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 v. Rock

341 first place votes
318 second place votes
307 third place votes

 89 53 29  662   Mankind v. Rock
 77 20 30  505   Steve Austin v. Vince McMahon (& Shane/Corporate Ministry)
 36 34 28  338   Jerry Lynn v. Rob Van Dam
 29 25 38  296   Brood v. Edge & Christian
 23 24 16  219   Steve Austin v. Rock
  8 21 30  163   Jeff Jarrett v. Women
  7 15 11  102   Test v. Shane McMahon (& Mean Street Posse)
  8  8 15   94   Ric Flair v. Eric Bischoff
  5  9  9   70   Steve Austin v. Triple H
  3  9 12   66   Yoshihiro Tajiri v. Super Crazy
  5  5  7   54   Tommy Dreamer v. Raven
  4  6  4   46   WCW "old" v. WCW "young"
  4  5  2   39   Vince McMahon v. Triple H
  1  7  5   36   LWO v. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman
  3  4  3   33   Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko v. Rey Mysterio Jr. & Kidman v. Raven & Saturn
  2  4  5   32   X-Pac v. Shane McMahon
  3  3  3   30   Kenta Kobashi v. Vader
  1  8  0   29   Revolution v. Filthy Animals
  5  0  0   25   GAEA v. SSU
  2  3  2   23   Horsemen v. Flock
  1  4  3   23   Vince McMahon v. D-Generation X
  3  1  1   20   Magnum Tokyo v. Shiima Nobunaga
  2  0  4   18   West Texas Rednecks v. No Limit Soldiers
  0  3  4   17   Goldberg v. Sid Vicious
  0  4  2   16   Chris Jericho v. Chyna
  0  4  2   16   Chris Benoit v. Dean Malenko
  0  4  2   16   Chris Benoit & Perry Saturn v. Triad
  2  1  0   13   Mona v. Brandi Alexander
  2  0  0   10   Joe E. Legend v. Chi Chi Cruz (Grand Prix)
  1  1  1   10   Steve Austin v. Undertaker
  0  2  2   10   Sabu v. Taz
  0  0  5   10   Filthy Animals v. Revolution
  1  1  0    8   Steve Corino v. Tommy Dreamer
  1  0  1    7   Steve Corino v. Taz
  1  0  1    7   Shocker v. Mr. Niebla
  1  0  1    7   Rob Van Dam v. Sabu
  1  0  1    7   Chris Jericho v. Perry Saturn
  1  0  1    7   Chris Benoit v. Diamond Dallas Page
  0  1  2    7   Rock v. Triple H
  0  1  2    7   Kane v. X-Pac
  0  2  0    6   Amanda Storm v. Violet Flame
  1  0  0    5   Untouchables v. Burning
  1  0  0    5   Union v. Corporation
  1  0  0    5   Rock v. Juventud Guerrara(NO)
  1  0  0    5   Ric Flair v. Randy Savage
  1  0  0    5   Mr. Neibla v. IWRG Mr. Niebla
  1  0  0    5   Ian Rotten v. Corporal Robinson
  1  0  0    5   Danny Doring & Amish Roadkill v. Chris Chetti & Super Nova
  1  0  0    5   Chyna v. Jeff Jarrett
  1  0  0    5   CIMA v. Taka Michinoku
  0  1  1    5   WWF v. WCW
  0  1  1    5   Villano III v. Atlantis
  0  1  1    5   Triple H v. WWF
  0  1  1    5   Mankind v. Val Venis
  0  0  2    4   Mitsuharu Misawa v. Toshiaki Kawada
  0  0  2    4   Ken Shamrock v. Undertaker (Ministry of Darkness)
  0  1  0    3   Vince McMahon v. Shane McMahon
  0  1  0    3   Vince McMahon & Steve Austin v. The Ministry of Darkness
  0  1  0    3   Taz v. ECW
  0  1  0    3   Steve Corino v. ECW
  0  1  0    3   Sabu v. Justin Credible
  0  1  0    3   NWO v. WCW
  0  1  0    3   Mr. Gannosuke v. Eiji Ezaki
  0  1  0    3   Mitsuharu Misawa v. Vader
  0  1  0    3   Mitsuharu Misawa & Naoya Ogawa v. Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
  0  1  0    3   Mean Street Posse v. Stooges
  0  1  0    3   Manami Toyota v. Shinobu Kandori
  0  1  0    3   Kidman v. Rey Mysterio Jr.
  0  1  0    3   Kane v. Pete Rose
  0  1  0    3   Jerry Lynn v. Justin Credible
  0  1  0    3   Ivory v. Fabulous Moolah & Mae Young
  0  1  0    3   Impact Players v. Tommy Dreamer
  0  1  0    3   Hollywood Hogan v. Sting
  0  1  0    3   Hollywood Hogan v. Ric Flair
  0  1  0    3   Godfather v. Blue Blazer
  0  1  0    3   Eddie Guerrero v. former LWO members
  0  1  0    3   Disco Inferno v. Konnan
  0  1  0    3   Chris Jericho v. WWF
  0  0  1    2   Yumiko Hotta v. Shinobu Kandori
  0  0  1    2   Triple H v. Kane
  0  0  1    2   Torch v. Strife
  0  0  1    2   Strawberry Fields v. Malia Hosaka
  0  0  1    2   Raven v. Hak v. Bam Bam Bigelow
  0  0  1    2   Masato Tanaka v. Mike Awesome
  0  0  1    2   Lexie Fyfe v. Malia Hosaka
  0  0  1    2   Kane v. everybody
  0  0  1    2   Kane v. Big Show
  0  0  1    2   Juventud Guerrera v. Blitzkrieg
  0  0  1    2   Goldberg v. Bret Hart
  0  0  1    2   Dudley Boyz v. Acolytes
  0  0  1    2   Cuddley Berr v. F-f-f-fuzz
  0  0  1    2   Bam Bam Bigelow v. Scott Hall v. Goldberg
  0  0  1    2   Al Snow v. Hardcore Holly

