The Thread Killer

I don't know what to think about that situation. Either he never really asked for his release and he was just fucking with everybody (possible), or he asked for his release and they gave him a better contract (less possible) or he asked for his release and he is just saying he re-upped just to screw with people (also possible.) I am really hoping he got a new contract and that means we will be seeing more of him on NXT, both as a solo wrestler and his tag team with Danny Burch.

That is one of the things that has frustrated me a bit about AEW. I feel like just when I start to get invested in a Pro Wrestler, they vanish from TV for a couple of weeks. I hear that Darby Allin is banged up after his match with Moxley, but I wish they aired some promos or vignettes about him to keep him hot and in the public eye. I don't think he should be wrestling on television every single week, for two reasons. Firstly, I don't want to see him get overexposed, not to mention that the way he wrestles he will get injured if he works too often. But I would like to at least see him more often.

I kind of got the feeling that there were larger issues at play when ACH had his whole public meltdown over the infamous t-shirt. His reaction didn't seem to be proportionate to the situation in my opinion, but I figured maybe there was either more stuff going on behind the scenes between him and WWE that we weren't privy to, and the shirt was just the straw that broke the camel's back, or he had other shit going on. As time went by and he continued to vent about...pretty much everything on Twitter I gave up on the "more stuff going on" theory, because he certainly didn't seem to have an issue airing all his dirty laundry in public. I don't know the man, and none of us can really know what is going on...but his conduct certainly seems to have all the signs of a full blown breakdown. Or he's trying to work Twitter and make this part of some gimmick he plans on using in the Indies, which would be quite lame. Either way, it is certainly sad. I've been the first one to bust @rovert's balls here at PWO but full credit where it is due on this one...he is one of the few people who said from the beginning that there was more to this situation than meets the eye, only to be shouted down (on Twitter, not here at PWO that I know of) by "OMG WWE IS RACIST AND YOU'RE MAKING EXCUSES FOR THEM!" I have no doubt that WWE does have some serious issues when it comes to racial sensitivity and even institutional racism, but I don't think that is necessarily the underlying issue in this particular case.

WTF is it with Vince and dog food? Hasn't he done other angles in the past that featured dog food, I remember at least one or two. Between that and his obsession with pee and poop jokes, it seems like this guy has the sense of humor of a 5th grader.

One of the main reasons Corgan wanted to buy TNA is because they already had everything you need to run a Professional Wrestling company in place (except for competent ownership and management) so he wouldn't have needed to start from the ground up (like he ended up having to do with the NWA). They had a full roster, and even more importantly trained TV production staff and equipment, and even a TV deal (TNA were on Destination America when Corgan came on board, before Dixie Carter managed to Dixie Carter that deal and they ended up on Pop TV.) Corgan has said that if he had taken over TNA as the sole owner he would have pretty much rebooted the entire organization - including renaming it, but he what really made him want to buy TNA was all the infrastructure that was already in place, which would have saved him a ton of work having to start from scratch, basically. That's smart business on his part. And when he found out Dixie Carter was...Dixie Carter, he walked away from the deal, and even sued and got his money back from Panda Energy. That's also impressive from a business standpoint, because Lord knows Dixie left a lot of unpaid people in her wake...including Eric Bischoff.

On this week's episode of The Jim Cornette Experience, Cornette talked some more about the fallout of his resignation from the NWA. He addressed the fact that last week's episode was a clip show, and the rumors that the original episode had been pulled because of his joke. Cornette confirmed that Episode 8 had always been planned as a "package show" even when they were taping the episodes, so that had nothing to do with the controversy surrounding his joke. Cornette also said that Episode 9 was always intended to end with the Rock n Rolls winning the Tag Team titles and if they had refused to air that or if they had wiped his commentary he would have been very upset. Cornette claimed that the Triple Threat match to determine the #1 Contender for the World Championship had also been intended for the final episode, but that they weren't happy with how the match came off. Cornette confirmed that there was all sorts of outside interference in the match. He didn't say this specifically, but it sounds like either Corgan and Lagana decided to scrap the match because they don't want the big matches to involve screwjob finishes, or it's equally as possible that due to the stuff going on outside the ring the camera guys missed something so it couldn't air. Cornette also talked about how his fans have been protesting his resignation in the YouTube comments section and badmouthing Dave Lagana in the YouTube comments and on Twitter. He mentioned that he heard that the reaction to Episode 8 was pretty much universally negative and he wasn't sure if that was because his fans were protesting or just because the show sucked. Cornette joked that he is fine with his fans saying fuck Dave Lagana, but not fuck the NWA. Cornette once again implored his fans to support the NWA and not to punish the guys on the roster who had nothing to do with the entire situation. Cornette pointed out that he knows that there were some people watching only because of him (either because they love him or hate him) so it's natural that those people are going to quit watching now that he's gone, but that if his fans like the NWA they should continue to support them. Cornette also talked about how he has heard from a lot of the talent in the NWA who are unhappy that he quit and how the situation went down. A lot of people reportedly feel that Dave Lagana pretty much threw Jim Cornette under the bus. He reiterated that Dave Lagana heard his joke the night of the show and he heard it when he edited the show for broadcast on YouTube, but he never had a problem with it or said a thing about it until there was a backlash - and then he apologized and tried to make Cornette apologize, which is why Cornette got pissed off and quit. Cornette said that he was fine with it if the last time he ever appears on a Pro Wrestling television program is when he was seen celebrating in the ring with the Rock and Roll Express. Cornette reminded his fans that the NWA is hoping to get a weekly TV deal, and if that happens he never would have continued as the Color Commentator anyhow, because he isn't willing to commit to something like that, especially if he'd have to drive to Atlanta.

Total aside here, but I was really impressed with both Fenix and Trent Beretta this past week. I'd only ever seen the Lucha Brothers in tag matches in Impact, MLW and now AEW, and it struck me this week how much better Fenix is than Pentagon Jr. (in my opinion, of course.) Fenix in really showed me something. I always find that Pentagon seems more interested in mugging to the camera and doing that goofy hand symbol of his with the three fingers up and down than he is on focusing on the match. As a team, I don't mind them at all (when they are actually forced to follow the rules and tag in and out) but after this week I'd like to see more solo Fenix. And over the past couple of weeks, I've really dug Trent Beretta as well. It would make me very happy if they got him as far away as possible from Chuck Taylor. Just my opinion, but the Lucha Brothers and Best Friends both seem to be teams in which one member is significantly better than the other.

Hey imagine if Keith Lee wins the #1 Contender's Match, and then goes on to beat Adam Cole for the NXT Championship? And then, imagine if WALTER retains the NXT UK Championship against Joe Coffey at NXT UK: Takeover Blackpool II? And then, since World's Collide in January is supposed to be an NXT vs. NXT UK show, imagine if the main event was Keith Lee vs. WALTER, Title vs. Title? That would be cool.

For a minute I was going to ask why you don't have an ignore list...but then I saw that you bolded the life part of the sentence. Don't worry brother, you're among friends here. I don't know anybody else my age who watches 5-6 hours of Pro Wrestling a week and then spends time every day posting about it on a message board.

I pretty much agree with you, although I have now given up on MLW and no longer watch it. But I found the first six episodes of Power really easy to watch, they just flew by. Things started to go off the rails a bit after that, but even though the matches weren't all that great I found the first month and a half of Power to be entertaining and fun viewing. I can't even specify exactly why, maybe it was the nostalgia aspect or maybe it was because it was so different, but Power really grabbed me in a way a show like Fusion never did. I gave up on MLW because I was finding them wildly inconsistent...some weeks were great and others not so great. I find it interesting that MLW's weekly show averages around 48,000 views on YouTube when Power is getting around 120,000 or so...and that is after the Cornette controversy. I guess some people must agree with me. I'd love to know how much money MLW and the NWA actually earn from YouTube since their shows are monetized. Specifically, I wonder if 120,000 views a week are enough to have any noticeable financial impact. I have heard Brian Last mention that YouTube advertising can generate a significant amount of money (hence the whole ruckus over the "Jim Cornette's Talking Sense" channel and other unauthorized Jim Cornette content on YouTube) but I'd really be curious to know how much they can make from that. I really wonder how sustainable having a YouTube show is as a business model. Like I imagine most members of PWO do, I find that I have to budget my time wisely when it comes deciding what Pro Wrestling I was going to watch every week. There just isn't enough time to watch everything out there, so I have to prioritize what I enjoy and eliminate what I haven't. Since the move to the USA Network, NXT has far and away become my favorite weekly Pro Wrestling program and I never miss that. After that, I'd say Power was my favorite show. Next up would be NXT UK, and finally I have caught every episode of AEW Dynamite since they debuted, although I have considered dropping them on a couple of occasions. And of course...at this point, I'd rather never watch Pro Wrestling again than try and sit through an episode of Raw, Smackdown or Ring of Honor. Like I said, I gave up on MLW last summer, and Impact last spring. I was considering watching Impact again at one point, but when they changed creative direction and started doing intergender matches and then signed Joey Ryan, that pretty much ensured I'd never watch them again. Life is much too short for me to spend any of it watching that type of stuff, I just don't enjoy it. That's not my preferred style of Pro Wrestling. So far, for the most part Power has been, so I hope they keep it up and make important improvements. That's why it's hard for me to understand why anybody would watch something they clearly don't like and then spend an inordinate amount of time bitching about it. I don't like Impact, so I don't watch it and I don't talk about it. I'm sure people who do like Impact don't need me incessantly bitching in the Impact thread about how much I hate Joey Ryan or bringing up the same talking points over and over again, ad nauseam.

I agree there have only been two or three matches over the past couple of months that were actually good. They kind of shot themselves in the foot a bit by having their best match so far (Aldis vs. Storm III) as the Main Event of the first show. It's all been downhill from there, in retrospect they probably should have built up to that. I can live with the fact that they basically have been using Power to build toward the PPV if (and this is a huge if) they actually deliver at least one or two very good matches at the PPV. Otherwise the whole thing becomes pointless, in my opinion. They aren't giving us weekly Pro Wrestling classics, and I can live with that provided they eventually do pay off all the promos with decent matches. To me, it's imperative that Aldis vs. Storm delivers at least a *** match, otherwise I will be a lot less likely to get excited about watching another 8 week buildup to a PPV, if I think it's just going to disappoint. I think Aldis and Storm could be good, but it could also be disappointing or average. I hope those guys are going to work hard and give us a solid match. I'm not expecting them to be as good as matches Aldis had with Cody at All In and NWA70, but they need to be at least as good as his matches with Tim Storm. As far as Bram, I actually think he's pretty good but his partner Royce Isaacs doesn't do much for me. He appears to have gone to the Kenny Omega/Joey Janela "school of ridiculously goofy theatrical facial expressions." It wouldn't bother me one bit if they broke the Wild Card up and Bram went on his own. I'm still loving Tim Storm as a pure babyface, but it's obvious he didn't work the second day of the TV tapings, because he basically disappeared for the last four episodes, and that was a bad idea. If they're going to use him, they need to use him wisely.

Absolutely. If I had skipped last week's episode entirely I would probably have a lot better of an opinion about this promotion overall than I do right now. I mentioned it elsewhere in this thread, but it bears repeating...they really screwed up with the spacing and editing of the episodes they had in the can after their first set of tapings. Last week was pretty much a pointless show with nothing of any value. Some people are blaming it on the Cornette fallout, but I don't buy that for a minute. It all boils down to the fact that they didn't tape enough TV to make it to the PPV, and they were trying to stretch it out. Billy Corgan essentially admitted that in an interview (not that they fucked up, but that they were tying to make the footage they shot stretch out.) This week's episode was fine, and the promos are pretty much must see if you want to watch the PPV. If they plan to go ahead with this model moving forward (one set of tapings leading up to a PPV) then they really need to plan ahead better as far as booking and scheduling.

So is the lesson here that both AEW and NXT are doing somewhere in the vicinity of 850,000 viewers a week, but NXT's viewers tend to be older than AEW? To me, it looks like they are pretty much even now ratings wise, but maybe I'm reading things wrong.

I agree, I thought NXT was really solid this week. I'm pretty much over the Dain/Dunne rivalry but that was still a very good opener and a smart way to start the show. I do hope Priest is back sooner than later. I thought Keith Lee came across really well in his confrontation with the Undisputed Era. I think his promos are improving. The Kushida video package was excellent. The Riddle/Ohno match was pretty good, although I think that rivalry has really run it's course (even though we got an extended break from it) because four matches seems like a bit much, especially since Ohno can't beat Riddle. I really liked the Cameron Grimes/Kushida match a lot...and most importantly the Main Event was excellent. I had just assumed that Ciampa would be getting the next shot at Cole but now I'm not sure who is going to win that Triple Threat and the title shot. Keith Lee (whoop whoop) has a ton of momentum right now and they might want to put the championship on him. I wouldn't complain if they did. I can't wait for the Baszler/Ripley match in a couple of weeks either, that has the potential to be very good. And finally, Baszler has a challenger who has a very good chance at beating her.

I absolutely see what you're saying. A big part of me is surprised they didn't just let the whole thing go. Hell, Cornette has already moved on from the whole situation so there was no need for them to say anything - they could have just let the last episode with Cornette air, and moved on. That's why I really think they were trying to get some of his fans to come back, and I don't think it's going to work and it almost definitely wasn't worth the risk. Just bad decision making all the way around.

You can tell AEW really doesn't want people to change the channel during commercials. If I'd have done a shot every time they reminded us about the picture-in-picture tonight, I'd be freaking hammered right now.

I've seen you levy this criticism against the NWA before, that the roster is made up of TNA and WWE "rejects." Even if it's true...what does that prove? Yes, pretty much everybody on the NWA roster previously worked in TNA or WWE...but so what? TNA had a ton of excellent workers over the years, it's not their fault that TNA had some of the shittiest booking ever seen and utterly incompetent management. Are these guys supposed to wrestle under masks for the rest of their lives, or retire or something, just because they used to work for TNA or didn't make it to the top of WWE? Somebody could easily say that some of the biggest names in AEW are former WWE guys...Cody, Moxley, Jericho, Dustin, Spears. Cody was basically a midcarder at best in WWE. So what? He moved on and made something more of himself...guys in the NWA should be afforded the same chance. The NWA is obviously operating on a shoestring budget, so they're not going to be able to afford top level guys. Their best bet is to find guys like Trevor Murdoch and Aron Stevens who only work part time and still have something to contribute to the business. I agree wholeheartedly that the NWA needs to compliment guys like that with fresh, new talent. Absolutely. But I don't see the point of harping on about guys who used to work in TNA. I remember you complaining about people criticizing AEW and rooting for them to fail, while AEW was trying to provide an alternative product and give guys a place to work. You were right, but you sound like you're basically doing the exact same thing when it comes to the NWA.

I agree. I can't argue with anybody who criticizes Lawler's work as a Color Commentator, and I would never dream of trying. And I would never try and justify or excuse the allegations about his personal life. I don't know how many of the stories about him are true, and I really don't want to know, to be honest. But as an actual Professional Wrestler, I don't see any reasonable or logical argument against the guy...and I was never even a big fan of Memphis Wrestling. I just can't deny the skill the guy had and I'm not blind. He was a brilliant performer and was pretty much a genius when it came to the "less is more" style, psychology and getting the most of his opponents and feuds. They should force a lot of the younger talent today study Jerry Lawler for a lesson on how to get over, stay over and have compelling matches and angles without having to kill yourself or do a million high risk moves. And yeah, you can't understate the greatness of that punch, either.

