The G9Z Wrestling Honor Roll: Class Of 1994

Welcome to another edition of the HONOR ROLL. Every year during my "Year End Awards" I give out roughly 15 awards. Of those awards, "the big four" are the Wrestler, Woman, Tag Team & Match of the year. The winners of these awards were generally the most awesome performers of the year and with hundreds of prominent wrestlers worldwide, it's a true honor to be able to snag one of the four. This section of the blog will be dedicated to the winners for every year dating all the way back to 1990 (roughly the time I first began watching wrestling)! Every week I will add another year's winners until the database is up to date. This is just a fun series that will give you an idea of what the best of the best was in any year you may have missed. Any current and/or future winners will also be added to the honor roll and join the most prestigious group in all of blogging!

This week, we're announcing the class of 1994!

Wrestler Of The Year: Bret Hart

After years of being one of the most reliable performers in the industry, Bret Hart was finally awarded the sport's top prize.  He kicked off the year in grand fashion by winning the 1994 Royal Rumble and securing himself a spot in the main event of Wrestlemania X.  Hart would compete in two classic matches that night in front of a sold out crowd in Madison Square Garden.  Competing in both the opener and the main event had been unprecedented, but Hart impressed by winning the WWE Championship from Yokozuna in the latter of the two.  He would remain champ for nearly 250 days.

Runner Up: Shawn Michaels

Woman Of The Year: Bull Nakano

Nakano's historic WWWA World title reign had already established her as a major player in her native Japan, but it wasn't until 1994 that she made an impact in the United States.  She immediately signed with the WWE and her unique look and ring prowess made her debut one of the most memorable of any female in the organization's history.  She would soon capture the WWE Women's Championship and reign for roughly five months before dropping the title to Alundra Blayze.

Runner Up: Manami Toyota

 

Tag Team Of The Year: The Nasty Boys

Brian Knobs and Jerry Sags are two of the most controversial figures in all of pro wrestling.  Their name says it all, these two were all attitude and no finesse.  They spent the better half of the year as WCW World Tag Team Champions and were embroiled in a blood feud with Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne that resulted in some of the most brutal matches in WCW history.  And even though they would lose their gold to a much less experienced tandem, their harsh demeanor and physically demanding style would make them one of the most over acts in the business for the remainder of the year.

Runner Up: The Public Enemy

 

Match Of The Year:: WWE Wrestlemania X: Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon

In what has now become one of the most famous matches of all time, Shawn Michaels would as Ric Flair put it, "go out there and have a match with a ladder" and still managed to steal the show.  Time would see many athletic superstars try and top the performance HBK put in here, but the sheer "never before seen" spectacle the WWE managed to build this match around makes it one of the sport's most polarizing matches, even in a show full of epics.  Shawn Michaels would go on to become almost universally hailed as the greatest in-ring performer in WWE history.  Much of that recognition can be credited to this very match.

Runner Up:: AJPW Budokan Hall Show (June): Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada