AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels vs. Samoa Joe
Inducted by LWO4Life
The First
I think when people think of the Internet Wrestling Community, they think anti-WWE, pro-Dave Meltzer, hate everything audience. WWE once had YouTube skits where they had a character, Puppet H, who directly referenced this site, calling us the Lords of Hurt, and that fans would get on our site to complain about WWE. Yet, when it comes to the Hall of Fame on this website, one thing stands out: there is a HUGE WWE bias. And this match-winning just highlights how much of a WWE bias there is.
For the first time in our Hall of Fame’s history, the winner of Best Matches went to a match from TNA. Only twice has a WCW match won, and both matches are undeniable classics. But of the other winners, every single one has been WWE, and usually at WrestleMania. To be fair, I think all those matches deserved their honor, and it also flies in the face of what Dave Meltzer’s star rating is, as many matches were NOT 5 Star matches. But with that said, it is refreshing to see promotions outside of WWE get recognized. And in a year where AJ Styles is retiring, it did seem this match got a huge boost from voters this year to get it’s rightful place in the WrestlingHeadlines/LordofPain Hall of Fame.
The Build
In the mid-2000’s, TNA Wrestling was trying to position itself as the number 2 company in professional wrestling. Trying to stand out from WWE, they did everything they could to be different. Look, if you can’t beat your rival head-on, then it is better to be different than them. Instead of a 4-sided ring, use a 6-sided ring, where WWE had cruiserweights (which came from WCW), have a cruiserweight style division, but with no weight limit. TNA had set itself up to compete. And in 2005, during the WWE’s rebuild with John Cena and Batista, it would be a long and uphill battle for TNA.
Still, in September of that year, TNA truly highlighted its best. It is now regarded as one of the greatest triple-threat matches in history. Christopher Daniels defended his X-Division title against AJ Styles and Samoa Joe. How we got here, well, the story was simple enough. The NWA committee held a tournament to declare the #1 contender to Daniels, a tournament in which both Joe and AJ met in the finals. Daniels interfered, hoping to decide who he would defend his title against. This prompted NWA committee member Larry Zbyszko to declare a Triple Threat match instead, so that this situation would be settled.
Legacy
This triple-threat match was intense. AJ and Joe both started beating on Daniels as soon as the match started. Using Daniels as a punching bag, AJ and Joe used the heel to one-up each other. Eventually, Daniels would get back into the match on the outside. And I just have to mention this, AJ hit one of the best Shooting Star Press onto Joe and Daniels on the outside. From there, the three exchanged near-falls and counters. The match was at a quick pace, and I’ll be honest, though I am not a fan of the 6-sided ring, it highlighted why the 6-sided ring worked. The shape of the ring led to unpredictability if you were always used to a 4-sided ring.
Also, Joe in there being a heavyweight, rather than just AJ and Daniels just having an athletic match added as well. Though AJ and Daniels could have great athletic matches at the time, adding Joe for power and grounding the match added so much. It also made the ending where AJ lifted Joe into a torcher rack even more impressive. You were looking for Joe to throw around the high-flyers, you did not expect the high-flyers to lift Joe into a torcher rack. Finally the match came to an end when Daniels tried to get AJ in his finisher, the Angel’s Wing, which AJ countered and pinned Daniels suddenly. AJ Styles would walk out new X-Division champion.
This match helped lift the profile of TNA and exposed the fans to new stars. It’s telling that the main attraction this night for the card was Raven vs. Rhyno, two ECW stars who had exposure in WWE. But after this match, fans left more excited to watch matches from Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles.
So it is my honor to induct the ONLY match in TNA to receive 5-stars from Dave Meltzer, AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe vs. Christopher Daniels to the WrestlingHeadline/LOP Hall of Fame.
