Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY List

1. Yuki Ishikawa + Alexander Otsuka + Munenori Sawa v Daisuke Ikeda + Katsumi Usuda + Super Tiger II BattlArts 7/26
2. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
3. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30
4. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
5. Teddy Hart v. Eddie Kingston v. Homicide JAPW 1/19
6. Yuki Ishikawa v. Carl Greco BattlArts 6/1
7. Necro Butcher v. Predator IGF 6/23
8. Blue Panther v. Atlantis EMLL 7/11
9. Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17
10. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
11. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness ROH 2/23
12. Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8
13. Trik Davis v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 8/17
14. Nigel McGuiness v. Austin Aries ROH 3/28
15. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
16. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30
17. El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30

1.Yuki Ishikawa + Alexander Otsuka + Munenori Sawa v Daisuke Ikeda + Katsumi Usuda + Super Tiger II BattlArts 7/26

This isn’t just the best match of this year, it is right up there with the best things ever done in this style. This is an elimination match which goes 40+ minutes and was even more brutal and awesome then it looked on paper. Everyone in this was on their games, Ikeda’s team was working heel, and they spent the early part of the match abusing and cheap shotting the faces, especially Sawa who was really great in the role of spunky young guy eating an asswhooping and showing stones. Because this was a tag, you had a lot of submissions being put on and saves being made, and man the saves were just horrific, stomps directly to the head, kicks square in the face, I mean you start cringing as soon as anyone comes into the ring. I hadn’t seen much Super Tiger II before, but he ruled here, really capturing the kind of awkward recklessness of Sayama’s UWF kicks. Your BattlArts big four were as great as they have ever been, Otsuka just brutalizing people with suplexes, and ripping out awesome mat counters, Usuda both taking and dishing out ungodly stiff shots, and Ishikawa and Ikeda being Ishikawa and Ikeda. Their interactions with each other are all you could possibly hope for, and there are parts near the end that almost feel like the last rounds of the Rumble in the Jungle with two guys punishing each other past the point of human tolerance. I don’t want to talk about any of the eliminations specifically, this is a match I don’t want to spoil, but when you have such brutality dished out during a match, you can fall into the trap of everything looking like a finish, and when everything looks like a finish, nothing looks like a finish. Here every elimination felt like exactly the point at which the guy should have been eliminated. This is a match I can’t imagine anyone who likes wrestling not loving, get your hands on it ASAP.


7. Blue Panther v. Atlantis EMLL 7/11

This is Atlantis’s anniversary match, and is the type of lucha that EMLL and AAA don’t do much of anymore. We get to see Panther work on the mat, which is always a pleasure. There is large points in the first fall where they go minutes without breaking contact, every move is a counter to a previous move. Second fall was short, and the third fall had topes from both guys, which kind of isn’t what you want to see from either, but your near falls at the end were pretty great lucha near falls. I especially loved Atlantis escaping all of Panther’s submission holds in cool ways, the counter of the tapitia was especially awesome. This wouldn’t stand out as much in more lucha friendly years, but this was a ray of sunshine in 2008

8. Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17

Necro is primarily an ROH guy now, but in ROH he hasn’t really broken out with the really unique matches he does in other promotions, I am not sure why, but nothing he has done in ROH captured my interest the way this match(or the second Low-Ki match, Super Dragon match or the Predator match) did. Scorpio is clearly unfamiliar with Necro, and there is this awesome point right after Necro blasts him with a right hand where you can see him mumble to himself something like “Okay this is the fucking game we are playing.” Scorpio is a guy who tagged with Vader and feuded with Daisuke Ikeda, he can bring the heat, and he sure as shit does here, punching and kicking Necro right in the face. Necro spends a bunch of the match working the kidneys with headbutts and body shots, which is a pretty smart strategy against a well know drug abuser like Scorp. This is more competitive then some of your Necro v. Big Star matches, as Necro gets some really big near falls before getting his face crushed by a Scorpio flipping leg drop. A total blast, I want a rematch, and I need to get my hands on more recent Scorpio.

12. Trik Davis v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 8/17

Nifty little under the radar match, I had never seen Callihan before and it had been a long time since I had seen Trik, so I wasn’t expecting anything. Instead you had a really stellar example of formula US indy wrestling. Both guys had a bunch of nifty shit, and unlike most matches with unique shit, all of this looked cool, was executed well and made sense with what they were shooting for with the match. Davis jumps Callihan and they brawl on the floor, with Callihan lariating the wall, and Davis working over the arm with some cool brawling spots, including wrapping in Finlay style in the ring skirt and yakuza kicking it. Then you had Davis working over Callihans lariat arm, and Callihan doing a neat job of toughing through the pain and working from behind. Never fell apart into thousand finisher land, never did anything so goofy looking that it lost me. This would have never been anything I would seek out, but I enjoyed way more then a lot of more pimped stuff from bigger names.