Looking back, WWF 2000 v. WWE 2008

In 2000, WWF had many of my favorite wrestlers (Which is why I tuned back in around 2000). The list includes Chris Benoit, Taz, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddy Guerrero, Cactus Jack, Perry Saturn, Raven and even Al Snow. They also had Kurt Angle, and his athleticism made me a fan, pretty quickly. Many of my favorites were seeing title reigns; Intercontinental, European and Hardcore. The main event scene consisted of HHH, The Rock, Austin, Angle, etc. Usually the same four people, but it was entertaining for a while. I didn't like The Rock, but at least he was somewhat humorous. All in all, 2000 showed a promotion with a decent amount of potential.

In 2008, WWE has Chris Jericho, William Regal and CM Punk. Jericho and Punk have seen title reigns this year, most unexpectedly. As for the rest of the main event scene, it leaves a lot to be desired. Most of the main eventers are glorified midcarders, in my opinion. None of them have that 'it' factor, if you ask me. There's a few mainstays such as HHH, HBK and Taker, but two of the three seem close to retirement and none of the others really seem to belong. Chris Jericho seems to have finally made it to the main event, years later than he should have. When he leaves, I will probably stop watching WWE altogether. WWE in 2008 seems beyond stale, in most regards, and I fail to see much potential in the so-called stars of tomorrow.

The path to success...

In professional wrestling, the path to success is a good heel run. Edge is a good example of this. His comedic heel days with Christian helped to establish him. Once they tried to push him as a singles wrestler, he floundered. He was very stale, as most babyfaces are. Then, he gets a decent heel run and, in no time, he's a success. He went from shocking many and ending John Cena's first title reign to a multiple-time World Champ that has feuded with the Undertaker. At some point in the next couple years, they may turn him face. However his success will have been built on a heel foundation.

Several of the top guys in WWF/E, over the last 15 years or so have come from a good heel background. That is to say, they really got over and established themselves as heels. Bret Hart was in a heel tag team, the Hart Foundation. He went on to be the face of the company for some time. Shawn Michaels was another bland babyface, whose success as a singles wrestler began when he turned heel and threw his partner through a window. Kevin Nash, as Diesel, held the WWF Title for about a year. He began, in the WWF, as a heel bodyguard. Scott Hall, as Razor Ramon, was hugely over and held the Intercontinental title four times (which was a record, at that point) and he first got over as a heel. Steve Austin, one of the company's top faces of all time, really built up momentum and gained a loyal following during his heel days. The same with The Rock. They tried pushing him as just another generic babyface and everyone was sickened. Once he turned heel, he got over with the people and, eventually, became the company's top babyface. Even out of the current crop, Cena and Batista, both, made names for themselves as heels. It was the momentum that they built up back then that has allowed them to coast along as faces. If either one had debuted as they are now, and remained that way, I guarantee they'd have never gotten over.

It seems that, for the most part, the fans are tired of wrestlers that debut as bland babyfaces and get pushed to the moon. Somehow, for most, working as a heel allows them to really develop some sort of character that later transitions from heel to face.

In Memorium

From 7 September through 23 November, with the exception of eight days, Chris Jericho reigned supreme as the heavyweight wrestling champion of the world. He defeated Batista, Kane, JBL and Misterio to win the World Title, over six years after losing the Undisputed World Heavyweight Title. He successfully defended the title in a steel cage match, against CM Punk, while still nursing injuries from his most recent encounter with HBK. He followed this up by successfully defending the title in a ladder match, against Shawn Michaels.

Following this, instead of gaining more respect, he soon became the most disrespected champion in recent history. As he moved on to Batista, he suffered the indignity of having his challenger laugh right in his face and treat him like an afterthought. In the meantime, he wrapped up his feud with Michaels, by defeating him in a last man standing match. After dropping the belt to Batista, he quickly reclaimed the title in a steel cage match. The point was made quite clear; don't underestimate Chris Jericho.

