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. Rey Cometa/Pegasso/Freelance vs Los Oficiales IWRG 10/17
10. Bull Pain/Todd Morton v. Jerry Lawler/Chris Michaels XCW-Midwest 8/9
11. Mystico De La Juarez/Silver King/Rubi Gardenia v. Cassandro/Magno/El Hijo Del Santo Lucha Libre London 12/9
12. Necro Butcher v. Predator IGF 6/23
13. Necro Butcher v. 2 Cold Scorpio IWA-MS 8//17
14. Low-Ki v. Chris Hero PWG 11/2
15. Blue Panther v. Atlantis CMLL 7/11
16. Blue Panther v. Villano V CMLL 9/29
17. Meiko Satomura v. Aja Kong SENDAI 10/26
18. Yuki Ishikawa v. Alexander Otsuka RJPW 6/18
19. Mitsuhara Misawa v. Takeshi Morishima NOAH 3/2
20. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness ROH 2/23
21. Erick Stevens v. Roderick Strong FIP 2/8
22. Trik Davis v. Sami Callihan IWA-MS 8/17
23. Hayato Jr. Fujita v. Yoshitune MPRO 12/12
24. Evan Bourne v. Chavo Guererro WWE 10/14
25. Finlay v. Chuck Palumbo WWE 5/20



(In addition to adding Ki v. Hero, I moved around some things)

Previously on the List

Nigel McGuiness v. Austin Aries ROH 3/28
Shawn Michaels v. Ric Flair WWE 3/30
Finlay v. JBL WWE 3/30
El Valiente + El Hijo Del Fantasma + La Mascara v. La Sombra + Volador Jr. + Sagrado CMLL 4/30
Blue Panther v. Averno CMLL 11/4

14. Low-Ki v. Chris Hero PWG 11/2

I was live at the 2001 ECWA Super 8, which was the birth of current indy wrestling. The thing about most Northern Indies prior to 2001 is that they were even looser then the WWF, which looks really bad when you are 10 feet away from the action. It got to the point when you would get excited when Tom Brandi threw a noisy knife edge chop. So here come Dragon and Ki delivering brutal back and forth shots and what they are doing is so different then everyone else it was just captivating. Now you can show up to any indy show and the guys in the first match are shoot kicking each other in the face, stiffness, like head drops and crazy bumps and dives are something which have lost pretty much all of their value in and of themselves.

Ki is on his way to the WWE, so this was his swan song in the style he created. It was a catchy little song, Hero and Ki start with some nice tight matwork early and Ki opens it up with a brutal soccer kick to Hero’s face busting his nose. Undaunted Hero fires back with a brutal forearm, that either rung Ki’s bell or Ki sold his ass off (I actually think it was selling, as he didn’t blow anything later.) You get Hero working him over for a while, Ki has a big comeback and you have a really great finish, All you could possibly want out of a Low-Ki match. PWG isn’t a promotion I normally care for, most of the pimped PWG matches really feel like bloated Directors Cuts of good matches. They are in LA, if they hired a film student to cut three minutes here, take the selling here and put it someplace else, then move around the finish, they would be in better shape. This match however didn’t feel like Cimino got carte blanche, someone cut 10 minutes from the roller skating scene and it really worked.