Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels: The Feud Of 2008

Raw in the past couple years has had some rather shallow rivalries going on, the majority of which center around the thought, "I'm better than you," and "No, I'M better than YOU!!"

However, there is a shining ray of light on Monday Night Raw—the ongoing feud between Shawn Michaels and Chris Jericho. It doesn't involve any gimmicks like becoming Tag Team Champions before the match—there's no pretense that Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels can get along.

This feud is my absolute favorite in recent memory. It started so innocently, with Ex-Y2J mocking and berating HBK for being a cheater, and taking a couple of personal jabs at him for it. And from there it exploded into one of the most personal and well-thought-out rivalries that I've seen in quite some time.

I've always been a fan of what I call the "Mick Foley" school of heel justification. To make a good heel, and particularly a good heel turn, you don't stop doing what you're doing—you just change your justification for what you're doing.

Chris Jericho did this brilliantly to the point that he went from being a huge face to the biggest heel on Monday Night Raw (Adamle might get more heat, but he just has to be Adamle to generate that emotion hehe).

Jericho's justification and initial reasoning for why he had a problem with Shawn Michaels was completely justified, and if anything I'm sure many of us could agree with him!

But from there he took the wrong path in trying to redeem HBK by recruiting Lance Cade and beating the life out of Shawn Michaels. Their match at the Great American Bash was one of the most brutal and bloodiest matches I can remember in quite some time.

Beyond that, their rivalry is still going strong, even though it started right after Backlash! From right after Wrestlemania through Summerslam, probably concluding at Survivor Series, this rivalry looks like it could be legendary, and definitely a top contender for Rivalry of the Year.

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