Best Angle

Award Description:

To be given to the best angle you've seen in the sport this year. 

Previous Winners:

  1990: Horsemen turn heel 
  1991: "Real World Champion" Ric Flair challenges Hulk Hogan 
  1992: Ric Flair "knew Elizabeth first" 
  1993: WWF brings in Sean Waltman as 1-2-3 Kid 
  1994: Shane Douglas forfeits NWA title moments after winning it 
  1995: Barry Horowitz finally wins on WWF television
  1996: NWO forms and attempts takeover of WCW
  1997: Bret Hart turns on USA, reforms Hart Foundation
  1998: Mr. McMahon offers Steve Austin the easy way - or the hard way

**1999**: "Countdown to the Millennium" ends with Chris Jericho's WWF debut

322 first place votes
301 second place votes
286 third place votes

 61 46 42  527   Millennium Countdown ends with appearance by Chris Jericho
 44 17 19  309   Mankind gets betrayed at Survivor Series, Rock becomes Corporate Champion
 26 30 29  278   Mankind marks out for the Rock, forms Rock & Sock Connection
 23 28 23  245   Hardcore Holly proclaims self "Big Shot," wants superheavyweights
 24 21 11  205   Mankind wins WWF title
 23 15  8  176   Bret Hart retires after "pinning" Goldberg
 10 15 24  143   Raven returns to ECW and wins tag titles with Tommy Dreamer
 19  7  3  122   Who is the Greater Power?
  5 12  9   79   Lenny & Lodi develop a special bond
  5 10  9   73   Jeff Jarrett beats on women
  3  7  3   42   Kane teams with X-Pac
  4  7  0   41   Test asks Stephanie McMahon out
  0  7 10   41   GTV
  4  4  3   38   President Flair assigns Eric Bischoff a series of humiliating jobs
  3  5  4   38   D-Generation X reunites
  6  0  2   34   Ministry of Darkness unites with Corporation
  4  2  2   30   Mankind holds Shane McMahon hostage to get title shot
  3  3  3   30   Mr. Socko
  3  3  3   30   McMahon vs. Austin for ownership of the WWF
  4  2  1   28   Crazy Max as psycho fratboys from hell
  2  4  3   28   Owen Hart returns as Blue Blazer
  0  4  7   26   Latino World Order
  5  0  0   25   Steve Austin becomes CEO
  2  4  1   24   Big Show's father has cancer
  2  3  2   23   Young guns fight old establishment in WCW
  1  3  4   22   Powers that Be take over WCW
  1  2  5   21   Curt Hennig forms West Texas Rednecks
  2  1  3   19   Various superstars of joshi puroresu form the heel SSU and invade GAEA
  1  2  3   17   Mark Calloway thinks he IS the Undertaker
  2  0  3   16   Terri Invitational Tournament
  2  0  2   14   Kurt Angle
  1  2  0   11   Shocker turns rudo, aligns with IWRG wrestlers
  0  1  4   11   Triple H says he's "The Game"
  2  0  0   10   Kurt Angle, WWF's only real athlete
  1  1  1   10   Yoshihiro Tajiri sells out to Steve Corino
  0  3  0    9   Triple H betrays D-Generation X at Wrestlemania
  0  3  0    9   Revolution
  1  1  0    8   Akira Hokuto returns to action, joins SSU
  0  2  1    8   Impact Players take over ECW
  1  0  1    7   Triple H marries Stephanie McMahon
  1  0  1    7   Howard Finkel becomes Y2J's personal Warrior
  1  0  1    7   David Flair goes psycho
  0  1  2    7   Barry Darsow rediscovers his old gimmicks
  0  1  2    7   Al Snow goes insane
  0  2  0    6   Hardy Boyz find success with Michael Hayes
  0  0  3    6   Sting turns
  0  0  3    6   Jerry Lynn becomes the new f'n show
  1  0  0    5   Vince vs. Triple H
  1  0  0    5   Vince vs Shane McMahon
  1  0  0    5   Vince forms Corporation, screws Mankind, Rock turns heel
  1  0  0    5   Vince McMahon goes ballistic
  1  0  0    5   Undertaker/Ministry
