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 2004!
Wrestler Of The Year: Chris Benoit
It's hard for me to talk about just how brilliant Benoit was as a talent without veering off into the obvious. The events surrounding his death have left a permanent scar on one of the greatest careers pro wrestling has ever seen. With that said, if I were to tell you that any other wrestler was better than him in 2004, I'd be lying. After 18 years of struggling and being overlooked, Chris Benoit would finally earn true main event status when he won the 2004 Royal Rumble, setting himself up for a match with Triple H & Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XX. He would win the world title that night and reign for over 150 days defeating Triple H & Michaels again in a rematch and also earning a noteworthy victory over Kane. It's something the WWE is understandably hesitant to acknowledge, but in 2004, there was absolutely no one better.
Runner Up: Kenta Kobashi
Woman Of The Year: Victoria
After a great start in the two years prior, Victoria finally emerged as the top woman in the sport with her definitive run in the world's most famous promotion. She would kick the year off by winning her second WWE Women's Championship in a Fatal Four Way match that also included Lita, Molly Holly & Jazz. Her feud with Holly would culminate in a now infamous hair vs. hair match at Wrestlemania XX that saw Victoria defeat Holly and have her moment in the spotlight on the grandest stage of them all. Her reign would last for 111 days before she finally dropped the title to long time rival Trish Stratus.
Runner Up: Trish Stratus
Tag Team Of The Year: America's Most Wanted
The team of "Wildcat" Chris Harris & "Cowboy" James Storm were almost single handedly responsible for establishing TNA Wrestling's tag team division as one of the best in the world. And even though they would earn their fourth tag title in '04, it was their feud with Triple X that still remains one of the greatest in-ring tag team rivalries ever in pro wrestling. The war would culminate in one of the most famous matches in TNA history when they faced "Prime Time" Elix Skipper and "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels in one of the greatest Steel Cage matches of all time. They would win in the main event of Turning Point 2004, forcing the other team to split and cementing their status as the best tag team in the world.
Runner Up: KENTA & Naomichi Marufuji
Match Of The Year:: WWE Wrestlemania XX: Chris Benoit vs. Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels
It's Benoit's defining match that resulted in the defining moment in his career. It's a match that fans try and hold dear to the memory of a man who at that point, was an inspiration to underdogs across the globe. But yet again, it's another match that due to Benoit's involvement, has been completely deleted from WWE lore. In the greatest three way match in wrestling history, Chris Benoit would win the world title from Triple H in a battle that saw his legacy be set in stone all the while taking place right in the midst of the ages-long blood feud between HBK & The Game. From beginning to end, these three wrestled a picture perfect match that stands alone as the best Wrestlemania main event of all time. Sad to say that years from now, many fans may not even know of it.
Runner Up:: NOAH Departure 2004: Jun Akiyama vs. Kenta Kobashi
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