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Dark Pegasus Video Review: Phenomenal – The Best of AJ Styles
April 16, 2006 | Posted by
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Loading...Phenomenal: The Best of AJ Styles (2-Disc Set)
This is to crown the first ever X-Division Champion on TNA’s second show. You have to lose twice in order to be eliminated. Psicosis has a pretty cool “Eleanor Rigby” rip-off as his theme. AJ and Psicosis start off. AJ cartwheels off a monkey flip and superkicks Psicosis for two. Psicosis gets his guillotine legdrop for two. He tries a huracanrana, but AJ counters to the Styles Clash for the first fall at 2:00.
Low Ki, who was ripping things up in Ring of Honor at the time, comes in and attacks AJ right away. Low Ki actually gets a Pelé kick, and they botch the Hanging Dragon. Low Ki covers nicely rolling through to a Dragon Sleeper. AJ makes the ropes, though. Low Ki misses the Phoenix Splash, and AJ is able to hit the Blue Thunder Facebuster to put a fall on Low Ki at 4:23.
Jerry Lynn jumps Styles immediately and gets a pinfall with a Cradle Piledriver (4:44).
Psicosis jumps in again and takes out Lynn with a missile dropkick. Lynn snapmares him over and hits a tilt-o-whirl headscissors. A bulldog off the second rope gets two. To the outside, Psicosis hits a somersault plancha on Lynn. Back in, he gets a spinning wheel kick for two. Lynn misses a dropkick but catches Psicosis with one as he’s coming off the top. Lynn eliminates Psicosis with the Cradle Piledriver at 7:44.
Low Ki jumps an exhausted Lynn and drops a Muta Elbow. He hits a Kappou Kick in the corner, but Lynn reverses his rana to a sunset flip for two. A Lynnziguiri puts Ki down. Lynn drops a leg from the outside and goes for the Cradle Piledriver. Low Ki counters to the Triangle Choke! Lynn is fading, so he yanks Ki up and powerbombs him. That gets a close two. Lynn counters the Ki Krusher to a DDT for two. The Cradle Piledriver finally finishes Ki for real at 12:02.
AJ needs to get two wins on Lynn now. Styles gets a discuss lariat for two, but Lynn counters his Styles Clash to a rana for two. A tilt-o-whirl backbreaker gets two for Lynn. Styles comes back with a slingshot corkscrew bodypress for two. The Tiger Wall Flip just serves to set up AJ for a Tornado DDT. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ blocks a suplex and hits a Hangman’s Neckbreaker Drop for two. Lynn blocks a rana and counters to a Running Lygerbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! STYLES CLASH! ONE, TWO, THREE! (16:05)
Ricky Steamboat becomes your special guest referee for the final fall. Gee, it’s a good thing it came to this, or they would have brought him in for no reason. They go into the Lynn/RVD reversal sequence resulting in about a dozen nearfalls. Styles hits a dropsault, but Lynn snaps his neck off the top rope. To the outside, Styles hits his Quebrada DDT on the floor. Back in, Styles gets two. Styles tries another Quebrada DDT, but Lynn hangs him on the top rope and drops him with a DDT. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Lynn grabs a Spinning Gory Stretch. AJ rolls out and goes for a rana, but Lynn counters to a facebuster in midair. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ snaps off a Fireman’s Carry neckbreaker for two. Brainbuster by Lynn! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! A sleeper slows things down, but AJ counters to a jawbreaker. SUPERPLEX BY LYNN! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ goes up and comes off with a Spiral Tap (Corkscrew Senton). ONE, TWO, THREE! AJ picks up the win and the first ever X-Division Title at 25:55. It was much better when Low Ki and Styles were in there. Psicosis was just fodder. Once Lynn and Styles started going at it, though, it was just nearfall after nearfall, often with no transition between them. ***1/2