If I had only known that was going to happen, I might not have changed the channel to watch the hockey game for a few minutes! I usually tune out during most of the AEW women's division stuff, it really hasn't grabbed me so far. Although Brandi kinda grabbed me a bit tonight. Between her and Lana, this has been a truly epic week for women's wardrobe choices in the world of Professional Wrestling.

I think there are a couple of points to consider regarding their public farewell to Jim Cornette. They could have just said nothing and let that be the end of it, and to a degree I am surprised they didn't. However, let's be honest. They didn't fire him, he quit. It's entirely possible that he was going to get fired, but he walked away because he knew that people who hate him were just going to keep picking through everything he said until he got fired. Since then, he actually has explained his joke. He admitted it was in poor taste, and even offered an apology, although it was conditional. It's not like he doubled down on the joke. Hell, he let his own co-host pretty much tell him off for the joke, on his own podcast. I think Cornette is about as contrite over this situation as he is technically capable of being, so there's really no point in litigating it any further...and I think the NWA knows that. Having said that...I think there is something else at play which explains why they thanked Jim Cornette this week. AEW and the NWA are in a very similar situation right now, albeit on a vastly different scale. Both promotions appeal to a very particular segment of Pro Wrestling fans. Both debuted to a fair amount of positive feedback and good buzz. And both have steadily declined since their respective debuts. AEW ratings are down, and NWA views are down. The difference is, aside from people being turned off by the booking and lack of action in the NWA a lot of people were turned off by the NWA solely based on the Jim Cornette controversy. AEW will survive and thrive because they are levelling out and they will be sustained by their own hardcore fanbase. I do not think that is the case when it comes to the NWA. They need all the fans they can get. A segment of fandom (and I have no idea how big this segment is, but it can't be denied that they exist) were only "hate watching" Power to try and get Jim Cornette "cancelled." They have succeeded, so I assume they have moved on. That leaves Jim Cornette's fanbase, the infamous "Cult of Cornette." On a weekly basis, Cornette supposedly gets roughly 350,000 downloads on his podcast. Let's assume that 250,000 of those are actual hardcore Cornette fans. Cornette repeatedly promoted the NWA on his podcast, but more importantly he extolled the virtues of what the NWA was trying to do...bring back old school studio Pro Wrestling. The NWA really needed that promotion and endorsement. I don't know how many of those 250,000 hardcore Cornette fans were tuning in because of Cornette, but I'd bet it was a significant number. Now they've lost them...and under controversial circumstances. Cornette has repeatedly implored his fans to continue to support the NWA, but it is very clear that many of his most rabid fans are irate that he is gone and circumstances under which he left. Not only have a lot of those fans stopped watching, but they are actually campaigning against the NWA now. One of the talking points I've seen repeatedly that I actually believe, is that a large number of people who were freaking out about Jim Cornette weren't even NWA Power fans to begin with, nor would they watch the show once he was gone. They just wanted to fuck with Cornette because they hate him. So now the NWA is left with no Cornette and a bunch of pissed off old school Pro Wrestling fans. I have no doubt that the segment on this week's show was an attempt to win back some of those fans, or publicly illustrate that there are "no hard feelings." I'm not sure it worked, but I'm pretty sure that's what it was.

