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'2007 WrestleView Match of the Year Project' (Golden, Klubnik and Hagen) |
» Reported by Hunter Golden of WrestleView.com
» On Monday, February 18, 2008 at 9:59 PM EST
2007 WrestleView Match of the Year Project
By Hunter Golden, Mike Klubnik & Ben Hagen
“The Best of Times, The Worst of Times”
It almost feels like 2007 was like 1997 all over again. After long last, the younger stars we had touted for so long started to come into their own. Despite injuries, John Cena, Randy Orton and Edge all had banner years. Other stars like Bobby Lashley and The Great Khali also made a mark and firmly cemented themselves as forces on which ever roster they’re on. The veterans also suffered on the injury front, but when they were healthy, they were as good as they’ve been in years. Shawn Michaels’ First half and Triple H’s second half sandwiched by a strong start and end to the year by the Undertaker helped keep both brands stable and moving in the right direction without completely monopolizing time a storylines. It’s what fans have been hoping for, for quite some time.
Perhaps 2007 may have been made even better by the guys who really shocked us in how well they performed. Umaga, John Morrison and Jeff Hardy all more or less came out of the ashes or from nowhere to provide some of the most consistently entertaining action of the year. Old stalwarts like Finlay and King Booker continued to perform as well. Veterans that had seemingly little left in the tank found themselves re-born, especially Big Daddy V and Stevie Richards on ECW. Even Vince seemed to have gained that swagger back despite seemingly losing everything else which of course included, but not limited to: The ECW World Championship, a rocking chair, his hair, a paternity test, his sanity and even at one point, his life.
In the ring, this year was as good as it possibly could have been despite a seemingly never ending string of injuries to many of the company’s top stars. John Cena, Undertaker, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Shawn Michaels, Ken Kennedy, Triple H, MVP, Matt Hardy and MVP would all go down at one point or another to injuries. Yet, the WWE kept coming up with more fun stuff. We got some of the most entertaining feuds we’ve had in quite some time, all rolled up into one little year. Even at it’s worst, the WWE seemed to out-do it’s best from the previous year times 100. On the surface, it feels good to be a wrasslin’ fan again.
Until of course, you consider that 2007 will likely be remembered not for the great wrestling or as a year that the WWE turned it all back around, but rather as the year of Chris Benoit. Maybe it was the kick in the bum wrestling needed but one couldn’t help but think; did it have to get to this point to begin with? Even as a fan, you’ve got to look into the mirror and consider our role in all of this. SHOULD we be applauding guys who have to get suplexed through 15 tables in order to get over with a crowd? Should company’s like ROH be pimping matches on the basis of how many teeth a guy broke off in a match? Shouldn’t we just want wrestling to be fun again?
So when we look back on 2007, I’m sure the old saying applies: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times”. Indeed, ‘07 was a truly introspective year for both a business and it’s legions of fans for all the right reasons and all the wrong ones, too. As we look forward to a 2008 that on paper, should be great, we should remember what makes wrestling so great and that’s the fun and the absurdity of it all. Remember to laugh and raise our eyebrows a bit at ourselves and our creepy infatuation with grown men in spandex pretending to fight each other. It’s just wrestling and we should enjoy it for that.
So with that, after over 600 votes were tallied, here are what you, the Wrestleview faithful, picked as your top 20 matches of this past year! Enjoy!
What in the Blue Hell is this Crap?
Plain and simple, we’re looking to get a little more feature-oriented around these parts. There’s always a lot of squabbling about which match is the best and we decided to try and find out what really was the best in the eyes of the Wrestleview faithful.
How was this all put together?
Tons of minions watched tons of matches from everywhere all year and nominated the matches on the Wrestleview.com discussion forum. A match would be nominated but in order to make it on the official ballot, it had to be seconded by another person. Once we got the list, we kicked a couple off to reach a nice, neat ballot. Fans voted and sent their ballots in. A first place earned a match 20 points, a twentieth place match one point. The results were tallied and here we are.
Who are the jerks opinionated enough to write this?
Well, we voted on that, too on the discussion forums. You’ll read three opinions of three very different people who are all equally devoid of a social life. We slapped this piece together and here you go.
The first recapper is Hunter Golden. For those of you who don’t know, Hunter writes the popular Monday Night Raw recap as well as serving as a moderator on the discussion forums. He’s been with the site as a staffer for three years and has watched far too much wrestling in his life.
Reviewer #2 is Ben Hagen. Ben was the one time columnist and creator of “Ben’s Artful Analysis”, a popular column on the site that mostly centered around, well analysis of everything from the fat bodies on Smackdown to his opinions on the latest Ring of Honor card. Needless to say, Ben is back in a big way and we’re hoping this piece is a sign of fun stuff to come.
The Final reviewer is Mike Klubnick, who was recently hired by the staff. Mike’s slapstick commentary on the thoroughly ridiculous world of wrestling in the discussion forums has earned him a lot of respect around these parts. With this piece, Mike gets his professional cherry popped.
So without further adieu…. The top 20 matches of 2007!
Top 20 Matches of 2007
1. John Cena v. Umaga, Last Man Standing, Royal Rumble (10,750 pts.)
2. John Cena v. Randy Orton, WWE Championship, Summer slam (10,105 pts.)
3. HBK v. John Cena, Raw 4/23 (9, 980pts.)
4. Undertaker v. Batista, World Championship, Wrestlemania 23 (9,884)
5. Bobby Lashley v. John Cena, WWE Championship, GAB (7,442pts.)
6. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness, ROH Driven (7,406pts.)
7. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroyoshi Tanahashi, IWGP Championship 4/1 (7,222pts.)
8. Randy Orton v. Triple H, LMS, WWE Championship, No Mercy (7,155pts.)
9. Umaga v. Jeff Hardy, IC Championship, Great American Bash (6,953pts.)
10. Jimmy Jacobs v. BJ Whitmer, Cage Match, some date (6,866pts.)
11. Randy Orton v. Shawn Michaels, WWE Championship, Survivor Series (6,567pts.)
12. Yuji Nagata v. Togi Makabe, IWGP Championship, some date (6,121pts.)
13. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels, WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 23 (5,578pts.)
14. Undertaker v. Batista, World Title, LMS, Backlash (5,732pts.)
15. Chris Harris v. James Storm, Texas Death Match (4,822pts.)
16. Royal Rumble Match (3,166pts.)
17. Takeshi Morishima v. Bryan Danielson, ROH title, 8/26 (3,233pts.)
18. Cena v. Orton v. HBK v. Edge, WWE Championship, Backlash (2,962pts.)
19. Tanahashi v. Goto, IWGP Championship (2,877pts.)
20. Triple H v. Umaga, WWE Championship, No Mercy (2,741pts.)
The top 20 list was a pretty interesting spread. The gap between the top four and the rest of the pack is huge. 5-12 is hotly competitive while the bottom three are equally close. There were almost nine matches all within four hundred points of each other, that’s how close the bottom of the list ended up being.
Probably the most glaring statistic is the sheer number of WWE matches on the list. The company dominated the scene this year, with 13 matches on the list. The rest just ended up being a sprinkling of various promotions. ROH logged three matches in the top 20 and was tied by New Japan, who was the only Japanese promotion to place matches. TNA only contributed one match.
So why the landslide for the WWE? Well, for one, exposure certainly helps. The WWE has a huge advantage in brand recognition and of course has the luxury of transmitting their product via free television. TNA also has that kind of exposure, but the brand recognition is clearly not there. It’s safe to say the WWE has a distinct competitive advantage over the rest of the field. That certainly doesn’t mean however, that their matches are of lesser quality. The top four, as mentioned before, were voted the top four by a virtual landslide. Folks clearly thought these matches were top notch quality.
Perhaps the biggest breakthrough would be New Japan who despite having a very low profile, still managed to have three matches place in the top 20. It can definitely be said that the WV faithful are beginning to recognize the quality work being done overseas.
We here at Wrestleview, feel this is certainly a strong list and would like to thank all those who made this piece possible. In the following pages, we’re going to be reviewing all of these matches. Ben, Mike and myself all have pretty divergent views on these matches, never mind the knowledge base. We aim to give you the most well rounded view of these matches we possibly can.
So here’s how this thing goes. The top five matches were reviewed by all three of us. For brevities sake, we just had random tag team pairings of two on the rest. I know you all love wrestling, but some not as much as other’s. In order to keep your eyes from bleeding from the fact that you’ve A.) Either run out of tears of joy or B.) Hemoraging from anger and frustration, we tried to keep it short. No kittens were harmed during the production of this article.
1. John Cena v. Umaga, Last Man Standing, Royal Rumble 2007(10,750 pts.)
HG: Really, there isn’t a lot to be said about this match that hasn’t been said a million times by anyone who knows much about anything related to wrestling. This was pretty much the walk-away winner this year and with good reason.
For such a wild brawl, it’s technically brilliant. The way the violence just escalates and how the story evolves as the match moves along is something you really don’t get to see a lot of in any match, never mind a match like this. There’s clubbering and then a spot that Cena barely escapes being pulvarized. More clubbering, crazier spot, Cena survives. Continue clubbering holy crap crazy spot that Cena finds a way to save his skin yet again. Then the match just leaps away from being what you thought it would be: a predictable WWE title match and more of a guessing game as to how the hell Cena is going to Survive. The title becomes secondary to the story. It’s not about Cena winning. It’s about him surviving.