AJ turned heel in the interim. Low Ki was the Ring of Honor champion at this point. AJ tries to stay away from both of them early, but they catch him off guard with a pair of forearms. Lynn takes out Low Ki and gives AJ a Gory Special. Low Ki makes the save with a dropkick, but AJ knocks him down with a spin kick. Lynn counters a rana to a facebuster on Styles, but Low Ki makes the save. Low Ki slings over Lynn, who has AJ in a waistlock, and it turns into a double pin spot as Lynn German Suplexes Styles as he gets rolled up. Low Ki gets the Dragon Sleeper on Styles and then one on Lynn when he tries to save. Lynn counters to a DDT. AJ does the Tiger Wall Flip, but Lynn catches him and gets a rope-assisted DDT for two. They work in a convoluted spot where Lynn flips AJ into an Inverted DDT on Ki. AJ sets Ki on top for a Super Fisherman’s Suplex, but Lynn sneaks in and springboards into a sunset flip bomb. They then go into a an incredibly elaborate series of pins and reversals and counters where each guy gets a pair of nearfalls. Lynn breaks up a Hanging Dragon, but Ki applies one against the ropes. AJ recovers and quebradas onto Ki breaking up the hold. Ki hits the Styles Clash on AJ, but it only gets two. Lynn hits the Ki Krusher on Ki for two. AJ Cradle Piledrivers Lynn for two. Rock apparently does fear paper. Ki accidentally takes out the ref with the Tidal Wave. AJ takes the opportunity to grab a chair and smack Lynn in the head with it. Low Ki recovers first, though, and crawls into a cover. Styles hits the Spiral Tap on both of them, but Referee Scott Armstrong doesn’t consider the count broken. Low Ki picks up the win at 16:19. There was some amazing athleticism, as usual, but storywise it’s the same as every average triple threat I’ve ever seen. Hita move, make a save, get hit with a move. ***1/4
Ki and Lynn slug it out, so AJ goes to the outside and grabs a ladder. AJ takes Lynn out with the ladder. Back in, Low Ki takes out Styles with a springboard spinkick. Low Ki puts AJ in a Boston Crab, so Low Ki starts kicking him in the chest until he drops it. Ki goes out for a ladder, but AJ dropkicks it into him. AJ sets the ladder across the ring barrier and ring apron. Ki blocks a suplex but takes an enzuigiri. Ki and Styles fight on the ladder, so Lynn sneaks in and slams their faces into it. Back in, Low Ki charges and gets hiptossed into the ladder. Lynn blocks a Tidal Wave and tries to powerbomb Ki, but Ki reverses to a rana into the ladder! AJ is the first to make a serious attempt at the belt. Ki catches him and Roundhouse Kicks him, knocking AJ into the ladder-of-woe. With AJ hung up and exposed, Ki starts unleashing the stiff kicks. Why not just grab the belt? Ki eventually does go up, but Lynn caches up with him and backdrop suplexes him off the ladder. Ki tries to springboard into a rana, but Lynn powerbombs him. AJ javelins the ladder into Lynn’s face. Ouch! Three ladders get set up, and Ki applies the Dragon Sleeper on AJ on top of the ladders. Again, why not just grab the belt. Lynn crawls up, and now all three guys are on ladders. Lynn is in the middle, so he shoves Ki’s ladder over. Ki gets his foot out to push off the ropes and keeps the ladder from tipping over. AJ tries the same thing but goes spilling to the floor. Lynn gets Low Ki upside down and gives him the CRADLE PILEDRIVER OFF THE LADDER! Low Ki is insane to take that spot! After that, it’s easy for Lynn to climb up and grab the title at 19:59. ***3/4
Mortimer gets my vote as the most useless manager in company history. He seems like the type of character you would come up with if you didn’t actually watch wrestling and only viewed it through stereotypes. Before the match, Pac warns Plumtree not to get involved. AJ mocks the DX chop and gets smacked in the chest. Syxx runs him to the outside and hits a nice somersault plancha. Syxx locks in a Mexican Surfboard. Styles scissors Syxx to the outside, but Syxx blocks a sliding dropkick and smashes AJ into the railing. AJ tosses Syxx into the post and hits the Sprial Tap for two. The Quebrada DDT gets two. Syxx avoids a dropkick and hits a series of spinkicks. A powerbomb gets two, and Syxx delivers the Broncobuster. He stops to play to the crowd, though, and gets powerbombed. Syxx counters the cover to the X-Factor. Plumtree pulls out Referee Scott Armstrong before he can count three. Syxx gets a Northern Lights for two. AJ goes for the Styles Clash, but Syxx makes the ropes. Brian Lawler (former Grandmastah Sexay) sneaks up and smashes Syxx in the head with a bottle. That enables Styles to hit the Clash for the win and his second title at 8:48. Syxx raises AJ’s hand after the match. **1/4
