The 2004 Ted Petty Invitational is very simply the best independent wrestling tournament of all-time, if for no other reason than its starpower. Guys like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, and AJ Styles have gone on to be national television wrestling stars. Nigel McGuinness’s career seemed ready to explode, but injuries cut his chances short. Claudio Castagnoli and Chris Hero could very well be WWE superstars if ever given a proper chance. That just scratches the surface. Highspots has a number of huge matches in various rounds of the 2004 TPI. Let’s look at some of them.
-2004 TPI First Round: Samoa Joe vs. Roderick Strong (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 1–9.17.04)
PBP: CM Punk on commentary! Joe headlock. Armdrag into an arm lock. Strong with a kick. Uranagi backbreaker countered by Joe into a judo throw. These Joe brings Strong into the corner and walks away. Hammerlock. Strong counters. Firemen’s carry by Joe. Knee by Strong. Knees from Joe and a snapmare. Chinlock. Punk points out the stupidity of Strong going for suplexes. Joe with a chop to the back. Strong with one of his own. And here we go. SWEET JESUS! Slap RIGHT IN THE FACE! STRONG TO THE OUTSIDE OF THE RING! Boot and clubbering blows by Strong. Right hands between the eyes. Choking on the middle rope. Strong charges and is met with STJOOOOOOE! Snapmare and chop to the back. Kick to the chest and knee drop. Whip across and running knee. Face washes. Running kick. The crowd loves all of this. European uppercut and series of strikes. Strong with chops of his own now. Whip across. Strong ends up on the apron. Joe sweeps the legs. Tope forearm. Joe sits Strong down in a chair after slapping him a bunch. Strong backbreakers Joe through a plastic chair. Did not see that coming. Clubbering blows across the back. Russian legsweep. To the middle rope for an elbow drop on the back. Joe with punches. Uranagi backbreaker by Strong. Butterfly suplex by Strong. Piledriver but Joe counters. Kicks to the face. Piledriver but Joe is too bag. LARIAT! Snap powerslam. Powerbomb for two right into the Boston crab. STF.Crossface. Strong won’t give. Full nelson but Strong goes Joe. Back suplex sends Joe down on his neck. Joe puts his foot on the bottom rope and 2.5. Series of chops. Back drop driver. Strong sends Joe into the corner. Series of backfists. Gutbuster. Running yakuza kick… right in the face! 1-2-NO! Joe puts Strong on the top rope. Ridiculous slaps. Musclebuster. Strong is done. Joe advances.
Analysis: Strong and Joe met a number of times between September 2004 and January 2005, including at least twice in FIP. This was their first battle, and man was it a snug match. Strong went for suplexes early and failed. He went to cheating and still didn’t get much. Only through a dramatic counter on the outside of the ring was Strong able to get offense. No one seemed to believe Strong had any sort of shot, but given the context, that’s okay. Crowd still got into toward the end on a couple of two counts. This was a very physical match between the two. Very enjoyable and would get even better with every iteration.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Samoa Joe/15:21/***1/2
-2004 TPI First Round: CM Punk vs. Austin Aries (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 1–9.17.04)
PBP: Aries and Punk start out basic. Punk shoulder tackle. Aries toss him and rolls through. Punk grabs a hammerlock. Aries reverses. Aries continues going for headlocks. Punks applies a headscissors. Uh oh. I guess it’s 2004, so it’s more okay… but you don’t want to headscissors Austin Aries. Hey hey Punk ducks a dropkick and manages a la maestral cradle. Applied headscissors by Punk. Aries leaps forward. Punk sweeps the leg. Aries sweeps Punk and stomps him. Forearm to the corner. Punk responds with chops. Aries whip across. Forearm as Punk is on the top rope. Top rope rana. 1-2-NO! Another big strike. Dropkick to the side of the head. A second one as Punk rises in the corner. Running dropkick so Punk rolls outside. Plancha misses. Punk hits a tope. Punk tosses in the ring. Gutwrench backbreaker by Punk. Hammerlock. Aries ducks a clothesline and hits a lariat! Twisting plancha. Chops as Punk is prone against the posts. The fourth one goes poorly. Aries reverses a suplex. Punk blocks a suplex of his own. Punk charges and rams his own knew across the post. Aries sends Punk knee first into the chair. Aries sends Punk back in the ring. Springboard press on the knee. Running elbow. Punk twists Aries around for a roll-up kick to the knee. Leg kicks. Punk comes back with chops. Forearm. Punk comes back with chops and forearms of his own. Kick to the midsection. Aries hits a KneeDT as Punk was standing. Don’t see that very often. Aries ties the legs up. Punk roll-up gets two. Aries stuns Punk’s leg. Pendulum elbow to the leg. Boston crab. Leg kicks. Punk elevates Aries and drops him face first. Shining wizard… and Punk SELLS THE KNEES! Shot across the back. Punk with chops. Flying forearm. Shinbreaker by Aries. To the top rope. Cross body and Punk rolls through. Backslide for two. Boot to the gut by Aries. Punk waistlock and German suplex. 1-2-NO! Aries headbutts Punk off the top rope. 450 misses. Pepsi Twist. 1-2-NO! The crowd rises to their feet and gets behind both men in a really cool move. Punk brings Aries to the top rope. Aries goes to work on the leg. Avalanche brainbuster! 1-2-NO! Punk with a right hand on Aries. Backfists. Aries teases a Pepsi Plunge. Left hands. Chops by Punk. Pepsi Plunge. Punk sells the leg but still makes the cover and gets three.
Analysis: I forgot how good the matches between these two were until watching this. Incredibly, their match at Death Before Dishonor III 10 months later was even better thanks to Aries getting more seasoned and the context of the event. I loved this match because they didn’t rely on just doing cool things to get themselves over, but they were able to incorporate psychology with Punk’s injured knee. I’m not going to say this was the greatest match ever, but this was one of the best tournament matches ever in the history of the TPI. Aries was four months from being a made man in independent professional wrestling, and matches like these showed the world why he was ready to be ROH world champion.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: CM Punk/16:43/****
-Claudio Castagnoli vs. Nigel McGuinness (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 1–9.17.04)
PBP: Given how early in their careers this was, I would expect a lot of mat wrestling and far less aggressiveness than we would come to expect in upcoming years. Of course, they start out basic and with some frequent mat wrestling. CM Punk is talking about the old NWA rule book. McGuinness begins sending Castagnoli into the mat head first. Castagnoli implies a hair pull, but Bryce Remsburg doesn’t buy it. Fun fact. All three of these men are bald. McGuinness cravats Castagnoli to the mat. Reverse into an armbar. McGuinness goes back to the cravat. Attempt at a slam but McGuinness holds on. Forearm by Castagnoli. Lock-up. McGuinness through the legs. A nice exchange of European style wrestling. Exchange of nearfalls. Castagnoli with closed fists on the top of McGuinness’s head. Twist of the neck. Castagnoli holds on. McGuinness counters into a crossface. European uppercut by Castagnoli. Running uppercut to the back of the neck/head. Rear chinlock. Off the ropes and Castagnoli maintains advantage. Roll-up for two. Whip across. McGuinness with a boot out of the corner. Head stand and Castagnoli gets kicked. McGuinness boots him again. Uppercut to the leg. McGuinness DDT. 1-2-NO! Uppercut. Swinging neckbreaker by Castagnoli for two as he did not hook the leg… MAN! Castagnoli refuses to believe he didn’t win. Divorce court connects. Arm submission. Rings of Saturn while holding onto the neck. Castagnoli taps.
