So, here's my Top Ten list of 2007 as it stands now. I just want to note that I haven't finished Good Times, Great Memories, and I haven't seen Manhatten Mayhem II or Man Up yet. I also fell asleep ten minutes into Cena/Michaels II, so I don't have any solid opinion on that one yet. Anyhow, here's the list:
10) Samoa Joe vs. Takeshi Morishima (ROH Fifth Year Festival: New York City)
I pegged this one at ****1/4. It was a great power match, and I marked out a lot while watching it. This only lost points because I felt it went from "feeling out" to "going home" very quickly, so the match didn't feel complete in that sense. Still, a pleasure to watch, and the beginning of an awesome run for Morishima in ROH.
9) Takeshi Morishima vs. Claudio Castagnoli (ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1)
You know those matches where a title is on the line and you know for sure that the champion is going to retain? This could have easily been one of those matches, but it wasn't. For starters, Claudio was built up strongly before this event, winning the Race to the Top tournament. Then the match took place, and Claudio brought a crazy fight to the dominant Morishima, pushing him to the very limit. Sadly, Morishima was able to regain himself long enough to hit a single backdrop driver on Claudio for the win. Anticlimatic finish aside, this match was magic, and landed at ****1/4.
8) Takeshi Morishima and Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness and KENTA (ROH Respect is Earned)
Now we're enterting ****1/2 territory. This was the main event of ROH's first ever pay-per-view, and they didn't hold anything back and threw the top four stars they had out there to quickly establish personalities and roles for a new audience. We learned right away how ruthless Morishima could be, how agile KENTA is, and how intelligent and crafy Danielson is. What stood out here was the emergence of Nigel McGuinness as a top star to the new audience, as he appeared to be hurt and out of the match, but quickly got bandaged up to return and prove to us all what a tough competitor he is. I loved this match, it set the pay-per-view era off on the right foot.
7) Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. Matt Sydal and Claudio Castagnoli (ROH Respect is Earned)
By this point you're probably rolling your eyes over how ROH-heavy this list is, because I could give two shits. I call it like I see it. The Briscoes spent the entire year stealing show after show and pushing the limit (later in the year I would actually argue they pushed things too far, but that's a story for another day). Sydal and Castagnoli were a thrown together team for this one, but displayed some incredible chemistry and took the fight to the Briscoes. Speaking of the Briscoes, they were on fire here, and delivered some of the most breathtaking double team spots I've ever witnessed. I've said it before, but I'm not going to apologize for loving a spot-fest, which this was, if it is done well and makes me cheer. ****1/2.
6) John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE Wrestlemania 23)
This match got a lot of criticism due to Cena getting a lot of punishment to the knee and then no-selling it later in the match. This gripe didn't bother me that much, because the no-selling lead to a thrilling back and forth contest between two guys who set out to add a new chapter to both their respective legacies. This was the kind of outstanding singles Wrestlemania main event that we hadn't seen in several years and was a welcome return. ****1/2
5) Jay and Mark Briscoe vs. El Generico and Kevin Steen (ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1)
The Boston street fight was a war unlike the city had ever seen. It started with brawling through the crowd and ended up a series of devastating bumps in the ring. The hatred between these two teams was reaching scary levels of believability as the chair shots and broken tables began to add up. From what I've heard, the ladder war from Man Up topped this war, though reviews of the later match lead me to believe that they went too far with the violence. At least here, every spot and moment built and built until the final sickening moment when Steen dropped a Briscoe with the package piledriver onto the ladder. Steen and Generico got the upset and a moment of glory. ****1/2.
4) CIMA, Shingo, and Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito, and Masaaki Mochizuki (ROH Supercard of Honor II)
Now we are entering the ****3/4 territory. These six men set out to match the quality of the Dragon Gate six man from the original Supercard of Honor, and they came pretty damn close. The delight here was seeing them trying to have an awesome match, but not the same spot-fest from the year before. There was a lot of storytelling in this one, as well as a great mixture of styles with the inclusion of Shingo and Mochizuki. This was a match that I felt I could watch repeatedly, not get tired of it, and notice something new each time. A true classic.
3) John Cena vs. Umaga (WWE Royal Rumble)
My first impression after watching this match was that it was the MOTY and nothing would touch it. I turned out to be wrong, but I was still blown away by this. For starters, I don't really care for Umaga, as a character or a worker. That should tell you how much I enjoyed this match then. It was a last man standing match, and they worked the gimmick to perfection. They utilized their surroundings fantastically, including a nasty Umaga splash on the announce tables. What really put this over for me was the climatic finish, with Cena incorporating the broken ring ropes to trap Umaga in the STFU. I said it then as I'll say it now, this match deserves to be talked about for a long time. It was the best WWE match of 2007. ****3/4.
2) Nigel McGuinness vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH Driven)
These are two guys I will never get tired of seeing them wrestle each other. Each time they bring something new to the table and have a completely different great match. When I first heard about this one, people immediately said it was the best match they'd had yet, and I didn't believe it. I had trouble buying that it would top their match from Unified in 2006. How wrong I was. The aggression. The drama. The way both men got put over. A lot of people complained that Nigel was buried in 2007, all the while overlooking how he was put over huge on the pay-per-views. He looked stronger in defeat than most wrestlers look in victory. This lived up the hype and deserves to be talked about for a long time. ****3/4.
1) Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer (ROH Supercard of Honor II)
Nigel/Danielson almost knocked this one out of it's place. In the end, there were just too many factors putting this one over. It was the culmination of a year-long feud. It featured a wreslter I don't usually enjoy (BJ Whitmer) but dazzled me anyhow. It helped complete the transformation of Jimmy Jacobs into a disturbring psychopath. And it was brutal. The match took place in a cage and both men destroyed each other and both men were put on the shelf as a result. Jacobs tore up his knee and lost a tooth. No match in 2007 was more memorable or meaningful to me than this, so here it stands, as SamoaRowe's MOTY. ****3/4.
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