By Rick Gardner, PWTorch specialist

On Monday night, WWE took the unusual step of ending several of its longest running feuds in one go. Santino Marella lost the Intercontinental title, thus depriving wrestling fans of his weekly mispronunciation of "Honky Tonk Man." Kane's feud with Rey Mysterio, which has often defied logic, mercifully came to an end, producing the best match of their rivalry. And Shawn Michaels fought Chris Jericho in a Last Man Standing Match that was billed as the conclusion of their long running feud.

Shawn Michael's rivalry with Chris Jericho is a rare example of a well paced feud that allowed both competitors to grow as characters and come out looking stronger than they were before.

Back in April, Chris Jericho's return to the WWE was beginning to look like a flop. He had reappeared on WWE television amid much fanfare, backed by a viral marketing campaign that referenced "The Second Coming." However, instead of completing his ascent to main event level babyface, Jericho had reverted to his role as a reliable upper mid-card hand, the position he held throughout his first tenure with the company.

An uninspired feud with JBL and an unsuccessful appearance in the WrestleMania 24 Money in the Bank Ladder Match seemed to confirm that WWE management did not have faith in Chris Jericho's ability to consistently deliver in the main event.

In contrast, April 2008 was a successful month for Shawn Michaels. He had the most important match of his career the month before, in which he retired Ric Flair, and was now embarking on a feud with Batista. Michaels seemed to be well on the way to claiming Ric Flair's role of active wrestler who has already attained legendary status.

Chris Jericho was inserted into the Michaels-Batista match at Backlash 2008 as an afterthought. He demanded to be brought into to the match after a superkick from Shawn Michaels, and was added to the match as guest referee. Although this would have been an ideal opportunity to turn on Michaels, Jericho refereed the match fairly and even helped HBK to the back after he suffered a knee injury. The real developments came over the following weeks.

Jericho slowly started to turn heel. He badgered Shawn Michaels for nearly a month, asserting that he had faked the injury at Backlash. Batista's promos had referenced Michaels' selfishness the month before and Jericho built upon this, mentioning the many times in which Michaels has turned on his tag team partners. What was exceptional about Jericho's promos at this time was that he used the fans's love of Shawn Michaels as the catalyst for his turn. He was not doing anything particularly dastardly; just questioning the character of a universally popular wrestler.

As the weeks wore on, Jericho became more overt with his accusations. However, his refusal to fully turn heel was illustrated by a storyline where he had opportunity to hit both Michaels and JBL with a chair and refused to do so. Jericho finally turned on July 9, when he threw Michaels through a television screen, referencing Michaels's turn on Marty Jannetty more than sixteen years earlier.

The promos that followed were phenomenal, in which Jericho blamed the fans for not believing that Michaels had feigned the injury from Backlash. Jericho may have turned heel, but in his mind the fans were the villains of the piece, and Michaels was a hypocrite justifying his actions.

Up until this point, most of the character development and excellent promos had taken place through Chris Jericho. This changed at The Great American Bash. Jericho caught Michaels with a wild elbow during their match, opening a large cut, and won the match via referee stoppage after following up with a barrage of punches. The image of Michaels covered in blood was shocking, allowing him to take time off to sell the injury. The image was replayed many times in the build up to Summerslam, where Michaels would announce whether or not the injury would force him to retire.

Shawn Michaels's appearance at Summerslam resulted in the best angle of the year. He brought his wife Rebecca to the ring to support him in making a heartfelt announcement directly to the fans. Naturally, was interrupted by Chris Jericho who wanted to take credit for his retirement, but Michaels brilliantly responded by saying that Chris Jericho would never be Shawn Michaels. Jericho tried to punch Michaels, missed and ended up hitting Rebecca. The acting was superb. Jericho's facial expressions conveyed a range of emotions, while Michaels was excellent in restraining himself from retaliating.

It was now Shawn Michaels' turn in delivering the amazing promos. On one episode of Raw he practically begged Jericho to let him have a rematch, and referenced the Bible saying that he was only interested in "an eye for an eye." Michaels appeared tortured by what had happened to his wife, while Jericho was clinging to the belief that his actions were justified by Michaels's shortcomings as a person. Between the two of them they were setting standards for the rest of the wrestling industry to follow.

An unsanctioned match at Unforgiven in September saw Michaels win via referee stoppage for repeatedly punching a defenseless Jericho. The similarity with the finish of their match at The Great American Bash symbolized that Michaels was tortured by Jericho's actions to the point where he would forgo his principals and become just as bad as Jericho.

Another development at Unforgiven was that Jericho won the World Title, substituting for CM Punk in the Raw Championship Scramble. The months spent as Shawn Michaels' adversary had raised his standing in the company to the point where the reservations about Jericho deserving to be in the main event had disappeared.

They continued their feud with an excellent Ladder Match in October, and concluded their rivalry with the aforementioned Last Man Standing Match on Monday. Seven months is a long time for a storyline to last in the modern era, and the two of them should be commended for carrying the feud for so long without it getting stale.

Chris Jericho mentioned in a recent interview that his feud with Shawn Michaels was only supposed to last a few weeks. However, over the course of seven months, Jericho has transformed from floundering mid-card babyface into World Champion main event heel. Shawn Michaels's character has been pushed to the limit in terms of what he considers morally acceptable.

There were memorable matches, believable promos, and both wrestlers came out of the feud stronger than they were when they went in. In an era where storylines are often started and concluded during a one month PPV cycle, Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho provided a timely reminder of how valuable a good feud can be.

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