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2008


Phil Schneider

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Not that anything is gonna smoke that one (and shouldn't) but I was reminded of Hayato Jr. Fujita vs. Yoshitsune from this year by World Pro inadvertently last Friday, and of course I know you are gonna do the big BattlARTS tag too. That might be the only one to defeat Panther/Villano but it's a crapshoot. 

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I don't remember 2008 being terribly strong overall, but it does have a match that might be my MOTD, and is on my short list for favorite ever.

 

Their matches in 2006 got more hype at the time, but haven't aged as well due to the ringpost spot combined with their early retirements. This match takes the 2006 matches into account and works on so many levels. It's a confluence of the previous 2 years of their work in ROH, and everything comes to a head in a clash of tremendous character work and in-ring storytelling that gives the audience credit (and gets the right reactions at every turn). Bryan, having the chip removed from his shoulder, is a pure babyface who is now all about sportsmanship and the spirit of competition. Nigel now has the same chip on his shoulder and is willing to do anything against a guy he's not sure he can beat. Going into the match, Nigel moving towards being a whiny heel, using his injury history as an excuse. In fact, he was reluctant to even take this match because of Bryan's offense that targeted the head, citing his history of concussions. Bryan, being the ever noble-to-the-point-of-being-stupid babyface, promises to not target Nigel's head during the match. Both guys start on the mat with Bryan getting the better of the exchanges. After an innocuous back suplex, Nigel flips out saying Bryan broke his promise to not attack the head. No one buys it, and it was never an official stipulation just an act of good will on the part of Bryan, so the Nigel completes his heel turn mid-match with his tantrum and trying to walk out with the title. Cue some locker babyfaces to stop him, and he has to storm back to the ring in disgrace. Nigel eventually gains control with some vicious offense and spends plenty of time yelling the fans who went from lukewarm to full hate on him. When Bryan makes his comeback, he still honorably never targets Nigel's head despite Nigel's shameful display thus far. He pauses at opportunities to deliver his trademark KO elbows and modifies his offense accordingly. Bryan still does quite well for himself and it looks like Nigel still won't be able to get over the hump until he delivers a despicable 2-for-1 ultra-heel cutoff move: A head butt to Bryan's eye that had a detached retina a few months prior from a match with Morishima. Does it really get any lower than your opponent not attacking an injury all match, then putting that injury in jeopardy to hit an opponent's weakness he never talked about? Well, Nigel tries to top that has he follows up by delivering Bryan's own trademark elbows to Bryan's head, with the last one deliberately targeting the eye again. Then Nigel locks on his own London Dungeon submission on an unconscious Bryan until the ref has to stop the match.

This is the match that really hammers home how great both of these guys are to me. Instead of trying to raise the bar from Unified, they work a relatively safer match that's still compelling in terms of action, but add the drama through exceptional character work and advancing the storyline in the context of the match. Nigel's range from beginning to end is incredible and I think is easily the best performance of his career. Obviously Bryan has one of the best resumes of all time, but this still ranks as one of his best performances as well, especially as a face.

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