So about a month ago, I picked up goodhelmet's MOTYC compilations and have begun to work through them in the hopes that I can determine my Match of the Decade. I have not liked to keep a lot of matches on my computer and I don't have access to most of my collection right now, but these comps have basically every really pimped matches from 05-08, I've been keeping up to date with 09, and I have a feeling most of the recommended stuff from 00-04 is available online.

I'm pretty slow at watching wrestling and there was a fair amount of content on the 2005 set. This is when the indy scene was really starting to peak, WWE was firing on a few cylinders, and NOAH was still hot. That said, here is my MOTY list for 2005:

1. 6/23/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (SD!)

2. 12/16/05 Santo/Casas v. Mephisto/Averno (CMLL)

3. 12/17/05 KENTA vs Low Ki (ROH)

4. 9/18/05 KENTA vs SUWA (NOAH)

5. 4/3/05 Angle vs. Michaels (Wrestlemania)

6. 7/18/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Sasaki (NOAH)

7. 10/1/05 Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi (ROH)

8. 5/14/05 CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave (ROH)

9. 5/2/05 Shelton Benjamin v. Shawn Michaels (RAW)

10. 11/5/05 Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (ROH)

11. 1/8/05 Kobashi vs. Suzuki (NOAH)

12. 6/26/05 Angle vs. Michaels (Vengeance)

13. 11/5/05 Santo v. Atlantis (CMLL)

14. 5/7/05 Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal (ROH)

Nothing else I saw resonated with me enough to put it on the list. Thoughts on the matches:

1. 6/23/05 Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. (SD!)

This is crazy good. They do a masterful job of building the heat and the crowd is going insane by the finish. The rest of their 2005 feud got too silly for me, with Dominic becoming the focal point of the feud and long stretches of Eddy staring at him. Here, they focus on each other and it's amazing. It's weird to think how they can have such a different match than their 1997 WCW classic but they pull it off, working a much slower pace but still fitting in tons of moves and spots. This is probably the peak for Eddy's facial expressions - featuring confidence, disgust, disappointment, anger, and finally worried and desperate. The crowd loses it for the finish.

2. 12/16/05 Santo/Casas v. Mephisto/Averno (CMLL)

For the first two falls, I was wondering why this was on the set, and then the third fall they just kicked it into gear hard. Santo in particular was amazing, just fluid and crisp to the max. Another great finish here.

3. 12/17/05 KENTA vs Low Ki (ROH)

4. 9/18/05 KENTA vs SUWA (NOAH)

I'm a big fan of KENTA, and these were two amazing performances. Low Ki was his usual self in their match, but the ROH crowd loved seeing him get stiffed back. Just a brutal, violent match. There are pointless NOAH Jrs matwork to keep it from really reaching that upper echelon, but they ditch that quickly and get into beating the shit out of each other. The SUWA match is completely different, built around SUWA being a huge dick. Getting into Joe Higuchi's face, spitting on a dude at ringside, and eating his comeuppance like a man. I loved these.

5. 4/3/05 Angle vs. Michaels (Wrestlemania)

12. 6/26/05 Angle vs. Michaels (Vengeance)

I wanted to rank the Vengeance match higher, just for the turnbuckle powerbomb (which was SWEET) but Michaels forgets how to sell in that one. I hate the "stay in the ankle lock forever" thing, but that happens in every Angle match so you kind of have to overlook it.

6. 7/18/05 Kenta Kobashi vs. Sasaki (NOAH)

7. 10/1/05 Samoa Joe vs. Kenta Kobashi (ROH)

Epic 2005 Kobashi is great, but there is little substance to these past the spectacle. Which is fine, spectacle is great to watch too. The chop war on 7/18 is basically the pinnacle of all chops ever. The Joe match is insane, huge heat, but the crowd pissed me off so fucking much. "THIS IS AWESOME" twice, "ROH!", "I CAN'T SEE SHIT!" when they're fighting on the outside, "SIT THE FUCK DOWN" as a continuation of that, "PLEASE DON'T TAP!" REALLY? for fuck's sake, and "ARIGOTO" after the match. But great desperate work from Joe and Kobashi puts him over huge.

8. 5/14/05 CM Punk vs. Jimmy Rave (ROH)

This is their cage match, and like most of these matches it has huge heat. It's CM Punk's ROH climax and the best performance of Rave's career. Tons of comeuppance spots and pay offs, and thats really all you can ask for in this. The finishing superplex off the cage is bonkers.

9. 5/2/05 Shelton Benjamin v. Shawn Michaels (RAW)

Anyone who says Benjamin can't get over in WWE forgets this match. The crowd loves him and is begging for an upset. Tons of false finishes and a great spinning enziguri by Benjamin, followed by the infamous springboard-into-superkick finish. Great TV match that if followed through on would have made Benjamin a main eventer.

10. 11/5/05 Bryan Danielson vs. Roderick Strong (ROH)

I hated when ROH found out Japan does time limit draws, because then they figured they had to do them all the time. It was cool for Joe/Punk, but the 2006 stuff and the 75 minute Aries/Dragon match were fucking retarded. I'd forgotten the result to this, and when the announcers (who are terrible, by the way) started going on about how "these men could go 60 minutes LOL foreshadowing~" 5 minutes in I figured I was in for a long borefest. They managed to suck me in anyways through some great near falls and when Dragon just murdered Strong with the elbows to finish it I was beside myself. Too much pointless opening stuff to rank higher though.

11. 1/8/05 Kobashi vs. Suzuki (NOAH)

I just love watching Suzuki do shit. He's awesome. Here he is being a bigger dick than usual and working Kobashi's chopping arm constantly and out of nowhere, and finally Kobashi will have none of it. Really good.

13. 11/5/05 Santo v. Atlantis (CMLL)

14. 5/7/05 Samoa Joe vs. Jay Lethal (ROH)

These are just really solid matches that did their genre to perfection that I couldn't justify ranking ahead of any of the above matches but were heads and shoulders above the rest of the discs.

So there's my 2005 thoughts. I think Rey/Eddy is the only one that will contend for MOTD, but we'll see. A solid year of wrestling.