  1  0  0    5   Undertaker tries to steal the WWF from Vince
  1  0  0    5   Triple H v McMahon
  1  0  0    5   Triple H v Austin v McMahon
  1  0  0    5   Steve Corino Mr. Old School/anti-Dreamer
  1  0  0    5   Steve Austin/McMahon payoff
  1  0  0    5   Steve Austin vs. McMahon and Ministry
  1  0  0    5   Rossy Moreno joins Los Brujas
  1  0  0    5   Raven and Dreamer win Tag Belts
  1  0  0    5   Oz Academy & Akira Hokuto & Aja Kong form Team Nostradamus
  1  0  0    5   Oklahoma
  1  0  0    5   NWO Invasion
  1  0  0    5   Mr. McMahon offers bounty on Austin at Royal Rumble
  1  0  0    5   Moolah & Mae Young resurrect women's wrestling
  1  0  0    5   Mark Henry's Sex Addiction
  1  0  0    5   Mankind's book & related stories
  1  0  0    5   Foley's best selling book
  1  0  0    5   Blue Blazer attempts to save the WWF from itself
  0  1  1    5   Eddie Guerrero seeks revenge on former LWO members
  0  0  2    4   Test asks Stephaine McMahon out
  0  0  2    4   Hulk Hogan retires
  0  1  0    3   WCW title tourney gets belt off the usual suspects
  0  1  0    3   Vince McMahon and Steve Austin join forces against the Ministry
  0  1  0    3   Vader wins Triple Crown
  0  1  0    3   Vader busts open Kobashi with a hardaway headbutt
  0  1  0    3   Too Cool & Rikishi relationship
  0  1  0    3   Rock turns face
  0  1  0    3   Norman Smiley scared of Hardcore Matches
  0  1  0    3   Mr. Gannosuke steals Hayabusa's mask & wears it in a softcore porn
  0  1  0    3   Ministry kidnaps Stephanie McMahon
  0  1  0    3   Mankind turns face
  0  1  0    3   Mankind places himself into the SummerSlam main event
  0  1  0    3   Mankind lets out all his anger on the Rock
  0  1  0    3   La Parka
  0  1  0    3   Kane getting ditched by numorous members DX
  0  1  0    3   Juventud Guerrera gets deported
  0  1  0    3   Horsemen turn heel at Uncensored
  0  1  0    3   GAEA's "God Only Knows" Tour features superstars from OZ Academy
  0  1  0    3   Formation of the Revolution
  0  0  1    2   WCW has great tag division(For a while)
  0  0  1    2   Vampiro joined by the Misfits
  0  0  1    2   Taz v Shane fued (hitman type angle)
  0  0  1    2   Steve Austin releases power to Vince MacMahon
  0  0  1    2   Shane refuses to let Test date Stephanie
  0  0  1    2   Sandman returns to ECW
  0  0  1    2   Ric Flair protects his son's title.
  0  0  1    2   Return of Evil Jim Ross
  0  0  1    2   Pete Rose attacks Kane at WrestleMania
  0  0  1    2   Pete "Gas" returns at SummerSlam
  0  0  1    2   Outsiders return
  0  0  1    2   Norman Smiley goes Hardcore
  0  0  1    2   Mankind steals Rock's money
  0  0  1    2   Mankind and the Rock are obsessed with deafeating one another
  0  0  1    2   Kevin Nash drops title
  0  0  1    2   Ivory gives women in the audience "their big break"
  0  0  1    2   Corino hires Taijiri to attack Taz
  0  0  1    2   Bret Hart turns face
  0  0  1    2   At Home with Raven
  0  0  1    2   32 Man WCW World title Tournament

REJECTED

  1  2  0        Triple H marries Stephanie McMahon
  0  0  1        "Anything with" votes

EDC: Call me Crazy, but I love the whole "childhood dream" title angles.
It really was great to see Mick Foley get his first World Title this year.
Jericho's First Enterance in te WWF was great. LWO could have been so
great, but the Main Event just couldn't stand getting out cheered by a
dozen Mexicans in funny outfits....

