Best ROH matches of 2007

Definite step down from there prime years of 04-06.

1. Takeshi Morishima vs Bryan Danielson ROH Manhattan Mayhem 2 8/25/07
2. Kevin Steen/El Generico vs Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe Boston Street Fight ROH Death Before Dishonor 5 Night 1 8/10/07
3. Jimmy Rave vs Nigel McGuinness Fight Without Honor ROH Fifth Year Festival Finale 3/4/07
4. Nigel McGuinness vs Bryan Danielson ROH Driven 6/23/07
5. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Claudio Castagnoli/Matt Sydal ROH Respect is Earned 5/12/07
6. Matt Cross, Erick Stevens & Delirious VS Rocky Romero, Davey Richards & Roderick Strong ROH Driven 6/23/07
7. El Generico vs Claudio Castagnoli ROH Tag Title Match Race to the Top Tournament Night 2 7/28/07
8. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Kevin Steen/El Generico Ladder War ROH Man Up 9/15/07
9. Jimmy Jacobs vs BJ Whitmer Steel Cage Match ROH Supercard of Honor 2 3/31/07
10. Chris Hero vs. Nigel McGuinness Pure Wrestling Match Death Before Dishonor V Night 1 8/10/07
11. Kevin Steen/El Generico vs Jay Briscoe/Erick Stevens ROH Fighting Spirit 4/14/07
12. No Remorse Corps/Matt Sydal vs The Resilience/Delirious Philadelphia Street Fight ROH Death Before Dishonor 5 Night 2 8/11/07
13. BJ Whitmer vs Jimmy Jacobs Falls Count Anywhere ROH Fifth Year Festival Finale 3/4/07
14. Mike Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Kevin Steen/El Generico ROH Domination 6/9/07
15. Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries ROH Rising Above 12/29/07
16. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Bryan Danielson/Nigel McGuinness ROH Race to the Top Tournament Night 1 7/27/07
17. KENTA vs Bryan Danielson ROH Driven (bonus match) 6/23/07
18. Jay Briscoe vs Mark Briscoe ROH Fifth Year Festival Finale 3/4/07
19. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Naruki Doi/Shingo ROH Fifth Year Festival Liverpool 3/3/07
20. Jay Briscoe/Mark Briscoe vs Kings of Wrestling 2/3 Falls ROH Domination 6/9/07
21. Jimmy Jacobs vs Colt Cabana Windy City Death Match ROH Fifth Year Festival Chicago 2/24/07

McGuinness vs Aries rewatch

Well, this is why we have rewatches to check if a match holds up. What I thought was top 10 wasn’t so much this time. There was sort of a story with the crowd getting on Nigel which led to the heat seeking missile and Nigel’s face meeting the guardrail. This leads to some arm and head work on Nigel which leads to some arm work on Aries. None of it was worked on long enough to be sold. Finishing stretch was light on selling. It’s listable, but not a classic. #15.

AOTF vs Vulture Squad vs Steenerico vs Hangm3n rewatch

I enjoyed it, but too much Pearce for my liking. Take them out, then maybe I would list it, but as is, no.

Jacobs vs Danielson rewatch

It was good, but Jacobs control sections were kind of boring. It just felt like he was being too deliberate when setting up simple stuff. Danielson was great in a WWE style match with his blood loss selling and making Jacobs look like a threat. Sadly, this just does not blow me away. No.

Morishima vs Danielson GBH6N2 rewatch

The best way I can describe this match is that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. If you want it to be a hate filled match where Danielson is trying to take Morishima’s eye out, then fine. But when he is trying do get a pin with a sunset flip and a german suplex, then that is where they lose me. The finish was executed poorly by both wrestlers. I know people liked the stomping of the nuts, but Morishima didn’t really sell it the way it should have. No.

Danielson vs McGuinness SOTF 2007 rewatch

Good match, but probably the wrong two people to have a 20 minute draw with since they have went longer in the past. Danielson’s arm selling should have been better early on, while Nigel was great in selling the leg. At this point, this just doesn’t cut it. No.

NRC vs Vulture Squad rewatch

Good match, but a bit too no selly and some execution issues. I liked it better when this was NRC vs Resilience at Driven. No.

Steen/Generico vs Briscoes Ladder War rewatch

This is at the very least is the best of the very good matches. The same brutal war that I remembered with enough smartly set up spots to not be considered ridiculous. Jay taking forever to get the belts down is the only thing that hurts this one. #8.

Steen/Generico vs Briscoes 2/3 Falls rewatch

Good, but considering it’s this feud, it just isn’t anything incredible at this point. The control sections in the middle dragged and it just ended up boring me until we got to the spots in the end. No.

Morishima vs Danielson Manhattan Mayhem 2 rewatch

Fuck, maybe this is the MOTY. Danielson attacking the leg and gutting out the orbital bone injury and Morishima being stiffer and a better seller overall was awesome. Both this and the Boston Street Fight have some stuff that could have been taken out, but this one has the better overall story and is my MOTY. #1.

