The Howard Finkel Award - Best Major Show of 2010

This award recognizes the best pay-per-view event or major show of the year, discounting weekly TV programming. The award is named after Howard Finkel, who came up with the name "Wrestlemania", the most biggest wrestling event in the world.

WINNER - WRESTLEMANIA XXVI

There would be something dangerously wrong with WWE if this weren't the top show of the year. While this may not rank very high on the all-time list of Wrestlemanias, it was a very good card that just about delivered. There were some disappointments - an underwhelming opener between Shomiz and Morrison/Truth, the messy Money in the Bank, the awful Hart-McMahon match and a dull Triple H-Sheamus encounter; however these were redeemed by two very strong world championship matches (Cena vs. Batista and Edge vs. Jericho). The real story of this Wrestlemania, though, was the fantastic main event- the Streak vs. Career match between The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels that, impossibly, managed to live up to the hype, and gave us what will be one of the most enduring Wrestlemania moments - the retirement of Mr. Wrestlemania himself.

1st RUNNER UP - TLC: TABLES, LADDERS & CHAIRS

This was the last PPV of the year for WWE, and they could hardly have done a better job in closing out the year. I'm not a big fan of the concept of having stipulation-themed pay-per-views as I think it dilutes the value of the gimmick matches. However one advantage of having a lot of similar matches on a card is that it leads to more careful booking and planning in order to make each match stand out. This was definitely the case with TLC- the finishes to each match were almost faultlessly booked, and it was evident WWE put a lot of thought into them. The in-ring action was also stellar- we got four very good matches: The IC Title Ladder match (Kingston vs. Swagger vs. Ziggler), the Tables matches (Natalya/Phoenix vs. Laycool and Orton vs. Miz for the WWE Title) and the TLC World Heavyweight Title match (Edge vs. Mysterio vs. Del Rio vs. Kane). Not to forget, a Match of the Year candidate- the #1 Contender's Ladder Match between John Morrison and Sheamus, which may yet prove to be Morrison's breakout performance. The only thing WWE got wrong was the main event (Cena vs. Barrett in a Chairs Match) which was a somewhat anti-climactic end to a fantastic all-round show.

2nd RUNNER UP - MONEY IN THE BANK

WWE decided to cash in (accidental pun) on the popular "Money in the Bank" ladder match concept from Wrestlemania, by giving it a whole pay-per-view. The company made up for the poor MITB match at Wrestlemania XXVI by delivering a tremendous show here. Both the RAW and Smackdown MITB matches were outstanding, even if the results were somewhat predictable. (The Miz and Kane emerged the respective winners). The two ladder matches were also punctuated by two very good world championship matches: John Cena vs. Sheamus inside a Steel Cage and Jack Swagger vs. Rey Mysterio. The latter ended with a nice bit of drama as Mysterio won, only to have Kane come out and successfully cash in the title shot he had won that very night. Overall one of the better pay-per-views of the year, with nice action and storytelling.