K. CANZANELLA: Shocker's rudo turn was pulled off perfectly. He started to
develop an ego, and wouldn't allow his fellow technicos to tag him in.
Eventually, he sat around cheering for the rudos in one whole 4 on 4
match, and then made his move as his enemy Niebla was out from a beatdown,
joining in on the fun. I liked when the Horsemen turned heel. It was a
good, simple angle. Nothing else is really worth talking about.

JOEL BOUTIERE:  On the Higher Power:  Yeah, the ending was disappointing,
but you gotta admit, it got us all talking, didn't it?

SVEN MASCARENHAS: Survivor Series was the first case of a show that I've
ever seen where the ENTIRE THING fit into the angle, and everything built
as it progressed. The entire thing was brilliant. Jericho's appearance was
the markout moment of the year for me, and the Rock and Sock was great
stuff until the birthday party.

FALCONARROW: I did vote for Kurt Angle on this.

MATTHEW CLEARY: The news of Akira Hokuto coming back to wrestling was the
best wrestling news of the year, and then the fact she joined a tag team
with Mayumi Ozaki and joined the SuperStar Unit was truly awesome and
added even more heat to an already hot angle. It makes the SSU just that
much more elite.

OCTAVIAN:  Even though I mostly knew that Jericho would be the result of
WWF's Millennium countdown, the moment gave me shivers when it arrived and
I marked out like mad when it occured.

DON BECKER: Though I'm tempted to vote for Kurt here (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!),
Mankind holding Shaneo-Mac hostage led to my single favorite mark-out
moment of the voting period, so that's getting my top vote.  Chris
Jericho's WWF debut and the whole Millennium Countdown bit was executed
very well.  Raven's return was also well-executed, and him teaming with
Dreamer keeps ECW's best feud in recent memory alive.

SHAWN MULLIN: The best angles of the year are 3/4 of the things that
actually had me marking out in its truest form.  The Rock swerve at
Survivor Series had me searching for words, just totally shocked.. "this
can't be right" then realizing how well it actually worked had me
flabbergasted.  That was awesome.  Jericho's debut had me on my feet in
front of my TV, as sad as that is.  Bret's angle with Goldberg is probably
the most re-watched clip on my wrestling tapes this year.. it was that
damn good.  The 4th thing was Mankind winning the belt on RAW... and I
guess the Greater Power thing was interesting, but a bit of a let down.

MAX CHITTISTER: Everybody and their brother knew the Millenium Man was
Jericho, and everybody and their brother still popped like mad for it. Now
THAT's execution, people.

JBELL55146: The Millenium countdown was the one big payoff that didnt'
disapoint. The Survivor Series had the great 'WTF' ending and a little nod
at Montreal. and Bob Holly becoming a 'superheavyweight' was just plain
hilarious

CAN00K: Y2J makes his debut.  I mark like a crackwhore finding a hidden
stash. Next.

PAUL SHOCK:  The best angle of the year was the one that was untimely cut
short.  Had Owen Hart lived as the milk-drinking, goody-two-shoes
superhero Blue Blazer, I am certain he'd be in main events by now.  The
character was the perfect heel for today's WWF, and Kurt Angle is being
brought along in kind of the same fashion.  I know there's a backlash
against the gimmick for causing Owen's death, but the Blue Blazer really
was a great idea.

BLOB: Mankind's angles were just wonderful this year, playing off the Rock
extremely well. The Young vs Old made for some interesting matches in WCW
and Triple H's gimmick made me a Triple H fan.

GEORGE CARTER:  The Bret Hart/Goldberg angle in Toronto was great, too bad
the death of Owen halted it (not if that was bad enough). The Young vs.
Old angle was great when it began but then it trailed off to ther parts.