His next challenger did nothing to earn a title shot. WWE force fed the fans video packages of John Cena, the returning hero. The outcome was quite predictable, from a mile away. Sure enough, Cena prevailed and robbed Jericho of the World Title, in the main event of Survivor Series. He still looked fairly strong, going into his title rematch, last night. However, "Lionheart" was disgraced by having to tap out to Cena's STF. It would seem that the wind is being taken out of his sails. There was no need to have him submit. Now, we'll see if WWE intends to go down the same route, as in 2002, and kill every bit of Jericho's momentum.

In 2002, at Wrestlemania 18, Jericho lost the Undisputed Title to HHH. He defeated The Rock and Austin, on the same night, to become the first ever Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion in WWF history. He held the title for around four months, making him the longest-reigning Undisputed Champ as well. However, afterward, he was pushed into the midcard, to the point where he wasn't even considered a serious threat. It took years to undo the damage they had done. Now, it seems they may do it to him again.

Puroresu

A brief summary of Wrestling in Japan...

Definition

The word puroresu is an abbreviation of "purofesshonaru resuringu," which is simply Japanese for "Professional Wrestling." Thus, puroresu is not a real word and technically should be pronounced "pro res" since the "u" is frequently silent in the Japanese language. Puroresu shouldn't be considered a style, as it only means Professional Wrestling in a different language. The different promotions in Japan have their own styles and use their own terms to describe their style, but the wrestling in Japan is too diverse to clump together. But since the abbreviation is derived from a Japanese word, puroresu for years has been meant as Professional Wrestling in Japan when used by fans around the world. Besides the problem that there is no way to pronounce the word, generally outside of a handful of anal fans the word "puroresu" is used to describe any wrestling promoted by a promotion based in Japan.

Past

Professional Wrestling in Japan first gained popularity in the 1950s, when local hero Rikidozan battled American wrestlers Lou Thesz and The Destroyer to monster TV ratings. After Rikidozan's death in 1963, the popularity of puroresu dipped but soon rose when Rikidozan's students Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki raised to take over their leader's place. Giant Baba was more heavily pushed by JWA (Japanese Wrestling Alliance), and this led to Antonio Inoki becoming unhappy and he tried to take over the company. When that didn't work he split off and formed New Japan, while not soon after Giant Baba also left JWA and formed All Japan. This lead to JWA disbanding. New Japan and All Japan were both very popular in Japan and both Inoki and Giant Baba became nationally recognized stars. The promotions had different styles to help differentiate between them, with Inoki preferring his matches be more realistic and "shoot-style," (he participated in many karate and boxing matches) and Giant Baba having his matches more structured. For more information on Strong Style (New Japan) and King's Road (All Japan), I highly recommend Adam's article on the history of each. You can find his article posted under the Articles section.

While the promotions at first were cordial to each other, by the mid-80s relations were strained as each promotion "stole" stars from the other. Other promotions also began forming, including the UWF (the first shoot-style promotion) and later FMW (the first promotion in Japan to use Death Matches in the main event). This lead to more diversity in Japan, as all four promotions (UWF and its off-shoots, FMW, New Japan, and All Japan) had their own distinct style. Also, from the mid-80s to early 90s many of the greatest wrestlers debuted including Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Mitsuharu Misawa, Shinya Hashimoto, and others. These wrestlers helped pave the way for wrestling in the 90s and beyond, as in the mid-90s the popularity of puroresu reached heights that it had not reached in decades. All Japan, All Japan Women, New Japan, FMW, and UWF all were drawing sell-out crowds as high as 65,000 people and at the time there were no signs of it slowing down. Other promotions that formed in the mid-90s included Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Michinoku Pro Wrestling.

Unfortunately, the good times didn't last as the next crop of young stars never fully reached the level of success as the previous generation. New Japan suffered due to the rise of MMA and Inoki wanting his New Japan wrestlers to be seen as just as tough as fighters in Pride and K-1. Unfortunately New Japan wrestlers were embarrassed in a series of MMA matches, leading to the opposite happening. For All Japan, Giant Baba's death in 1999 lead to discord within the promotion, as his presence and booking ability had kept the promotion together. FMW slowly faded and finally died after their star Hayabusa was paralyzed, and the shoot-style promotions lost fans when MMA became more popular. The problems in All Japan lead to Misawa splitting away and taking the vast majority of the roster with him to Pro Wrestling NOAH. Big Japan Pro Wrestling took a major hit after a feud with CZW that saw their attendance dramatically drop. By 2003 the future looked bleak, and even though the main three promotions were surviving none were near the popularity that they had reached only a few years before.

