The Goodness of 2007 #1

So since the year is rapidly coming to a close I decided to start on making some 'Best of 2007' comps to document it. After the first volume was complete I then decided to review some of the matches as a way of giving back. This won't be in any chronological order, I'll just review as I watch them. This is simply some good and possibly great matches from this year that you should go out of your way to see.

KENTA vs Danielson

6/23/2007 - Ring of Honor

There's not a lot more that needs to be written about Bryan Danielson. He's the best in the world no doubt and although he's missed nearly half of it he'll still likely end up as most people's wrestler of the year. This match was really a showcase in why I love this man. Firstly, the tease of the 'I have 'til five!' He builds it up and builds it up and finally when it he does deliver the line the crowd pop huge. It's little things like that which make me love wrestling and which prove Danielson is great at his job. The best wrestlers in the world excel at the little things that draw you in, the things that cause you to sit watching a match with a huge shit-eating grin on your face. Flair does it, Kawada does it, Hansen does it, Austin does it and Danielson does it. Secondly, the finish is awesome. Danielson has a habit of creating an epic sense of tension and excitement during the finishing stretch, and he does this with aplomb in this match. Often people will bitch about no-selling, but fuck it's pro-wrestling, it's a show. Everything just clicks here from the trading of each other's signature moves to the huge amounts of under-selling them. The actual finish comes as Danielson is hammering elbows down onto KENTA's head, to which KENTA responds to by lifting Danielson up onto his shoulders and hitting a Go2Sleep, despite Danielson still belting him with elbow strikes. I've made this sound all about Bryan, when actually KENTA is awesome here too. He takes an awesome bump from the apron and brings extra fire with his strikes. But ROH is the Danielson show, and this match not only proves it, but also make me remember why I love pro-wrestling.