Random match viewings
Caught up on some random indy stuff lately..

AJ Styles vs. Christopher Daniels (3PW 5/15, 7/17): Haven't been able to see as much of these guys this year since TNA pulled them from ROH and neither guy is in IWA all *that* often. Daniels outworked AJ in both of these matches and really tried to reign him in, Daniels is probably the most underrated guy on the scene today. The opening portion of the first match was just alright, lots of "feel out" stuff for their first match, but the portion with Daniels working over the ribs was really fucking good. I think he controlled for upwards of 9-10 minutes and kept it really good. Of course Aj blew most of that work off for the final run and they worked the last 2 minutes in a way that made it incredibly obvious that they were doing a draw, but I still enjoyed it. Second match had a much better start with AJ sticking on Daniels' injured arm from Japan like a hawk with tons of nifty stuff. Daniels eventually dumps AJ to the floor and AJ hurts his back so Daniels attacks there. Daniels is king of the ribs/back control and he brought some really nice stuff here again. I was kinda souring on it partway through cause I couldn't think of what all this work was building to but the finish paid it off bigtime with AJ collapsing when he tried the clash. Lots of kickouts and such in the second match but I think it's slightly better overall. I'd probably go ***1/4 for 5/15 and ***1/2 for 7/17.

CM Punk vs. AJ Styles (10/23/04): This smoked any of their prior matches out of the water. AJ comes out of the first 2 matwork sequences on top with something flippy so Punk decides to keep AJ grounded with headlock and then armwork. Punk controls AJ with this stuff for a good period too, and they establish the theme of Punk as the smart guy who wants to keep things slow while AJ wants to bust out and really get things going. Punk gets lured into trying a dive and he misses, hurting his neck on the fall. That's probably the biggest problem in the match, they don't really make it obvious why Punk's neck is so bad now, but it's reasonable to believe that he injured his neck from that fall, especially since he grabs the neck right away. They do a really neat bit leading to a neck submission for AJ, I've never seen AJ do that before but it rocked. They do a great job teasing stuff for later like the backflip DDT and the dropkick sequence without sacraficing control. There are one or 2 questionable selling points from AJ, but I don't think it hurts at all since Punk's work wasn't really that devastating. AJ does the greatest sell ever for the pepsi twist for the beginning of the transition, and a nice tease leads to Punk hitting the hammerlock DDT for a 2 count. He moves right into the anaconda Vice, but AJ counters with knees to the neck to counter. Punk goes for a shining wizard, and AJ tries to counter that to the Styles Clash, but Punk counters that with a rana to the floor. AJ hits an *awesome* backflip DDT off the apron, and this almost gets a 20 count, but Punk gets back in at 19! IWA-NOAH! They tease pepsi plunge on top, and it leads to this great bit where AJ hits his discus lariat with the injured arm, it doesn't knock Punk down, and then AJ follows through with the right arm for a great nearfall. Punk avoids the springboard 450, and hits the shining wizard for 2. He goes to the anaconda vice again, but AJ counters the same way, so Punk turns it over into a modified version for the win. This was just really tremendous, a better match than anything on both nights of the TPI. I think this is probably AJ's best match this year, and I think it was mostly thanks to Punk. ***3/4

CM Punk vs. Brandom Thomaselli: This was a lot better than I expected going in. The story is pretty basic, Punk is working heel and Thomaselli is the new guy in the promotion trying to knock off Punk in Punk's first defense. Felt like a Flair-style match with a lot less stooging and more substance. Not perfect by any means, and I must have totally missed the transition spot, but a real enjoyable match that had the crowd popping for all of Thomaselli's nearfalls at the end. **3/4-***