Analysis: Good wrestling match. They really didn’t get into the third gear as McGuinness hit a divorce court of nowhere, applied a submission, and won. Not something you’d write home about but not a disaster either. You could definitely see at hints of stardom for both guys, but this was still early on in their careers.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Nigel McGuinness/13:31/**3/4
-2004 TPI First Round: Alex Shelley vs. Bryan Danielson (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 1–9.17.04)
PBP: Feeling out process. Danielson dropkicks Shelley. Shelley quickly powders. Back in the ring. Back and forth with a test of strength. Danielson controls and bridges Shelley. Choking. Shelley bridges Danielson and drives his knees into the midsection. Danielson turns Shelley around with a stranglehold. Shelley now put back first across the knees. Counter and Shelley applies a stranglehold of his own. To the camel clutch. Knee to the neck and Danielson now heads to the floor. Shelley with a shoulder tackle and snot rocket. Abdominal stretch. Danielson reverses. Danielson sits down. Crucifix pin for two. Shelley applies a Border City Stretch. Danielson gets to the bottom rope quickly. Shelley with a Manhattan drop. STO backbreaker. Shelley whips Danielson off with a stranglehold. Kick to the back. Trio of European uppercuts by Danielson. Bodyslam. Danielson blows a snot rocket now. Knee to the head. Surfboard. Shelley tries fighting it off but gets tortured. Danielson traps Shelley’s head. Shelley claps Danielson’s face. Danielson whipped into the corner. Skull crushing by Shelley. Clubbering blow and neckbreaker. Danielson takes Shelley down. Back suplex. Shelley to the top. Danielson forearm. European uppercut. Superplex. Danielson grabs his neck in pain. Series of uppercuts one after the other. Back elbow. Shelley whipped to the corner. Running forearm and down goes Shelley. Border City Stretch. Danielson grabs the bottom rope. Danielson puts Shelley in the firemen’s carry position and goes round and round. Danielson dropkicks air since his equilibrium is shot. Rolling elbow misses. Danielson rolls around and applies Cattle Mutilation. Shelley counters into the Border City Stretch. Danielson backslide and he gets a three count!
Analysis: Liked the psychology with Shelley working the neck while Danielson was working the shoulder. Just some good solid wrestling from these two and that’s all you can ask for from a first round match. I very much enjoyed this.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Bryan Danielson/14:44/***1/2
-2004 TPI Quarterfinal: Samoa Joe vs. Nigel McGuinness (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 2–9.18.04)
PBP: Nigel McGuinness was still very much into the basic wrestling and not nearly as much into the lariats. Joe brings McGuinness over by the arm. McGuinness drop toe hold and headlock. Fans chanting for both men big time. Joe drop toe hold. Camel clutch. Joe really sits back. Into an armbar. Joe bridges McGuinness’s arm. Kick to the chest. Another kick to the chest. McGuinness applies a side headlock. McGuinness takes Joe over with a side headlock. Joe puts his foot on the bottom rope. Waistlock. McGuinness goes back to the headlock. See what I mean about the basic wrestling? Cravat. Joe out and a hard chop. Exchange of chops. One forearm sends McGuinness down. Snapmare and a sitting abdominal stretch. Joe with a series of blows to the side. McGuinness bars the arm and escapes the hold. Chinlock by McGuinness. Joe puts hit foot on the bottom rope. Side headlock down. Joe applies a headscissors. McGuinness head stand. Joe applies a cross armbreaker. McGuinness just makes the bottom rope. Right hands and chops from Joe. McGuinness reverses the whip. STO reversed. Superkick to the face. 1-2-NO! European uppercuts. Big blow from Joe. Another uppercut. Boots to the midsection. Joe with combos. Leg kicks send McGuinness down. Boots and strikes send McGuinness to the corner. Headbutts now. Series of hard strikes. Enziguri right to the head. That may have knocked the spikes out of McGuinness’s hair. Shot to the gut and clubbering blows. Front facelock and McGuinness runs him down. Joe backs him up to the ropes. McGuinness with clubbering blows. European uppercuts now. Leaping elbow drop. Joe with a kick to the back of the head. Joe sent head first into the turnbuckle. Choking. Forearm to the chest. Joe reverse whip. McGuinness gets his boot up. Head stand. Joe with a running kick. Sweet Jesus. I’ve only seen that one other time, but it’s sooooooooooo brutal. Snapmare and chop to the back. Running knee. Slaps. Forearm exchange. McGuinness with a dropkick. Elbow. Series of covers go nowhere. Joe with shots to the rib cage. Combination of strikes in the corner. McGuinness locks the knuckles and works his way around into the divorce court. McGuinness wrenches back on the hold. Joe grabs the bottom rope. Knee strikes to the side of the head .Chokehold! McGuinness taps out rather quickly.
Analysis: The story of this match was rather simple. Joe used his strength and strikes to get the edge when he could. McGuiness attempted to counter Joe by using a number of basic holds and mat. wrestling. Joe simply shrugged it off with his own mat work and strikes. McGuinness got desperate and started matching Joe blow-for-blow. Joe eventually won out because he’s bigger, smarter, and faster. McGuiness’s pure title reign was the first chance to really seem him develop into an upper echelon wrestler, but Joe’s ambiance was so strong at this point, he could have had a good match with anyone. As much as people go gag a for Danielson and Punk now, no one could touch Joe when he was on the indies from about 2003 until 2007.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Samoa Joe/13:27/***1/2
-2004 TPI Quarterfinal: Bryan Danielson vs. CM Punk (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 2–9.18.04)
PBP: I can’t believe I’m watching these guys wrestle in some gym in front of no more than 200 people, and each one has main evented WWE PPVs in front of thousands. And Joey Eastman has hair. A lot of absurdity in this match. Lock-up to start and they go to the corner. Clean break. Punk stomps his feet to get the fans into things. Punk with a hammerlock. Danielson counters into one of his own. Danielson wrenches the arm and goes then goes for Cattle Mutilation. Punk goes to the bottom rope. Danielson brings Punk down and goes back to the wrist. Punk grabs a crossface. Danielson covers for two. Into the neck crank. Punk with knees to the back. Knees. Danielson bridges out of a cover. Punk to a fan, “I hope your parents die.” Wow. Danielson with an immediate takedown and wrenching on the back of the neck. Side headlock. Danielson shoulder tackle. Punk connects on a dropkick. Danielson comes back with one of his own. Both men throw dropkicks at the same time. Danielson waistlock into a full nelson. Series of counters. Punk goes to the ropes. Danielson headbutt. Snapmare into a knee drop. To the full nelson. Punk rolls through… and ends up in a full nelson. Punk elbow strikes. Back drop by Danielson. Knee strike to the back. Another one to the head. Punk hits a piledriver. Neckbreaker. Nerve hold. Knee to the back. Dropkick to the back of the head. Punk hits a snap suplex and goes for the cover. Danielson bridges out. Elbow to the back of the neck. Forearm strike. Danielson uppercut. Becomes an exchange. Punk almost ends up on the floor. Clothesline to the back of Danielson’s neck. Danielson falls down. Punk covers and gets two. Danielson backslide. 1-2-NO! Punk with a back elbow. Chinlock. Danielson sledges out. Back suplex. Headbutt exchange. Danielson with a flying uppercut. Danielson with a snap suplex. Flying headbutt. Elbow knocks Punk to the floor. Dropkick by Danielson. Suplex blocked. Punk suplexes Danielson to the floor in what was at best a questionable decision at best. Series of forearms. Airplane spin on the floor by Danielson. He goes all around the ring with Punk. He eventually collapses. Both men crawl back in the ring at 19. Punk dropkicks the knee. Shining wizard but Danielson puts his foot on the ropes. Punk calls for the Go 2… I mean, Pepsi Plunge. Danielson fights it off. Punk fights off a superplex. Danielson with a back drop. Cattle Mutilation. Punk rolls out. Side kick and kick to the jaw. Danielson hits a dragon suplex for two. Back to the Cattle Mutilation. Danielson has no choice but to tap.
