Avery Styles won his GCW debut in Omaha, and he did it with a move his father put away years ago.
The 19-year-old son of A.J. Styles beat Alex Lev on Friday at GCW The Top Play, held at the Admiral Theater. He finished with the spiral tap, the corkscrew 450 A.J. leaned on early in his career and largely retired as he got older.
The rest of the match ran on the same fuel. Styles came out to “Demi Gods,” his father’s pre-WWE entrance theme. He worked in a shooting star attack off the apron, a sliding elbow to the face, and a reverse DDT before the finish.
It is the second notable win of a very short career. Avery made his pro debut in June, beating Ashton Martin at a Squared Circle Action show in Georgia with his father in his corner.
A.J. has talked about the spiral tap on his Phenomenally Retro podcast, and he does not treat it as a freebie.
He did the spiral tap on this last match and the guy was super close. I’m like, “I don’t know if he’s going to be able to hit it.” He pulled it off.
He then measured it against his own attempts.
I’ve had some ugly spiral taps in my day. So for comparing some of my ugly ones, definitely his was better.
The celebration did not last. Marcus Mathers, who beat Shotzi Blackheart earlier on the same card, confronted Styles after the bell.
The two meet Saturday at GCW Rude Awakening at First Avenue in Minneapolis, the same city where WWE runs SummerSlam Night 1 that night at U.S. Bank Stadium. Rude Awakening streams on TrillerTV+.
