Random Stuff from 2008/Best of the Best 4

Taking a break from the TPI. Going to work on disc 2 of my 2008 MOTYC DVD set from DVDVR board.

1) Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Takeshi Morishima for the GHC Heavyweight title.
Morishima has a phenomenal jacket and cowboy hat. Rather ugly fellows here. They can't all be KENTAs, I guess. Lock up and a clean break from Morishima in the ropes. Another lock up, and a clean break once more, this one from Misawa. Lock up, they get to the ropes, but Morishima's forearming. Misawa fights back, and Morishima backs off. Shoulder block spot, but Misawa can't knock down Morishima. Morishima just throws his ass up and knocks down Misawa. Powerbomb on the floor attempt, but Misawa backdrops him. Ouch. Misawa on the apron with a senton to the floor! Morishima back in and tosses Misawa into the corner, follows with a clothesline and rapid forearms. Another big clothesline in the corner, but Misawa fights out of the backdrop driver. Misawa knocks down Morishima with forearms. MISAWA SUICIDE DIVE! Both men back in, and a frog splash form the 2nd rope from Misawa, but it barely gets 2. Out on the cool ramp. Misawa butterflies the arms, but Morishima backdrops him. Misawa charges and Morishima gives him the Bossman Slam on the ramp! Morishima goes up top. FRONT MISSILE DROPKICK! Short distance running ass splash in the corner. Morishima sits up Misawa and then just kind of side rolls into him with a senton like maneuver. This man uses his large ass to perfection. Lariato to a seated Misawa for 2. Hard clothesline, but Misawa DRILLS him with a forearm. More forearms, HUGE forearms. I need to see Misawa and Hero. Butterflies the arms, but Morishima backdrops out and drops down with the ass. MORISHIMA SUICIDE DIVE~!~!~! God that has to be scary to catch him. Big shoulder tackle off the apron to Misawa. Morishima running release powerbomb for 2. Leaping Yakuza to Misawa but 2 again. Lariato, Misawa's up with a big forearm. Lariato, forearm, lariato, forearm. Misawa with a back elbow, but he runs into another lariat. More clotheslines from Morishima, but Misawa with the forearms. BACKDROP DRIVER stops that bullshit. Morishima runs with another LARIATO. Misawa kicks out. Uh oh, both men on the apron. Morishima went for a backdrop driver, but Misawa forearmed out and EMERALD FLOWSION TO THE FLOOR. Misawa's having no count out bullshit here, so he brings Morishima back into the ring. Forearms knock down Morishima. Misawa sets Morishima on the top turnbuckle. Another Emerald Flowsion, hits it. Morishima kicks out. Big forearm knocks down Morishima, but another kick out. Roaring elbow, Morishima kicks out again. Morishima fights back. LARIATO for 2. Another backdrop driver, but Misawa's fighting out. Morishima hits it anyway but Misawa kicks out. Misawa with forearms, roaring elbow but Morishima with another lariato for 2. Morishima with a running lariato, cover but Misawa kicks out. Morishima backdrop driver and that's it. Morishima wins the title. Didn't quite feel like a world title win, but still pretty good stuff.

2) Tyler Black vs. Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World title.
This was from Take No Prisoners, I think it was Tyler's first shot at the title. Handshake to start, but Nigel jumps Tyler and throws him shoulder first into the post. Nigel goes after the arm to start. Nigel does Bryan Danielson's "I have till five" spot. Nigel's totally heeling it up here. Tyler fights back with forearms but an uppercut cuts him off. "Wanna go four-eyes?" he says to a fan. Tyler with a comeback that ends with a vertical suplex. Jumping stomp to the face. Nigel takes control back with a stomp to the injured arm. "I'm the best wrestler in the world." Tyler tries to fight back with chops, but Nigel wrings the arm and slams Tyler down into the mat. Big dropkick from Tyler, followed by chops in the corner. Nigel hammerlocks the injured arm and throws him into the turnbuckles. Nigel slaps around Tyler, who chops him. So Nigel gives him an uppercut. Nigel throws Tyler out of the ring and continues to heel it up and jaw-jack with the fans. Nigel goes outside and throws Tyler into the barricade. Nigel with a running forearm knocks down Tyler. Nigel's got a chair, but Tyler superkicks it into his face. Tyler springboards and does a big dive into the crowd, but Nigel got the chair up and hit Tyler. Not a DQ, I guess. "What an epic fail for Tyler Black." Indeed. Tyler's selling it like death as the fans cheer him on. He finally gets in the ring, Nigel covers him but only gets 2. Nigel with a lariat but he misses and Tyler school boys him for a near fall. Uppercut in the corner, and then a running one. Lariat from Nigel but only a 2 count. Nigel puts Tyler in the London Dungeon, a wacky arm submission, but Tyler gets the ropes. Nigel goes for the Tower of London, but Tyler fights out with clubs to the back of the neck. Tyler with a somersault stunner. Nigel went for the loop-de-loo lariat, but Tyler ducked and knocked Nigel down with a running Yakuza Kick. Both men get up and Nigel with an uppercut, Tyler fights back with a chop. Lariat misses and Tyler with an enzuigiri. Spinning reverse brainbuster for a near fall. Tyler goes for a running clothesline in the corner, but Nigel with the kick to the back/lariat combo for 2. Fans really into Tyler as Nigel goes up top. No clue what he's going for, but Tyler reverses it and gets a superplex. Rolls through into a fireman's carry into a DDT for a really good near fall. Fans chant "that was three." Tyler goes for the twisting 450 splash, but Nigel trips him up and hits the Tower of London. Cover but only 2. Chinbreaker from Tyler, Nigel goes for the loop-de-loo lariat again but Tyler ducks under and hits the Small Package Driver for 2 and the crowd went crazy. Phoenix Splash misses and Nigel puts him back in the London Dungeon. Tyler gets out and counters with a pinning predicament for another great near fall. Nigel sits Tyler on the top rope and goes for the lariat, and he kills him. Tyler again kicks out. "This is awesome" chant. That chant's really annoying now. Tyler spit in the face of Nigel, who responds with another lariat. Tyler kicks out and the fans with their loudest pop yet. Nigel hit the loop-de-loo lariat but TYLER KICKED OUT. Tyler gets up and Nigel gives him another lariat and puts him in the London Dungeon again. Tyler taps. The match got great at the end there.

Alright. Switching things up to CZW's Best of the Best 4. Let's see here. Chris Cash/Homicide/Jack Evans was the first match, Homicide pinned Cash with a lariat. B-Boy/Jimmy Rave/Roderick Strong was the second match, B-Boy pinned Rave with the Shining Wizard. Bobby Quance/Ruckus/Alex Shelley was the third match, Ruckus was counted out after Nate Hatred threw him through a table. Nate Webb/Petey Williams/Sonjay Dutt was the fourth match, Petey pinned Webb after the Canadian Destroyer. Then Chris Hero beat HOTSTUFF HERNANDEZ~! with a roaring elbow I believe. Then in the first quarterfinal, Homicide absolutely murdered young Jack Evans with a lariat and a running Cop Killa.

3) Roderick Strong vs. B-Boy in a BotB quarterfinal round match.
I hate these commentators, John House moreso than the Eric guy. They just sound like complete douchebags, but this is CZW, so take that for what it's worth. B-Boy takes advantage with a shoulder block and a big forearm. Strong dropkicks him and KIPS UP. On the outside, B-Boy chops him and throws him into the guard rail. Back in the ring. CHIN LOCK TIME. B-Boy with a hard kick to the back. Strong with a cool backbreaker and he starts to work over B-Boy, who elbows him. Strong with a Yakuza and a big chop. Strong beats him up on the floor. I didn't know he was trained by Jim Neidhart. Back in the ring now. B-Boy fights back with elbows and chops and kicks. Basement dropkick misses. Strong with another cool looking backbreaker. Strong with a butterfly suplex and a guillotine leg drop. Boston Crab but B-Boy throws him off. Strong keeps control as they go to the outside again. Strong kicks at B-Boy's back, B-Boy fights back but Strong shoves him off into the guard rail. Strong keeps trying the Boston Crab, but B-Boy fights it off. Back into the ring we go. Boston Crab attempt but again B-Boy fights out and hits a Shining Wizard. B-Boy's slow to cover and only gets 2. Northern Lights suplex by B-Boy and then a brainbuster. Facelift basement dropkick in the corner. B-Boy covers but Strong kicks out. This is pretty standard stuff, not great, not awful. B-Boy tried to jump off the ref's back, but Strong caught him with the fireman's carry into the double knees and the running Yakuza for 2. Strong finally gets the Boston Crab in. B-Boy crawls towards the ropes. Basically, he slapped the mat once each time he tried getting to the ropes, so the ref called for the submission. B-Boy was pissed. Fans chant "bullshit" afterwards.

4) Bobby Quance vs. Alex Shelley in a BotB quarterfinal round match.
Hopefully this one's better than the 3-way they had with Ruckus. But I'll blame Ruckus and his retarded looking spots for that. Shelley looks like a total geek here with his gym shorts. They do some basic mat work and reversals. Cross armbreaker, but Shelley gets the ropes. Quance now with a kimura, but Shelley gets out. Quance back with arm control. Quance kicking at Shelley's arm and then knees him. Shelley hot shots him and then hits an enzuigiri for 2. Shelley with a neckbreaker and then a... submission. No clue what to call it. Quance fights back with chops, but Shelley's having none of that. Quance with a cool looking pinning predicament, Shelley kicks out and clotheslines Quance down. Now almost a cravate from Shelley, but Quance fights out. Shelley now with a Japanese stranglehold into the lungblower. THAT'S INDY WRESTLING. Backdrop suplex and a short chop exchange. Shelley's back in control, but Quance with an Ace Crusher. Quance gets a Northern Lights suplex, rolls through, another Northern Lights, into the cross armbreaker. Shelley again gets the ropes. Superkick by Shelley. Jumping DDT from Shelley and Quance kicks out at 2. Quance out of the corner with a hurricanrana. Cross armbreaker but Shelley holds on with a pin for 2. Now a... scoop backdrop driver from Shelley for 2 3/4. Never seen that before. Shelley puts Quance on the top turnbuckle. Quance fights out and goes for the Shooting Star Press, but Shelley moves. Quance lands on his feet and the tornado kick misses. Quance back with the cross armbreaker and Shelley taps. Fun little match there.

ECW's almost on, so I'm done for the night. I'll be back tomorrow with the final two matches in the 2007 TPI.