Match Of The Week: TNA’s Greatest Match Of All Time

There has only ever been one match produced By TNA (Now Impact Wrestling) rated 5 Stars by Dave Meltzer. It came in 2005 and featured three names who are still doing great things in wrestling.

Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, and AJ Styles for the X-Division Title at Unbreakable.

We need to take a bit of a history lesson to understand the full gravity of this match and what was at stake.

The Impact of the X-Division

TNA, in order to make itself stand out from WWE, had built its own unique brand of wrestling. Beyond their six-sided ring, TNA made its name with light heavyweight/cruiserweight/super-juniors wrestling that they called “The X Division.” Ask any hardcore wrestling fan and they will tell you that the best “high-flying” wrestling in recent memory all came from the X-Division.

While WWE’s “cruiserweights” are forced to wrestle a big arena style unsuited for this skills, the X-Division was allowed to fly, jump, and kick their way around a smaller arena and more concentrated crowd.

Another signature was the “Ultimate X” Match which was a ladder match…but higher…and without ladders

It led to some crazy sequences.

Setting the scene for the match:

Samoa Joe had arrived at TNA with a bang. He was in the midst of an unprecedented undefeated streak that saw him tearing through the competition. AJ Styles was already considered the “ace” of TNA and had already held every belt. Christopher Daniels was the current champion.

The three were at the peak of their abilities. It showed.

Watch the match in its full glory below:

5-Star Review:

Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter gave the match a rare “5-Star” rating. It was part of a banner year for all involved. Especially Samoa Joe who captured ANOTHER 5-Stars when he wrestled Japanese legend Kenta Kobashi:

Where are they now?

AJ Style arrived in WWE and quickly became one of the top performers.

Samoa Joe dominated in NXT before arriving on Raw to become an enforcer for Triple H:

Christopher Daniels returned to Ring of Honor and finally captured the ROH Title.

Suffice to say, all three men are still doing extremely well and performing at a high level nearly twelve years later.

But it was in 2005 that all three came together to produce magic and one of the greatest matches of all time.

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