Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)
19. 2008 (Chris Jericho/Shawn Michaels)
Yes, both legends deserve all the acclaim and to share this award. At first glance, it's HBK who'd take a brief lead due to his astonishing retirement plot vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania XXIV, but Chris Jericho's heel turn and reinvention as a suited, booted and surly heel was stunning. Simply stunning.
The pair's feud dominated the year. Together, Michaels and Jericho had cracking matches at Judgment Day, Great American Bash, Unforgiven and then topped it all of with a ladder war come No Mercy. Jericho's performances as a heel were so over that WWE put the World Title on him in a scramble at Unforgiven, which kinda rained all over CM Punk's parade but is surely forgivable.
Y2J then had epic matches vs. John Cena at the end of the year to put a bow on his renaissance. If everyone's being honest, they'd agree that there wasn't much spice to Jericho's comeback in 2007. He was a decidedly uncool version of his old Y2J gimmick, and it was upper midcard at best. By going heel and switching up his look, the Canadian forced his way back into the main event scene like he'd never been away.
He and Shawn had worked miracles back at 'Mania XIX in 2003, but the second chapter 5 years later was worth waiting on. If yours truly was pressed to pick one of them, he'd probably give it to Jericho on the strength of his turn and body of work afterwards alone. Nah, let's praise both men for what they achieved across an exhausting stretch of PPV classics.
After all, they carried the year together.