The last spot wasn’t just dramatic and different, but it just tied in so well with the characters and themes of escalation, frustration and survival. Estrada is fun to watch here because he just is the topping on the cake as you watch him get more and more angry on the outside as Umaga isn’t able to seal the deal. Umaga’s losing his cool and now it ain’t about belts. He can have those whenever he wants them. It’s about putting Cena’s head on a pole, just like any good Samoan savage would want to do. Cena’s just trying to figure out a way to live through it all and he does, as the last and craziest attempt to do him in fails and ends up playing to his advantage. Nice little irony there, too. Cena doesn’t beat Umaga, he has to get lucky and flat kill him to survive.
God, I love this match and really, it’s the best match the WWE’s put out since the JBL-Eddie Guererro blood bath at Judgement Day in 2004. This isn’t just a top match for this year, but it’s probably one of the top five matches the WWE’s had this decade if not in all of wrestling. ****1/2
BH: I fully agree with this match’s placement, and I really can’t say enough good things about it. So perhaps—to be fair—I should begin with the bad. This bout runs through a basic formula that begins with Umaga kicking Cena’s tailquite decisively and leads to eventual introductions of various weapons by the challenger. Cena counters Umaga’s efforts to use said weapons and gains a momentary advantage, but gets clotheslined or pummeled a few moments afterwards. This back-and-forth formula rinse-repeats up until the very end when Cena adapts one of Umaga’s weapons to his submission finisher, choking out the challenger whilst screaming and bleeding and such things. But, to be fair, had Umaga successfully crushed Cena’s head between his . and the steel steps or splashed him through the announce table or stabbed him through the neck with the turnbuckle, I would have a hard time believing that Cena would answer the ten count. Given that the challenger’s offense was already earning him 7 and 8 and 9 counts, given that the champion had to rely on bursts of adrenaline to even string any offense together, he HAD to counter all of Umaga’s attempts at incorporating weaponry, and he did so with freshness that rallied the crowd each time.
As good as Umaga is in this match, I have to give a major nod to Cena here. This match, more than any other that preceded it, defined him as a champion, as a wrestler, as a performer. This match, more than any other that proceeded it, demonstrates how good Cena is. For those who doubt, take another look at the closing minutes, at the way he strains his muscles to choke out Umaga; listen the screaming; watch the urgency he demonstrates. He HAS to beat Umaga here. If the ring rope STFU does not get the job done, he cannot beat Umaga. But even more than that emotional span, I admire the calm after the storm, the way he released his opponent the second time around. The exhausted champion falls to the mat and pushes himself slowly to his knees. That brief moment where he kneels beside Umaga, breathing and bleeding heavily before slowly getting to his feet, before looking calmly into the crowd as the referee counts to ten, gives him his belt, raises his hand . . . that moment is a thing of beauty and one of my favorite wrestling memories of this decade. The crowd goes crazy. JR and the King go crazy. But Cena knows he had to damn-near kill a man to keep his title and was damn-near killed in the process. Beat up, exhausted, bloodied, hurt, the champ can barely salute, cannot celebrate just yet. But he’s won. ****1/4
MK: I’m not as high on this match as some people are, but I have to say, it has grown on me through subsequent watches. There are a lot of little things in this match that I really like: Estrada’s coaching, Umaga’s basic offense on Cena’s ribs early on, Umaga’s ridiculous aggressiveness. Everything translates well. Both wrestler’s wrestle a smart match. In Umaga’s case this works so well because you have Estrada coaching him from the outside, and his role really shines through here. He’s watching the match from the outside with a purpose, and has the Samoan Bulldozer capitalizing on the damage he’s done over the course of the match. Perhaps my favorite part of the match comes after Cena gets busted open and Umaga simply starts pounding away on the open wound over his eye. Basic offense, but Umaga is like a shark that smells blood, literally. What I like equally as much is Cena’s offense. It’s smart, and everything he does is big. That is a huge part of what makes this match special. Umaga is clearly the dominant, superior force in this match. Cena knows that he can’t rely on his basic offense to take Umaga out. It starts early on when he picks up the ring steps, and tosses them outside of the ring into the challenger’s face, and goes all the way until the end when he uses the ring ropes to choke out Umaga. Cena’s offense isn’t just big (as it needs to be), it’s smart. He takes advantage of his surroundings and Umaga’s aggressiveness. I love that. This match became a big step in Cena’s reign as champion. He had won the title back from Edge in September, and then we had not seen a real feud for him since then, largely due to the Cyber Sunday Pay Per View, and the K-fed angle. Then this match comes along, and we get a little bit more than the traditional “John Cena beatdown, John Cena comeback” we had gotten used to seeing in his match. Like I said, it’s a smart, fun match that does a ton right. I know this is nit-picky, but a match like this should really be longer than it is. So if there’s one knock I have no this match, that’s it. **** ½.
2. John Cena v. Randy Orton, WWE Championship, Summerslam 2007 (10,105 pts.)
HG: In any other year, this’d probably have been the best match.
Whereas Umaga-Cena is more of the basic story, this certainly is a lot more epic than one would realise on the surface. In all reality, this isn’t about a title nor about a feud (at least at this point). It’s all about Randy Orton.
This match, at least in terms of what they were going for, reminded me a lot of the legendary Austin-Rock if for nothing more than the sheer scope of the picture that was painted here, even though it may have been rather unintentional. That match was all about Austin and his journey through the WWE up to that point, closing the book on it, and opening up a new one.
This particular match, seems to go for the same thing and while I wouldn’t say it was nearly as successful as the Wrestlemania X7 main event, it was still done pretty darn well. Orton utterly dominates this match, out wreslting Cena and looking every bit like the wrestling machine everyone expected him to be upon his arrival. He looks cool, confident, and borderline unstoppable working that headlock like a madman. Cena selling utter confusion and bewilderment at the situation just sells it all the better.
But like Orton’s career, things always seem to ‘get away’ from him. He can’t seal the deal. When he gets a push, he poops in a divas bag and it’s over. When he gets penned in to headline Wrestlemania, he gets caught smoking weed and it’s over. Orton’s made a career out of frustrating himself and fans alike it seems by making mistakes and letting things slip through his fingers.
So here’s Orton in complete control but with every comeback sequence, Cena gets in a few more licks. As the match goes along, you get the sense that though Orton is in control, with each Cena burst, he’s losing his grip slowly but surely. The blow off is what is just awesome. Orton nails the RKO but he’s JUST wasted enough to not be able to make the cover. Just so appropriate. You’re waiting for Orton to inevitably blow it.
The payoff is Orton missing the boot, getting overzealous and over confident, if only for a brief, minute second and Cena slips under and in one move sequence accurately distinguishes himself from his challenger. When it counts, Cena performs. Orton is just a case of near misses. Orton doesn’t sell the FU afterwards like it’s death. He just got caught because of his own over zealousness. It’s a look of shock, but more of a ‘how could I let it slip away. Again’.
Of course as we all know, the feud escalated from there and darn it, it’d have been great to have seen how it would have all come about, but it’s safe to say it’d have been hard to top that. This is just a case of perhaps the unintentional epic. ****1/4
BH: Although I’ve enjoyed most of Cena’s defenses this year primarily because of John Cena’s performances, I love this match primarily because of Randy Orton, specifically the crisp focus of his attack (i.e., the head of Cena) and the calm coldness of his stare while on offense (though his creepiness at times felt a bit more distracting than it probably should have been). He rarely got frustrated, managed to cut the champ off on all his comebacks (though in a much different way than, say, Umaga would), and lost because of one thing and one thing only: his punt missed. Because he missed kicking Cena’s head off his shoulders and into the open arms of Concussion, the champ managed to wrap him up in the STFU. Though the challenger made it to the ropes, Orton couldn’t cover Cena quickly after his RKO, and he couldn’t follow up quickly after Cena’s kickout. This led to a flash FU and a quick pin from the champ. This was Orton’s match through and through, but his one mistake comes across beautifully (though Lawler apparently missed it . . . he comments “Orton must have done something to his leg” after Cena kicks out . . . *slaps forehead*). Tack on the fact that Cena’s performance was solid as well, and you have one very happy wrestling fan and a MOTYC. Killer main event that deserves a high spot, and I’ll leave it to the others guys to say more about this. But one more thing. I really love some of Orton’s newer signature moves and spots, particularly his revamped Garvin stomp and his euro-uppercut followed by a discus punch. Good stuff. ****
MK: This match just has a “big fight” feel surrounding it. Orton and Cena both come into this match with revised versions of their characters. Orton is the dominant, sadistic, viscous man that is on a mission to prove himself. Cena comes in as the dominant champion who has gone from the underdog to the top dog. It’s an interesting dynamic.
The early part of the match is just completely filled with a ton of emotion and back and forth action. The crowd gets into it, and the stage is set. Like I said before, the early part of the match just FEELS like a big fight where two people want to prove themselves.
As it develops Orton takes control, and for the first time in a while, Cena appears to be suffering from overconfidence. Orton slowly, and methodically, wears the champion down until the end of the match when he hits the RKO. When that doesn’t get the pinfall he goes right back to it, realizing that one more, and he’s got this match won, but Cena instinctively counters into the FU for the victory. The thing about this is that it isn’t “Cena getting lucky” which it seems that we saw all the time in 2005 and the better part of 2006. The way this match is constructed, and the way that Cena had been wrestling from Wrestlemania to Summerslam, it comes off that Cena has the experience, and pulls the FU out because he knows he needs to do this to win, or he’s done. It’s somewhat of a weak finish, but in watching this match again, I appreciate it a bit more than I did back in August.
Another high point of the match for me is towards the end when Orton steps back and prepares to “punt” Cena. Coming into the match Orton had punted RVD, HBK, Dusty Rhodes, and Sgt. Slaughter off of RAW. So the tension builds are Orton steps back, and it’s almost as if Cena sees it coming, and counters to the STFU.
The only drawback to the match is that there are too many rest holds in the middle part of the match, something pretty standard in Randy Orton matches. Something that still bugs me to this day. A few are okay, but Orton relies on them too much to establish dominance, and in this match it really slows down the pace, which IMO, hurts the match.
Overall a fantastic match that starts off strong, has some pacing issues in the middle that ultimately hurt it, but finishes strong, albeit a bit abruptly. Overall ***1/2
3. HBK v. John Cena, Raw 4/23/07 (9, 980pts.)
HG: This match might be the most deliberately booked match I’ve seen in a long time. After watching this one four or five times, it’s really clear that the WWE wanted to use this match to shut fans up so far as John Cena’s actual wrestling ability is concerned. The title is taken out of it to prevent it from distracting and Cena’s whole approach to this is completely and totally different than any of the matches we’ve seen previously.
Cena’s a modern day, improved version of Jerry Lawler. He works the comeback style effectively and rarely likes to come off as dominant, but rather gutsy. John Cena in this match was COMPLETELY different from any John Cena we had seen to this point. He totally strays from the typical formula.
Cena comes into the match after decisively beating Michaels at Wrestlemania. Because of the win he’s overflowing with confidence which is a stark contrast to the slight timid demenor he had heading into Wrestlemania. In fact, Cena’s boarderline disrespectful of the future hall of famer.
Not only is he dismissive in his demenor, but he completely and totally dominates Michaels through the first third of the match. However, HBK’s a resourceful guy and is able to eventually goad Cena into a game of one-upsmanship. Cena gets the better initially, but slowly but surely, he begins to grow frustrated. With every big move Michaels avoids, the frustration on Cena’s face grows.
More importantly, with every big move Michaels avoids, he buys himself time and a new opportunity….to strike. However when Michaels does hit sweet chin music out of nowhere, he’s too worn down to make an effective cover. Cena’s just beaten the crap out of him too much. He’s going to have to hit it again and it’s already taken him a quarter of a year to hit ONE, so the odds aren’t in his favor.
The last ten minutes are crash and burn moments. Cena has been somewhat rope-a-doped and Michaels has been beaten like a school boy. But it’s the one ever so slight moment that gives him the tiniest of openings and he connects and wins.
The funny part about all of this though is that it’s not HBK who gets the rub. Cena did. Cena called an hour long match on his own, played it completely differently from what he’s done before and then did the unthinkable and jobbed. The irony is fun just because Cena basically tosses out the window that 1.) He can’t call a match, 2.) Is a one dimensional slug and 3.) Never loses.
Again, it’s a total put-over for Cena, but it’s a heck of a way to do it. ****
BH: With a match this long, it is sometimes hard to exhaustively review it. Hunter, if I remember correctly, has a nice perspective on the several Acts of this match—i.e., Act One: Cena frustrates Michaels with STFU attempts, etc. The small details, however, of this match rather than its overall structure are what make it great for me. For instance, I don’t necessarily dig Cena’s repeated attempts at the STFU in and of themselves. Rather, I enjoy Cena’s taunting smiles and Shawn Michaels’ frustrated grumpiness (who would have thought in the 1990s that Michaels would make such a great grump veteran?). Tack on the other bits they add throughout the match, and this match—too—deserves a high spot: (1) Michaels’ pissed-off extended selling of Cena’s headlock strategy. (2) His quick bumps on Cena’s clotheslines. (3) Cena admonishing his own arm later in the match. (4) The transformation from a grinning champion (Cena’s smile after HBK kick outs really add an interesting element to the match) to a frustrated one that yells, “He won’t stay down! He won’t stay down!” to the referee after “assaulting” Michaels on the floor. (5) Etc. There are tons of things to pick up on. Given that, the match does drag at times. In the Wrestlemania match, the limb work from HBK really felt confusing. I feel the same way here. I hate to incarnate the Internet Wrestling Fan who complains about selling and limb work and all of that garbage, but if one of the other guys could perhaps defend this portion of the match from such a comment, I would appreciate it.
Perhaps: Michaels’ feud with Cena—at least for Michaels—is all about proving that he’s the “better man.” Defeating Cena isn’t good enough. He has to outwrestle him, outstrike him; he has to take more abuse and keep fighting. Perhaps this has something to do with it. Or perhaps I’m just overthinking things like I tend to do. Really good, special match with some really good work at the finishing stretch. I’m very happy that this match found its way onto HBK’s newest DVD set. Check it out! ****
MK: This match is really just an extension, or perhaps the better word is expansion of their Wrestlemania match. For all intents and purposes I like the Wrestlemania match between these two better, but this is a fantastic match. Simply put, this match is about Cena’s development as a dominant wrestler in the WWE. It isn’t about him being able to beat everyone, or about his ability to make “miracle comebacks” as the smark community likes to say, but this is about his ability to work a match. I love the early part of this match the best because it has a very similar feel to the Wrestlemania bout between these two, except Cena has matured as a wrestler. In their Wrestlemania bout, Michaels arrogance and confidence shines through and allows him to take control. Not so now. Cena learned that he can not only beat Michaels, he can outwrestle him. So that is exactly what he does for the first fifteen minutes of this match. He outwrestles Shawn in chain wrestling holds, and he wrestler’s smarter than Shawn. The end result is a frustrated Shawn Michaels. As the match progresses it remains in Cena’s court for the majority of the time, and for the first time we really get to see Cena control the pace of a match and be the one in charge of dictating the story and psychological aspect of things. It’s really pretty fun to watch. It sets the tone for his character throughout the rest of 2008. When comparing it to the Wrestlemania match, I have a hard time rating this match higher, but I still think it’s fantastic, easily checking in at ****.
4. Undertaker v. Batista, World Championship, Wrestlemania 23-- (9,884)
HG: **Spoilers**
This review isn’t complicated.
And that’s what makes this match rule so much. Background for you idiots out there. Undertaker’s never lost at Wrestlemania and is on a hot streak. Batista has never lost a World Title match in his career and in the past two years, put down Triple H three times, JBL twice, Eddie Guererro once and decimated King Booker to win his title back. This is the total clash of the titans kind of thing.
So Batista’s confident heading into this thing and Taker shouldn’t intimidate him, despite the circumstances. He proves it right off the bat and absolutely kills Taker with a spear, which had been put over as a sub-finisher for a few months leading up to this. We get it as the first move. Then Batista goes TO THE TOP ROPE!? What is going on? Doesn’t he know who he’s facing!? He comes off, hits it, and it looks like a million bucks.
Batista’s decided that his best stuff is better than Taker’s best stuff. Eventually though, Taker settles in and is almost like “If you want to trade bombs, we’ll trade bombs”. That’s the way the rest of the match goes. Taker hit’s a signature move, Batista hits one. Taker hits two, Batista slams him through a table.
This isn’t epic. That’s for sissies. It isn’t a brawl, that’s for morons. It’s a total showdown and the OK Coral and whomever can spray more ammo is going to win. And this time, it’s Taker.
This I guess, is the first match on this list that I’ll concede has a few problems here and there though. The slug fest rules, but the punches are more flailing instead of closed fist potato mashers. The end sequence could’ve used a LITTLE more stalling (first time I’ve said that in a while). But really, they’re minor complaints. In my opinion, this was the walk-away best match on the best card of the year, so it counts for something.
I’m glad this match got the props it deserves. It’s simple, but it shouldn’t be anything more than that. It’s all about the big mangs landing big bombs on the big show. ****
BH: I really love the drama here. In retrospect, the match loses a bit of its flavor, but still has more marbles at stake than any other WWE can produce. The greatest winning streak in company history (a decade and a half of Wrestlemania wins) up against a World Title: the only problem is that the participants—though capable of really fun stuff—don’t often pull out stellar matches against big guys. To the delight of us all, Taker and Batista proved that they have a natural chemistry that led to several good-to-great championship matches last year. Despite their great run in ‘07, I believe that their first is their best if only because it occurred on the biggest stage possible. I would have never guessed that this would be higher than the WWE Title match on the same card, but these two went all out in a way that made the World Heavyweight Title something very personal for both men.
