Phil's Ongoing 2007 MOTY List

1. Nigel McGuinness v. Samoa Joe ROH 3/3
2. John Cena v. Umaga WWE 1/28
3. Nigel McGuinness v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 4/14
4. Chris Harris v. James Storm TNA 5/13
5. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer ROH 3/4
6. Samoa Joe v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 2/16
7. Shawn Micheals v. John Cena WWE 4/23
8. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer ROH 3/31
9. Solar 1/Mano Negra v. Negro Navarro/Black Terry Lucha Libre VIP 3/10
10. MNM v. Hardy Boyz WWE 1/28
11. Briscoes v. Ricky Marvin/Kontaro Suzuki NOAH 1/21
12. John Cena v. Great Khali 5/20
13. Finlay v. Undertaker 3/6 WWE
14. Briscoes v. Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH 4/14
15. Colt Cabana v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 2/24
16. Takeshi Sasaki v. Yuki Miyamoto BJW 3/14
17. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels WWE 4/1
18. Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori/Kazunari Murakami v. Kohei Sato/Hirotaka Yokoi/Yoshiro Takayama Zero 1 1/19
19. Matt Sydal v. The Man Gravity Forgo PAC ROH 3/4
20. Davey Richards/Roderick Strong v. Jack Evans/Delirious ROH 4/14
21. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takuma Sano NOAH 4/28
22. Chris Benoit v. MVP 4/10
23. Nigel McGuiness v. Jimmy Rave ROH 3/4
24. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJ 4/13
25. Matt Hardy v. Ken Kennedy WWE 3/13


Previously on the list

Necro Butcher v. Toby Klien CZW 1/13
Chris Benoit v. Chavo Guerrero WWE 1/16
BJ Whitmer v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 1/27
Samoa Joe v. Eddie Kingston FSM 3/17
Takeshi Morishima/Mohammed Yone v. Jun Akiyama/Takeshi Rikio NOAH 4/1
Undertaker v. Batista WWE 4/1

4. Chris Harris v. James Storm TNA 5/13

I have been watching TNA off and on from the beginning of the promotion and for the most part it has been a steaming cauldron of liquid shit. AMW have been some of the only exceptions, they are a pair of guys who started in a Prentice fed so they had plenty of opportunities to wrestle Well Dunn and Wolfie D and learn how to work. They were really great as a babyface tag team, although they weren't as good in Orlando as they were in Nashville, I had mixed feelings going into this match. I had some confidence in both guys, but it is Russo TNA, plus tag team explodes matches usually are disappointing. I liked Gibson v. Morton okay, but I can't really think of any matches that were great. Here is the exception that proved the rule, as this was spectacular. Sometimes Texas Death matches can be hurt by having too many falls, but here every fall felt like it should end the match. Plus unlike a lot of current feud brawls, this really felt like a fight, this was the best I have ever seen Harris's punches look for example. The catapult into the bottom of the table was crazy and the pools of blood were sick. I also really loved the finish with both guys throwing bottle shots at the same time and Harris hitting first. The quicker and straighter shots will land first, and getting hit while you are throwing a punch is exactly how you get KO'ed, plus the bottle and all.

8. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer ROH 3/31

I was anticipating this match as much as any match I can remember, so I was bound to be a little disappointed. Jacobs was spectacular as usual, as he is really the only guy fucking with Cena for the first part of 2007. Much like the Cabana match this started out amazing, but seemed to fall a little flat. The Frye/Takayama spot with the spikes was one of my favorite spots in the history the promotion, just so awesome and violent. Jacobs creepy blood fetish stuff was super too, licking Whitmer's face, combing his hair with the barbed wire bat, stabbing himself with the spike, just gruesome. Plus those fucking tights with one crying eye and one bleeding eye were just off the chain, if it wouldn't effect my burial, I would get that as a tattoo. The senton from the top of the cage is a hell of a way to finish the feud and both guys looked completely destroyed. Still this match had some problems. Having Nick Diaz come from the back with weapons to slide into the cage was terrible. Both guys have seconds, they could certainly grab things from the bottom of the ring. You would think if Diaz was going to bring them anything it would be a one hitter so they wouldn't feel pain. This was also the first match of the series where Whitmer was all Whitmerish. He busted out his shitty suplex combinations, and there were parts of the match where it felt like they were doing a "hot indy wrestling 2.9 section," which is exactly the wrong thing for a match like this. Still in a year with a bunch of spectacular brawls this was right up there with them.