CHRIS BIRD: Edge and Christian vs. the Hardyz was quixotic (multiple
turns! Gangrel forms the New Brood!) yet utterly entertaining. Test vs.
Shane McMahon was a new-school feud done in an old-school way. The lWo vs.
Rey and Kidman was a quietly ignored classic little feud.

EDC: Not many great fueds that lasted all year. Lynn v. RVD was good
because it gave us the best matchs. Rock v. Steve Austin was good but as
played out as the whole Vince v. Austin or UT v. Austin. Ric Flair and
Bishoff was great for one night.

CYBERAL33: The GAEA vs. SSU feud involved the most talent in the history
of the business, and you can't go wrong with that. Ozaki, Aja, KAROU,
Meiko, Kato, Chigusa, Lioness, etc. Great matches all around and it
brought to life the classic Chigusa/Lioness feud too. The Hardy Boyz and
Edge/Christan made WWF TV worth watching and climaxed with the stupendous
ladder match while Lynn and Van Dam had a tremendous series of matches as
well.

K. CANZANELLA: Shocker v. Mr. Niebla was a great fued that provided plenty
of good matches and some heavy duty bladejobs. LWO v. Kidman and Rey Jr.
was maybe the best fued for real wrestling in the US this year. During
this time period, each Nitro would have 3 or 4 matches of 15 minutes each
with the cruiserweights. Also, Eddy was very over as a heel here and was
wrestling like he should, not like the crap they have him playing now.
Lastly, I voted for Brood v, Hardyz/Edge, because this fued provided the
only real good wrestling the WWF would be seeing on free TV and managed to
semi-interest the fans back into the action.

