Phil's Ongoing 2007 MOTY List

1. Nigel McGuinness v. Bryan Danielson ROH 6/23
2. Nigel McGuinness v. Samoa Joe ROH 3/3
3. John Cena v. Umaga WWE 1/28
4. Eddie Kingston v. Chris Hero IWA-MS 9/29
5. Bryan Danielson v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 8/25
6. Nigel McGuinness v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 4/14
7. Chris Harris v. James Storm TNA 5/13
8. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer ROH 3/4
9. Samoa Joe v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 2/16
10. Matt Hardy v. Finlay WWE 6/19
11. Shawn Micheals v. John Cena WWE 4/23
12. Jimmy Jacobs v. B.J. Whitmer ROH 3/31
13. Solar 1/Mano Negra v. Negro Navarro/Black Terry Lucha Libre VIP 3/10
14. MNM v. Hardy Boyz WWE 1/28
15. Briscoes v. Ricky Marvin/Kontaro Suzuki NOAH 1/21
16. Bryan Danielson/Takeshi Morishima v. KENTA/Nigel McGuiness ROH 5/12
17. John Cena v. Great Khali 5/20
18. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Bison Smith NOAH 6/3
19. John Cena v. King Booker v. Bobby Lashley v. Mick Foley v. Randy Orton WWE 6/24
20. Necro Butcher v. Jay Briscoe ROH
21. Briscoes v. Murder City Machine Guns ROH 4/28
22. Finlay v. Undertaker 3/6 WWE
23. Briscoes v. Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH 4/14
24. Colt Cabana v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 2/24
25. Takeshi Sasaki v. Yuki Miyamoto BJW 3/14



Previously on the list

Necro Butcher v. Toby Klien CZW 1/13
Chris Benoit v. Chavo Guerrero WWE 1/16
Shinjiro Ohtani/Takao Omori/Kazunari Murakami v. Kohei Sato/Hirotaka Yokoi/Yoshiro Takayama Zero 1 1/19
BJ Whitmer v. Jimmy Jacobs ROH 1/27
Nigel McGuiness v. Jimmy Rave ROH 3/4
Matt Sydal v. The Man Gravity Forgo PAC ROH 3/4
Matt Hardy v. Ken Kennedy WWE 3/13
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
John Cena v. Shawn Michaels WWE 4/1
Chris Benoit v. MVP 4/10
Yuji Nagata v. Hiroshi Tanahashi NJ 4/13
Davey Richards/Roderick Strong v. Jack Evans/Delirious ROH 4/14
Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takuma Sano NOAH 4/28
John Cena v. Great Khali v. Umaga WWE 6/4

1. Nigel McGuinness v. Bryan Danielson ROH 6/23

Man alive, this is how you end a PPV. These guys have a real formula worked out with each other, and it is really great to see how they adjust that formula in their different matches. I loved all of the opening matwork, all of the stuff with Nigel in the guard, and Danielson digging his knuckles into the temple was spectacular, I loved how they did the MMA spots, but made them pro-wrestlingy. I thought the selling in this match was actually pretty top shelf. Nigel often works restarts into his big matches, but here he kind of did mini-restarts throughout the match, toughing his way through moves he normally does easier. The fighting into the Tower of London was especially awesome. This match really felt like it was the stylistic offspring of all of those Regal v. Benoit matches, like this was the main event match those two never got to have with each other. Of course it is hard to watch both of these guys slam their heads into each other until they bleed without thinking about ghosts. Still great art is often tinged with tragedy, and this is the best piece of wrestling art this year.

4. Eddie Kingston v. Chris Hero IWA-MS 9/29

2007 is the clearly the year of the Last Man Standing match. I still prefer an old fashioned Texas Death Match, but that is mainly because I am official old and cantakerous. Last Man Standing does allow you to hit big crazy moves without preposterous kick outs, and man alive did these two take advantage of that. The nerd in me really loves this feud because they run it in so many promotions. These guys hate each other, and will try to kill each other where ever they are, it's like Dusty and Funk, if they are in a promotion together, they are making each other bleed. They start out brawling from the locker into the crowd, and they are really laying into each other in super awkward ways, throwing chairs recklessly, punching each other in the nose, headbutts. They both keep grasping for the other persons eyes to break holds, it wasn't a wrestling eye rake, but more like a bar fight eye rake. Kingston is a really great in ring shitalker and he is always badmouthing Hero, "kill me motherfucker, you better kill me." He also does a great job with wobbly half concussed selling, Hero is also great doing his indy horseshit gimmick in a sick brawl, I loved the Cloverleaf while sitting in a chair. After they get into the ring the white hot death ensues, and there are sick bumps galore. Hero doing the Hero's welcome off the top with the chair around Kingston's neck, Hero double stomping a rail on Kingston. The finish was Kingston hitting three backdrop drivers on Hero, with the third on a propped up guard rail which is just uncalled for. Ended when it should, filled with horrific violence, this is all you could possibly ask for.

5. Bryan Danielson v. Takeshi Morishima ROH 8/25

Morishima has been kind of a weird guy in 2007, completely inconsistant, he has been in a lot of very good matches, matches on this list, and things that just missed making it, however he can also be in some train wrecks. Weirdly alot of his worst matches came against guys he trained with in Japan, the KENTA abortion for the title, some really lackluster tags. This was the best match of his career, and it feels like a Bryan Danielson show. Morishima is at his best when he is a fat dude kicking peoples ass, and at his worst when he works like a junior who is retaining water. One reason this update has taken so long is that I have been engrossed in Mid-South and UWF for the 80's project. They have a ton of big bumping big dudes. Terry Gordy bumpes huge, One Man Gang bumps huge, even Kamala will fly all over the ring. What really seperates One Man Gang from Morishima at his worst, is that when the Gang bumps for a Duggan punch it feels like the felling of a redwood, sure the bump is impressive looking, but so is an avalanche. While Morishima when he works with juniors has these athletic bumps, that look like athletic bumps. He bumps for KENTA the same way Marifuji does, he will also bump early and often so they don't mean very much. What makes this match so great, is that he worked this like the One Man Gang. He is a giant dude who will kill you, and you had better chop away at, if you have any chance of knocking off his feet.

The early Marco Ruas leg kicks by Dragon were great, and I dug the fuck out of Morishima wincing but moving forward. Then the ass beating commenced. Dragon has a ton of over finisher, so he can really mix a bunch of believable near falls. Still Morishima was killing him, nutty lariet, sick backdrop suplex, plus in some ways the injury added to the match. Morishima looked like a killer here which is how he should pretty much always look.

20. Necro Butcher v. Jay Briscoe ROH 10/6

The Age of Fall's entrance music is women screaming, and I wonder how many erections that popped among the social degenerate Jersey ROH fans. Jay's new neck tattoo is #1 and the best. The match itself was pretty godamn great, both guys beat the everloving shit out of each other and I liked how they brawled to each part of the crowd, giving every fan a chance to get run over. Necro takes his requisite five insane bumps. Still the thing that ruled the most was their end of the match punch exchange, Necro's right hand looked Pavlikesque. Jay really needed to bring it a little more on the comeback, it's the Necro Butcher, punch him in the face. For a guy who a large minority of the ROH board hates, and works nothing like the ROH archtype style, it amuses me how often Necro Butcher works main events. I actually have to give Gabe some credit there, and I am all in favor of Necro mained ROH cards.