Message-ID: 

Best Feud

Award Description: 

To be given to the feud that gave us the most heated and best wrestling
match(es) of the year. In 1994, this award was split into two: North
American and Non-North American.  In 1996, due to lack of participation on
the non-NA side, it was recombined.

Previous Winners:

  1990: Doom: Ron Simmons & Butch Reed vs. Horsemen: Arn Anderson & Barry
        Windham
  1991: Doom: Ron Simmons & Butch Reed vs. Steiners
  1992: Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage
  1993: Big Van Vader vs. Cactus Jack
  1994: (NA)     Cactus Jack & partner vs. Nasty Boys
  1994: (non-NA) All Japan Women vs. JWP (& other outside women)
  1995: (NA)     Dean Malenko vs. Eddy Guerrero
  1995: (non-NA) Aja Kong vs. Manami Toyota
  1996: NWO vs. WCW
  1997: Bret Hart / Hart Foundation vs. Steve Austin
  1998: Mr. McMahon vs. Steve Austin
  1999: Mankind vs. Rock
  2000: Triple H vs. Mankind / Cactus Jack
  2001: Rock vs. Chris Jericho
  2002: Chris Benoit vs. Kurt Angle

**2003**: Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar

127 first place votes
125 second place votes
118 third place votes

 35 30 12  289   Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar
 24 25 12  219   Shawn Michaels v. Chris Jericho
  6 11 12   87   Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit
  5  4 17   71   Los Guerreros v. World's Greatest Tag Team
  6  9  5   67   Raven v. CM Punk
  6  8  4   62   Steve Austin v. Chris Jericho
  5  3  5   44   Brock Lesnar v. Big Show
  6  1  5   43   Raven v. New Church (& Shane Douglas)
  5  1  3   34   Kurt Angle v. John Cena
  1  5  7   34   America's Most Wanted v. Triple X
  2  4  5   32   Trish Stratus v. Victoria
  1  6  2   27   Eddie Guerrero v. John Cena
  5  0  0   25   Raven v. Jeff Jarrett
  2  0  3   16   Shane McMahon v. Kane
  3  0  0   15   Jimmy Jacobs v. Alex Shelley
  1  2  2   15   Shocker v. Ultimo Guerrero
  1  2  1   13   Jerry Lynn v. AJ Styles
  1  0  3   11   Hulk Hogan v. Vince McMahon
  0  3  1   11   Steve Austin v. Eric Bischoff
  1  1  0    8   NJPW juniors v. NOAH juniors
  1  0  1    7   Zumbido v. Ricky Marvin
  1  0  1    7   Triple H v. Goldberg
  0  2  0    6   Steve Corino v. Homicide
  1  0  0    5   Yoshihiro Takayama v. Masahiro Chono
  1  0  0    5   Randy Orton v. WWE Legends
  1  0  0    5   New Japan v. Takayama
  1  0  0    5   Lil Joe v. Cade Sydal
  1  0  0    5   John Zandig v. Hi V
  1  0  0    5   Gail Kim v. Trish Stratus
  1  0  0    5   Evolution v. Goldberg
  1  0  0    5   Doug Basham v. Damaja
  1  0  0    5   Apache Army v. Zero One
  0  1  1    5   Molly Holly & Gail Kim v. Trish Stratus & Lita
  0  0  2    4   Eddie Guerrero & Tajiri v. Team Angle
  0  0  2    4   AJ Styles v. Jeff Jarrett
  0  1  0    3   WMF v. Brand Double Cross
  0  1  0    3   Undertaker v. Brock Lesnar
  0  1  0    3   Trent Acid v. Homicide
  0  1  0    3   Rey Mysterio v. Tajiri
  0  1  0    3   M2K v. DoFIXER
  0  1  0    3   Liger Jr. Army v. Tiger Mask Jr. Army
  0  1  0    3   Havana Brothers v. Volador Jr. & Virus & Ricky Marvin
  0  0  1    2   Undertaker v. John Cena
  0  0  1    2   Takashi Iizuka v. Mitsuya Nagai
  0  0  1    2   Steve Austin v. Rock
  0  0  1    2   Satoshi Kojima v. Shinjiro Ohtani
  0  0  1    2   Rock v. Goldberg
  0  0  1    2   Masahiro Chono v. Yoshihiro Takayama
  0  0  1    2   Goldberg v. Triple H
  0  0  1    2   Funkin Army v. Extreme Horsemen
  0  0  1    2   Dudley Boyz v. La Resistance
  0  0  1    2   Booker T v. Triple H
  0  0  1    2   4th Reich v. GCW

REJECTED

  0  0  1        "Anyone v. ..." votes

CRIMEFIGHTER: Angle vs. Lesnar was the biggest feud in all 2003.  AMW vs.
XXX gave us a few MOTY candidates.