MR. JF: In the year that was Russo-hot-shot booking in the WWF and a
clusterfuck in WCW, there weren't many memorable feuds in the Big Two.
ECW's RVD vs Jerry Lynn would have gotten # 1if they'd have Lynn go over
in a blowoff.

SVEN MASCARENHAS: I'm going to continue the "Year of Foley" trend here:
he's had two separate, but equally great issues with the Rock, and the
first one was the best feud of the year, as it had good wrestling, comedy
and drama. The LWO and Blondz / Brood feud were great feuds that were
advanced almost exclusively in the ring, which makes them worthy of
recognition.

MATTHEW CLEARY: The SuperStar Unit angle has been my favorite angle ever,
even eclipsing Manami Toyota's Freedom Force angles in the earlier parts
of the Nineties. It is the best invasion angle ever done, hands down.

OCTAVIAN:  The feud that ended 98 with WWF on fire carried the fed well
into summer of 99.

DON BECKER: There are two schools of thought for how this category should
go - one says the better the matches, the better the feud.  The other says
the better the angle, the better the feud.  Which is why this is such a
hard choice to make.  Mankind/Rock made for better TV than Brood/Blonds,
but there's no doubt that the latter made for better matches.  If I could
give tie votes, I would, but I'll have to give the nod to the better TV.  
Tommy/Raven gets third because the feud has hit a strong level of
intensity that could make it the winner of this award in 2000.

SHAWN MULLIN: Mankind vs. the Rock was a true one on one feud done through
wrestling matches, and increasingly interesting and heated promos.  No
feud produced as many good matches and as much one on one heat for that
long.  They were on PPV 4 straight times, and the heat never died.. plus 3
other big matches on TV in between that time.. too bad they never had a
true blowoff.  Austin vs. Mcmahon was on its last legs, but still produced
great and heated "heel gets his" moments at Massacre and Fully Loaded.  
The Heat never died, even if the story dragged a bit.  Finally, the Brood
vs. Hardys feud was the wrestling highlite of most WWF shows throughout
the late spring, summer and fall.

MAX CHITTISTER: Test v. Shane was just such a great feud. Good beginning,
great middle, hot blowoff, and an actual ending. Woo-hoo!

PAUL SHOCK:  I could watch Rock vs. Austin all day.  Jeff Jarrett as a
chauvinist finally got him over.  Benoit/Saturn vs. The Triad made for
some great matches.

BLOB: The great wrestling and carrying ability of Jerry Lynn easily makes
this the feud of the year. Both RVD/Lynn put on an incredible Shawn
Michaels like show and truly gave the fans their money's worth. The
Benoit/Saturn vs Triad feud helped keep WCW worth watching during the
summer months of the year. The Hardy's vs Edge & Christian feud made for
the best matches for WWF all year.

GEORGE CARTER: This was a rather disappointing year for feuds IMO. The
only one that stood out was the Rock/Austin feud at the beginning of the
year.  Mankind/Rock's matches were good but the title changed hands so
often that by the time their ladder match happened on RAW (the day after
St Valentine's Day Massacre) I had NO IDEA who the champ was and it felt
like the Rock retaining the belt instead of winning it for a third time.

JOHN C.:Austin/Rock was easily the most anticipated feud of the year and
delivered as far as matches and storyline go so that's why that feud got
my vote. I put Flair/Bischoff second because the heat was pretty
incredible but that's cause Flair was the one carrying in it and it
resulted in several beatings of Bischoff which is always a good thing.

JON RICHARDSON:  The best feud would be the one that inspired the best
promos and the best matches.  Hands down this year it would be Mankind vs.
The Rock.  For three months these two went at it in every kind of match,
pretty much splitting the series, while doing amazingly entertaining
interviews on both sides.  Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn produced two
incredible matches yet really did nothing to elevate either wrestler so I
couldn't consider it to be the best.  Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy got
the third spot as it seemed to be the only feud that lasted the entire
year (and is still going ) with neither man ever getting an advantage.