Present

Professional Wrestling in Japan has recovered. While not near the popularity that it obtained in the mid-90s, the major puroresu promotions have finally shown promising signs. After a few generations were skipped in terms of finding a stand-out star, now there are a crop of wrestlers that show serious potential. For the smaller promotions, both Big Japan and Michinoku Pro are still active, with Big Japan recovering and growing new stars. All Japan almost went bankrupt on several occasions, but with a new backer and creative booking the promotion is plugging along. Kohei Suwama, Ryuji Hijikata, and other young stars seem ready to ease the role of established stars Kojima and Mutoh. In New Japan, Antonio Inoki no longer has any power (nor his son-in-law Simon Inoki) and the promotion has strived in his absence. While still not able to fill the Tokyo Dome like it could in its hay day, young stars Nakamura and Tanahashi are finally showing their potential and established stars Nagata and Nakanishi are still popular. Finally, Pro Wrestling NOAH has a number of stars that are growing such as KENTA, Naomichi Marufuji, and Go Shiosaki. Even though the jury is still out on whether they will be able to lead the promotions back to their previous status, after the gloomy predictions from only a few years ago now none of the major promotions seem to be on the brink of disaster.

Oh my god!

One of the most newsworthy events that transpired on World Wrestling Entertainment's tour of Iraq last week took place nowhere near any of the cameras that were filming the tour. I was stunned at hearing the following story over the weekend and initially chalked it up to being just an urban legend, but as it turns out, it was completely accurate.

Retired WWE announcer (and current WWE.com personality) Joey Styles punched out former WWE champion JBL in Iraq during an altercation between the two, busting JBL open under the eye.

No, that is not a typo.

As the story was initially explained to me (and all versions I've heard since have matched the original report I was conveyed), JBL made Styles something of a target because it was Styles' first tour of Iraq for the company and was hazing the former ECW announcer.

I was told JBL was trying to bully Styles with a lot of condescending comments and actions, including allegedly spilling a drink on Styles on purpose. JBL was more or less pulling a lot of the shenanigans that a lot of of the performers in the company can't stand but deal with since he has the political stroke of being a tenured veteran.

Several days into the tour, JBL (who by all accounts, had been drinking) did something that caused Styles to physically retaliate in defense. A number of wrestlers stepped between them and held the two apart. When JBL broke free, he went towards Styles, who "nailed him perfectly with a pretty good shot" according to one witness, laying JBL out, busting him open and blackening his eye.

There were no further incidents between the two on the tour after that.

There were a number of performers who pointed out to me that the story was something of karma coming back to bite JBL in the rear because his antics had caused Smackdown talent Palmer Cannon to quit the company during a European tour (and Cannon wasn't the only victim of JBL's hazing over the years) as well as the famous 2005 ECW One Night Stand beating of the Blue Meanie during the PPV closing brawl inside the ring.

At last night's Raw in Philadelphia, the story was the talk of the day among wrestlers, who were amazed by the incident. I was also told JBL was acting completely subdued at the taping, something absolutely out of character for him, as he knew the story was making the rounds. Styles, meanwhile, was trying to downplay the incident to those who brought it up to him at Raw.

It was considered doubly embarrassing for JBL among the wrestlers since he was so involved with setting up the Iraq tours.

In a strange way, some theorized the incident would get Styles over with Vince McMahon because it showed his "toughness" and could pave the way for his return to TV. I have no idea whether Styles' cameo last night was part of any direct result of the "Iraq Punchout", as it was termed to me.

Strong Style v. King's Road

When the original Japanese professional wrestling organization, the JWA, dissolved in the early 1970s, its top two stars, Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba, formed their own promotions that presented each man's vision of professional wrestling. Inoki created New Japan Pro Wrestling and developed "Strong Style" while Baba founded All Japan Pro Wrestling and defined his promotion's style as "King's Road."

