Pro Wrestling Chronicle

10.24.04 CM Punk vs AJ Styles (IWA-MS)

This is from the 8th Anniversary show for IWA-Mid South and stands as a great display of what CM Punk can do in the ring with the right opponent. Punk is a solid worker carrying too much weight in the WWE to live up to their standards. He was never a “work rate guy” or a “mat & hold specialist”. Thing is, he’s better with good workers working with him, and he’s better when he has more freedom to work away from WWE’s ring style.

Enter AJ Styles, who is an excellent worker. Styles can do a lot of high flying high spot stuff, but he doesn’t hear. Most of what you see in this match you could see ten to fifteen years ago. Put Punk in with a talented opponent and you get a very good to great match.

The early part of the match, about six-eight minutes, is very smart and subtlety brilliant hold exchanges. Lots of reversal stuff that makes the segment as its smooth. Just as smart, Punk seems to adjust to how Styles responds, which is a true catch wrestling style that’s come back with the MMA shoot wrestling style. These guys aren’t MMA practitioners, but they understand those influences in pro wrestling. Punk shortens up while working on the arm/shoulder of Styles to avoid strikes, so Styles finds a new way to strike. Styles is constantly cut off as Punk wears on the arm.
The match begins to evolve as Styles gains a foothold and both men take a high spot risk to the outside. Crash and burn on both accounts.

From here Styles takes the advantage as he plays subtle heel. Lots of good submission holds. Punk is a good underdog in the right settings. If HBK cared he could work with him and make him great since WWE seems to want him to be an underdog size wise. Here he’s just selling, coming back, and getting cut off. It’s done in a very solid and back and forth way though. Fun stuff.

We move to the final act when Styles hits the springboard inverted DDT on the floor. Punk beats the twenty count as the crowd goes nuts, having drawn them in after a quieter early segment. They won over the crowd, but they should have had them from the first minute. Crowds loss on that one.

Punk then kicks out of nearfall after nearfall. We have teases of finishing moves, one being the Shining Wizard getting caught and turned into the Styles Clash, but being shaken off. Very well paced stuff that maximized the drama while selling the early damage. Punk gains the advantage and gets the Anaconda Vice on for about the third time for the tap out. Punk wins the match and the title, telling one heckler, “yeah, but you’ll still be paying to see me in 8 more years.” Well, 4 years later and the 200 fans there are 10,000 these days, so he’s winning that one too. A great match that you should go out of your way to see. And if you’d like to see Punk’s mic work, try his turn after the Aries ROH title match in June ’05, or his pre-Terry Funk match promo in Sept. ’03 in ROH. Then tell me there’s no more that can be done to maximize the Punker in WWE.