RICHARD BEAUBIEN:  Ugh...This should be a 10 person long ballot, as all
feds have oddles of crud stinking up the ranks. It's just that of all the
crud out there, I wonder why Viscera and Mideon have a job. I mean Sid and
the Godfather draw some pops, but Viscera and Mideon draw nothing from the
crowd, simply because they go to pick up a beer when they come out. And
they can't wrestle, and they can't cut promo's...and even more horrifying,
their a tag team...Ugh...

SIXKKS:  We've seen Kane and Pete Rose twice in two years and if I never
see it again it was one of the most entertaining fueds in WM history
because it only develops during WM.  And if it continues then it would
still be great because I'll always be on the look out for Pete Rose and
wait to laugh my ass off!

DONALD SEMACK:  The Rock & Mankind were entertaining weather they were
enemies or friend, (if you don't count "This is Your Life") !

JOE GAGNE: Good feuds should produce good matches.  Rock/Mankind, Lynn/Van
Dam, and Brood/Christian-Edge all produced great matches.

MYKLL42:I gave WCW "old" v. WCW "young" my 3rd place vote because it had
so much potential, even though it didn't live up to it.  Rock v. Mankind
gets my number one for the sheer entertainment value and consistent
quality of the matches.

SEAN FLYNN: Austin and Vince were still hot for months into this vote.

B. SZPAKOWICZ: I'm not up on ECW feuds, and WCW sucks, so all these are
gonna be from the WWF. 1: Mankind vs. Rock. Did these two ever wrestle a
bad match? (Halftime Heat didn't happen. Don't even mention it) . And it
was a hot feud, actually made sense and all, and gave Mick Foley two
World's Titles. Good enough. 2: Rock vs. Steve Austin. Several good
matches, actual *continuity* with past angles, and the two hottest
wrestlers on the planet. 3: Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon. Not as good as
last year, but it did result in a couple fun matches, and one of the
biggest (though by no means best) angles of the year in the Greater Power.

LORIE:  Hoping that I can vote that the WWF did the "best promotional
move" in next year's RSPW awards----and I will be able to if WWF has X-Pac
win clean over Kane at the 12/12/99 PPV.  I am so tired of X-Pac being
"too small" to win against large guys, especially since WWF is going to
push same-size Jericho and much-shorter Taz as monster killers. That makes
no sense!

JUSTIN JONES: Mankind vs. the Rock is the feud that carried the WWF for
three months while Austin and Undertaker were on the shelf.  I can't WAIT
for the next Royal Rumble....Mick vs. the Rock: "I Quit On Your Grave"

HEATM: Mankind and the Rock went at it for over four months and had some
tremendous fights which really elevated both guys.  After that was done,
they teamed up -- and they were still feuding.

OTTO "HACK-MAN" HEUER: Best Feud. Yoshirio Tajiri v. Super Crazy made me
mark out every time I saw them.  They could put thin on TNN every week for
a year and I don't think I'd get sick of it. 2nd: Jerry Lynn v. Rob Van
Dam.  How can they put the same two guys in against each other so often
(and these usually aren't short matches) and keep me glued to the set
every freakin' time?  I had a hard time picking a 3rd, since no other feud
came even CLOSE to these two, so I was thinking about leaving it blank.  
I ended up flipping a three-sided coin to chose among Chris Benoit v.
Diamond Dallas Page, Edge/Christian v. Brood, and Benoit v. DDP (which
sticks in my mind because DDP was the first "main eventer" to give Benoit
a "break" and let him pin him clean. And this was before TPTB came in and
started *forcing* old guys to put over young guys. :-)

MDB: Best feud? The closest to a real feud I saw this year was the Flair
vendetta that, like everything else in wrestling this year, just couldn't
hold together for a logical ending/sugueway into something new.  
(Remember Flair beating Steamboat only to get piledriven by Funk?) Vince
v. Austin was most successful for a second year, but it was really just
more of the same.