NRC/Matt Sydal vs Resilience/Delirious Philadelphia Street Fight rewatch

Not as epic as the last street fight, but still a hell of a lot of fun. Granted 30+ minutes was too long and the crowd dying was not surprising, but it wasn’t like it didn’t have a purpose. On rewatch, it’s 80% great with Stevens running out of gas in the end. #10.

Steen/Generico vs Briscoes Boston Street Fight rewatch

Still awesome. One of the most chaotic atmospheres I’ve seen in ROH that wasn’t the ROH vs CZW feud. Still could of got rid of the table spots, but this is probably the MOTY with only one other match having a shot. #1.

Hero vs. McGuinness Pure Wrestling Match rewatch

This was still a hell of a lot of fun and held up better. It stands out from all the serious business that was going on at the time. Hero and his crew were great and Nigel played a good foil for them. Hero probably could have sold a little better, but this match was a gas. #7.

Generico/Castagnoli rewatch

Held up real well. The slow pace makes sense since they have both wrestled three matches the past two days, but the match just built accordingly with the moves getting bigger each time. Early on, Generico would go for the brainbuster and Claudio would go for pin attempts and do a little back work. The back was sold fine by Generico, but didn’t mean anything in the end. The end run with Generico taking huge bumps was awesome. The commentary does get this match over as much as it should, but this is still top shelf material. #5.

Briscoes vs Danielson/McGuinness rewatch

Held up pretty well. However the Danielson/McGuinness dissension wasn’t as prevalent as I remembered minus one Danielson comment and the ending. You still had the hierarchy in effect and still had everybody’s flaws hidden. #8.

KENTA vs Danielson bonus match rewatch

Still very good, but not as great as I would have hoped. Compared to McGuinness/Danielson, this just didn’t seem to have the crowd heat and energy. Still has the stiffness and limb twisting, and the ending was actually better in execution then on paper. #8.

McGuinness vs Danielson Driven rewatch

This is still a heck of a match, but I don’t necessarily think it was a great Danielson performance. He had these tendencies to shrug off offense and take back control too fast. I also was not in love with the back work. He should have either not done it or went full on with it instead of doing something in between. I’m only criticizing it because this is considered a MOTDC. This still has all the nasty stretching, hate, spite, and stiffness to make this rewatchable. #2.

Cross/Stevens/Delirious vs NRC rewatch

This was crazy fast with an insanely hot crowd. As good as this can be with the exception of Rocky coming back a little too easily in the end. Most certainly top 10 worthy. #3.

Briscoes vs KOW 2/3 Falls rewatch

Listable, but on the low end. Similar issues to there FB 06 match where it feels like it is going a bit too fast and thus the selling just isn’t as good. But like that match, this was a lot of fun. #9.

Quackenbush/Jigsaw vs Steen/Generico rewatch

Very good no doubt, but I don’t think it is quite great. Steen’s a dick, Quack is over, the masked men were fun, the crowd was hot, and it ran the right amount of time. Some moves could have been a tad bit better, but I still dug this. #4.

KENTA/McGuinness vs Morishima/Danielson rewatch

This just didn’t do it for me. It felt like a collection of each wrestler’s bad tendencies like Morishima going down too early and doing too many top rope spots, Danielson doing back and forth crap with KENTA and shrugging off the G2S finisher, and Nigel absorbing a dropkick and doing a fighting spirit lariat. If I wanted to watch a spotfest tag on the card, I would watch the Briscoes vs Claudio/Sydal match. No.

Briscoes vs Castagnoli/Matt Sydal rewatch

Really awesome on rewatch. This was a Briscoes match done right and went the right amount of time. And Claudio was in it which means quality. Sydal was a little tentative in the early going, but he was ruling it in the end. #2.

Marufuji vs. Romero rewatch

Not as good as I remembered, but still better then it had the right to be. Fine beginning, very good middle, ok end run. Good because of the middle, but nothing outstanding. No.

Briscoes vs MCMG rewatch

This had absolutely no right going 30+ minutes for a match that didn’t really have a story in it. They made the best of it and didn’t really have as much “your turn, my turn” stuff except for the Alex/Mark stuff at the end. As far as 07 Briscoes matches go, I think there are too many better matches. No.

Steen/Generico vs J. Briscoe/Stevens rewatch

Very good, but no where close to a MOTYC. Generico’s performance wasn’t really that good especially during the long control segment on Jay. Steen on the other hand was an awesome dick and his tuff on Jay was what kept it as interesting as it was. Stevens was ok in the little time he got and the end run with the surprise was great. #3.

Strong/Aries SOH2 rewatch

This was a really good Aries carry job. Strong was still getting his feet wet as a heel and he just didn’t have a compelling control section. He also took forever to get the guardrail set up for an important spot. The story they tried to establish was good, but Strong kind of sunk the match. Slight no.

Whitmer/Jacobs Cage rewatch

It is still a crazy match, but there are issues with this. The first section of the match was pretty awkward at points because Jacobs looked hurt at a point and BJ’s selling wasn’t that great down the stretch. I don’t think I would go MOTYC, but it will probably the highest rated of the very good matches in 07. #2.