Teddy Hart vs. Azrieal from NWA Florida’s Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup 2004

FIP released this match on their Facebook Page a while back to promote the 2011 Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup.  The 2011 JPC was reportedly amazing, but it has yet to have been released to the public.  The 2012 JPC is happening on December 14th and 15th.  Order the 2012 JPC iPPVs right here.  In honor of the 2012 JPC, we reached out to JP Nichols of Free Amission (For Real!) to get some thoughts on this match.  JP has been furiously promoting the 2012 JPC on his Twitter (follow him!) over the last month. Check out the full bracket for the 2012 JPC.  Finally, check out this fantastic article: Mark Oehler’s Top 25 Matches in Jeff Peterson Memorial Cup History.

Thoughts from JP Nichols:

This was the kind of match that you could expect from Teddy Hart during this period of time, not that that is a bad thing. For those that don’t know, it was basically some chaining and ground work before going into flashy moves that certainly look visually impressive, but they do not necessarily offer a lot of substance to the match (at least more often than not). The match is enjoyable and still holds up well, over eight years later. It’s wild to think that at this point, Azrieal was only two years or so into the business. It showed a bit, but he has gotten to be very enjoyable since then. Not much different from the normal Teddy Hart match you’ll see, but certainly worth the watch.

Recap from TJ Hawke:

They traded kicks to start the action, but when neither man got the advantage, Teddy went to work the left arm of Azrieal.  Azrieal finally escaped, but his shoulder was very damaged.  Azrieal got some offense in, but Teddy took him down with a lariat.  Azrieal was able to get the advantage by working over Teddy’s neck.  Azrieal missed a springboard blockbuster and Teddy took him down with a delayed Mic Check.  The crowd rallied around Teddy after this.  Teddy delivered some knees to Azrieal’s head that made Azrieal a little groggy.  Teddy then dumped some water on Azrieal to wake him up.  Teddy then delivered a delayed piledriver: 1…2…No!  Teddy went to the top rope after that and casually hits a shooting star press.  Teddy went for another shooting star, but Azrieal got his knees up!  Azrieal then gave Teddy a modified Rubix Cube!  That looked brutal: 1…2…NO! Azrieal went to the top rope, but Teddy caught him and locked in The Stu Hart Special: 1…2…3!  The Stu Hart Special was Teddy having Azrieal in the Widow’s Peak and then give him an Inconoclasm (essentially).

This was a much better and different match than I expected.  I expected a complete mess, but it was quite tame (in a good way).  This match is definitely worth watching.

Match Rating: ***1/4