[2012-07-08-TNA-Destination X] A.J. Styles vs Christopher Daniels (Last Man Standing)

[Superstar Sleeze]

AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels - Destination X 2012 Last Man Standing

 

Another match forgotten in the treasure trove of TNA wrestling. TNA is/was a shitty promotion, but you cant have all that pure talent on their roster and not being putting out hidden gems even if the booking is dog shit. I think that's why TNA is the promotion with the most to offer in the way of hidden gems because there is always they matches forgotten and overlooked because of how toxic the promotion is.

 

An incredible, old school, hate filled brawl to the finish. There were no carwreck spots, no big budget action movie stunts. Just two men that hated each other and wanted to punch each other in the face. If you are like me and just want to watch two bloody men tee off on each other then this is your match. If Daniels could have just wrestled AJ his entire career he would be an all-time great. These two just light each other from jump. I have talked about AJ's punches before and how good they look and on top of that the sound they make. Just a great sound. Daniels was no slouch himself. The punch he catches AJ with to open his heat segment. Was incredible. He popped him good. What a sell by AJ! Selling a single punch like that is just so meaningful. Kudos to put men for putting over the violence. Because as good as the punching was the selling of the punching was what was making this. Another good thing about this match is they did not go for a lot of "nearfalls" meaning not a lot of false ten counts. The urnage on the chair was vicious and warranted the count, but other than that it was just heavy blows. Notice all the shots are to the head. Love the double juice. I like using the stage as the final grounds. It is a place that everyone in the arena can see so you keep crowd attention and heat up. The Kaz interference felt cheap at the time, but it was a good "nearfall" for Daniels. The actual finish was a great climax. AJ shoves Daniels into Kaz knocking him off the ramp. AJ is selling so great with his jelly legs. Hits a Styles Clash from the ramp through a table on the floor! Great Holy Shit spot to end it.

 

I still think their best match is Final Resolution 2009, but these two are gold together. They very rarely have a bad match. More often than not their matches are Match of the Year Contenders. This is a rivalry that should be lauded more. What a throwback to the brawls of yesteryear when it was about punching, selling and blood. ****1/2

[Migs]

The more I watch of Styles in TNA, the more it feels like his TNA run would be a really fun deep dive. Maybe the booking would be too much of a bummer to really enjoy it, but almost everything I've seen past 2005 has been excellent. 

Really interesting to see how Styles and Daniels built up the violence in their feud, as opposed to watching the Angle-Jarrett matches, which had the more naturally intense story behind it, but couldn't really pay off the angle in the matches. Wild, wild finish, an epic spot that again feels way more powerful because of what came before it than if they'd ended a 2002 spottiest with it. Tremendous, must see stuff, best of their series that I've seen so far.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Holy Shit! This was even better than I remembered! I knew it was a hate-filled brawl and they were just committed to teeing off on each other. Some details I missed in my original review that I want to point out here. Watch where AJ hit his dropkick. That was a Jim Brunzell murder dropkick directly to the head! Daniels was wearing blackout tape on his fingers such that it looked like he was giving he middle finger when he was holding up all four fingers. Daniels shows that from his knees, AJ stomps the hand! 

Loved how they used the weapons tastefully in this match. No furniture movers. No feng shui wrestling. It was a steel chair set up in the middle ring. BANG! Nasty urnage through it. Great use of the steel steps first for Daniels to draw blood and then tilted on its side for AJ to draw blood. Daniels really threw himself into that bump. 

Double juice. They work the cuts like a couple 80s Southern pros. Terrific. 

I have mixed feelings about the finish. The Styles Clash through the table from the ramp is INSANE~! WOW! What a finish! However,  I thought the Kazarian interference even the Quebrada into the DDT just took the edge off the heat ever so slightly. I am borderline between ****1/2 and ****3/4 now. I really, really dug this. Highly recommended, this match will be considered timeless. Loved it!