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 2009!
Wrestler Of The Year: Hiroshi Tanahashi
Hiroshi Tanahashi has established himself as the best main event performer of his generation. He has built up a legacy of matches that rivals greats like Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. In January of 2009, Tanahashi defeated his mentor Keiji Mutoh to become the 50th IWGP Heavyweight Champion, beginning his third reign. That title run would last for 122 days. During that run he would defeat elite competition such as rivals Shinsuke Nakamura and Hirooki Goto. The most prominent wins though came after he defeated some of the top talent from other promotions, such as TNA's Kurt Angle and NOAH's Takashi Sugiura. He would later lose the tile and subsequently recapture it from Manabu Nakanishi ending the year with a total of 180 days as champion.
Runner Up: Randy Orton
Woman Of The Year: Angelina Love
Angelina Love is one of the five most significant women to ever compete in TNA's famed Knockouts division. As one half of the original Beautiful People stable, she was one of the most in-demand talents on the roster for pretty much her entire run with the company. She is a record-setting five time TNA Women's Knockout Champion and holds victories over the likes of Madison Rayne, Winter, Sarita and Daffney. Two of her most notable title reigns came in 2009 where she defeated legendary female grapplers Tara and Awesome Kong to win her first and second titles.
Runner Up: Michelle McCool
Tag Team Of The Year: Jeri-Show
The team of Chris Jericho and Big Show was formed after an unfortunate injury caused Edge to bow out as one half of the Unified WWE Tag Team Champions. Jericho now left to find a new partner, then allied himself with the World's Largest Athlete to form one of the greatest and most dominant pairings the WWE has ever seen. The pair would defeat every major tag team the promotion had to offer and would peak during their now classic feud with the again reunited team of Shawn Michaels and Triple H. With Jericho's brilliant mind and cunning being matched with the sheer manpower that Big Show possesses, they would be nearly unstoppable in their 140 days as champions.
Runner Up: The American Wolves
Match Of The Year:: WWE Wrestlemania XXV: Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
At Wrestlemania 25, Shawn Michaels would face The Undertaker in what was arguably, the greatest match in mania history. The Deadman's famed streak was never more in jeopardy than when he squared off against his greatest opponent in HBK. The amazing use of finishers in this match is better than almost any other match to date. No title was on the line, no stipulation was added to the match, it was just the two greatest superstars in Wrestlemania history in an epic showcase to see who is number one. The criminal mistake the WWE made at the time was not having this match main event the show, because nothing could follow it. And to this day, no Wrestlemania match has.
Runner Up:: 2009:: NOAH The Second Navigation: KENTA vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima.
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