STRONG STYLE

First lets talk about Strong Style. It is the most common word used to describe the type of wrestling performed in New Japan, which is the largest federation in the country and second largest in the world. The title "Strong Style" itself describes New Japan's philosophy and the philosophy of its founder, Antonio Inoki. New Japan refers to itself as the "King of Sports," so in their eyes it must also have the strongest style of fighting. New Japan's style isn't static, but over the years has taken elements from other types of wrestling and incorporated it into their style.

Today, Strong style means hard-hitting New Japan matches, basically. It incorporates submission finishes more frequently than "King's Road", as Inoki's vision was Pro Wrestling as a Mixed Martial Art. You are more apt to see a quick cross armbreaker (jujigatame) finish in New Japan, as the move is established as a very dangerous submission that many times results in an instant tap-out. The three different representatives of Strong Style throughout New Japan's existence were Inoki himself, Riki Choshu, and then Shinya Hashimoto in the 1990s. Since Hashimoto left the company New Japan really hasn't gotten a "stylistic leader" or true "ace" at the level of those three men, but has pinned its hopes on the current top wrestlers Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi.

When New Japan first opened up in the 1970s there was a heavy emphasis on a long portion of early matwork, a legacy that lives on today. Inoki would regularly work holds for an extended period of time and then turn it on for a big finish with high impact moves like the dropkick and suplexes. In later years when matwork as the major vehicle for telling stories fell by the wayside, this type of structure often lead to big New Japan matches featuring cursory matwork in the beginning of the match that didn't really play into the later portions, where they seemed to start the "real match" and bring out their hard hitting arsenal. Inoki's vision of pro wrestling presented it as a style of fighting, to be put up against other martial arts disciplines like judo and karate. This lead to him working in many "different style fights" against top practitioners of other fighting styles; worked matches, mind you, that Inoki used to put himself and pro wrestling as a whole over. Inoki would later lose sight of that goal with the later MMA-influence movement that came on the heels of PRIDE's success, but that is another topic for another time.

Strong Style took a turn for the faster paced when Riki Choshu turned heel and started up the Ishigundan (Restruction Force), an anti-establishment faction that looked to topple the Inoki/Fujinami hierarchy of New Japan's Seikigun (regular army). Choshu and his compatriots - hard-working veterans Masa Saito and Killer Khan, the young Yoshiaki Yatsu and the little spitfire Animal Hamaguchi - brought rapid-fire double and triple team moves to their matches and a more brisk pace in between periods of inactivity with restholds like the Figure 4 Headscissor.

Another contributing influence to "Strong Style" was the formation of the UWF by breakaway stars like Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, and the young Akira Maeda. The UWF group stressed more realistic "fighting" in their wrestling and pushed clean finishes (a concept that was directly against most booking in Japan at the time as even tournament finals and title matches often ended in screwjob finishes to protect the wrestlers from losing outright). When UWF version 1 closed its doors, many of the wrestlers came back to New Japan and ran an "invasion" angle, where their "kick suplex and submission" style really caught on with the fans and began to be incorporated into New Japan matches. A classic match in the tradition of the two colliding styles was Akira Maeda vs. Tatsumi Fujinami from June 12, 1986.

Upon Choshu's return to New Japan in the late 80s and his ascension to the head booker of the company the type of match known not-so-affectionately as "Lariat Puroresu" became the norm. These matches regularly featured repeated hits with a wrestler's signature striking move while the opponent attempted to endure them to show his "fighting spirit." It was not uncommon to see Riki Choshu use 6 or 7 lariats in one match to finish off an opponent, and his disciples like Kensuke Sasaki and Manabu Nakanishi followed suit. Choshu's hand-picked successor Shinya Hashimoto represented "Strong Style" perfectly during his years on top of New Japan in the 1990s. Hashimoto's offense was largely based around hard kicks and chops along with his signature DDTs, but he was able to project an aura of strength and power throughout his IWGP title reigns that had audiences coming to see him and the New Japan product in record numbers. Two matches that represent Strong Style in the 1990s are the 1991 and 1995 G1 Climax finals, the first match being the breakout performance by young superstars Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, and the second featuring Shinya Hashimoto relinquish his reign as "ace" of New Japan Pro Wrestling to Keiji Mutoh. My personal pick for a match that truly encapsulates "strong style" is when former top star Riki Choshu faced then-current ace Shinya Hashimoto in the 1996 G1 Climax.