JOHN C.:Props go to Bob Holly as he went from being Sparky Plugg to the
"Big Shot" in what quickly became one of my favorite gimmicks in all of
wrestling. Jericho's Raw debut and his speech towards the Rock were
magical but it was brief so Holly gets my pick.

ELLIOT SPARKS: The Blue Blazer angle was the most creative storyline of
the year. Its anti-heel gimmickry was a great counter to the anti-hero
attitude dominating today's WWF, plus it gave Owen Hart a chance to show
his stuff. It's a true shame that it was never carried to its conclusion.

JOE GENTILE:  Y2J's appearance will rival that of any wrestler in this
history of wrestling.  Mankind winning the title was proof that the WWF
LISTENS to its fans.  Sparky Plugg is not only intersting, he is one of my
favorites!

RUTGERSGYM: For some reason it was pretty hard this year to come up with a
set of particularly stand-out angles.  So I went with what made me mark
out the most.  First comes Rock and the McMahons swerving Mankind at
Survivor Series (mostly because I was clamoring at the time for Rock to
turn heel again) , then comes Chris Jericho's WWF debut, though the follow
up to that is pretty slow so far.  Finally, ECW handled the return of two
of its most popular stars (Raven and Sandman) very well, but the Sandman
return made me mark out a little more, so it goes third.

SEAN FLYNN: The countdown was a simple thing, that ended up building
insane momentum for Jericho's debut.  The Foley thing was realistic and
well-done.  Ric Flair did a wonderful Bill Watts/Verne Gagne parody with
that angle.

MARK SMITH:  Chris Jericho's debut was the moment of the freaking YEAR
(save Foley's first title win) on WWF TV as they built and built and built
and then hit a five-run grand slam with everything coming off as perfectly
as possible.  Also, the anticipation for the Higher Power was absolutely
insane, no matter how stupidly it turned out.

B. SZPAKOWICZ:  Anyone remember how much everyone marked out when Rock
turned heel at Survivor Series? Remember that *nobody* called it? Remember
that it still actually made *perfect* sense in retrospect. 'Nuff said.
Chris Jericho's debut was possibly the biggest markout of the year. It
would get the top vote if Rock's turn wasn't so well crafted. And Mick
Foley winning the WWF title was just one of those moments that made me
incredibly happy to be a Wrestling fan.

SUGAR RAY: The love story between Test and Stephanie is WWF at its best in
the fine art of storytelling. At first, I couldn't care less, but then
Shane McMahhon got involved and disagreed, which led to the fabulous Test
vs Shane match at Summerslam. And now, with HHH married to Stephanie, who
knows how it will end ? Just a great storyline that just keeps getting
better every week.

COLIN MACKINNON: If they had kept the Young vs. Old angle in WCW running,
who knows what could have happened.  Very cool idea.  The Bret Hart
"retiring" angle was also excellent, simply because it was unexpected.

JEREMY SORIA: The whole Lenny/Lodi thing was great to watch, until GLAAD
stopped all that. But it was fun to see blow-pops before the matches.
Mankind and The Rock had a certain something together, it was a very
interesting bond together as The Rock & Sock connection. And of course,
Owen Hart's Blue Blazer gimmick made a triumphant comeback, being
juxtaposed with the vile and disgusting WWF.

JUSTIN JONES: The betrayal of Mankind at Survivor Series and the turn of
the Rock as the Corporate Champ was the angle that set the dinner table
for the Feud of the Year.

HEATM:  Chris Jericho's entrance into the WWF was the best angle out of
either fed.  Rock turning on Mankind at Survivor Series was great, and
triggered a series of great matches that was one of the bright spots of
the WWF at that time.  I also enjoyed the Raven feud with Dreamer for the
last four months of the voting period.

MDB: Best angle was Bret's swerve on Goldberg.  Totally unexpected,
unpredictable.  Just a great markout moment.  And whatever the politics,
the lWo will live forever.