Much like I said last night with my "just missed" list, I tend to ramble A LOT with these kind of things. Unnecessarily, but you know, it's just me
. So the list by itself is at the bottom here in case you don't feel like reading a ton of crap. Keeping in mind all I watched this year was WWE, TNA, ROH, CHIKARA, and CZW from January/June, here is my Top 20 of 07.
20) TNA Sacrifice - Texas Death Match - Chris Harris vs. James StormKicking my list off with a hell of a brawl from back in May. Following what I consider to be the worst match of the year in April, these guys totally rebounded and stole the show at Sacrifice. In a complete bloodbath, Chris Harris finally defeated his former partner James Storm following a barrage of finishers. Appropriately enough, with a beer bottle to the head.
19) ROH Supercard of Honor II - CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka & Shingo vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki MochizukiHow do you follow up the 2006 match of the year from ROH Supercard of Honor? By rematching it at Supercard of Honor II of course. While this one didn’t live up to the incredible precedent set by it’s counterpart a year earlier, it still delivered some of the most scintillating action in Detroit that weekend. Great job playing off the match a year earlier with Dragon Kid having his rana reversed for the deciding pinfall.
18) ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1 - Boston Street Fight: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El GenericoI know I have this much lower than most people (I’ve seen some have this as their MOTY), but while I loved it I didn’t think it was as good as their ladder match. A balls to the wall street fight none the less. The heat in this feud really came through in this one. Steen and Generico got a much needed win, and gave the fans a memorable match to end Night 1.
17) WWE Wrestlemania 23 - WWE Championship: John Cena(c) vs. Shawn MichaelsWhile Batista/Undertaker is more praised and held more highly by others, to me this was easily the best match to come from Wrestlemania this year, and one of WWE’s best overall. What causes it to be ranked lower is the fact that quite frankly going in there wasn’t a lot of belief that Shawn Michaels would be dethroning SuperCena. Still, there is no denying the action and great big match wrestling in this one. Shawn busting out the moonsault to the announce table, Cena taking a piledriver on the steps, and the finisher spots truly made this one a classic for me.
16) ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 2 - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Brent Albright Another controversial choice as the clear favorite of most from DBD weekend was the Morishima/Claudio match. Great match, and it was in my first countdown, however this match grabbed me and totally sucked me in the entire way. Morishima was in the ring with someone who could manhandle him, toss him around, match him power and strength wise. The nearfall following the two half nelson suplexes was every bit what the false finish following the Ricola Bomb was. Albright really cemented himself with this performance. Sadly now he’s stuck in the Hangm3n, and no where within a sniff of title contention.
15) TNA Destination X - NWA Heavyweight Championship: Christian Cage(c) vs. Samoa JoeMy favorite match from TNA this year happened in March at the Destination X PPV. Many fans saw this as the night Joe would take the big step forward and FINALLY win the big one and become the top man in the company. It showed too, as the closing minutes of this match were incredibly heated. Joe seemed to have it in his grasp time and time again, but Christian kept finding a way out. Finally Christian used the ropes to steal the pin, leaving Joe and his fans wondering “if not now, then when?” once more. One of Christian’s best efforts not only in TNA, but since the latter years of his WWE career IMO.
14) WWE No Mercy - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing: HHH(c) vs. Randy OrtonNormally a triple shot of HHH in one night would be too much for anyone to bear. Luckily in this case it was totally worth it, as one of WWE’s most intriguing events of the year came to an end with a second title change. One of Orton’s better matches in a long time, which set the pace for the last couple of months where he’s been lighting it up in the ring. RKO on the announce table, 10 count, and HHH loses the WWE Championship after a 2 hour reign.
13) ROH Man Up - ROH World Tag Team Championships - Ladder War: Jay & Mark Briscoe(c) vs. Kevin Steen & El GenericoI expect to take a load of crap for this one being placed this low. I have no less than 8 ROH matches ahead of it, including two brawls. This match was great, without question. I don’t fault anyone for having it as the best all year, but I just didn’t see it that way. All the respect in the world for these 4 killing themselves in front of Chicago. Great way to cap off the feud of the year. I just can’t have it in my Top 10 when I didn’t see it as the instant classic so many others did. Anyone willing to take Package Piledrivers and Jay Drillers through ladders deserves your respect though, see this if you haven’t.
12) ROH Manhattan Mayhem II - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Bryan DanielsonBryan Danielson’s first shot at the ROH World Championship since his loss to Homicide at Final Battle. The match almost got ruined part way though as Danielson suffered an eye injury thanks to some stiff shots from Morishima. Dragon is a warrior though and battled through it. This match was everything people had hoped it would be as far as the in ring work went. Danielson employed a strategy no one had used against the big man yet, and it was very effective. Still, all the leg work in the world couldn’t stop the Backdrop Driver and the win for Shima. Another case though of people just liking it more than I did. I think this is the second best of their three matches thus far, and one of those moments where you’re reminded just how good Dragon is.
11) ROH Driven - Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA These two went at it for the ROH World Title at Glory By Honor a year ago. It was a runaway for match of the year for me, and to this day the greatest match I’ve seen in my life. So how about the rematch? Well it was taken down a notch from the get go with no title being on the line. That tends to add a lot to a match for me, when you include that kind of dynamic. None the less, I don’t have a bad thing to say about this one. They played off their first encounter beautifully, each executing the other’s finisher on the other at one point in time. Finally KENTA hit Dragon with the Go 2 Sleep, and avenged his loss from last September. Buy the “Driven” DVD just for this, it’s worth it even if you saw the PPV already.
10) ROH Glory By Honor VI Night 2 - Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi MorishimaI mentioned before that I felt the first match between these two was the second best of their series. Saturday night may bring something better, but for now this is the best encounter I’ve seen between Shima and Danielson. The type of match they had was totally different. It wasn’t about the great wrestling or the ROH Championship. By this point Morishima had tried to permanently injure Dragon, so headlocks and surfboards were the last thing on Dragon’s mind. This was a straight up fight. A DQ finish would usually kill a match for me, however when the DQ is the result of multiple curb stomps to the balls, I can look past it. Awesome fight, simply awesome.
9) WWE Raw (04/23/07) - John Cena vs. Shawn MichaelsIf someone had told me there would be one match that would take up ½ of a Raw I’d have said you were foolish. Yet there we all were in April watching as HBK and John Cena wrestled for a full hour (TV time) on Monday Night Raw from England. Some people have used this match to make a case for Cena as a great
wrestler, others have used it to proclaim that HBK is still the man. Either way you look at it, this was one for the free TV ages and something I don’t know that we’ll ever see again. Shawn winning clean didn’t hurt things either honestly. Overcome THAT!
8) ROH FYF: Chicago - Windy City Death Match: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy JacobsAs Jimmy Jacobs waged war with BJ Whitmer, there was a bit of a sidestep along the way and that detour took Jimmy through Chicago, ILL. and in to war against the usually happy go lucky Colt Cabana. There was a good storyline behind this one, history, and tie ins to the best feud ROH had going to that point. As for the match itself, these two killed each other. Colt bled buckets and made Jimmy look like a real threat as a sadistic lunatic. One really awesome spot saw Jimmy drill Colt with a back senton off the top of a ladder in the ring through a table on the floor. Colt won with the Colt .45, wrapping up what would be his last major feud in ROH before departing for WWE.
7) WWE Royal Rumble - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing: John Cena(c) vs. UmagaThis was the match that made me begin turning the corner on John Cena as an in ring performer. These two took a match I had low expectations for and absolutely blew me away. Cena brawled like his life was really on the line, and Umaga was a total beast in attempting to tear away the WWE Championship. The running splash across the three announce tables was something unique and fresh, as was the great finish with the STFU using the ring rope. Both guys came out of this one better than when they went in. Book Cena in more brawls, I’ll like him a ton more.
6) CZW Out With The Old, In With The New - Loser Leaves CZW: Chris Hero vs. Eddie KingstonThis was far from a technical classic, a mat clinic, or a hold for hold masterpiece. This match was built on pure hatred and emotion. Even during the entrances this match felt like something special. The heat between these two is so well known, and it made this even more of a spectacle than it would have been anyway. I can still hear the sick sounds when these two were headbutting one another. It’s as simple as this: Hero and Kingston beat the s*** out of one another. Most emotionally fueled match I’ve seen in 07, and by far and away the best thing I saw in CZW from what I watched.
5) WWE Vengeance - World Heavyweight Championship: Edge(c) vs. BatistaWhile I was never really overly impressed with any of his work with Undertaker (sorry, just being honest), I found Batista’s work with Edge to usually be good at least. At Vengeance though, they took it to another level. I think my disdain for Batista as champion helped fuel this. I wanted nothing more than for him to be officially eliminated from title contention, and if you recall a win by Edge would do just that. Better in ring work than you would expect from these two, then a cheap DQ finish. Once Teddy Long came out and restarted it though things got crazy. 2-3 times from memory I can recall going back and forth from giving up all hope to being ecstatic. Finally when Batista was counted out and lost via his own mistake, I actually shot out of my chair in excitement. WWE doesn’t do that to me anymore. Well done guys, well done. My choice for WWE match of the year.