There is some confusion on the internet and in some circles about just what "strong style" is. Part of that confusion stems from its early usage by Dave Meltzer and others in the Wrestling Observer crowd. They often referred to what we would now call "worked-shoot" and submission style wrestling as "Strong Style," especially in reference to promotions like UWFi and Pancrase. Dave has since corrected himself and noted that it is generally just a referent to New Japan's style. American Independent wrestlers and announcers also refer to many of their matches as "American Strong Style." To US Indy guys "Strong Style" = "Very Stiff" and features many head-dropping maneuvers more accurately associated with the All Japan style of wrestling, but such attention to detail can't be expected from people who are using "buzzwords" to cash-in on the niche of pro wrestling smart marks who follow the Japanese scene.

KING'S ROAD

King's Road is also called "Oudou" and it is the type of wrestling envisioned by All Japan's founder Giant Baba. Like "Strong Style" there were still hard strikes and stiffness, but by the mid-90s the matches were built differently with emphasis on a feeling out portion, a middle body working portion, and a finishing run. King's Road stressed stamina rather than mixed martial arts techniques.

You can basically say that King's Road is a logical progression from the US '70s style of wrestling from a build standpoint, but with the ante upped in the big move department, whereas Strong Style is a combination of traditional wrestling with the martial arts. Due to the heavy emphasis on top foreign talent from the NWA, King's Road tended to reflect the style of the NWA World Champions of the 70s, who focused on building a match and struggling for moves moreso than Strong Style, which features more back and forth action with quick transitions. With notable exceptions, this leads New Japan's matches to tell simple but strong stories, whereas All Japan's matches tend to try and delve a bit deeper.

King's Road was rooted in All Japan's direction under Giant Baba and through Jumbo Tsuruta, who worked a traditional pro wrestling style with some of the best gaijin (foreigners, literally translates to "outside people") of the era in the 1970s. Whereas Inoki looked to redefine pro wrestling as a style, Baba was content to hone in on the storytelling aspects of matches, using his extensive NWA connections and friendships to bring over the top American wrestlers like Harley Race, Jack Brisco, the Funk brothers, and Ric Flair to battle him and Jumbo. Prime examples of All Japan's style in the 1970s are the NWA World Title match between champion Terry Funk and young challenger Jumbo Tsuruta from 6/11/76 and an excellently structured match between Giant Baba and Billy Robinson for the PWF Heavyweight Title on 7/24/76.

By the early 80s many New Japan fans began to criticize Baba and All Japan for the slower and more methodical pace of their matches, but then King's Road was given a kick in the ass by Riki Choshu and his invading army in 1984. Ishigundan are responsible for significantly speeding up the pace of All Japan matches and incorporating quick tags and rapid-fire multiple-team moves, as well as shifting All Japan's booking focus from the old native vs. gaijin format to the more lucrative native vs. native programs. Comparing great All Japan tag team matches from earlier in the decade, such as the Funk Brothers vs. Bruiser Brody/Jimmy Snuka from the 1981 Tag League, to the main tag team feud of the mid-80s, Jumbo/Tenryu vs. Choshu/Yatsu, you can see the difference in pacing and moves.

With Riki Choshu gone, Genichiro Tenryu petitioned Baba to break away from his babyface team with Tsuruta and start his own heel group. Upon forming the group "Revolution" Tenryu became the most popular wrestler in All Japan, keeping the pacing and swagger from Choshu's group and incorporating harder strikes and hits like All Japan's top gaijin Stan Hansen. Tenryu was popular, but it took Jumbo Tsuruta's guidance and character to take what Tenryu and Choshu were doing and blend it with what All Japan was doing since its inception.

Jumbo Tsuruta took the traditional 70s style past the limit as he carried Genichiro Tenryu through the singles feud of the 80s in the absence of Choshu, creating the blueprint match that Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, and Taue (often referred to as the Four Corners or Four Lords of Heaven) would follow and improve upon in the 90s. This blueprint involved a hot opening segment followed by a slow build to the bigger moves, constant teases of finishers and signature moves, playing off of previous matches and finishes, and telling a story within the context of a match based on the wrestlers' history with each other and their place in the promotion.

