From daredevil to champion
THE best title chase of 2008 fittingly ended at its last wrestling PPV - as Jeff Hardy finally won the big one at WWE Armageddon.
Or, as Jim Ross put it in one his immortal announce jobs: "Hardy wins. Jeff Hardy wins!
"Jeff Hardy's realised a dream. My god I don't believe it.
"From daredevil to champion. From enigma to icon."
After months of chasing — and coming so close so many times — Hardy's triumph came in the best bout of a very strong PPV, with the best ending.
The triple threat match, featuring then-champ Edge and Triple H, was like Hardy's year.
Every time he got to the top to finish his opponent, someone dragged him back down.
But surviving an awesome Edge Spear through a table and run in from enemy Vladimir Kozlov — who was quickly chased off by brother Matt - this time victory was his.
Hardy was crotched on the top rope as Triple H Pedigreed Edge for a seeming three count.
But on two Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb on both and covered Edge himself for one of the most popular victories in history.
There are only two complaints people can have about the championship victory.
The first is that it has come too early - the biggest Hardy fans wanted their man to win at WrestleMania on the greatest stage of them all.
We don't agree.
B-level show Armageddon may have been arguably the wrong one to win on but it was certainly the right time.
If the WWE had held off any longer, Hardy's quest may have gone cold due to too many failures.
You only have to look at Samoa Joe in TNA to see an example of fans not fully getting behind a champion the way they would have done a year earlier.
It also meant the finish to Armageddon was a huge surprise — which brings us on to an argument we have more support for.
It seems in WWE these days, world title wins are not big shocks to cherish but a case of everyone on the upper mid-card getting their turn.
In the past, legends like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Million Dollar Man, Mr Perfect and Jake The Snake NEVER held a WWE world title.
At Armageddon, of the 16 men in the ring — either wrestling, talking or in Great Khali’s case kissing Mae Young — a whopping 12 have had that honour including CM Punk, JBL, Khali and now Hardy.
If you include the ECW title, which personally we don't, Matt Hardy and Mark Henry enter the mix giving the event 14 world champions.
Only Finlay and Kozlov have title-free histories, and only because the Russian's Armageddon victory over ECW champ Matt was made non-title at the last minute.
Still, judging by the action on the PPV you could argue WWE have had so many champions because they now possess one of the best rosters in their history.
Although it was his brother's night, Matt deserves praise for getting a passable opener out of Kozlov.
Next up was a brilliant bout between CM Punk and Rey Mysterio.
When both were world champs, they were dumped in the 'underdog' role, fluking victories over larger and therefore supposedly stronger stars.
Put together and told to go for it, Punk and Rey delivered a blend of high-spots, reversals and slick grappling accurately described by Jerry Lawler as "so pretty".
If you watched William Regal, supposed to be playing heel at ringside, you could see how much the wrestling purist enjoyed it.
And when CM Punk won clean with the GTS, the smile on the face of one of his mentors was obvious.
This was Punk's best match ever in the WWE and, if he's allowed to do his thing more often, should be the first of many.
Shawn Michaels accepted JBL's job offer next and this was followed by Finlay emulating Matt Hardy earlier by getting a good match from the almost immovable Henry.
He was helped by the weapons-based nature of their Belfast Brawl and a run-in from son Hornswoggle, who helped his dad secure the victory.
Although Batista and Randy Orton have fought many times, the build-up to their Armageddon clash was so strong it did feel like the WWE's 'four years in the making' hype was actually true.
They more than delivered in the ring too — telling the story of two men who know each other so well that they just kept anticipating what the other would do.
The commentators sold it perfectly, so when Batista won after a momentary Orton error, you knew he was the better man on the night but remained uncertain if he was overall.
After a fun Divas Santa match, featuring Michelle McCool doing a Styles Clash, John Cena and Chris Jericho continued the theme of counter-moves and near-finishes in a strong world title rematch that was better than their original bout at Survivor Series.
After swapping finishers, Cena locked in the STFU for a tap-out victory.
But the night really belonged to Hardy, whose surprise and stunning victory in the main event was the icing on a very tasty wrestling cake.
The Sun
