5 Best Wrestling Matches of 2007

2. Takeshi Morishima vs. Bryan Danielson – ROH Mayhem in Manhattan II

Six minutes into this big fight for the ROH World Championship, Takeshi Morishima (who hit people very hard), hit Bryan in the face with some stiff shots. One of these shots detached his retina, which made it difficult for him to see out of one of his eyes.There are some matches that are great because of their action, some that are great because of the atmosphere, and some that are great because something unseen happens that makes a match better in retrospect. This match is an example of a little bit of the first two and a lot of the third.

Let me repeat that. His retina was detached, and he still wrestled. In a match against a man over twice his size. And not only did he keep wrestling, but he wrestled as if nothing had happened. The only sign of anything being possibly wrong was that he kept covering his eye with one hand.

Yet this didn’t slow down his pacing, didn’t interfere with his moves, and didn’t make him botch anything (including a dive from the top rope into the crowd). He was still able to wrestle the same match as if a dangerous injury hadn’t even happened, which is simply astonishing.