Phil's Ongoing 2009 MOTY List

1. Jack Swagger v. Christian WWE 2/24
2. Negro Navarro/Claudio Castegnoli/Mr. Ferrari v. Mike Quackenbush/Solar/Kendo LLM 3/8
3. Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castegnoli/Dave Taylor v. Johnny Saint/Mike Quackenbush/Skyade Chikara 3/28
4. Negro Casas/Heavy Metal v. La Sombra/ Volador Jr. CMLL 2/13
5. Rey Mysterio v. Chris Jericho v. Kane v. Mike Knox v. Edge v. John Cena WWE 2/15
6. Necro Butcher v. Hernandez JAPW 1/24
7. John Cena v. Big Show WWE 2/27
8. Bill Dundee v. Jerry Lawler NWA-ME 3/7

2. Negro Navarro/Claudio Castegnoli/Mr. Ferrari v. Mike Quackenbush/Solar/Kendo LLM 3/8

Just a tremendous match. Navarro is a physical specimen live, he is 51 years old, but built like a tank. He really looks like he would kick the shit out of you, which isn't something you would say about anyone else on this card. I have read some people criticize Solar and Negro Navarro by saying that the wrestle in a vacumn without regard to the crowd. That criticism was really shown to be bullshit, I doubt there were very many people at this show who were familiar with either guy, but they both acted like and were treated like stars. The Navarro v. Quack exchanges were truly awesome. The first fall really established Navarro as the superior guy, he would reverse out of Quack's submissions, and when he would he would wrench one on Quack and then release it, the way you might imagine a jujitsu black belt would if he was rolling with a student. Showing Quackenbush who was boss, so when Quack finally catches him in the second fall, you can see why he loses his cool and starts brawling. Such a nifty little story, and so much cooler then if Solar and Navarro just did their mat section. Lucha Libre trios are often focused on one match up, with the other 4 guys being secondary, and I was really impressed with how well everyone else in this match played a secondary role. Riling up the crowd, working cool exchanges, while still allowing the Quackenbush v. Navarro showdown to take precedence. I know Quack is going to be out for a while with surgery, but I hope we get to see that singles match he teased us with.

3. Bryan Danielson/Claudio Castegnoli/Dave Taylor v. Johnny Saint/Mike Quackenbush/Skyade Chikara 3/28

This was the match I traveled to Philly and endured a Chikara undercard to see and it did not disappoint. There are a ton of intriguing match ups in this match and we really got to see them all. Much of this match was an exhibition of the cool shit that Saint, Taylor and Skyade can do, and really that would have been enough for me. Danielson however really brought the match to a different level. His constant frustration at being shown up by Saint and Skyade led him to heel it up and he takes it right to Quackenbush and they end up doing some great looking brawling. Danielson even forearmed Saint on the ring apron, and chucked him over the top rope (yup Saint took an over the top bump to the floor.) You came out of this match clamoring for a Quack v. Dragon blood feud. Still as great as really everyone was in this match, this was a Johnny Saint show, lots of crazy counters, and insane submission holds (his octopus variations were especially great), it is such a trip to watch him twist and turn his way out of holds, he looked great against all three of team Uppercut, working each guy subtlety different. You have got to love Quackenbush for putting this kind of odd shit together.


6. Necro Butcher v. Hernandez JAPW 1/24

These guys feuded at the beginning of the decade in Texas and they brought their old feud to JAPW. This was the crazy Necro brawl you would hope for, with Hernandez more then willing to bring the lunacy. Hell the biggest bump in the match was Hernandez taking a bulldog off the apron into a table, you usually don’t see Necro out bumped in matches like this. Although taking the Border Toss through a thick wood plank is a hell of a second place bump. Necro was actually working heel here, which I haven’t seen him do in ages as he tries to murder Hotstuff with a plastic bag. Post match angle really brings it over the top as Jay Briscoe and Brodie Lee come out to form the Hillbilly Wrecking Crew, they lay waste to LAX and bury Homicide below the Confederate flag while Jay gets on the mike a screams “Fuck Barack Obama and fuck all you dirty Mexicans.” Post match Homicide threatens to be the G.G. Allen of wrestling and take a shit on all three of them, and I am totally amped for this feud.


8. Bill Dundee v. Jerry Lawler NWA-ME 3/7

This may be the greatest match up in wrestling history and it is so awesome that we got to see it again. They may not be able to match athletically what they could do in their primes (although Lawler’s dropkick looked amazing) but the execution on their moves still looked tremendous and they are both masters at working a crowd. This started out face v. face with both guys being cheered but Dundee can turn a crowd, and he mixed stalling and begging off with a vicious attack. Lots of nasty little things, including running clips and nasty stomps to Lawler’s calves. Lawler took some big bumps including getting dropped throat first on a chair. I would have liked to see a bit of a better ending, but this was much more then you can expect from a guy in his late 50’s and a guy in his 60’s. Awesome stuff.