Tsuruta and Tenryu used the fast pace and adrenaline spurts from the Choshu-era matches and plug them into that formula to keep the matches moving in an age where the audience might not be receptive to two wrestlers working around a headlock or a headscissor for 7 minutes before moving on to the next hold to tell a story. All Japan was able to make that successful shift from using technical matwork to big moves to establish the roles the wrestlers were playing and the story of the match. Tsuruta's feud with Tenryu, culminating in their Triple Crown Title match from 6/5/89, established the formula that he would later build on by feuding with the younger generation of Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi in the early 1990s.

Misawa and company took Jumbo's and Baba's developed style to the next level by incorporating more dangerous moves and complicated striking sequences, along with the use of adrenaline, or "fighting spirit," attempting to fight through the pain of moves to get in one last hit. With the unfortunate absence of Jumbo Tsuruta, the Four Lords rose to the occasion in the early to mid 90s and All Japan featured the smartest wrestling in the world, matches that were all tied together as one huge story that spanned years, and unraveled more and more with each match. Many people still herald Misawa and Kawada's Triple Crown Title match from June 3, 1994 as the greatest match of all time. To me, a quintessential "Kings Road" match was the last match in the style to truly live up to its full potential, the Finals of the 1996 World's Strongest Tag League.

As time went on (the late 90s), the All Japan style began to focus more and more on those "fighting spirit" segments and the big bumps that would lead to them, desensitizing their fans to the bigger moves and creating a "top this" environment in their big matches that the undercard couldn't match and the main eventers couldn't possibly keep up. The Kings Road of Baba, Tsuruta, Misawa, and Kawada was nearing its end. A new "Road" was constructed, but it lacked the depth and storytelling abilities of its predecessor; it was a shell. The top wrestlers still put out contests that nobody else could match, but building more on the spots and bumps took the focus off of the fundamental 70s style build that all of the best All Japan matches had at their heart. The "Head Drop Era" represented a regression in psychology and build, and thus a break with its foundation in US 70s style where the moves and holds were secondary to the story being told. Probably the last great example of King's Road was Kawada putting on an amazing performance in a Triple Crown match against a very broken down Kenta Kobashi on 6/12/98.

Once Misawa and friends left All Japan to form Pro Wrestling NOAH, the promotion began to look more like New Japan stylistically. The big matches after the split (Kawada vs. Fuchi, Kawada vs. Tenryu, Tenryu vs. Kojima) clearly had a "Strong Style" flavor to them with brutal strikes and big moves, but with little struggle to get them off. Mutoh entering the promotion exacerbated that effect, and now All Japan's style is essentially Mutoh's style with a sports entertainment bend and a few signature All Japan spots (like attacks off the ring apron and learned reversals) peppered in. Pro Wrestling NOAH's style is still essentially what All Japan was before the split, but with more Jr. heavyweight action thanks to the rise of Marufuji and KENTA, and a bigger focus on many strike exchanges as NOAH's main patriarchs, Misawa and Kobashi, can no longer wrestle at the pace they once could. I personally think NOAH is at its most entertaining when the matches and booking are refreshingly character-driven, such as when Masao Inoue challenged Jun Akiyama for the GHC Heavyweight Title on 4/23/06.

CONCLUSION

Don't necessarily let my focus on the 1990s and before discourage you from seeking out current matches from Japanese promotions, as there is still a thriving community of fans that greatly enjoys matches from New Japan, NOAH, and All Japan. I do, however, advise you to also look back to earlier years, as there is a wealth of great matches and great stories that have come from previous decades. I've offered only a few suggestions here.

Supercena

My 2 cents on John Cena.

The guy seems nice enough. He appears to have respect for the business. These are good qualities. though he's not a very good performer, in my view. His ring skills are generic and boring. Honestly, at times, he still seems pretty green. Also, his promos are some of the worst. It's not just that he's bad but the obvious fact that he's trying too hard. The Rock was funny. He made me sick, but I also came to appreciate his humour, over time. Austin could be pretty humourous, as well. Cena tries his best to imitate both of them (though this could be the writers feeding him lines) but he just can't do it. He's not convincing. Even when he attempts to sound angry, it comes off as lame and contrived. But, worst of all is how he's booked.