Batista's spear to start the match came unexpectedly, as did his top rope shoulder tackle that looked like a million bucks. If these two guys were better punchers (it's obvious neither have a real closed fist in the whole match) and the ending sequence a little more patient (I'll get to this in a second), this might have overtaken Cena and Umaga. As it stands, a lot of the slugging, while it looks good, doesn't look fantastic. Stick Lawler punches in there, and you got yourself an awesome slugfest. I also thought the finishing sequence went a tad too fast. Batista recovers much too quickly after the Last Ride and the Chokeslam, and Taker might have stayed down a bit for the spinebuster as well. Nonetheless, the finishing sequence still delivers as both guys transition into "okay, fine . . . bombs it is" mode, laying it all out, and seeing who can survive. Sadly for Batista, Taker just has more finishing moves, and though it takes all three of them to keep the champion down, the challenger manages to hit all three of them before Batista connects with a second Batista Bomb. Two more things: Taker's dive and Batista's powerslam through the table made this thing feel all the more special. ***3/4
MK: This match has really grown on me over time. I have to say that these two put on a fantastic match, and this match should have closed out Wrestlemania 23. Taking nothing away from the rest of their encounters, this is by far the best match these two have put together. It’s an interesting story that these two tell, but it is told quite well. When this match begins it’s about Batista. It’s about him and his desire to stop the streak of The Undertaker. He goes into the match knowing he’s the underdog, but he’s out to prove everyone wrong. To everyone else it’s a foregone conclusion that The Undertaker is the next World Heavyweight Champion, but not in Batista’s mind. So he takes it right to The Undertaker from the star with an unexpected spear. One of my favorite spots in this match is when Batista goes to the top rope to take out Taker early on in the match. Batista isn’t a high flier, but he is going to do what it takes to prove the naysayers wrong, and end the streak. We get another taste of this mentality with the running power slam through the table on the outside of the ring. Taker gets in his share of offense, but really, Batista is controlling the entire match. We get some nice near falls and exchanges towards the end of the match, you can really see Batista start to get frustrated by the fact that he can’t put Taker away. After he hits the Batista Bomb, the camera angle let’s you see his face and he’s got (for lack of a better term) a big . eating grin on his face because he thinks he’s got the match won. But Taker still kicks out and Batista loses his cool. At this point, in the closing minutes it’s about Taker and his level-headedness, and ability to persevere despite taking everything Batista’s got. It’s these qualities that Taker possesses that allow him to take down The Animal and start his fifth title reign. **** ¼.
5. Bobby Lashley v. John Cena, WWE Championship, Great American Bash 2007 (7,442pts.)
[b]HG: So I guess I’ve cooled on this one a bit over time, but it’s still a strong match. If this match proves anything it’s how psychology can dramatically make a match that’s really not much different from most of Cena’s matches seem COMPLETELY different.
Really, after Cena’s Raw match in April, we definitely saw a turn in the demenor of his character from being a champion trying to fight the good fight ala Dusty Rhodes, he became the champion fighting a good fight ala Jerry Lawler. Instead of getting jumped or cheap shotted, it was always Cena taking the initiative and taking the match to the opponents. Sure, it would usually fade back into the paint by the numbers formula Cena usually works, but how everything is laid out and initiated changed quite dramatically.
Cena tries to open everything up with a great old test of strength and gets manhandled. He tries to out wrestle Lashley and gets manhandled there, too. Lashley gets a little overzealous and almost gets caught in an STFU. All in five minutes. Really, right there, you know all you need to know. It’s a match up pitting the freakish talent of Bobby Lashley up against the experience and know-how of John Cena. Horay for roles.
If we’ve learned anything from the previous three Cena defenses to this point, it’s that you can’t make a lot of mistakes. Umaga made one too many. Michaels made one too many. Khali made one, and that’s all that was needed to put him away and he’s a freaking monster. Well, same story here.
Cena initiates, Lashley counters, controls, gets greedy and pays for it. Dearly. Each time. Cena, for the first time as champion, REALLY comes off like the cagy veteran, willing to press the action but at the same time look for his spots and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. Cena eats some brutal offense through here too. A gnarly gut buster, a torture rack back breaker, all high impact high-’wow!’ kind of stuff. I’m usually not a huge fan of high end offense like that, but in this match it works out. The whole trick is to get Lashley over as a future main event guy while making Cena look tough as nails as always. That hits well here.
The ending stretch is particularly awesome. Cena hits and FU but only gets a two count and uncharacteristically, CENA is the one who makes the mistake by jaw jacking with the ref too long and eats a clothesline. Lashley immediately goes for the big home run spear, but Cena sees that coming a mile away and the ’oh crap’ look on Lashley’s face as he gets tripped up into the STFU is priceless. The near fall really works the crowd up. Cena’s two big finishing moves haven’t done the trick. They beat Umaga, JBL, Shawn Michaels, The Great Khali, Triple H, Edge and just about anyone relevant worth mentioning in the past few years but the two in consort can’t put down Bobby Lashley. Cena’s frustrated and again starts tweeting to the official and turns around only to get pounded with a spear. Lashley is a little too worn himself to make the full cover. The action goes to the top rope and Lashley gets planted through the mat with a huge top rope FU. An FU didn’t work. The STFU didn’t work. But off the top rope it does. ****
BH: Like the Taker/Bastista combination, I had doubts about Cena and Lashley. Cena had proven himself to me, but I had rarely seen a Lashley match I liked that didn’t involve a wrestler named Finlay. At times, this match is fantastic, and it is certainly a match that shows the young Lashley at his most motivated. The early portion establishes Lashley to be both stronger and more skilled as a mat wrestler, but John Cena is used to being out-muscled due to his recent feuds with Khali and Umaga. While this isn't necessarily epic, my favorite part about this match is that it leaves the future open for these two to pull out a match that could even show up at #1 on one of these lists in the future. I don't think I've ever seen Lashley this crisp, this smart, this impressive, yet for as impressive and smart as he his, Cena comes through with his own catch-as-catch-can style, throwing his haymakers and clotheslines, and looking for his openings.
I don't want to give too much away here, but kudos to both guys for pulling out something very, very special on a pretty big stage. Some thought the finish looked a little weak, but on review, I think it worked quite well to catch Lashley off guard and put him away. The challenger proves that he can withstand both the FU and the STFU, which might make for some interesting stuff in the future. I liked how Lawler predicted Lashley would be able to escape Cena's submission, and while he only managed to make it to the ropes, it really played off previous matches this year: neither Umaga nor Michaels nor Khali could escape the STFU on PPV . . . but Lashley did. ***3/4
MK: One of the things about professional wrestling that draws me into it is the storyline leading up to a match. I love the drama, the way two wrestler’s and their characters interact and create the necessity for a match. I felt that a lot of that was lacking going into the Great American Bash. Bobby Lashley had never really impressed and while showing some immense signs of talent, never did showed me any consistency in his wrestling that would lead me to believe he was capable of main eventing a Pay Per View. To his credit, he proved me wrong in this match.
Simply put this is a grudge match of sorts for two big babyfaces. Lashley is trying to prove himself, and Cena has essentially evolved into a cocky babyface of sorts. There is a lot of back and forth action in this match, which is good. What’s even better is that both men are playing to their strengths. Lashley’s power and amateur background shine through, but Cena uses the ring savvy he’s gained from his two near two years as champion to take shots at Lashley when he can, and keep him on his toes. There are a couple points in the match that I really liked. The first one involves Lashley. Ten or so minutes into the match he drops Cena on his shoulder for a gut buster, and the moves right into a rear choke with a body scissors. It was a quick transition by Lashley, and a great use of his amateur background and pure strength, as it essentially put him in control of the match.
The other moment in this match I really liked was the ending. Some people may call it weak, but I think it is well done. Cena hasn’t been able to put Lashley away with the FU or STFU, and Lashley is gaining momentum. Lashley’s shown he has superior strength, and he’s going for the proverbial kill. Cena is in a perfect position showcases his increased ring savvy and brings the match to a smooth finish.
I have a hard time disliking this match, but at the end of the day it seems rather vanilla to me. The backstory is lacking, and that keeps it from being great. Either way, it’s hard to deny what these two do together. ***1/4
6. Bryan Danielson v. Nigel McGuiness, ROH Driven PPV (7,406pts.)
BH: Superb match with a disturbing ending. I think that about sums up one of Ring of Honor’s best matches this year. But to turn to the negative once again: My major problem with this match may, in fact, just be a tendency that I find in a lot of Danielson matches: his quick transitions into offense even after moves that might require a bit of downtime. This is a tad nitpicky, but I felt myself confused when he begins to kick Nigel’s . shortly after eating a huge crowd dive. I find this sort of thing in his Roderick Strong matches from 2005 and 2006 as well. Certainly it fits his “Best Wrestler in the World” gimmick, but come on. Anyway, despite the fact that both guys tend to forget to sell accumulated damage, this thing rocked the world with fantastic mat wrestling in the early going, clever counters, hot near falls, and an ending that will make you cringe. I think I like this better than their 2006 Pure vs. World Title match in England since it feels tighter and more controlled and yet fresh without too many repeated spots. Fun, fun stuff. ****
HG: Wow, this is FAR AND AWAY the best ROH match i've seen in a while.
What I liked--
The intensity is nine fold in this. It's a much tighter version of the matches they've had in the past with far more "I want to murder you" in it that I feel takes it to an entirely different level. Everytime Dragon faces Nigel, he's able to figure out how to beat him, but every time he has to throw more crap at him and it all works.
The mat work and everything basically builds to some great nearfall sequences in the end, between the back work, the arm work and what not. Dragon basically has to toss ALL of his super huge stuff at Nigel to keep him down: Cattle mutilation, the big back super plex, the cross face chicken wing and the KO elbows.
Usually I HATE finisher whoring, but it's done in a very logical way here and each of the moves is used to punctuate work done previously in the match and makes Nigel look like he could tap or get pinned with any of them. No real wasted movement here which is something we rarely see in the indys nowadays.