4) ROH FYF: Finale - Jay Briscoe vs. Mark BriscoeIn 2002-2003 before the Briscoes tag team became one of the best going, the two brothers had a series of matches against one another. Some good, some excellent. Really helped put them on the map. In 2007 following a Tag Team Championship loss, they agreed to square off one last time. Very similar to Hero/Kingston, this was 30 minutes of the Briscoes killing each other. Consider it Hero/Kingston with more flash. These two could easily survive as singles guys if they had to, for sure. Double count out was perfectly acceptable in this circumstance to me, and punctuated the best wrestling match in ROH’s Fifth Year Festival.
3) ROH Supercard Of Honor II - Steel Cage Showdown: Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer If Kingston/Hero was the most emotionally charged match I saw this year, then this is the greatest culmination to a storyline all year. After well over a year of feuding, it all came down to Detroit in a steel cage. Jacobs lost two teeth, took a brainbuster through a chair, got beaten from post to post, and everything in between. BJ took a rana reversal off the top rope, steel chair shots, a back senton from the top of the cage, and other assorted brutality. These two stood face to face and stabbed each other with spikes! The visual at the end of Jimmy standing on top of the cage with the spotlight directly behind him before the final move was a picture perfect moment. A lot of the time the blow off matches in feuds can’t quite live up, but that was far from the case here. Amazing match that was damn near impossible to top all year for me. Yet, it was...
2) ROH Good Times, Great Memories - ROH World Tag Team Championships: Jay & Mark Briscoe(c) vs. Alex Shelley & Chris SabinIn a time where tag wrestling is totally dead in the biggest American promotion, you’ll still find rays of hope elsewhere. I don’t remember the exact length of this match. It was between 35-42 minutes, but every second of it was quality. If this is the way Alex Shelley is to be remembered in ROH from here on, it’s a hell of a way to go out. No flaw in this match. No mistakes, no imperfections. This is what tag team wrestling is supposed to be in my eyes. The false finish with the Cut-Throat Driver was just the cherry on top. So how do you top a near perfect match?....
1) ROH Driven - Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness ....by sticking Bryan Danielson and Nigel McGuinness together. For the vast majority of the PPV audience who were new to Ring of Honor, this was a slap in the face and the best damn wake up call ever. These two took their Liverpool match, and somehow topped it. They mixed the best straight up wrestling all year with the intensity of Danielson/Morishima and the athleticism of the Briscoes best matches. I was on my feet for the final sequence with the running headbutts which led to Danielson getting busted open hard way. This is how you put your best foot forward on pay per view. This is the best match I’ve seen in 2007, and tops many of what I saw in 06 as well. Everytime I start to think I’m tiring of this rivalry, they find a new way to top themselves. All that remains is for Nigel to get his big win over Dragon. That’s for later though, for now appreciate the hell out of this match. It damn well deserves it.
Quick recap:
20) TNA Sacrifice - Texas Death Match - Chris Harris vs. James Storm
19) ROH Supercard of Honor II - CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka & Shingo vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki
18) ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 1 - Boston Street Fight: Jay & Mark Briscoe vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
17) WWE Wrestlemania 23 - WWE Championship: John Cena(c) vs. Shawn Michaels
16) ROH Death Before Dishonor V Night 2 - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Brent Albright
15) TNA Destination X - NWA Heavyweight Championship: Christian Cage(c) vs. Samoa Joe
14) WWE No Mercy - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing: HHH(c) vs. Randy Orton
13) ROH Man Up - ROH World Tag Team Championships - Ladder War: Jay & Mark Briscoe(c) vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico
12) ROH Manhattan Mayhem II - ROH World Championship: Takeshi Morishima(c) vs. Bryan Danielson
11) ROH Driven - Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA
10) ROH Glory By Honor VI Night 2 - Bryan Danielson vs. Takeshi Morishima
9) WWE Raw (04/23/07) - John Cena vs. Shawn Michaels
8) ROH FYF: Chicago - Windy City Death Match: Colt Cabana vs. Jimmy Jacobs
7) WWE Royal Rumble - WWE Championship - Last Man Standing: John Cena(c) vs. Umaga
6) CZW Out With The Old, In With The New - Loser Leaves CZW: Chris Hero vs. Eddie Kingston
5) WWE Vengeance - World Heavyweight Championship: Edge(c) vs. Batista
4) ROH FYF: Finale - Jay Briscoe vs. Mark Briscoe
3) ROH Supercard Of Honor II - Steel Cage Showdown: Jimmy Jacobs vs. BJ Whitmer
2) ROH Good Times, Great Memories - ROH World Tag Team Championships: Jay & Mark Briscoe(c) vs. Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin
1) ROH Driven - Bryan Danielson vs. Nigel McGuinness
So there you go! Agree, disagree, trash it, praise it ... just don't care. It's all good.