The G9Z Wrestling Honor Roll: Class Of 1998

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 1998!

Wrestler Of The Year: Steve Austin

For most of 1997 Stone Cold Steve Austin was on the verge of becoming arguably, the biggest superstar the WWE has ever seen.  So he came into '98 with more momentum than anyone could ever have hoped for.  He would begin the year with a triumphant win in the 1998 Royal Rumble match by last eliminating his soon to be arch-rival, The Rock.  Now set for the main event of Wrestlemania XIV, he would gain even more steam after tangling with Mike Tyson in a now infamous segment on Monday Night Raw.  Austin would defeat Shawn Michaels just weeks later and captured his first of six WWE Championship titles. 

Runner Up: Goldberg

Woman Of The Year: Sable

 

Only the second woman to ever win this award twice, Sable continued her run as the most popular and successful woman in the sport.  And if last year was her breakout year in terms of popularity, 1998 was the year she was able to equate her appeal with bit a more in-ring success.  Sable would capture her first and only WWE Women's championship in November after defeating Jacqueline and famously powerbombing both her opponent and her then-husband, Marc Mero during the match.  After reigning for over 170 days, Sable would also grace the cover of Playboy Magazine within the next year.  A feat she would again repeat in the coming months, becoming the only women in history to nab two covers in the same year.

Runner Up: Shinobu Kandori

 

Tag Team Of The Year: The New Age Outlaws

"Oh, you didn't know?  Your ass better CAAAAALLLLL SOMEBODY"!  The team of "Bad Ass" Billy Gunn & "Road Dogg" Jesse James are often cited (most famously by Jim Ross) as the greatest tag team of the WWE's most definitive era.  Most of the credit is given to the fact that they were easily one of the top two or three most popular acts in the company at the time.  Still, many tend to understate just how successful a pairing they were.  And in 1998, the duo would capture two of their five WWE Tag Team Championships and reign for a combined total of over 200 days come year's end. 

Runner Up: Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa

 

 

 

Match Of The Year:: WWE Wrestlemania XIV: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels

To say this was one of the most important matches in the history of the WWE would be the understatement of the year.  Shawn Michaels had been the intermediate face of the company during it's transitional phase and Steve Austin was coming into this match absolutely on fire as the man who was set to replace him.  With Mike Tyson being the centerpiece, these two legends tore down the Boston Garden in one of the most exciting and memorable battles in wrestling lore.  The resulting Steve Austin WWE title win set in motion the main event run of the biggest and most profitable superstar the WWE has ever seen and with him, the infamous and beloved Attitude Era.

 

Runner Up:: AJPW 26th Anniversary Show: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi