Ten favourite wrestling matches of the year, part 3

3. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama vs Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama, NOAH, December 2nd 2007
It's about the personalities. Kobashi is god of wrestling, and is making his return after beating cancer. Misawa is ex-god of wrestling, who was kind of annoyed at having to play god again while his successor was out. Akiyama is the wannabe god who never quite made it and has a chip on his shoulder as a result. And Takayama is the guy who was repeatedly punched in the face by Don Frye. This has more of a big match feeling than anything else this year, and now that Kobashi is out again with an unrelated injury, this set of personalities may work at the same level again.

Part 2
Part 3

2. Blue Panther vs Villano V, CMLL mask vs mask 2/3 falls, September 19th
Never does there feel like there's more at stake than in a mascara contra mascara match. If you follow lucha libre, you'll already know the result was one of the most shocking ever; if you don't, well, trust me on this.

Second fall
Third fall

1. Nigel McGuinness vs Austin Aries, ROH Rising Above, December 29th 2007
Realists, fantasists: seems everyone agrees on this one. Stiff, thrilling and memorable.

Part 2
Part 3

Worst match: Triple H vs Koslov, WWE Survivor Series: only reddeming feature is Edge's beard
Best women's match: pick one of the Gail Kim-Awesome Kong bouts. Stereotyping for fun and profit!
Best non-fake match: Miguel Torres vs Yoshiro Maeda, WEC 34