TNA Turning Point, Orlando, FL
A request! R-r-r-reeeeeeeematch! Four years later. And this time for the TNA world heavyweight title, held by Styles coming in. They had a whole ordeal with Styles and Daniels being best buddies awww but Joe manipulated A Situation between them.
He’s just DANIELS now, too. Also Hulk Hogan has just hit TNA and he and Eric Bischoff are going to do big things.
(Requests open and tips always appreciated!)
Don West is gone at this point and Taz is in with Mike Tenay. Still a good team but didn’t have that truly TNA energy anymore. I don’t think there ought to have been a referee named “Slick Johnson” in all honesty.
Match starts with Daniels throwing a sucker punch at AJ, so apparently no alliance between the buds, they’ve got too much beef. Surely they will team up at some point. Styles hits that big clothesline in the corner on Joe, then drops Daniels, AJ to one of several corners, Joe flies in with combo offense, then goes to kick Daniels real quick. Christopher Daniels was an excellent technician but man does he feel “third wheel” here in the early stages.
Joe out to the floor, Styles and Daniels in the ring. Styles with dropkicks on Daniels and then a returning Joe. They keep knocking Joe back to the floor when he gets on the apron. Joe trips AJ, doesn’t make him eat shit, but AJ stumbles into the STO from Daniels. Joe back in and he gives Daniels the what’s for.
Big running knee from Joe gets two on Daniels. Joe with more of his hefty karate and then a legbar submission, but here comes AJ with a kneedrop to break that up. Oh good a “this is wrestling” chant. All of the “this is wrestling” chants in the world didn’t amount to a damn thing, really. All you had to do was wait. The cool “new” style always becomes the norm, always burns itself out, and then you need something different. If Shawn Michaels’ NXT existed in 2010 it would also have “been wrestling,” but now nobody watches it or gives a shit.
AJ and Joe alone, Styles grabs the inverted Indian deathlock with a bridge, Daniels comes in to break that up. Daniels with some work on Styles. Joe tries to come back in but Daniels cuts him off, too, and he’s the one man standing, controlling the match. Daniels grabs a Boston crab on AJ and a camel clutch on Joe at the same time. He can’t hold that long, and Joe bites his fingers to get him to let go for a reason.
Daniels runs into the uranage in the corner. Aggressive facewash on Styles from Joe, and the running boot hits, then one for Danielson in one of the other six corners. Now it’s Joe with combination offense, hitting a dropkick on Styles at the same time he drops a senton on Daniels.
Joe goes for a dive, but AJ’s foot catches him in the ropes. Styles with a suplex on Daniels in the ring, then his own dive doesn’t work as Joe sidesteps him, and Daniels does hit the dive on Joe then does a pervert’s orgasm.
Joe grabs a rear naked choke on Daniels outside, but Styles hits a Fosbury flop onto both. I bet Dick Fosbury never reckoned his name would be attacked to pro wrestling. Styles with a headscissors takeover on Joe in the ring, “Screw Hulk Hogan” chant goes up moments later.
Styles leaps off of Daniels’ back and nails Joe, then springboards in with a huracanrana on Daniels. “THIS IS WHAT WE WANT!” a guy shouts. TNA’s fan base really, really did not want any “Hogan/Bischoff vision,” and Big Dix completely ignored that because she thought those dudes were gonna DO IT. They did not do it.
Daniels monkey flips Styles not a power bomb from Joe, and Joe throws Styles onto Daniels. Joe with a straight power bomb on Styles, two count, then into the crazy Samoan crab, let’s call it. And then into the STF. Now a crossface. Joe punts Daniels in the mouth to keep him out of the way.
But that gives AJ a moment to recover, only for AJ to run right into the snap powerslam. Daniels back in now, he gets trucked quickly by Joe. Daniels hits a combo inverted DDT on Joe and Rock Bottom on Styles, gets two on both.
Everyone fatiguing, looking for some sort of finishing shot. Styles hurts his fist on Joe’s skull, and Joe just wipes him out with a strike combo. He tries one on Daniels, but Daniels gets him with a palm strike and an enzuigiri. Now AJ and Daniels fighting. Pele on Daniels!
Styles with a slingshot senton on Joe, discus clothesline for Daniels, AJ fired up and just back-and-forth leveling both challengers. Daniels dumped to the floor, Phenomenal Forearm on Joe gets two! Frankensteiner gets two. Moonsault inverted DDT for two. Styles just a step ahead of Joe this whole time, then Daniels comes in, Last Rites on AJ gets two!
Joe with shots on Daniels, up in the fireman’s carry, but Daniels slides down and hits a big German suplay. Daniels crotched up top, MUSCLE BUSTER! Two count but AJ breaks it!
Southern Calorie Valerie leads a chant. Everyone still trying to find a finish. Styles tries for Angel’s Wings on Daniels, Daniels tries for the Styles Clash on AJ, but Joe breaks that up. Double clothesline from Joe. High-low on Joe from both Styles and Daniels as they work together finally. They really didn’t get into that as much as you’d expect, as you’d normally get.
They do express mutual respect, and then know they gotta get at it against one another. Styles and Daniels fight on the ropes, but Joe chops Styles down to the floor. Muscle Buster on Daniels blocked this time, Daniels hits the STO. Daniels wants the BME, it hits, but Styles 450s onto his back with the knees, pins Joe, and retains the title!
It’s not as good as the first one from ’05, but it’s also living in that match’s shadow from the start, which is tough, and all the same it’s another truly great three-way. They don’t do a carbon copy of the first match, which was unlike the standard major TV three-way (from the mediocre to the sublime), and they also don’t swing too far into the direction of this winding up looking like an Intercontinental title match at Bad Blood or Extreme Rules or whatever. There’s the feeling, with this for the world title, that this is bigger, these guys are all more experienced and crafty than they were four years ago, but all of them still explosive and able to cut a tremendous pace, too.
Tape Machines Are Rolling 