Again, this has the real hate their previous matches lacked and I actually enjoyed the brawling sections more than the mat sections, which is more unusual with these two. It really came off as more of a fight than a wrestling match.
What I didn't like-- the ONLY reason I can't get this to **** is because of the selling, which gets kinda goofy at points. The being COMPLETELY recovered quickly after getting raped on the part of both guys gets annoying at spots. While the limb selling and the facial expressions are good, there are parts where these two literally potato each other silly only for the other guy to counter, pop up and go into a control segment and it repeats itself a few times.
Now that can be attributed to the fact that these two hate each other and it's an important match and whatnot, so on some levels it's semi-excusable but it still kinda annoys me a bit.
The other thing I didn't like is more of a general complaint about ROH in general and that is.. WHY do ROH guys have to literally massacre each other physically to get a point across? Sure, the ROHbots love the STIFF~ stuff and whatnot, but jesus the flush shots right on Nigel's face and the frequent death spots are a bit much. I don't hold it against the match or anything, but still, if these guys aren't eating out of a tube by 40 i'll be astonished.
Anyways, overall this is really a can't miss match. It's really, really good stuff and it feels good to say that, as I feel a lot of ROH stuff has been hit and miss this year. Seriously though, these two really put on a fun match here. Easily the best match i've seen worked by TWO guys in ROH all year. ***3/4
7. Yuji Nagata v. Hiroyoshi Tanahashi, IWGP Championship 4/1/07 (7,222pts.)
BH: Realistically, this should be higher as I find it every bit as good as (if not better than) Cena/Umaga, but I’m happy it made it on the list at all. It accomplishes all that makes pro wrestling great (i.e., stiff strikes, fun mat wrestling, a handful of good nearfalls, unexpected counters, drama, narrative, rhetoric, etc.) without focusing too much on one thing. For instance, Nagata kicks out of a straight-jacket German suplex near the end at the count of one (a popular tactic). But rather than getting right up afterwards, he stays on the mat. He borrows the one-count kick out but leaves the no-selling at home. Likewise, Tanahashi eats a superplex and rather than standing straight up like Morishima does, he yells and struggles slowly to get to his feet. But these, of course, are just little things in an important match. While NOAH struggled a bit last year with the absence of Kobashi, NJPW has thrived, relying on wrestlers like Tanahashi, Nagata, and others to really deliver a great series of matches this year. These two alone have had three really good performances, but this one still stands out as their best and the best Japan offered us last year. Tanahashi fights through Nagata’s early barrage of strikes and arm work, doing a masterful job of targeting Nagata’s right leg to cut off his kicks. However, the challenger shows himself just as resilient, battling back, sacrificing his own leg when necessary and throwing out big bombs to put the champion down, surviving Tanahashi’s attempted comebacks, getting his knees up on the frog splash, and back drop driving his way to the IWGP Crown. Go out of your way to see this. Very few matches last year even came close to touching it. I’m interested to read what my fellow reviewers have to add. ****1/4
MK: This match has everything that makes professional wrestling good. The early part of the match starts out with some mat/chain wrestling, and we transition into a period involved with lots of stiff strikes. Let me just say that the stiff strikes in this match really add to it. Both men sell them well and it really adds to the drama and competitive nature of the match. Then we get some work focused on a specific body part, and back to striking with some near falls and a final bit of mat wrestling mixed in. Great selling, and both Nagata and Tanahashi walk out of this match looking like a million bucks. I’m a big fan of Tanahashi’s work on Nagata’s right leg and his use of the figure four leglock in this match. To me, this is where the drama really starts to build, and it carries through to the end, highlighted by Nagata’s right leg giving out on him during a suplex attempt. The final 5-7 minutes of the match are fantastic. No over the top offense by either competitor and a satisfying amount of near falls, counters, and selling really left me feeling good about this match. If you haven’t seen Japanese wrestling before, this is a fantastic place to start in my opinion. It really does encompass a little bit of everything without over doing anything. The match itself is very well structured and everything seems to build off of each other. No move or time is used ineffectively. Easily ****.1/2
8. Randy Orton v. Triple H, LMS, WWE Championship, No Mercy 2007 (7,155pts.)
HG: This is certainly a strong match but again, as per usual, the more I watch it the less I like it but I can’t really put a finger on what I don’t like about it exactly.
The only thing for sure that I don’t like is that it goes one exchange too long. The chair shot on the steps is way over doing it and that’s more or less of a knock out shot altogether. Sure, Orton looks like a million bucks for getting up after it, but I felt it was over kill.
Now I’ll REALLY sound like a hypocritical nut fluffer and say that I’m one of the few who really took well to the Triple H crotch chop hulking up stuff. I’m not a big fan of no selling but when you use it right, man, it can just turn up the volume on what you’re rockin’ out to like no other. Here I felt it worked. Orton’s totally dominated the match and you know at some point Triple H is going to come back. It doesn’t make the RKO look weak, it makes Orton look stronger for being able to put Triple H down after eating his best stuff. It doesn’t make Orton just look like he’s taking advantage of some other dude’s rib work from earlier in the night.
Orton’s spot on here with the cold, focused facial expressions and is just a little ball of hate here. This punches are targeted and thrown with the foulest of intentions. The rib work is used as a good reference point while he thinks up more bad stuff. Good job here from him.
Overall, I like the match but something is just really lacking here that keep it firmly out of the elite matches of the year. ***1/2
MK: As everyone knows this match was supposed to be John Cena vs. Randy Orton for the WWE Title. Instead, we have a rematch between the two men that started out the show wrestling for the WWE Title. Orton’s overconfidence cost him the match to start the show, but invokes his rematch clause. Be glad he did, because we really get a pretty special Last Man Standing Match.
In my mind, this has to be one of Orton’s best matches. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him use such good ring psychology. Triple H comes into the match worn out from two earlier matches, and is favoring his ribs after the Umaga match. Orton’s entire offense in the early part of the match is built on trying to incapacitate Hunter because of the rib injury and the fact that he’s been in three matches. Simple Randy Orton offense with a purpose early in the match, and his vicious, sadistic side comes out as the match goes on. Hunter plays the wounded babyface in peril fantastically (for the second time at this PPV). What I love about Trips offense in this match is that EVERYTHING he does, he’s going for the kill. He knows he is hurting from wrestling in his third match of the night, and knows that if he doesn’t get the big hit, he’s done.
I can only imagine how great this match could have been if Cena hadn’t been hurt. The match suffers because the emotion and story behind it isn’t as solid as it would have been if Orton was wrestling Cena, but all things considered, very good. I put it at *** ½
9. Umaga v. Jeff Hardy, IC Championship, Great American Bash 2007(6,953pts.)
BH: My favorite Jeff Hardy singles match ever. The structure is very simple: Umaga beats up Jeff Hardy. Hardy hits him in the nuts. Hardy puts together a tremendous string of offense intermingled with more bombs from Umaga. Jeff hits the Swanton Bomb for a close, close nearfall. Umaga gets pissed and puts his thumb through Hardy's clavicle. The execution of this structure, however, is rarely done better. It takes a great wrestler to be able to keep a one-sided match interesting. Samoa Joe made his career out of this, dominating nearly every one of his opponents during his near-2 year run as ROH champion. Umaga proves himself capable of the same, literally mauling Hardy for several minutes without losing the crowd. Hell, they even stayed with the thing through a damn nerve hold! This, of course, could also be due to Jeff Hardy's popularity, but really this match proves how vital both performers are to the WWE right now. Put these two on PPV again, I beg you! Smart work, big bumps, well-timed underdog comebacks, nearfalls, and Jeff Hardy "rag doll" effects. What more does a wrestling fan want? ***1/2
MK: This is the best Jeff Hardy match I have ever seen, period. Umaga and Hardy have great chemistry together, and likely the best match on the GAB card (I have not seen the entire PPV). This match really encompasses how much Jeff Hardy has improved in the past 18 months or so. In fact, this match is all about Jeff Hardy. I LOVE how he starts out by getting some short lived strikes on Umaga. With Umaga’s track record, and their history together, it’s almost as if Hardy goes into the match desperate, and has to catch Umaga by surprise early. Of course, Umaga takes control of the match for the majority of it with his aggressive offense. The nerve hold sequence is really well done, and I attribute that largely to Jeff Hardy. His facial expressions really make me buy into what’s going on, and his attempted comebacks that are stumped by Umaga’s strength are done well. Hardy does what we’ve seen a lot of in the past year when it comes to making comebacks on Umaga: he takes advantage of his over-aggressiveness to string together some moves, but he also makes smart use of the ring, and his moveset so that nothing seems like it’s in the match for “spot monkey” purposes. The near-fall at the end off the Swanton Bomb is dramatic, and eventually Hardy runs out of gas, but if you’re a Jeff Hardy fan, check this match out. Even if you aren’t a Jeff Hardy fan (as until recently, I haven’t been), check this out. It really does show how far he’s come as a wrestler. *** 1/2.
10. Jimmy Jacobs v. BJ Whitmer, Cage Match, 3/31/07 (6,866pts.)
HG: Honestly, there was only one guy who even touched Cena at any point this year in my view and Jimmy Jacobs was probably it. His whole kooky love angle with Lacey turned hateful vengeance blood lusterererer was one of the few things I really enjoyed out of ROH in the past year. I’d say Jimmy is one of the few guys in the indys that does the appearance thing well. The crying chick on the tights was pretty chilling stuff.
Cage matches work when you go one of two ways. One, you use the cage as the obstacle for both guys. This works in a little less of a hate-oriented match up. They figure out how to use the cage to advantages and minimize the whole disadvantage it presents. The second way is to use it as a dramatic back drop to a total motherf-ing blood bath.
For a good example of a motherf-ing blood bath, watch this. Jacobs is out of control crazy here. Combing his hair with barbed wire, licking Whitmer’s bloody face and in general being as creepy as you could possibly imagine. The visuals in this match are pretty good and as a result, the spots where there’s down time doesn’t feel like down time.
This does have it’s issues though and they’re worth noting. Why is that Diaz kid bringing weapons down to the ring? Why don’t the guys who came to the ring with each guy do it instead? And of course, no BJ Whitmer match review is complete without well, knocking him. The suplex stuff in the middle is lame-o INDY SPECTACULAR~ stuff that just doesn’t fit into the match. Like at all. It’s especially disappointing considering the fact that this was the only time I saw him wrestle this crappy.
All in all though, this far from sucked. In fact, it was a really awesome brawl that I just think had the misfortune of happening in a year of incredibly awesome brawls. In my opinion, there are clearly better brawls out there this year some of which are on this list, but again, not a surprise to see this match get such a strong push from the indy fans. ***1/2
BH: This match really stumps me. Like a couple of matches on this list, blood does wonders for a match that might not be all that great without it. Like other matches, it has really, really memorable moments (I don’t think I’ll ever get rid of the image of these two stabbing each other rapid-fire in the face with spikes). Like other matches, these two really sacrifice a lot for a hot crowd, for their fans, for their bosses, for each other. Hell, Jacobs injures himself so bad that he’s forced to sit out the next five months. I’m glad he got the big win and all and I’m glad he has a title again in ROH, but the cost seems pretty high. Too bad Whitmer has been able to fair too well in popularity after this match. But I digress. What does one expect from a war of attrition between two guys who flat out hate each other? Hard chair shots. Cringe-worthy neck drops. Blood. Blood. Blood. Female assault. Fighting spirit. Tables. Barbed wire. *shrugs* In the end, perhaps the best way to judge this match is to answer the question, “Do I feel that these guys hate each other so bad that they want to just flat out hurt one another?” Answer: Yes, very much so (even given a lot of delays and down time). The match is so disturbing at times, that I have a lot of trouble calling it great or even good. I’ll let the others guys fill me in on this. Perhaps I’m over stating. Perhaps I need to watch it again. Be that as it may . . . definitely something people should see. It didn’t make it on my ballot, but I’m not surprised to see it here. ***1/2
11. Randy Orton v. Shawn Michaels, WWE Championship, Survivor Series 2007 (6,567pts.)
MK: I enjoyed this match for the most part and I dare say this is the best of their feud. What I don’t like about the match is that it is far too much about Shawn Michaels having to win this match without Sweet Chin Music, than it is about Randy Orton. Now, perhaps this is just because the WWE is a babyface heavy company, which is fine. I really think that this match should have been about Orton as a dominant heel champion. That aside, I think it’s very well done. Shawn’s use of the various submissions is a nice little treat as he shows his veteran instincts and isn’t about to let Orton beat him, even without SCM. The ending is exactly what it needed to be, and in a way kind of redeems the rest of the match and the focus on Shawn. It shifts it back to Orton and in it’s own way establishes Orton as a dominant champion, without making him appear unbeatable, which is about where Orton should be. The most surprising thing about this match, to me, was Shawn Michaels and his use of the Crippler Crossface. I believe this was the first time we had seen the move since the Benoit tragedy, so in my eyes this was a good way to “take the move back” so to speak. *** ½ .
HG: I liked this match quite a bit if for nothing more than Michaels’ overall grumpiness. His growing frustration being unable to find something to put Orton away with was played out quite well as well as Orton’s selling of it all as being confused and thrown off his game. In a way, the opening two thirds of the match are both guys being thrown off their game really more due to ONE guy not being able to use all his tricks. The end run is what really tied all this together though with HBK being the first to revert back to what brought him and Orton anticipating it and murdering him with the good old RKO. I thought this would definitely have a strong showing in the top 20 and looks like I was right. Good match here. ***1/2
12. Yuji Nagata v. Togi Makabe, IWGP Championship, 06/07/07 (6,121pts.)
BH: I’m really glad that enough voters saw this match to give it a chance in the Top 20. Why? Because it rocks. It doesn’t touch Nagata/Tanahashi and, by all rights, it probably isn’t as good as Tanahashi/Goto, but nevertheless, these two really rock the house. I’ve seen quite a few Makabe matches this year, and none of them really tickled my fancy besides his G1 Semi-Final with Tanahashi and this match. Like the TNA match reviewed below, we must first talk about the Blood. Nagata bleeds first in this war from a scissor attack, and they do a great job taking advantage of the visual as Makabe punches away at the cut and even uses his chain to open up the champion even more. When Nagata powers up, however, he lays in some harsh elbows that cut the challenger over his left eye . . . and he bleeds buckets. If you’re at all squeamish, this is definitely not the match for you, but it is incredible watching Makabe acting all dickish and heelish with half of his face rocking a 1.0 on the Muta Scale. Not only that, but the immediate shift from Nagata generating sympathy to the heel Makabe generating sympathy is a treat to watch. A doctor enters the ring, Makabe’s corner men (who attack Nagata earlier in the match) enter the ring, all trying to determine whether the match should be stopped. But the champion’s pissed and nothing—not even a barrage of lariats—is going to keep him from spiking Makabe through the mat until he pins his shoulders. They get a little silly near the end with pop-ups and all that sort of thing, but the match overall rules. ***1/2
MK: After watching this match I’m almost speechless. This is one of the best, if not the best, brawl that I’ve seen as a professional wrestling fan. A couple of things about this match that really stick out to me are the use of blood and Makabe’s heel work. I’ll start with Makabe. He plays the dickish, bastard heel as well as anyone I’ve ever seen. He simply shows no remorse for Nagata, and pounds away on the cut he opened up outside of the ring with a pair of scissors. Nagata’s comeback sequences are well timed and I absolutely love the flurry of elbow shots to the face that he lays into Makabe to open him up. Even though he starts bleeding buckets, Makabe doesn’t care and walks around the ring like he owns the place, flipping off the crowd. I love it. The use of blood in this match sticks out to me as well. A lot of time we see blood seemingly just thrown into matches for effect. I didn’t get the feeling that this was the case at all in this match. Makabe busts open Nagata with scissors and the blood pouring out of his face really generates sympathy for the champion, and adds a level of drama to the match. There’s something I can’t quite put my finger on, but the way Nagata opens up Makabe is just really satisfying. When Makabe starts bleeding, I kind of got the sense, for the first time in the match, that Nagata had a chance, as Makabe dominated the whole way through to that point. When brawls are done right in wrestling matches, I love them. To me, this is a brawl done right, and I have to put at ***3/4.
13. John Cena v. Shawn Michaels, WWE Championship, Wrestlemania 23 (5,578pts.)
MK: There’s a lot about this match I love, and a little I don’t like. I’ll start with the bad first. This match, at least early on, mirrors the main event from Wrestlemania 22 in that Michaels comes into the match clearly the superior the ring tactician, or at least in his mind he is. The opening sequence is far too similar to the main event between Triple H and John Cena where Hunter outwrestle’s Cena with ease. What I do like about this early part of the match is that Shawn wrestle’s smart and cocky. He’s got his swagger back, and in his mind, he’s better than the champion. His entire offense is based on Cena’s over aggressiveness, and the champion’s desire to get even with him for the events leading up to Wrestlemania. Shawn, like the ring veteran he is, takes advantage, and takes early control. In his mind, he’s already got the match won because he doesn’t think Cena can outwrestle him in either ring strategy or flat out ability. One of the things that people often say about this match is that Cena doesn’t sell his leg well enough. I couldn’t disagree more. I really think he does a fine job selling the leg injury after Shawn works on his leg. Cena’s feeling desperate for a while and takes a few errant swings at Michaels with his fists because he knows he’s getting worn down. After he regains control of the match he’s still selling the leg and shaking it to try and get more feeling back into the leg. It’s not over the top, and frankly anymore selling would have likely taken away from the match. The end of the match, in my opinion, really tells the story about John Cena as a performer. There are numerous exchanges between Michaels and Cena where Cena one-ups Michaels by countering his offense. To me, this is big, because Cena is no longer about getting lucky. He is just simply better than Michaels, a vast difference from where he was (at least as a wrestler/character) in his match with Triple H a year earlier. The ending sequence really shows this as Michaels frustration builds and Cena not only outlasts Michaels, he outwrestles him with counters, and ring savvy. When all is said and done, Michaels loses because he’s arrogant, over-confident, and Cena is just flat out better. I love their encounter on RAW a few weeks later, I still find this bout superior. **** ¼.
HG: Of all the matches on this list, this is probably the one I’ve cooled the MOST on. Now that doesn’t make it a bad match at all. It’s REALLY good, but lined up to a lot of the super stuff from the year, it comes off as a little awkward. HBK really for the first time unleashed the dreaded old man who used to yell at you to get off his lawn when you were kid. Because of it, it’s really not your prototypical HBK match with extended control sequences and what not. Cena even is a little different here as you really get a sense for the first time that he REALLY feels like the underdog. Given the dynamic, it’s really a strange affair from what we’re accustomed to seeing. Both guys do well in the role and deliver a pretty darn good match, but it still just comes off as odd. HBK dominating the action is new. He never really gets Cena into a position where he can really have a chance of winning and his mounting frustration plays well into the conclusion of the match. Odd dynamic and all, the ending is absolutely outstanding and the small package near fall is one of the best near falls of the year. This reminded me a TON of the Triple H match from WM 22 with a lot of weird that somehow came out good, but still left you with a slightly empty feeling. Again, it’s hard to put the finger on what this match is actually missing but there is definitely something about it that’s caused me to cool off on it. ***½
14. Undertaker v. Batista, World Title, Last Man Standing, Backlash 2007 (5,732pts.)
BH: The first time I saw this, I thought it might have been the MOTY, but on repeated viewings, it drops a bit in my estimation while Cena/Umaga LMS from the Royal Rumble goes up. The problem here is actually pretty simple. The match is billed, at least by JBL, as the most brutal match in WWE history. In this match, however, each man's finisher nearly wins the match anyway. How is it different than a normal match when the Tombstone Piledriver, by itself, practically wins the match? That's the difference here. The match, in the end, is not really all that more brutal or intense than the Mania one. I dug it a great deal, but it never escalated to a new place, it never made the leap (as had all previous "great" Last Man Standing matches) to where one guy had to do something BIG to win the match. Granted, they tried "escalating" it with a gimmicked double-KO finish, but I needed (as ashamed as I am to admit it) a few more extracurriculars. If anything, Batista's offense felt the more desperate of the two, going after a chair at one point and picking up Taker for multiple spinebusters. In the end, however, it didn't quite deliver a match anymore brutal than their encounter at Wrestlemania. ***1/2
MK: This is really just a different version of their Wrestlemania match, which isn’t a bad thing. It’s structured differently and there are a lot of the traditional LMS spots throughout the match (an announcer table spot, etc). I can’t help but like this match, but at the same time, can’t help but be a little bit disappointed because I didn’t feel like both men played up the gimmick in this match as well as they could have. Watching this match live during the PPV it’s off the charts, but it loses a little value over time. Having said that, I don’t think it dramatically changes the quality of the match. I guess, to me, the feud between Batista and The Undertaker was built on the idea of “who can outdo who” as a brawler instead of “who can outdo who” in catch-as-catch-can wrestling. Given the Last Man Standing gimmick, I just felt there should have been some more risks, bigger spots, and more brutal attacks against the other. Even if Batista had just hit the Batista Bomb on The Undertaker up the entrance ramp, I would have left feeling a bit more satisfied than I was. The ending itself is also a bit disappointing, simply because of what I’ve stated above: More risks and big spots to take this match, and the feud, to the next level. The double-KO ending is just not as satisfying as a clean win would have been. Having said all of that, I can’t help but like this match a ton. It’s a great brawl that leaves the door open for more, which is most likely why we got the double-KO finish. There’s no taking away from the fact that Batista and Taker are great in this type of match. At the end of the day it’s just slightly below their Wrestlemania match in my book, simply because I would expect more from a Last Man Standing match. *** 1/2 .
15. Chris Harris v. James Storm, Texas Death Match (4,822pts.)
BH: You know, I don’t follow TNA all that much, but this match. Oh, this match. I’m very surprised to see it down here at #15 since I have it rated higher than most of the matches on this list, but nevertheless, I’m glad to see that it made it here. It isn’t a five-star classic or an epic-to-end-all-epics. Instead, its formula is perhaps the most tried-and-true formula in wrestling’s history: Blood + Hate without getting too disturbing. NJPW has been taking advantage of this all year, but Harris and Storm pull it off beautifully as Harris bleeds buckets and Storm pulls a .9 on the Muta Scale. The Texas Death Match is similar to a Last Man Standing match. However, before the referee administers a ten count, one guy has to be pinned first. A pinfall, then, does not garner a win but, instead, gives a wrestler a chance at winning. Pinfalls count anywhere, and these two guys take advantage of that right off the bat with some of the best crowd brawling you’ll see this year. The real fun begins, however, back in the ring with interesting spots that don’t overdo it. They use two table spots really well (though the second seems to borrow a bit from Edge and Foley at Wrestlemania 22). I love the kick outs that occur later in the match after big moves. Given the rules of the match, they seem to scream, “You just hit me with your best shot, but you can’t even put me down for three let alone ten!” Or something more macho and succinct. Either way, I thought it was nifty. If you guys haven’t seen this, do so. ****
HG: Wow, who’d have thought it? A TNA match made a ‘best matches’ list somewhere. In all seriousness though, not only is this a walk away TNA match of the year, but I also felt it got the shaft. Sure, exposure and all usually dictates any kind of voting list, but this is the one match I really feel like should have been in the top ten and wasn’t.
So anyways, the match itself. Total barn burner. TNA adds the extra layer to a last man standing of sorts, adding the pin fall to give the combatant a mere CHANCE to win, not an actual win. This has all the components of a really fantastic feud-ending brawl. The big spots add up nicely and the stip, while one would think it’s a little overbooked at first glance, really lends itself well to the match in the kick outs later on. Tons of slugging, crazy table spots that aren’t too over the top, and most of all, buckets and I mean BUCKETS of blood here. The guys in TNA flat out just aren’t up to these types of matches mainly because I just don’t think that company puts a high price tag on psychology and drama (or at least the right kind of Drama). This is a really pleasant exception to the rule and absolutely murdered anything Angle and Joe did all last year and is certainly head and shoulders above the ludicrously overrated Triple threat between Joe, Daniels and Styles a couple of years back.
Frankly, because this is so low largely due to exposure, I won’t spoil too much of it because it’s REALLY worth going out of your way to see, even if you hate the promotion. Kudos to everyone in this, it deserved to be way higher. ****
16. Royal Rumble Match, Royal Rumble 2007 (3,166pts.)
HG: Yah, Ben’s on here too. This was a Rumble match that was just booked really well. I don’t think the delivery on the angles in the match was as good as I’ve seen in other Rumbles, but this one had some great pieces to it. Inevitably it’s going to be remembered mostly for it’s really fantastic finish. Those were without a doubt the two guys who needed to take the match home. These things are hard to review, but I find it easiest to give more of a historical placement for this. While I wouldn’t put it in the absolute top echilon of Rumble matches, it’s easily towards the top of the pack in the ‘best of the rest’ category. It was a good way to cap off an otherwise outstanding Rumble last year. I’d give it ***½ by Rumble standards.
MK: I have mixed feelings on this Rumble match. It’s not a bad match by any means, but it doesn’t flow well to me. I guess I’ll hit on what I like about this match and what I don’t like about this match.
The good part about this match is that a TON of people come away looking strong. Kane, Booker, Edge, Orton, HBK, Taker, Khali, Punk, Finlay, and others ALL come away looking pretty damn strong. It gave the Rumble an air of unpredictability, which is good since we’ve had a pretty good idea who was going to win the Rumble the last several years. While having a crapshoot is good, it makes it hard to really give a crap when there aren’t one or two front runners, at least in my opinion.
Regardless of any of this, the last 15-20 minutes of the Rumble are the best ever in my opinion. It all starts when The Great Khali enters the Rumble. Yes, you read that right. That isn’t a typo. Khali comes in and literally destroys everyone in the match, and then eliminates everyone one by one. This ten minute period really builds Khali as a dominant force that no one can stop, and as a fan you start to believe that Khali can even win the Rumble. That’s scary if you’re a mark or a smark. Then enters Taker. As Taker enters the match it is literally as if wrestling fans have seen their savior. No one can stop Khali…..but Khali has yet to deal with the Undertaker. Taker proceeds to eliminate Khali and we end up with Orton, Edge, Taker, and HBK as the final four. Edge and Orton try to rekindle Team Rated RKO and end up losing the match due to their miscommunications and we’re left with HBK vs. Taker. This is great on so many levels. For one, marks and smarks alike really couldn’t have had any idea who was going to win between these two. It’s so unpredictable. Then as Taker and Shawn battle we’re given a treat by watching them wrestle with their present day styles, followed up by a few moments that rekindle memories of their encounters from the mid to late 90’s. Truly a special moment, capped off by a Taker win, the first of his long career.
I have a hard time calling the entire Rumble match great because it seems to plod along without any emotion for about half of the match, but the last half of the match is one of the best we’ve ever seen culminated by some great drama with Taker squaring off against Khali, Edge and Orton looking to rekindle Rated RKO, and the final confrontation between HBK and Taker. All that being said, I give the match ***1/2.
17. Takeshi Morishima v. Bryan Danielson, ROH title, 8/26/07 (3,233pts.)
HG: Finally, some dissagreement. Indy fans are going to revile me for this, but I just didn’t dig this match nearly as much as a lot of other folks did. Takeshi Morishima is certainly a glorious glob of fat indeed but I just wince every time he’s wrestling a smaller more cruiserweight-ish guy. He gives them way too much offense. I felt he laid away from enough of that in this match, and to me did a great job of being an angry fat guy for the most part, but all things considered, I just feel like this isn’t much more than a good big man-little man main event match that was actually a little TOO dependant on the little man here.
Danielson’s selling really carries the hell out of this as the eye injury is really played up and gives us a real reason to get behind Dragon. I feel like Dragon pulled out a far better squashed little guy than Austin Aries did earlier in the year but that’s kind of to be expected. The near falls are what I just didn’t buy into as I never ever thought Morishima looked in danger of losing this thing. Even when he’s wavering, you’re almost totally ready for him to uncork some fat nastiness on Dragon and dash our hopes in a way only an obese slob like Mori can do.
Again, this isn’t a bad match. It’s good. But I just wasn’t ever into this as much as most were, but I wouldn’t argue for a second it shouldn’t be on this list somewhere. ***1/2
BH: Fantastic match. I thought it overrated when I saw it for the first time, but on multiple viewings, I dig it more and more. Sadly, Danielson’s eye injury actually make this a better match since it forces him to sell throughout the match (see my review of his Nigel match to see what I mean here) and it generates mad sympathy for him while exploding the heel heat for Morishima. The champ looks as dominant as it gets in this match in the early going, knocking around Danielson after getting kicked in the leg a bunch. Just really beautiful stuff. I don’t dig some of Danielson’s offensive stuff, though. At one point, Danielson tries to heave Morishima over the guardrail . . . except he isn’t strong enough to do it and the chubby guy practically jumps over it. The challenger also screws up a fancy transition into a leg submission shortly thereafter, but such criticisms are potentially a bit too picky for your average wrestling fan. Oh well. Amazing finishing stretch complete with face stomps, stiff strikes, an amazing lariat bump from Danielson, and a hot NYC crowd that just gets the rug pulled out from under them. Fun stuff. Perhaps my favorite moment of the match occurs when the challenger pulls out a top rope missile drop kick. When he nips up (as he usually does), he finds that Morishima didn’t go down. He’s merely pissed off. Or perhaps the best part is when Danielson pulls out a small package. Either way, just a beautiful match. Apparently they’ve wrestled three other times this year, though. ***3/4
18. Cena v. Orton v. HBK v. Edge, WWE Championship, Backlash 2007 (2,962pts.)
HG: I guess this was the one match that more or less surprised me by it’s presence on the list. Not that it’s bad, because it’s not, but the way things usually go, these multi man matches tend to get tossed aside, especially when the going gets close. But low and behold, here it is.
Though this isn’t exactly a wrestling clinic, it’s sort of bad sauce to expect that out of this. Though the action is the usual standard fare formula for these sorts of matches where two guys go at it and the other guys examine the arena floor, there are enough spots in this where all four guys get something going in time to keep the thing from dragging on all that long.
The nice thing about this too is that there’s actually designated roles that each guy takes on that help the match. Edge is busy wheelin’ and dealin’ trying to forge an advantageous alliance, Cena is the guy whose hitting all the big stuff and frequently cleaning house. Michaels is totally out for his own gain, using alliances only briefly to beef the situation up for himself. Orton’s in essence the guy with something to prove in a character sense, but ends up being the guy who more or less pin balls around and plays off what the other guys are leaving him.
All in all, I certainly wouldn’t say this is one of those elite matches, but it is fun for what it is. ***
MK: This match is a ton of fun in my opinion. It isn’t perfect, and I think it’s too short. There’s a lot of stuff going on in this match that could really be fleshed out a bit more than it is. I don’t think enough time is spent on the Orton/Edge angle going into the match. There’s bad blood between these two at this point and I really would have liked to have seen these two pound each other a lot more than we got. Then there’s the HBK/Cena angle which is a big focus, but again not like it could have been. The ending is unique, but in my opinion a little bit weak and really unsatisfying for my tastes. ***
19. Tanahashi v. Goto, IWGP Championship 11/11/07 (2,877pts.)
BH: This got a lot of love around the internet after it happened, but I think people were getting a bit too excited. The match absolutely rocks for the first ten minutes or so, up until Goto goes back on offense after Tanahashi begins to attack his leg. The challenger sells great while Tanahashi attacks his leg, but as soon as Goto goes on offense, the pain magically disappears. While Cena got a lot of flak for “forgetting” his leg as his WM match progressed, at least he attempted to make it look like it bothered him for a few moments, shaking out the pain. Michaels didn’t even go back to it. Goto, however, just flips the pain on and off . . . and it gets a bit annoying at times. Nonetheless, whether or not someone can defend this glaring problem, the match still rules—and not just in the beginning portions. They have great transitions throughout the match, good teases of comebacks, great strikes, a hot crowd, neat double KO segments, and a finishing stretch that seems to fit —though a bit long and tedious on the first viewing (there seems to be a botch that quieted the crowd a bit and Tanahashi really seems to survive too much). Despite the fact that Goto neglects to sell Tanahashi’s limb work when the champ isn’t busy attacking his leg, it pays off in the end. I don’t really like the extended bit with the double slaps in the match’s second third, but I liked that Goto put a stop to it with a series of good looking closed fists. (Not sure why that matters, but it does for me.) Very worth seeing. ***3/4
MK: This match is such a mixed bag to me. It has a lot of good, and a lot of stuff I don’t like. Really, when you break it down, this match has a lot of the elements that makes pro wrestling fun. There’s a hot crowd, great transitions from segment to segment, some good control segments, a lot of fun nearfalls and two great workers. But at the end of the day, I can’t help but feel that this match isn’t as good as it should have been, largely in part to the negatives. First of all, Tanahashi works on Goto’s leg two or three times during the match, and Goto doesn’t sell it at all once Tanahashi stops his leg work. It gets frustrating as a viewer because Tanahashi keeps going back to it, and personally it makes the ending a little weaker in my eyes. There’s also a segment towards the end where both men exchange several slaps. To me this just gets silly. It’s far too long and drawn out for my liking. Finally, the ending sequence of the match is just way to over the top for my liking. There are a lot of nearfalls, but really, there are too many nearfalls. Both men also pop back up far too quickly after a couple of German Suplexes are hit. There’s a lot of
no-selling of the other’s moves at this point. Maybe I’m being too nit-picky, but it’s the little things like this that keep this match from being great. There’s a lot of good here, and it’s worth seeing, but far from perfect. *** ¼.
20. Triple H v. Umaga, WWE Championship, No Mercy 2007 (2,741pts.)
HG: Another really enjoyable match here but I feel like this one is considerably not as good as the Cyber Sunday match. This is definitely more or less a re-hash of the Umaga-Hardy match from the ‘Bash, just not executed quite as well. For one, Triple H can’t bump and flail like Hardy does and in general. Second, he can’t because he’s got a Last Man Standing match to still work on this night and needs to keep a little gas in the tank. It’s kind of hard to hold it against him, but it does end up affecting things for me. So bearing all this in mind, it’s still a pretty darn fun match despite never having as much a right to be as good a match as it ended up being.
This is the usual standard fare Umaga match. I love the opening line JR uses as Umaga is headed down to the ring, that he’s McMahon’s Designated Hitter and really, in real life, he is. He consistently performs. This is most of the standard fare for him. He acts wild, crazy and out of control while Triple H tries to figure out a way to escape with the belt in his posession.
Lots of similar stuff from the Hardy match here with a lot of failed offense focused on Umaga’s bean on the part of Triple H. Of course that utterly fails and Umaga more or less has his way with Triple H, completely hammering him with body shots and what not. The end is more or less Triple H staying in character and taking quick advantage of three Umaga misses to hit a pedigree and keep the belt. Uh, so ‘cerebral’ of him or something. Umaga doesn’t look flattened, just stunned long enough to get pinned so no one looks like an idiot which is good.
I REALLY like how tight this is though. It’s a real, no bull-Sh_t match. These two go at it, sprinkle in a formula that works with enough learned psychology to keep dorks like me happy before rapping it up with a harmless ending. I thought their Cyber Sunday match was a lot better than this, but I think you could make an argument for about 10 matches that could’ve been in this same spot, so really, it’s all moot. **1/2
MK:If there’s one thought that comes to mind when watching this match, it’s that it doesn’t really have the effect or feel to it that it should because of the fact that it has become a WWE Title match due to the injury to John Cena. Instead of being about the battle that had been building between Triple H and Umaga, it’s all about Triple H as the new champion that is competing multiple times in one night.
That being said, it is still a good contest, but to me it’s nothing more than a solid RAW main event. It starts out hot and Umaga takes pretty good control of the match. Triple H does a great job of playing the babyface in peril, which is the furthest thing from the norm for him. But, considering he wrestled a 20 minute match with Orton earlier in the night (and for the record, that match was far superior to this one), he really needed to play that role in this match.
The ending is weak. In what has become fairly standard with Umaga, Triple H takes advantage of his aggressiveness to score the pedigree and the win. Just very anti-climatic.
I put it at **.
So there you have it. A nice, neat list of everything 2007. On behalf of the guys, I’d like to extend a big ‘thank you’ to the trolls on the WV Discussion forums who compiled this list and went through the arduous task of sifting through this stuff and coming up with a final match list. We were ecstatic with the overall response to the project on both the forums and outside them. If you’ve got opinions, feel free to log onto the forums and make yourself heard! We’re up for round 2 with the 2008 project and you’re all more than welcome to join in the bickering! Thank you to all who made this possible!
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