[2000-03-11-NWA Wildside-TV] A.J. Styles vs Eddie Golden

[soup23]

Another fun match for Wildside as I continue to enjoy Golden. The bigger development happens after the match as the referee gets bumped and announcer Steve Martin takes matters into his own hands counting the pinfall. Big time beatdown by the heels after the match including giving Martin a haircut. The segment ends with Bailey being chased off by a crazed woman. **1/2

[Loss]

Solid workman's match with a veteran leading a young guy and making him look good. Nothing special but professional. I don't quite get the post-match angle, but it is what it is.

[Moonsault Marvin]

I thought Golden was tremendous as the throwback to '80s southern heel. He stalled, jawed with the fans, and had all the mannerisms down. Styles wasn't as crisp on his gymnastics as in previous matches. Bailey continued to heel it up by partially shaving the head of the announcer. Fun match.

[GSR]

Eddie Golden looks like he should be a part of the Stud Stable with that ring robe he’s wearing. A series of arm wringer reversals and Golden resorts to grabbing the ropes. They trade hammerlocks and A.J. again comes out on top with Golden having to grab the ropes to break the hold. Styles with a leap frog and that glorious dropkick he throws, straight into an arm drag. A lovely Frankensteiner sees Golden take to the floor and he looks to be heading back to the dressing room until Jeff G. Bailey has a word in his ear and calms him down. Golden with a forearm and they exchange chops. Styles whips him into the corner, but then botches jumping up on his opponent’s chest and flipping backwards. A.J. comes charging at Golden who picks him up and drops him head first ‘snake eyes style’ onto the top turnbuckle. The commentators mention at this point how Styles turned down a WCW developmental contract out of his loyalty to Wildside. A.J. blocks a superplex and shoves Golden to the canvas. Shooting star press, Golden rolls out the way and he lands on his feet. Eddie thinks he’s outsmarted his opponent but A.J. nails him with a clothesline. Low blow from Golden and a reverse chin lock. Golden blocks a sunset flip and we get a roughly executed set of Malenko/Guerrero pinfall attempts and reversals. Golden drapes Styles over the middle ropes and distracts the official so Bailey can choke him behind his back. He goes to jump on him, however A.J. moves and he crotches himself. Styles with a suplex and a missile dropkick, but Golden pulls the referee in the way and A.J. hits him instead (this looked bad as Golden barely moved the ref). Golden picks Styles up for a bodyslam, he counters it into a small package, and with the official still down, Steve Martin sprints from the announcing desk and into the ring to count the three. Onyx and Ruckus are quickly out and attack Martin and Styles. Golden with a piledriver on Martin with Bailey cheering his man on. Onyx tapes A.J. to the ropes and Bailey starts to shave Martin’s head until the face locker room empties to put a stop to this.

 

My least favourite Styles match to date, and the one where he probably looked the most green. Strange as Golden has no look, but is a pretty solid worker. Just one of those nights where the two of them didn’t click. A chaotic ending with the head shaving and even Steve Martin’s girlfriend getting involved and chasing Jeff G Bailey to the dressing room.

[Tim Evans]

So is Eddie Golden a fake relative of Jimmy Golden? That's tremendous. Sadly this match isn't tremendous. Some basic stuff befoe the ref bumps and the run ins start. That guy thunder just dwarfed poor Onyx.

[Edwin]

This was OK for what it was. Relatively basic NWA Wildside TV match.

 

Nothing really worth going out of your way to see.

[Stiva]

Simple studio wrestling but I came out of it really digging Eddie Golden. He wasn't reinventing the southern heel wheel but he was playing one really well as well as knitting the whole match together, feeding Styles at the right time and he even looked good in the post-match beatdown. Does Jeff G Bailey punch a fan that tries to grab him? That guy was/is something else, man.