IWA Mid South 04/10/2004

AJ Styles def. Matt Sydal in 16:45

We have Evan Bourne here long before that name existed in a pro wrestling context. AJ was in the rare position of being considerably bigger than his opponent and worked like it. He used a lot more backbreakers and slams and generally just sort of mauled Sydal a lot more than he usually would. Sydal took a few inside-out bumps to really hammer home the size difference. Maybe you can argue it was too often, but far from even most bumps. Both worked this match like they were incredibly well-scouted and worked a lot of counters to the others’ well-known signature spots. They didn’t really work this too formulaically as a result, often cutting each other off with one of those counters. There were obviously some big highspots and dives with these two, but this probably didn’t have the false finishes and nearfalls at the end like you would expect with these two in this position, not that’s necessarily a bad thing. Styles won with a lariat after a big inside-out bump from Sydal, but he looked like he missed the mark just a tad. Not everything here was crisp because some of the counter spots required perfect timing, but this was still a pretty damn great match. ***3/4