They open with a series of armdrags ending when AJ gets a roundhouse kick to the head. A series of nearfalls follows, and Red returns the favor with a kick to the head. Red blocks the Quebrada DDT and hits his own quebrada on the outside. Back in, AJ hits a Gutwrench Cutter for two and takes over. AJ slips out of the Code Red (Pendulum Bomb) and goes for a suplex, but Red slips into the Code Red anyway. AJ hits his Quebrada DDT for two. Red comes back with a tilt-o-whirl DDT for two. Red blocks the Styles Clash but takes a powerbomb. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Red avoids a charge, leg sweeps, RED STAR PRESS! ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ blocks a rana and goes for the Styles Clash. Red blocks that, though, and snaps AJ down with a rana. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! A Canadian DDT gets two for AJ. Plumtree trips Red up, and AJ is able to hit a Southern Lariat to put Red down. Red’s just faking, though, and he crotches AJ on the top. Red goes for the huracanrana, but AJ rolls through to a sunset flip for the win at 12:36. That’s how you do a spotfest. Red is one of the few wrestlers in the world that AJ can play the power wrestler with, and AJ worked into the role nicely. ***1/2
Skipper and Low Ki are part of Vince Russo’s S.E.X. along with Christopher Daniels. Winners of this match move on to “Anarchy in the Asylum.” AJ gets a blind tag and nails Low Ki with a missile dropkick. Ki comes back with a Kappou Kick. AJ comes back with a kip up rana on Skipper and tags Brown. Ki yanks the referee into Brown to take over again, though. The match breaks down, and Skipper trips AJ up as he’s going for a springboard. D-Lo makes the save and hits the double shaky-shaky legdrop. He takes Skipper out with a Cactus Clothesline. Inside, Low Ki hits another Kappou Kick and goes for the Tidal Wave, but D’Lo sneaks in and gives him the Sky High (Rydeen Bomb) for the win at 9:03. **1/4
Disc Two
AJ is still semi-heel here. Raven is your real babyface. They hit the highspots early as Raven and Jarrett fight on the outside, and AJ delivers a somersault plancha on them. Raven avoids an AJ springboard off the ringsteps. Back in, Raven avoids an enzuigiri and locks in the STF. AJ breaks it up and gets his Quebrada DDT. Raven goes for the Raven Effect on Jarrett, but AJ jumps in with a chair and smacks Raven in the head, busting him open. Styles and Jarrett team up for a drop toehold into a flipping senton. AJ and Jarrett each go for a cover, thus putting a strain on their alliance. They try another doubleteam maneuver, which backfires, and Styles winds up hitting Jarrett with a legdrop. Raven gives them each a drop toehold into the chair. Suddenly, Shane Douglas appears and pulls Raven to the back. Jarrett is so distracted that AJ is able to hit him with the belt and get a frogsplash off the top. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Jeff counters a charge to an Alabama Slam for two. Styles slingshots into a Sunset Flip for two, then he goes for the Styles Clash. Jarrett picks AJ up and rams him into the corner. The ref gets bumped on another attempt. AJ springboards into a somersault splash, but Jarrett gets his knees up. Suddenly, here’s Vince Russo to run in with a guitar, and everyone in the world who has watched more than one Russo-booked match knows exactly what’s going to happen. Russo stares down AJ but hits Jarrett with the guitar instead. AJ gets the Styles Clash for the win at 13:59. This was soooo Russo, and it’s not something AJ needed because he could be entertaining on his own. **1/2
These guys are former friends and partners. They had a few matches that ended in screwjobs, so we get this. AJ slides under the ring barrier off a whip. That was cool. D-Lo springs off the ringsteps and tackles him. AJ tries a suicida, but D-Lo slams the ladder into him. D-Lo sets up a table, but AJ springboards and takes him down with a rana. D-Lo bails, so AJ hits a somersault plancha. AJ whips D-Lo into the ladder and sets up a chair in the ropes. AJ goes up, so D-Lo schoolboy bombs him to the mat. AJ shoves him off the ladder and grabs another table. D-Lo jumps him, though, puts him on the table, resets the ladder near the edge of the ring, and FROGSPLASHES AJ THROUGH THE TABLE! From there, it should be easy, but Sonny Siaki runs down and tips the ladder over. D-Lo goes through the table on the other side of the ring. They both crawl up the ladder and grab the belt. AJ unleashes it, and they fall to the mat both holding onto the belt. (11:01) Yes, someone booked a screwjob in a ladder match. Vince Russo runs down and tries to intimidate the ref (Please! It’s Vince Russo!). The ref rules that the tie goes to the champion, so AJ holds on to the belt. ***
Stiff tie-up to start, and they take it to the mat. Low Ki actually wants to fight from his back, but AJ won’t make a move. AJ catches him with a dropkick and hits a single-arm neckbreaker. Low Ki catches him with a surprise 619. Low Ki dropkicks the knee and lays in stiff kicks. AJ sweeps the leg, but Ki kips right back up and hits a Kappou Kick. On the outside, AJ hits his Quebrada DDT. It gets two back inside. Ki slips over AJ’s shoulder off a suplex and counters to the Dragon Sleeper. AJ rams him to the buckle and sits down into a chinlock. Low Ki is in the ropes, so Russo pokes him in the ribs with a baseball bat. Ki comes back with a springboard kick and a running forearm. He gets two off a Bridging Butterfly Suplex. AJ counters the Ki Krusher to an armdrag. The Tidal Wave misses, and AJ hits a spinning lariat. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ unleashes a flurry of strikes, but Low Ki grabs a Hanging Octopus Lock. AJ slings him away and hits his German Suplex/Blue Thunder Facebuster combo. That gets two. AJ tries his Quebrada DDT, but Low Ki counters with a kick. This time, the Tidal Wave hits, sending Styles to the floor. Low Ki follows him out and smacks Russo around when he tries to interfere. Low Ki goes up and is about to put Russo out of his misery by putting him through the announce table, but Referee Rudy Charles blocks him. AJ has the bat now, so he clocks Low Ki in the face and gets the win at 14:43. Ki and AJ have great chemistry, and it shows here. Unfortunately, “you know who” just couldn’t keep his filthy ADD-addled mits off the match. ***3/4
AJ is back to being a babyface now. He hits a somersault plancha off the bat. Abyss catches him off another dive attempt, though. AJ comes back with a rana. They head back inside where AJ gets a dropkick. Abyss press slams AJ and chokes him out. AJ blocks a charge and springboards into a crossbody for two. Callis grabs AJ’s leg to cut off a springboard. That enables Abyss to forearm AJ to the floor. Abyss gets two off a side slam. AJ counters a powerbomb Kidman-style. YOU CAN’T POWERBOMB AJ STYLES! A tilt-o-whirl headscissors staggers the big man further, and AJ goes up for a missile dropkick. Abyss pulls the referee into the way, though. AJ hits a Quebrada DDT and a springboard somersault splash. The ref is out, though, so Callis slides in a chair. Abyss ANNIHILATES AJ with a chairshot. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! Abyss tosses the ref to the floor and sets AJ on top. AJ somersaults off the top and powerbombs Abyss into the chair. A new ref runs in and counts two. Abyss slingshots AJ’s head directly into a chair in the corner. The Argentine Backbreaker Drop gets two. Abyss gets frustrated and takes out the second ref with a Black Hole Slam. Now, it’s AJ’s turn as he SMASHES the chair into Abyss’ head. Abyss staggers but grabs AJ by the throat. He tries a chokeslam, but AJ rolls through as the first ref recovers and counts three at 13:53. Great “big guy” vs. “little guy” match, marred only by Abyss’ problems with his mask causing some sloppiness. ***1/2
Abyss attacks AJ on the ramp and tosses him into the crowd. They brawl all through the crowd. AJ crawls up the stairs to the second tier and somersaults over the railing onto Abyss for two. That’s not bright. A “fan” tosses a Pepsi into AJ’s face. Of course, it turns out to be Johnny Fairplay, doing anything short of gay porn to desperately hold on to his 15 minutes of fame. Then again, I don’t watch any gay porn, so he might be doing that to. Back in, AJ hits an enzuigiri, so Abyss gets desperate and tosses AJ into the ref. Abyss hits the Black Hole Slam as a new ref comes in. It only gets two. AJ avoids a charge, and Abyss rams his own head into a chair set up in the corner. AJ gets two off a German Suplex. AJ ducks a clothesline, and Abyss takes out the referee. STYLES CLASH! Oh, but there’s no referee. A new one finally runs down, but AJ only gets two. We’re clipped ahead to AJ trying to set up a broken table. AJ sets Abyss on the table and comes off the top but takes out the referee. Finally, security hits the ring and pulls them apart. D-Lo, Siaki, Simon Diamond and BG James run in to help them out, but AJ and Abyss keep scrapping to get at each other. The whole match is thrown out at 14:20. Good stuff, but the numerous ref bumps and Fairplay interference were unnecessary. ***1/4
Vince Russo — who is now the Director of Authority and has since shaved and got a haircut making him look significantly less like a skeezy douchebag and more like a Catholic camp counselor — comes out to the injured Chris Harris. Russo goes through his life story with Raven, prompting JJ to yell, “Who cares?” Indeed. Russo says he will not let himself be bullied or manipulated, so he’s replacing Harris with AJ. A short feeling out period ends with AJ hitting a dropkick and a kneedrop. Jarrett knocks him down with an uppercut, but AJ kips up in to a rana and gets two off a powerslam. Jarrett blocks the Quebrada DDT and javelins AJ into the cage. The champ gets two off a backdrop suplex. Styles misses a missile dropkick, hurting his knee. Jarrett goes to work on the leg in anticipation of the figure-four. AJ counters to a small package for two, so Jarrett uses a Scorpion Deathlock instead. AJ reverses to his own and hits an awkward German Suplex for two. The Quebrada DDT gets two more. Jarrett throws powder in AJ’s face and gets two off a backslide. That doesn’t work, so he pulls a chain out of his boot and hits AJ with it for two. Jarrett signals for the Styles Clash, but AJ rolls through to one of his own. ONE, TWO, THRE-NO! AJ climbs to the top of the cage, but Jarrett shoves the ref into the mesh, crotching AJ on top. AJ holds on to the top, so Jarrett slams into him, knocking AJ all the way to the floor! They open the door to get AJ back in, so Jarrett retrieves his guitar. Russo comes down to distract Jarrett long enough for AJ to recover and destroy the guitar with an enzuigiri. Jarrett is stunned, so AJ Crucifixes him for the win at 13:38. AJ and Russo hug in celebration. ***1/4
The 411: Although AJ has had better matches since and in RoH, this is pretty much the definitive look at his career as a star. All of the matches are in the "above average" to "very good" range. Despite critics (many who've never actually seen him wrestle) who label AJ as nothing more than a "spotmonkey," AJ continues to be one of the top talents in North American in terms of combining exciting spots with great storytelling into one cohesive art. Thankfully for fans, the indy and TNA scene allowed him to expand his craft beyond what Velocity would have done. Thumbs up for "Phenomenal: The Best of AJ Styles." |
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| Final Score: 8.0 [ Very Good ] legend |
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