Below is the complete lists of awards that Shawn Michaels has won from The 2008 411 Year End Wrestling Awards of 411Mania.com.
2008 Match of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair – Career Threatening Match (WWE WrestleMania 24, 03.30.08)
2008 Promo of the Year: Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho – "Go home and tell your children that their daddy will NEVER be HBK" (SummerSlam, 08.17.08)
2008 Storyline of the Year: Fallen: The Trials of HBK (Retires Ric Flair, Dave feels disrespected, Jericho calls him out as a fraud, now works for JBL)
2008 Feud of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho
2008 Story/Surprise of the Year: Ric Flair retires, by way of a final match against Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania 24, and culminating in a retirement ceremony on the following nights RAW
2008 Quote of the Year: "I'm sorry, I love you" – Shawn Michaels to Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24
Also, The Shimmy takes a look at the Top 20 WWE Matches of 2008. Which matches made the cut? Plus, an inside look at a ballot for the 411 Year End Awards!
Greetings, folks. We've got a big column this week with my Top 20 WWE Matches of 2008 and a look at my 411 Year End Awards ballot so I won't do too much jibber jabber. On to the column!
20. Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (Judgment Day)
Before we got into any of the real drama of their feud, aside from Jericho needling Michaels about lying to Batista and ending Ric Flair's career, we had what pretty much amounted to a straight up wrestling match. Many people remembered their classic at WrestleMania XIX and were looking forward to seeing them hook up once again. As you can imagine they didn't disappoint. This was a highlight of a show that I felt was one of the worst shows of the year, a match that pretty much kept it from getting that dubious distinction by most accounts.
8. No. 1 Contender's, Elimination Chamber Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H vs. Jeff Hardy vs. Chris Jericho vs. Umaga vs. JBL (No Way Out)
Great, great match and possibly my favorite Elimination Chamber Match. All six men contributed to the match perfectly and we very nearly got all the participants in the ring at the same time for the first time in EC history. The action throughout the bulk of the match was great, but the best part was the finishing sequence between Triple H and Jeff Hardy. Jeff kicking out of the Pedigree was one of the biggest mark out moments of the year in my estimation. This was a perfect example of both men looking great in the end instead of one guy getting the win and the other guy looking like a scrub. We can only hope we get something this good at this year's No Way Out show.
6. World Heavyweight Title, Ladder Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (No Mercy)
So I know you want to tar and feather me because I don't have this match higher. It's not that this isn't a phenomenal match, it's just in my opinion there are other matches I liked more. I can't really say anything negative about this match. Jericho and Michael continued their string of awesome matches and the finishing sequence was probably the best Ladder Match finish I've ever seen. It took some real balls for Jericho to take that one big bump off the ladder and him breaking his tooth really just adds more to the legacy of this match.
5. Unsanctioned Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (Unforgiven)
Another reason I felt somewhat comfortable putting the TLC Match ahead of Jericho and HBK's No Mercy Match was because I felt it wasn't even their best work. As epic as the Ladder Match was, the Unsanctioned Match at Unforgiven was far and away the better match. The intensity was just off the charts, with HBK playing his role beautifully as the guy that is reluctant to go that far but just finally snaps. I'm generally not a fan of referee stoppages in wrestling matches, but based on the storyline and the violence in the match it made sense. To me this was the pinnacle of the Jericho-HBK feud, while the Ladder Match was just icing on top.
2. Career Threatening Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair (WrestleMania XXIV)
Let me state for the record that did not switch this match up to "swerve" anybody or just to be different. This was a great match, storytelling at its finest and while I could pick out some flaws with the match they are overshadowed by the enormity of the story and the overall entertainment value of the match. Even still, I couldn't have it be my No. 1. I've got no beef with anyone that calls this the Match of the Year, and from a historical standpoint it fits. I'm just not quite willing to give it that much credit. Even still, for a guy the age of Ric Flair to be able to put on this good of a performance on such a grand stage is truly a feat in and of itself.
2008 Feud of the Year: Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho (WWE)
Tough choices this year. Obviously HBK-Jericho was No. 1, but for a large chunk of their feud I still would have had HBK-Batista ahead of them. I became a believer right around the time Jericho punched HBK's wife in the face. I wish I could have included Roderick Strong vs. Erick Stevens or Kofi Kingston vs. Shelton Benjamin.
2008 Storyline of the Year: The Shawn Michaels Saga (WWE)
I've very glad that the Shawn Michaels Saga, which included HBK-Flair, HBK-Batista, HBK-Jericho, and I guess part of HBK-JBL, got the final win over the Jericho saga. Originally I didn't have anything about the Jeff Hardy title chase in here but when he won the title I really appreciated the whole thing a bit more. The Vickie Guerrero Saga had actually jumped from my Worst Storyline of the Year vote into this one, although stripping Taker of the title and the whole Alicia Fox thing were black marks on that one.
2008 Wrestler of the Year: Shawn Michaels (WWE)
Jericho has had a really good year, but Shawn Michaels should have won Wrestler of the Year. In 2008 HBK had leftovers from his feud with Mr. Kennedy, a great showing in the Rumble and the Elimination Chamber, the big sendoff for Flair, the great work with Batista, the feud of the year with Jericho, the makings of a good storyline with JBL, great promo work, and at least four Match of the Year Contenders. Jericho on the other hand meandered a bit at the beginning of the year and what few problems I had with the HBK feud were all on Jericho's end (the bad heel promo work initially, the rehashed "I ended Shawn Michaels career" stuff). He still had a phenomenal year but it just wasn't as good as HBK. Hardy was a late addition to my ballot, just edging out (pardon the pun) Edge for my third spot.
2008 Quote of the Year: 1. "I'm sorry. I love you." – Shawn Michaels (WWE WrestleMania 24, 03.30.08)
All great stuff here. "I'm sorry. I love you" is going to go down as an iconic wrestling moment.
by Andy Clark of 411mania.com
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