all-time. The atmosphere of the Hammerstein Ballroom was incredible and made this show awesome. The opening matches were good. Brent Albright vs. Adam Pearce was incredibly awesome. The three-way match was just there for storyline purposes. The last three matches, Naomichi Marufuji vs. Go Shiozaki, Kevin Steen and El Generico vs. Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley, and the four-way elimination match, were all very good. Like I said, the atmosphere made this show awesome and I was going wrestling fan crazy all night.

I missed ROH's "Take No Prisoners" and "All-Star Extravaganza IV" due to money issues. Other CHIKARA events I attended live were: Night 1 and 3 of King of Trios 2008, "Passion and Persistence", "Grit and Glory", "Young Lions Cup VI Night 3", "Tragedy and Triumph", and "Style and Substance". I also went to UWC in May, Velocity Pro's "Back to Old School" and WSU in October.

Quick recap:
-Rookie of the Year: Miss April
-ROH Wrestler of the Year: Nigel McGuinness
-ROH Match of the Year: Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson from "Sixth Anniversary Show"
-CHIKARA Wrestler of the Year: Claudio Castagnoli
-CHIKARA Match of the Year: Fire Ant vs. Vin Gerard from "Young Lions Cup VI Night 3"
-CHIKARA DVD Cover Art of the Year: Young Lions Cup VI Night 3
-DVD of the Year: ROH "Supercard of Honor III"
-Live Show of the Year: ROH "Death Before Dishonor VI"

I hope you guys enjoyed this as much as I did putting it all together. I will be (hopefully) going to the JAPW Womens show on January 10 along with Mel and Steve. Look out for a blog some time after that. It won't be up the next day since I will most likely be working due to inventory at our store. I might post another before that, if the mood strikes. Comment below to discuss and have a happy new year. I'll reply to the comments, so check back.