[2000-01-15-NWA Wildside-TV] A.J. Styles vs Jesse Taylor

[soup23]

Probably the singular biggest peak guy now that we will track a ton through the 2000's is AJ Styles (apologies to CIMA, Tanahashi, Cena). Here we see the inkling of what made him a great worker. He was energetic, had good charisma and sold all of the midsection work well. The stomach work was intriguing and different from the form. Some of AJ's spots were still spotty and he needed editing but he seemed more polished here than what we saw of Punk and Cabana earlier. **1/2

[Loss]

The first of many matches we'll see from AJ Styles as we go through this project. I agree that of the guys we've seen so far that are closely associated with this decade, he looks the best. This is probably not what people would expect to see from an AJ Styles match in 2000, as it's a lot of rib selling and he doesn't really hit any offensive moves until about halfway in when he starts slowly rallying a comeback. He does a great job slowly peppering in his offense and continuing to sell even while doing it. As soup mentioned, maybe there are some areas where he still looks like a little green, but they are minimal, and it's hard to watch this match and not see him as a future star, even if he is smaller than the other guys. Jesse Taylor is a good amount taller than him, and he looks pretty credible going against him. ***

[Tim Evans]

Early AJ styles here. You can see the flashes of what he would become a couple years later. His strikes are weak but he did good selling the ribs and doing some flying moves. Taylor did a good job putting AJ over but the announcers just sucked. Especially Bill who kept tip toeing the line between kayfabe and shoot. Decent tv match.

[Migs]

Never watched any Wildside back when it was running. I thought the announcers were actually pretty decent putting over the ongoing story and the match story with the ribs.

 

Thought this was an interesting, if pretty basic, match. But AJ at this point was, interestingly, already able to do a basic TV match and mix some of the bigger high spots into it.

[Childs]

AJ gave a promising performance. He hit some impressive stuff without going over the top, and he put a lot of effort into selling the damage to his ribs. His execution on punches and stomps was iffy, and the match kind of petered out. But the seeds were evident.

[Moonsault Marvin]

Solid match. Young AJ Styles surprisingly kept the match rather basic and didn't delve into his later excesses. He showed his athleticism with his speed and some flips, but most of the match surrounded him selling damaged ribs. Styles is a guy that I've gone back and forth on in my opinion of his wrestling, so I look forward to reevaluating him.

[GSR]

So the first appearance of A.J. Styles who I’m imagining we’ll be seeing plenty of in this project. Styles with a side headlock and Taylor shoots him into the ropes and drops him with a shoulder tackle. He backs him into the corner and unloads with a couple of smart looking punches to the bread basket. A knee to the solar plexus and some boots as Taylor continues to focus his attention on Styles’ mid-section. A.J. starts to fire back and a powerslam by Taylor for a two followed by more knees to the Styles mid-section. He whips A.J. into the corner, but in one motion leaps to the top turnbuckle, and when Taylor charges, backflips over him and drops him with a right. Real nice selling of the ribs by A.J. after this. Bodyslam from Taylor and a leg drop across Styles’ ribs. A second leg drop to mid-section and Styles is only just able to kick out. A.J. reverses an Irish whip and Taylor goes chest first into the turnbuckles. Big splash in the corner from Styles and he’s back selling his ribs again. Top stuff! Standing moonsault for two and more selling of those ribs. Dropkick and Taylor ducks out of the ring to get a breather but A.J. with a pescado. Taylor picks up a chair and throws it, and Styles, back in to the ring. He’s too long deciding what to do, A.J. with a rabbit lariat and Taylor takes a bump over the top rope to the floor. He gets back to his feet and on to the apron, but A.J. with a baseball slide dropkick, taking Taylor’s legs out from under him and sending his head crashing into the steel chair that was now on the apron. Styles rolls him back into the ring, springboard leg drop, regulation leg drop and that’s enough for the three and the win for A.J.

 

Interesting to see Styles so early in his career and in the few high spots that he does, you can see that he’s a ‘phenomenal’ athlete. Exceptional job at selling the ribs here. Even after his offensive moves he’s back selling them and proceeds to do so for the rest of the match. No forgetting to seconds later. I thought Taylor was solid if unspectacular, and he and Styles put on a good little match. I actually liked the commentary here with them talking about the slide and losing streak Taylor has been on, also mentioning how bright Styles’ future is. How prophetic they were!

[aethelred]

That entrance music! I realise it is deterministic to say so, but so far it's been clear from these independent matches which wrestlers were going to make it and which ones weren't. AJ is perhaps the best example of that so far, barring perhaps Low Ki.

[Edwin]

This is the best indy match out of the bunch so far and it felt more like a Velocity sub-10 minute match than anything else.

 

Taylor's corner strikes to Styles midsection looked fantastic. That punch he landed however looked awful as it looked more like a slap and less like a punch.

 

Styles' selling was on point too. Even after he landed any type of offense, he would go back to selling them immediately. That dive from Styles over the top was fantastic and he quickly went back to selling his midsection as it did him more harm than good.

 

The finish was a little unexpected being that it's an AJ Styles match.

 

Quality TV match.

[Chess Knight]

I went through some young Styles a while ago and was really impressed by his bumping that early into his career. This didn't change my mind, he went all in throwing himself back and bouncing off of the floor. His rib selling was really quite good too, he was convincing and the handicap was a clear hindrance for most of everything he tried. His offense was another story, it was pretty awkward when he wasn't flying, and he didn't seem to know how to even capitalise on chances to go at it, even before the ribs came in. Like that time where he back-flipped from the turnbuckle and landed behind *scrolls up* Jesse Taylor but then just kind of limply punches *scrolls up again to see if it isn't actually 'Tyler'* Taylor was deflating. Thought Taylor was solid too, most notably to me he flew RIGHT into that turnbuckle on an Irish whip. Match was a'ight.