2004 Best of the Year Awards
I'll use this space as my land of award giving. Here are my 2004 awards for wrestling starting with the big ones.
Wrestler of the Year
Chris Benoit
A VERY hard decision. There were so many others that had good years, but Chris Benoit just had a career year. He managed to win the big one in spectacular Wrestlemania main event and hold it for about half a year. Great matches and feuds led me to give Benoit this award.
Honorable mentions - Samoa Joe, Kenta Kobashi, Eddie Guerrero, CM Punk
Match of the Year
Samoa Joe vs CM Punk II
Honorable mentions - Joe vs Punk I, Aries vs Joe, Kobashi vs Akiyama, XXX vs AMW 2
Tag Team of the Year
Triple X
They're still great, and even though they can't tag anymore they had a great year.
Honorable mentions - AMW, Marufuji & KENTA, RVD and Rey Mysterio
Champion of the Year
Samoa Joe
Though it was Benoit's year of glory, it was Joe's belt of glory. He fought hard the entire year putting on great match after great match to bring prestige to the ROH belt, and he succeeded. He was a fighting champion. He had several key feuds that brought the excitement of title-based wrestling back.
Honorable mentions - Kenta Kobashi, Eddie Guerrero, HEAT
Promotion of the Year
Ring of Honor
What a damned glorious year it was for the largest indy in America. Classic feuds, classic matches, classic events I attended! From the Briscoes to Generation Next to Scramble Cage to even Dunn & Marcos, ROH had it going on last year. They truly rose to the next level of fame, and are moving into and ECW-like position, except their success doesn't depend on a TV show. Their success depends on having more years like 2004.
Honorable mentions - IWA:MS, NOAH, PWG
Moment of the Year
Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit post-WMXX celebration
I HAVE to go back and give this award to Guerrero and Benoit. Historically it was the single most important moment between these two legendary champions. The award originally went to Aries winning the ROH title, but was skewed as that had happened only a week or so earlier.
Honorable mentions - Aries wins ROH title, Brock leaves WWE, Joe-Punk draws
Wrestler of the Year
Chris Benoit
A VERY hard decision. There were so many others that had good years, but Chris Benoit just had a career year. He managed to win the big one in spectacular Wrestlemania main event and hold it for about half a year. Great matches and feuds led me to give Benoit this award.
Honorable mentions - Samoa Joe, Kenta Kobashi, Eddie Guerrero, CM Punk
Match of the Year
Samoa Joe vs CM Punk II
Honorable mentions - Joe vs Punk I, Aries vs Joe, Kobashi vs Akiyama, XXX vs AMW 2
Tag Team of the Year
Triple X
They're still great, and even though they can't tag anymore they had a great year.
Honorable mentions - AMW, Marufuji & KENTA, RVD and Rey Mysterio
Champion of the Year
Samoa Joe
Though it was Benoit's year of glory, it was Joe's belt of glory. He fought hard the entire year putting on great match after great match to bring prestige to the ROH belt, and he succeeded. He was a fighting champion. He had several key feuds that brought the excitement of title-based wrestling back.
Honorable mentions - Kenta Kobashi, Eddie Guerrero, HEAT
Promotion of the Year
Ring of Honor
What a damned glorious year it was for the largest indy in America. Classic feuds, classic matches, classic events I attended! From the Briscoes to Generation Next to Scramble Cage to even Dunn & Marcos, ROH had it going on last year. They truly rose to the next level of fame, and are moving into and ECW-like position, except their success doesn't depend on a TV show. Their success depends on having more years like 2004.
Honorable mentions - IWA:MS, NOAH, PWG
Moment of the Year
Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit post-WMXX celebration
I HAVE to go back and give this award to Guerrero and Benoit. Historically it was the single most important moment between these two legendary champions. The award originally went to Aries winning the ROH title, but was skewed as that had happened only a week or so earlier.
Honorable mentions - Aries wins ROH title, Brock leaves WWE, Joe-Punk draws
