God, I'm the only vote for Triple H?
First off, I cannot, in good conscience, take a wrestler who has been absent for an extended period this year as wrestler of the year. So I'm eliminating Edge, Hardy, and Orton, despite the fact they're all strong. Batista's only touched gold once this year in an embarrassing week long reign. CM Punk had an unfortunately booked WHC reign, mostly marred by the lack of Orton and Cena. I think had Orton been there for Punk, he would have become a much stronger champion, and I can't help but think that was the original intent until Orton got reinjured. But, Punk's WHC reign was lackluster despite the potential it had, and his recent tag reign was very weak.
I won't bias myself against TNA, but I am eliminating all of their contenders. Joe's entire reign was as bland as he is, and in this later portion of the year, what is he doing? Practically just a jobber to the MEM. Rhino and Styles are the only halfway credible main event players on the Frontline. Sting's title chase was better than his reign, which has been weak so far and overshadowed by the MEM. Sting has rarely cut a promo as of late, and it seems like Angle is controlling the talking.
Speaking of Angle, he is in my top three. Strong reign until Lockdown, with a surprisingly good match against Joe. That's where it kind of spiraled out of control, because the Styles feud just never quite made it. There was never the great match that the two should have been able to find. In its latter stages it completely devolved with Trigg and the MMA bout, and it just got kind of crazy. More bastardization of the gold medal did not help. Strong match with Jarrett, but he's finished out the year cutting the same exact promo - "Jeff, I will eat your babies", as I like to call it.
So why Triple H over Jericho, you ask? Mostly, because Jericho had a horrible year until he really got rolling with Michaels, and honestly, they didn't even have a good match until Unforgiven. Strong promos, certainly, with the Highlight Reel segment, the SummerSlam promo, etc., etc., but until the Unsanctioned Match at Unforgiven and the No Mercy ladder match, it never really went well. Their GAB match was mostly a "Poke HBK in the Eye" match, and their JD match was good, but didn't have the emotion as Jericho wasn't fully heel. Furthermore, Jericho had an absolutely horrendous IC reign, without a single PPV defense until he lost it, and the only defense that comes to mind on TV is in a rotten match with JBL. So frankly, as far as I'm considered, Jericho had a crappy year until circa Night of Champions, when he officially went full out heel. A good match with Kofi that did the title the justice it deserves at NoC as well. Boring match at GAB, with the entire second half "Punch HBK, wait 30 seconds, repeat". SummerSlam, strong promo, but who wants a promo over a match? Unforgiven was brilliant for Jericho and his year definitely went on the upswing, with a great ladder match. However, Cyber Sunday kind of killed Jericho's excitement with Batista's win, and even though he won it back it kind of weakened the reign. Then, basically, he jobbed to Cena like he was always supposed to, and jobbed even harder with a tapout to Cena. Basically, Jericho's only standout period in the year was September-December, and that's just not enough. It looks like he'll win, but I'll defend Triple H to the last.
And now, the man of the hour, Triple H. Triple H had a huge showing in the Rumble, and was everyone's man to win until Cena stepped in. Also, Cena should have been on the poll. I wouldn't have voted for him due to injury, but hell - if Punk and Joe are on, Cena ought to be. Anyway, Triple H. Had a huge EC victory at NWO that was almost as exciting as winning the Rumble would have been, although predictable. Strong showing at WrestleMania, as well, despite the somewhat surprising loss. So basically, even though he didn't grab gold in the January - March period, he still showed strong, which is more than can be said for Jericho, who spent his time feuding with JBL in a feud no one wanted to see, failed in the EC, and then proceeded to rape the IC Championship. Backlash, Triple H had the night of his year, grabbing the WWE Championship that he held for 7 months - the longest world title reign of the year. Judgment Day had a great Cage match with Orton, followed by the best LMS match of the year with Orton as well. Let's look at what Jericho did in that period...Special Guest Referee at Backlash, good match with HBK, but lack of emotion as he was still a face/tweener, and ONS he was barely on except to cheer Michaels of whatever. Night of Champions saw him match up with Cena in a great main event, and the Bash featured a taste of a match with Edge, not unlike Jericho's match with Michaels. Jericho also had a strong match at NoC, but A) He lost, and B) It was just a midcard match. As I said, HHH/Edge at the Bash was similar to Jericho/HBK at the Bash, but Edge and Triple H at least put on a strong match that didn't devolve into "Beat the hell out of Michaels". Basically, Edge/HHH didn't put me to sleep, while Jericho/HBK had me nodding off at the end. Move on to SummerSlam where Triple H probably had his weakest defense of the year with Khali, but hey - at least he had a match, didn't he? Incredibly overshadowed by Cena/Batista and Edge/'Taker, but he was wrestling while Jericho/HBK had a promo that should have been done on Raw. Unforgiven was a tie between them, I think, with Jericho winning the WHC and also showed strong in the Unsanctioned Match, but Triple H also won his Scramble clean. No Mercy was the only time that Jericho outshone Triple H, with a strong ladder match win over Triple H's good win over Hardy. Cyber Sunday saw Triple H against Hardy again, and it was weaker than No Mercy, but Triple H won his match, while Jericho lost the WHC. Despite regaining it on Raw, his title reign was certainly devalued while Triple H rolled on strong. Now, Survivor Series was an equally poor night for both men, and has begun both of their downswings of the year. I will, in fact, give Survivor Series to Triple H, however, because I though HHH vs Koslov was a great match despite how much the crowd loved to yell boring. Just because there's no flips or suplexes doesn't mean it isn't a good match, damn it. Armageddon was weaker for Jericho than it was for HHH - HHH wasn't pinned, although he did lose, while Jericho tapped out.
So I'm basically gonna break it down by the PPVs and title reigns, because that's where it really counts.
Rumble - Triple H (Despite a loss, much better showing than Y2J/JBL)
No Way Out - Triple H (Wins the EC, which Jericho lost)
WM - Triple H (Strong match, loss, while Jericho had a weak showing in MITB and also lost)
Backlash - Triple H (Triple H wins WWE Championship, Jericho is SGR)
Judgment Day - Triple H (Strong cage match win, Jericho loses to HBK)
ONS - Triple H (Triple H wins LMS, Jericho not even in match)
NoC - Triple H (Jericho has a good match, but loses, Triple H has a strong match, and wins)
GAB - Triple H (Jericho wins with a boring match, Triple H wins with a good match)
SummerSlam - Triple H (Jericho has a promo that should have just been the main event on Raw, if that, while Triple H at least had a match, which he won)
Unforgiven - Tie (Jericho loses a good match to Michaels and wins WHC, Triple H retains in strong Scramble showing)
No Mercy - Jericho (Triple H wins strong match with Hardy, Jericho wins excellent ladder match)
Cyber Sunday - Triple H (Wins good match against Hardy, Jericho loses decent match to Batista)
Survivor Series - Triple H (Good HHH vs Koslov for most of the Triple Threat, IMO better than round 1 of Cena/Jericho)
Armageddon - Triple H (Triple H not pinned in Triple Threat, Jericho taps to Cena)
So Triple H with a PPV record of 12-1-1, with Jericho getting 1-12-1. In short - Jericho is, compared to Triple H, the Cincinnati Bengals of the WWE.
As far as title reigns go:
Triple H has one WWE Championship reign of seven months, while Jericho has one horrid IC reign of too long, two WHC reigns of a combined under 3 months. Shouldn't have to spell that one out.
In short - Triple H has had the strongest showing this year of any wrestler in the business.