[2001-01-13-NWA Wildside-TV] Air Paris vs A.J. Styles

[soup23]

I think this was the best AJ match we have seen so far. He still feels miscast as a heel but plays it up better here by having his athleticism lead to his demise and the cavalcade of characters around ringside including Onyx and Jeff G Bailey helped stack the deck against Air Paris. The work here was crisp and they told the story they sat out to without a hitch. It isn’t one of the top 100 matches of AJ career but it does feel like a historical point watching a match like this. ***1/2 (6.9)

[AstroBoy]

Man this was pretty fun and they went pretty all out.  Manages to have lots of cool spots while feeling like a spirited fight at the same time.  I thought there were some weird AJ moments where he'd grab a submission and sort of willingly give it up to move on to something else.  Air Paris had some sketchy selling down the stretch as well but AJ wins the title after interference and a big splash.

***