#167: Petey Williams vs. AJ Styles vs. Chris Sabin, TNA Final Resolution (1/16/2005).
Hello readers! As a young wrestling fan in my teens, I can vividly remember seeing the advertisement for TNA Impact on Spike TV for the first time. My reaction internally was âwhoa, I thought WWE put all wrestling companies out of business. Who is this?â I watched their first episode on October 1st, 2005 and I was blown away. Was it the show closing segment involving Jeff Jarrett that made me a fan? Absolutely not, although I did think it was cool to see Team 3D and Kevin Nash at the time. My short attention span was like âwhoa, I havenât seen these guys in years!â
What was it about TNA that made me an instant fan? Why, it was the X Divison! The signature, no limits division of TNA specializing in authentic high flying, groundbreaking offense, and no limits to who could participate! That night, guys like AJ Styles, Roderick Strong, Chris Sabin & Petey Williams drew me to the product, and my wrestling fandom was never the same again. Thatâs why this week, my theme is all about the X Division, as I spotlight some of the matches that have stuck out in my memories through the years.
First up is this little gem of a match, and one that could be considered the best 3 Way Match in TNA history â had it not taken place in the same year as the Unbreakable 3 Way, which is not only TNAâs best 3 Way Match, itâs their best match ever, and itâs the best match ever on American soil in my not so popular opinion. But hey, this one also rules too! It features some of the most creative and exhilarating aerial offense Iâve ever seen in professional wrestling.
Itâs TNA signature match, the Ultimate X Match, for Petey Williamsâ X Division Championship. The object of the match is to retrieve the X in the middle of two cables, suspended high above the ring. The only way to get there is to climb onto the cables, using all of your upper body strength. Itâs one of the most challenging gimmick matches in all of wrestling.
The bell sounds, and all three men take a moment to stare each other down. Styles strikes first, going after both men. Clothesline to Williams, and Sabin clotheslines Styles. Side headlock by Williams to Sabin, and he powders to the outside. Sabin goes on the chase, and Williams goes back into the ring, and Styles attacks with a forearm. Sabin joins in as well, and they double team Williams. Huge diving clothesline to Williams in the corner. He then launches Sabin into Williams with a dropkick!
Sabin and Styles stare a hole in each other now. They exchange control of the arm, and Styles gets the upper hand with an elbow to the head. Sabin makes the climb up first, but Styles pulls him back down. Styles with a springboard attempt at the championship, but he doesnât get any of it. Sabin runs the ropes, and gets tripped by Williams. They fight on the outside, and Styles just hits a huge senton to the floor on both of them!
Styles returns to the ring, and starts his climb up the truce towards the wires. Sabin is back in to cut him off. They exchange punches on the top rope, and Sabin explodes with a standing dropkick to Styles! With the ring clear, Sabin is the first to reach the cables, and he makes his way to the championship. Scott DâAmore comes into the ring to cause a distraction, and Williams comes in to pull Sabin down. The referee ejects DâAmore from ringside, and Williams doesnât like that!
Williams sends Styles face first into the steel truce, and goes into the ring to attack Sabin with a back elbow to the head. Big suplex by Williams, followed by a back suplex. The champion kicks Styles away, and next applies the Sharpshooter to Sabin in the ring. Styles uses this as a chance to make his climb up to the cables. Williams grabs his foot and pulls him to the mat, then drops him with a nasty German Suplex.
Sabin gets tossed to the floor, as Williams hangs Styles upside down in the turnbuckle. He stands on Stylesâ nuts and sings the Canadian National Anthem. What a heel. Styles explodes back with a huge kick to the head of Williams. Sabin goes for the cables, and Styles pulls him off. They repeat that spot, but flip flopped. Styles has Sabin in the electric chair position, as Williams climbs across the cables. He drops down and hits a hurricanrana to Sabin off of Stylesâ shoulders!
Side Russian Legsweep by Williams to Styles next. Both men make their way up to the cables, and begin their journey towards the title. They kick at each other, as Williams is able to latch his whole body up on the cables. Sabin pulls Styles down, but heâs able to forearm him away. Styles springboards off the ropes with the Phenomenal Forearm to Williams, and it barely grazes his head, but itâs enough to send Williams to the mat.
Sabin is on the cables now, and Styles goes to the top rope to cut him off. Sabin uses the cables to propel his legs up onto Styles, and he hits a hurricanrana, sending Styles off the top rope! Nice back kick to Williams by Sabin, and he blocks the Canadian Destroyer into a Cradle Shock attempt. Styles is able to springboard off the ropes with an inverted DDT to Williams, who drops Sabin with an inverted DDT of his own! Nice combination.
Styles is on the cables now, and heâs close to the middle, but hereâs Sabin with a springboard dropkick to Styles, sending him inside out and landing right on his back from that far up! For my money, thatâs the best spot AJ Styles has ever been involved in. Williams sends himself and Sabin to the floor with a clothesline. Williams and Styles fight on the truce, and Williams uses the steel to trap Stylesâ arm in it, and he leaves him hanging there for a few seconds.
Williams rushes Sabin, but he gets caught in the Cradle Shock out of nowhere. Sabin makes the climb up to the cables now. Styles is back in the ring, and he grabs Sabin into a Styles Clash. Sabin counters into a Triangle Choke, but Styles powerbombs him, and then hits the Styles Clash. Styles is up on the cables now. Heâs having struggles holding himself up there, due to his injured arm. Nice sell job by Styles, who walks into the Canadian Destroyer by Williams! Remember when that move actually meant something and was dangerous? I still like it in 2024, but that move in 2005 was a fucking killer.
Nice DDT to Sabin by Williams. He teases a Destroyer to Sabin, but he decides against it to go for the cables. Sabin stops him, and then grabs him in a Razorâs Edge right into the opposing turnbuckle, and let me tell you something â the whiplash of that was fucking nasty. Both Sabin and Williams each make their way up to the cables on opposing sides. Sabin propels his legs up, and so does Williams. Both men have the title, and itâs been unhooked from the cables! They fight over it in the air, but here comes Styles with a springboard move off the ropes, and he latches the championship out of their hands! Styles is a 4 time X Division Champion!
I always like going back and revisiting this match every now and again. It may not seem like it now, considering that every promotion is doing matches like this, but in 2005, this really was a cutting edge kind of match. The moves these guys were doing in mid air was phenomenal (no pun intended). I appreciated that all three guys made the Ultimate X cables the star of the match, as well as the story of the match. Everything they did â okay, well some of Williamsâ offense didnât make sense â was all about getting up to the middle of the cables to retrieve the championship.
The risks they took was to ensure that the others couldnât make the climb. Styles selling the arm the way he did was a really nice touch, and it makes the bonkers ending actually make sense, as well as looking super cool. The Buckle Bomb, and the inside out flip Styles did, are what lives in my head rent free about this match. Against such a massive star like Styles, both Williams and Sabin succeeded in not feeling forgotten about here. They worked their asses off, and were just as important to the success of this match as Styles was. Matches like this are why TNA had such a rabid fanbase in the early 2000s, and itâs why people would seek this promotion out, despite the fact that the main event scene in TNA around this time was a total dud. Come on, how do you NOT put the NWA Worlds Championship on Monty Brown on this very same show?