YNAE316: This year certainly seemed to have a focus more on the
"Entertainment" part of "Sports Entertainment" with so
many non-wrestling
feuds.  Soooo, my only two picks for best feuds, while not the highlights
of the year in terms of "percentage of on-screen programming" are Angle
vs. Benoit and Los Guerreros vs. WGTT.  Both delivered solid goods in the
ring and on the mic.

SCOTT CHRIST: Angle and Lesnar had the feud of the year, a great series of
matches that put Angle up a notch historically and solidified Lesnar as a
superstar. The nice and refreshing thing that it was based around their
wrestling matches, with minimal extra curricular crap. Second place to
Michaels and Jericho, third to Raven against the New Church and Shane
Douglas, because while largely sucking when it got into the ring, it was
over with the crowd and booked well.

STEFAN TORNGREN: This was a tough category. Austin vs Jericho had some
great moments, but since we don’t know what it will lead to, it’s
difficult to really say how good the feud was. Still my #1. CM Punk’s
character was something new and Raven was an excellent choice for him to
feud with. Michaels vs Jericho had some fantastic moments, but just like
with Jericho vs Austin, it doesn’t feel settled so it’s tough to tell how
good it really was. The fact that Michaels went over at Mania drags it
down for me.

VANILLASKY: Brock v. Big Show is listed twice.  I chose this as my
favorite feud because not only did they provide us with some extremely
memorable matches (the stretcher match, the ring-breaking match), but this
feud really helped Brock and Big Show get over.  Brock was shown as a true
monster, being able to toss around Show at will and Show was shown as the
only one who could effectively take down Brock. This was a great feud and
I hope to see more of them in the future.

JOHN DONALDSON:  Raven and James Mitchell made what should have been a
lackluster secondary feud in NWA-TNA into months of hardcore hijinx and
sheer insanity that entertained even the most casual fan in the TNA
Asylum.  If the WWE had booked Raven like TNA has done so, he'd still be
in the WWE.  They really missed the boat with him and D-Lo Brown.

JEFF "FRO" WAHLMAN:  In a year with no standout feuds on a national level,
I have to give my vote to this year's feud between Doug Basham and Damaja
in OVW.  A great backstory, great wrestling, masterful booking by Cornette
and one of the best and most satisfying blowoffs I've seen in a long time
make this my #1.  Benoit/Angle was awesome for sheer workrate, and
Eddy/Tajiri v.s. Team angle rounds out my list.

RICK SCAIA: This is the first of the categories where it's #1, and then
everybody else trailing far behind.  Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar was just
outstanding in every facet, from storytelling (Heyman screwing Lesnar only
to show up as Angle's "agent," to Angle and Lesnar's mutual respect, to
their second falling out) to ringwork (3 of the top 10 matches of the year
were Angle vs. Lesnar... and they only faced each other one-on-one three
times!).  Over on RAW, Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho spanned
essentially the entire year: it was just getting started last November and
is still being referenced this November, and in between, the two cut great
promos on each other and had a handful of super matches.  Brock Lesnar's
value this year is underscored by his involvement in my choice for #3 Feud
of the Year, this time against Big Show.  Show stepped it up, and Lesnar
was more than game, as they two had surprising matches, and even delivered
one of the year's unforgettable Holy Shit moments (the superplex-ring
collapse on SD!).

RYAN FAULCONER: Believe the HUSS~! Alex Shelley vs Jimmy Jacobs was my
favourite feud of the year.  M2K vs DoFIXER was the best puroresu feud of
2003 and gets second place here.

--
Christopher Robin Zimmerman   |    moderator, rec.sport.pro-wrestling.info
WWW: CRZ.net | AIM: SeeOurZed | co-moderator, rec.sport.pro-wrestling.moderated
--
©2003 CRZ[tm]


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