Phil's Ongoing 2008 MOTY List

1. Blue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/19
2. Yuki Ishikawa + Alexander Otsuka + Munenori Sawa v Daisuke Ikeda + Katsumi Usuda + Super Tiger II BattlArts 7/26
3. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer IWA-MS 3/1
4. Floyd Mayweather v. Big Show WWE 3/30
5. Mike Quakenbush v. Johnny Saint WXW 3/8
6. Teddy Hart v. Eddie Kingston v. Homicide JAPW 1/19
7. Yuki Ishikawa v. Carl Greco BattlArts 6/1
8. Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 10/4
9. Necro Butcher v. Predator IGF 6/23
10. Blue Panther v. Atlantis EMLL 7/11
11. Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17
12. B lue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/29
13. Yuki Ishikawa v. Alexander Otsuka RJPW 6/18
14. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
15. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness ROH 2/23
16. Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8
17. Trik Davis v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 8/17
18. Nigel McGuiness v. Austin Aries ROH 3/28
19. Evan Bourne v. Chavo Guererro WWE 10/14
20. Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
21. Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30
23. Blue Panther v. Averno CMLL 11/4
24. El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30

(After thinking some more about it, and rewatching Panther v. Villano V, I have switched 1 and 2, the BattlArts six man is totally awesome, but nothing is better then an emotional mascara contra mascara match when it is done well)

8. Necro Butcher v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 10/4

In most of your famous Necro matches he is a guy working from below, the crazy lunatic who takes a huge beating but is impossible to kill, and always has a punchers chance. Kind of dirty barefoot hillbilly Arturo Gatti. So it’s a cool reversal to see Necro as the unstoppable force and Callahan in the Necro Butcher role as the crazy brawler coming out like a buzzsaw and taking a huge beating. This is the equivalent of a short toe to toe boxing brawl, as both guys just go at each other with nasty shots, neither taking a backwards step. Callihan also did some cool counter wrestling, as he was working as almost a protégé v. mentor thing, guy who studied the master and knew his every move. Finish was perfect, as Callihan survived a lot, avoided a lot, but fell to the KO punch. Shockingly awesome match, and IWA-MS has delivered some great great stuff this year.

12. Blue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/29

This is the revanche match in Arena Puebla 10 days after Panther lost his mask, and he comes out battling. There are a lot of spots from the mask match, including Panther impaling Villano in chairs with a tope, and Villano hitting his awesome superplex (although when he goes for multiple superplexes ala the mask match, Panther counters). One thing that really changed in this match, is that Villano took Panther mask, and is no longer the underdog, the roles have reversed and he has Panthers number .He really overwhelms Panther during the brawling, pounding him, and Panther has to crawl for the ropes mutiple times, and is forced grab a armbar out of nowhere to take control. Villanos 3 and 4 come in to break that up and they really deliver a nasty postmach beatdown, 3 was really throwing some nasty punches and headbutts. Another great match, and I need to see all of this feud.

23. Blue Panther v. Averno CMLL 11/4

Panther has been in some big time brawls this year, but this his anniversary match and is much more Maestro style. Lots of nifty grabbing of holds, including the keylock lift spot which is my all time favorite Panther spot. Averno is clearly along for the ride though which stops this from being as great as matches with two Maestros against each other. It is still really fun to watch Panther basically work counters with himself.