Analysis: There were a number of people in the crowd heckling Punk. I bet these are the same people who now claim Punk is one of their boys since he’s from Chicago. This was like an abridged version of the matches they would have in places like FIP and WWE. Still technically great but definitely holding something back. I enjoyed the work nonetheless as you can see some of the polish even in 2004 that a lot of independent wrestlers wish they could have now. Punk and Danielson were able to tell a story, have a great match, and leave something for the rest of the card.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: Bryan Danielson/16:03/***1/2
2004 TPI Final: AJ Styles vs. Bryan Danielson vs. Samoa Joe (IWA Mid-South –TPI 2004, Night 2–9.18.04)
PBP: Who would have guessed the only one of these three men to win a WWE championship would be Danielson? I would have lost a bet. Everyone comes to their feet even before the bell rings. Crowd seems to be behind Samoa Joe. Series of nearfalls right away. Danielson chokes Joe. Styles with forearms on both men. Joe comes back with one of his own on Styles. Uppercut by Danielson on Joe. Exchange of waistlocks between Styles and Danielson. Joe takes Styles over. Danielson applies a bodyscissors. Single leg crab on Styles. Danielson breaks Joe’s crab with a dropkick on him. Styles tossed out of the ring. Plancha misses. Joe with an elbow suicida on Danielson. Styles with a tope con helo. Joe with a pair of kicks. Chair set up. Styles placed on it. Joe with an OLE kick. Danielson comes back out and hits an uppercut. Joe put in a chair. Danielson teases an OLE kick but hits a dropkick instead. Styles with forearms on Danielson. Leaping forearm as Danielson is prone in a chair. Styles and Danielson head back in the ring. Joe with a spin kick on Styles. Jab/chop rotaton on Styles. Hard whip to the corner. Danielson sent in. Monkey flip and Styles ranas Joe. German suplex on Danielson for two. Chop on Joe. Leg lariat sends Styles down. Styles reverse whips and hits a stiff forearm. Springboard into an attempted inverted DDT. Joe STJoes both of them. Kicks from Joe. Danielson catches the last one and hits a dragon screw legwhip. Danielson ties up the legs. Styles dropkicks Danielson down into the submission. The pressure is put on Joe no matter what. Kick misses. Danielson hits a northern lights suplex into a bridge while holding onto the submission. Boot and chop from Styles. European uppercut by Danielson. Joe with an enziguri. All three men are down. Forearms by Styles on Joe. Rolling lariat on Danielson. STJoe on a charging Styles. He calls for the Musclebuster. Joe goes to the top and pulls Styles up. Danielson forearms Styles. More forearms for Joe. Running one for Joe. Superplex on Joe as Styles hangs out. Dragon suplex nearly gets three. Cattle Mutilation. Styles pele kick. Joe chokes him out. Danielson taps out immediately.
Down to Styles versus Joe. Kicks from Joe. Forearm. Styles with some of his own. Stiff leg lariat. Running forearm sends Joe down into the corner. Forearm exchange. Joe sends him down one more time but only gets two. Styles with a leaping forearm. Series of them. Joe with slaps. Enziguri. Both men down. This crowd, which has been on its feet since before the bell rang, is going crazy with “IWA” chants. Styles to the top rope. Joe crotches him. Musclebuster blocked. Kick countered and Styles struggles for the Styles Clash. Joe rolls him over. Styles goes for it again. Joe hits the enziguri this time. Up to the top rope. Styles lands him down. Powerbomb. Styles still can’t hit the Clash and sells his back. Crowd seems to be getting behind him. Styles Clash finally hits.
Analysis: When you put three of the greatest wrestlers in independent wrestling against each other, this is exactly what you should expect. A spectacular showcase for all three men as they went back and forth. You’re not going to find many guys who can kill it despite it being their third match of the night, but these guys delivered big time and only further enhanced the reputation of the tournament. Nothing but love for this match as Joe’s undefeated streak finally went down at the hands of one of the better workers you’ll see. A spectacular ending to the tournament.
Winner (s)/Time/Rating: 2004 Ted Petty Invitational Winner- AJ Styles/14:31/***3/4
To get Highspots TV and get access to matches like this, plus shoot interviews and more, go through our link and support both them and us. In addition, they house a lot of IWA footage and have put a number of great matches on various compilation DVDs.
I would also highly recommend to anyone that they consider purchasing any of the TPIs through Smart Mark Video. For me, the 2004 TPI is the greatest independent wrestling tournament of all-time, and even if you’re not a fan of the product or some of the people involved personality, these shows are very much worth owning. Honestly, 2005, 2006, and 2007 aren’t too shabby either. Please check out the link here and consider owning a piece of pro wrestling history.
As much as I talk about streaming content within this article and the one I wrote last about Cedric Alexander, I should point out a couple ways to watch some free professional wrestling, streaming on your computer. Adam Lash recently opened up a Youtube channel and is posting matches AND full shows. You can find out all the information through this link. Of course, everyone’s favorite TJ Hawke also does a great job with Free Pro Wrestling as well. He also talks about WWE and TNA matches, but we forgive him.
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