Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY list

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
2. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30
3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
4. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
5. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
6. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30

1. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
This was probably the feud of the year in 2007, and after they wrapped it up in ROH, they moved it over to IWA. I think this was the best of their matches, as this was Whitmer being the least Whitmerish. No real goofball fake Akiyama shit, no 2.9ish wrestling, just taking a beating and giving one. Jacobs was the face here, which differentiates it from the ROH feud, I don't really understand the booking, as Jacobs threw the title in the trash, but Fanin was the heel who couldn't let go of the faces betrayal. It works better as a match, Jacobs is a great heel, but he is also a great sympathetic babyface, while Whitmer is a wholly unappealing guy, which makes it difficult to buy him as a babyface. As a greasy faced scumbag gun for hire, he works fine. The short hair is a good look for Whitmer, he kind of looks like a small time Irish mob legbreaker, instead of a long haired Dark Star Orchestra roadie. I loved the restart, with Fanin refusing to let the ref stop it, when Jacobs was destroyed in the corner. You also have to love the Sullivan spike as a babyface move, and the Frye/Takayama double spike spot is spectacular. Plus fuck what an ending, if a homemade vasectomy can't cause a guy to quit, then nothing will.

3. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
You have to admire Quakenbush, he is a backyarder without training who has gone on to work Mexico, Japan, Europe, run his own acclaimed school and indy and book himself into dream matches like this. I expected this to be an amusing exhibition , with Quack getting to work his idol and Saint doing some of his spots, but there is no way I expected this to be good. Saint always worked a style with a minimum number of bumps, so he was going to hold up well, but he is as slick and fast at 67 as he was in the 70’s footage we have of him. Some of the coolest counter wrestling I have ever seen, but it wasn’t just an exhibition of cool moves.

They worked a great little story, with Saint starting the match enjoying the crowd reaction and having fun, but slowly getting more serious as the match goes on. This young kid has counters to his counters, and Saint tightens up his wrestling as the match goes on, cranking a little harder on the holds, smacking his leg across Quack’s face. Saint is a competitor, and if he is out there, he is out to win. Meanwhile Quack isn’t going to give any quarter either. By the end they were in a real struggle, and it was awesome. Great match, and I would absolutely buy a DVD for a rematch.