He just came back from a neck injury that required surgery. Last week, he took a DDT from the ramp to the concrete floor. Even the Immortal Hulk Hogan, himself, would have been selling that injury, on this week's show. He'd probably have been wearing a neck brace. Even if it's just for a week, it would have advanced the storyline. Tonight, Cena came out and no-sold the events of last week. That made everything that happened completely worthless. That is exactly why he can't get really over as a babyface. He's always made to look so strong that there's no way anyone can feel sympathy for him. He's consistently overcoming the odds, which got old a long time ago. The fact that it takes several people to lay him out is just idiotic. Even still, he usually no-sells it and fights them all off. Again, even Hogan got his ass beat a few times. The heel has to get heat somehow, but Supercena doesn't allow for that. I doubt this is actually Cena's fault. Surely, WWE Creative are to blame for this, if not Vince himself.

Instead of coming out and selling the neck injury and, maybe, addressing it, Cena went right in to the lame jokes and playing tough guy. He lost any chance at getting sympathy from last week's attack and hurt the psychology of the upcoming PPV match with Jericho. If being attacked by four men and DDT'd from the ramp can't take him out, then why should anyone expect Jericho to win? We shouldn't. It's seeming far too predictable that Cena is going to steamroll over Jericho. If they're intent on keeping this guy as their top face, the least they could do is allow him to look vulnerable, from time to time. Hell, if the beating from last week wasn't enough to leave a few marks, then he might as well retire as champ now because it won't be believable for anyone to defeat him.

Wrestler of the Year

There's no need to wait a few more weeks, before I determine who has earned the right to be considered Wrestler of the Year. In my opinion, the top three have to be The Great Muta, CM Punk and Chris Jericho.

The Great Muta won the IWGP Heavyweight Title and the AJPW Triple Crown World Heavyweight Title, cementing himself as the King of Japan. However great these accomplishments, it was not that much of a surprise. Muta has long been an established star in Japan.

CM Punk began the year as ECW World Champion. After losing that title, he found himself in the finals of the 2008 King of the Ring tournament and won the Money in the Bank match, at Wrestlemania. When he cashed in his title shot, he defeated Edge to become the World Heavyweight Champion on the WWE's flagship program. However, Punk is a star on the rise and none of this should seem too shocking. The World Title win was, but then mediocre booking and lackluster title defenses took the wind out of his sails. He recovered from his title loss by winning the World Tag Team Title, but he's inched farther away from the main event picture.

This brings me to the final candidate and winner of the Pro Wrestling MAYHEM Wrestler of the Year Award for 2008... "Lionheart" Chris Jericho. Jericho returned to the ring, late last year, after being gone since 2005. He hadn't been relevant since 2002-2003, in all honesty. Not much was expected from his comeback, as many thought he'd come back to shill his book, put a few guys over and then disappear. Instead, he managed to remain in the spotlight, since returning.

Things got off to a slow start with the bland face routine and the Orton and JBL feuds, but Jericho did win the IC Title for a record setting 8th time. Not only did he break his previous record, but this IC Title reign was the longest of any that he's ever had. He then spent much of the year in the hottest feud in the company, becoming the best heel in the WWE as well. After dominating HBK, he went on to win the World Heavyweight Title, unexpectedly, and defend it against the likes of CM Punk and Shawn Michaels, in cage and ladder matches. He stumbled with Batista, losing the title for a week, yet regained it in another grueling cage match. In a short time, Chris Jericho has done what he fell short in accomplishing in years past: he cemented himself as a bonafide main eventer. Even following his title loss to Cena, he managed to defeat Orton and Batista in a three-way to determine who got the title shot at the next PPV. Though he doesn't have the belt, his position does not seem to have diminished. Even Orton was reduced to being his lackey, this past week, as Raw faded to black with the image of Jericho torturing Cena with the Lion Tamer, reminiscent of an episode of Raw, from earlier this year, which ended as he was standing tall over the fallen bodies of Cena and HHH.

Jericho has made a monumental comeback and accomplished a lot in a short span of time. For these reasons, and more, he is the Pro Wrestling MAYHEM Wrestler of the Year. Congratulations to "Lionheart".