Pro Wrestling Torch, a weekly 12-16 page print newsletter delivered via traditional postal mail, has been published since 1987 with several PDF-version bonus pages most weeks.

The PWTorch 2008 Yearbook double-issue (#1066/1067) has just been posted online in PDF format for PWTorch VIP members. It is 32 pages packed with our collection of signature year–end features. This is the second year we have combined the year–end features into one single double–issue rather than spreading them out over the course of several weeks in regular issues (which displaced regular features). Back in the early 1990s we put out 80–100 page yearbooks, but discontinued that because it was just too time–consuming and affected the publishing schedule of the regular weekly newsletter. This is a happy medium that seems to be working well.



The issue opens, as it did last year, with Pat McNeill’s Annual “Timeline” article, marching through 2008 on a month by month and day by day feature. This year it includes a new twist, which is several “Did You Know?” facts we learned during 2008. Why should WWE television be our only learning tool for obscure and surprising statistics and “facts.” McNeill’s first major article for Pro Wrestling Torch was submitting, unsolicited, a year–in–review “Timeline” article. It impressed a certain editor so much, it prompted an invite to join the staff as a columnist. As has become the tradition, he takes us on a relatively concise march through the year chronologically, picking out ironies, disgraces, laugh–worthy moments, blunders, ego–trips, missteps, and in general the highs and lows of the always unpredictable year that wrestlers and promoters deal fans each year.

Then comes the 22nd Annual Torch Year–End Awards in 15 key categories. With over 10,000 votes cast in our online voting, the top ten finishers are listed in each category, along with percentage of votes received for the top five in each category. As is tradition, the PWTorch staff provides their top picks and explanations and rationale for their respective choices. I also add some Extra Awards in former annual award categories that we have discontinued years ago. We also flash back to key 1998 Awards to put in perspective how much things have changed, such as a Rookie of the Year class including Edge, Christian, Droz, and Goldberg.

Bruce Mitchell’s 18th Annual Year–End Quiz goes back to his usual format this year (after a sidebar to cover a single topic last year—the Benoit Family Tragedy) of testing your knowledge of some of the oddball, idiotic, shameful, and hypocritcal events and decisions throughout the year. He tends to, in one fell swoop, make as many enemies in one article with this annual Quiz as he does the rest of the year combined. But it’s all worth it, because in the end, you can check your answers against the answer key at the end and find out exactly how Smart of a Smart Fan you really are.

Then comes the Top 50 Stories of the Year. What made the top five this year? Ric Flair’s retirement, of course. What else? Brock Lesnar’s UFC Title win? Jeff Hardy’s tumultuous year ending with his first World Heavyweight Title win? Mick Foley’s jump to TNA? Triple H and Jim Ross moving to Smackdown? Vince McMahon’s disappearance from Raw? “The Wrestler” movie putting pro wrestling in the mainstream spotlight in a way that is usually reserved for deaths and scandals? Floyd Mayweather vs. Big Show? Or how about Raw’s crashing ratings? Compare our list of the stories to the order you’d place them in.

As usual, we present a summary of the top four stories, a paragraph on stories five through ten, and then a list of nos. 11–50. We also take a look at the top five stories from ten years ago in a very different world. Did Steve Austin’s emergence as a top star top the list? Or how about Raw overtaking Nitro as pro wrestling’s top show? Or Vince McMahon becoming WWE’s top heel? Or Mike Tyson’s involvement in WrestleMania?

From there, it’s the annual Wrestling’s Most Influential Rankings. We solicited lists and insight from a number of informed insiders and experts on the wrestling industry to assemble our best assessment of who wielded power over the wrestling product offered to wrestling fans throughout the entire year. As usual, we throw in some tidbits that may not be known about shifts in power that happened quietly throughout the year and provide an overview of who the powerbrokers are. We provide a compilation of all past lists, providing a unique historical march through the last 17 years of the shifts in influence in this ever–changing industry.

A special addition to the Yearbook this year is Sean Radican’s sectional breakdown of Ring of Honor, which can often fly under the radar of some fans while being the centerpiece of how other fans enjoy pro wrestling on a week to week basis. The DVD–based promotion continued to run PPVs in 2008 while undergoing a major booking change. Radican breaks down ROH’s year into the Top Five Stories, Top Five Matches, Top Five Performances, Top Five Rising Stars, Top Five Promos, and an Outlook for 2009.

Throughout the PWTorch Yearbook is a showcase of our talented PWTorch artist Grant Gould’s commissioned art (available in full–color in our online PDF edition).

You can access many of our year–end features from past years online at PWTorch.com/members in the VIP Appendix section, exclusively for current subscribers. Thanks for your support of PWTorch over the past year! Now settle in for a march through 2008, reliving memories and learning who the Torch staff believes stood out as making the best and worst contributions to the industry throughout the year.

CLICK HERE FOR PDF OF THE PWTORCH 2008 YEARBOOK

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