One of Jim Cornette's frequent talking points about Janela that I actually agree with, is that just because you're a fan of something it doesn't mean you should automatically be qualified to do it. Love and passion are great, but there has to be natural skill in there as well. Hell, I love NFL football and am a passionate fan of the Arizona Cardinals...that doesn't mean they should put me on the fucking team. Look at CM Punk. He was a hardcore UFC fan and was more passionate about that than he was his own Pro Wrestling career. Look how far that got him. Only in Pro Wrestling does it seem that if you're a huge fan and really passionate about it, that somehow qualifies you to try it. Joey Janela does not have the body of an athlete, but that's only the start of the problem. When he's not doing stupid hardcore shit, his work clearly sucks. I don't know who the fuck trained that guy, but Janela should ask for his money back. He can't throw a punch...and he's supposed to be a brawler. From everything I've seen so far, he has no goddamn idea how to get his character across and get fans to take him seriously. He makes ridiculous facial expressions and can't convey any believably in his promos...at least none of the ones I've seen. I don't hate AEW at all, they've actually done a lot of stuff I've really enjoyed. I think Darby Allin is one of the hottest prospects in the entire business right now, and I've even started to come around on Orange Cassidy because they're just using him as comedy relief, and it's not like anybody is actually selling his shit. (That segment with him and Pac a couple of weeks ago was awesome.) But Joey Janela is a bridge too far. I don't care how anybody tries to justify him or dress it up...that dude fucking sucks.

From what I understand, the PPV is going to be coming from the same place they film Power, the GPB studio in Atlanta. The only supposed difference is that the tickets were much more expensive and the set is supposedly going to be different. I hope that is the case. I have no major issue with the way the stands are set up, but it wouldn't kill them to have a camera man situated somewhere they could get an elevated shot, and I really don't think they should have the PPV on the Power set.

I have to admit, after last week I was so pissed off at the booking I was pretty much ready to give up on this promotion, but this week's show actually mollified me to a significant degree. All of the highlight clips for the three minutes leading up to the show, in addition to the promos during the episode actually did an excellent job of justifying the reasons for James Storm getting the shot at Nick Aldis at the PPV. It's true that from the moment he showed up on Power, James Storm had been claiming he wanted a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship, I just didn't understand why he got it, especially after he lost the National Title. Now we know, he won a Triple Threat match against Eli Drake and Ken Anderson to win the shot. As an added bonus, that result actually helps explain the rivalry between Eli Drake and Ken Anderson, as well. We even got to see highlights of the match. Plus, Aldis actually wants him to have the shot in order to shut Storm up and they even threw in some allusions to their history in TNA, and hinted at James Storm's reputation for being a whiner backstage...something Storm played up in his own promo. Finally...it makes sense. The big question is...why the HELL didn't the NWA show the damn #1 Contender's match on Power? I have seen people speculate that it was because of the fallout from Jim Cornette's joke, but I don't buy that for a minute. If the NWA was so desperate to erase Cornette from history, then why did they leave his commentary on the Cabana/Starks/Stevens segment and match this week? And why did they leave his commentary on the Main Event, why would they have shown him in the ring celebrating with the RnR's? They had more than enough time to re-dub and voice over both those matches. The NWA certainly never would have publicly thanked Jim Cornette at the end of the show if they were so intent on erasing him. It doesn't make any sense. There has to be another reason the match never aired in full. Lord knows they had plenty of time for it last week, they could have (and should have) shit-canned that awful empty arena match and segment afterwards. I can only assume that something went wrong during the#1 Contender's match that they didn't want to make air, like a botch or something. I think the promos by James Storm and especially Nick Aldis were outstanding. One of my main complaints last week (aside from Storm getting the shot at the title) was that the Kamille and Tim Storm angles had pretty much been dropped. Now we know that isn't true. Aldis is claiming he gave Kamille the night off, but she did whisper something to James Storm so it's safe to assume she's going to show up. And the idea of using Tim Storm as a special referee is actually pretty good...because it's pretty much 50/50 if he's going to call the match fairly or not. So all credit to the NWA, they have managed to turn this match into something I actually want to see now. As far at the Rock and Roll Express winning the NWA World Tag Team Titles...I'm sorry, but I think it was a really fucking stupid idea. I have a ton of respect for those guys, but it doesn't change the fact that they are both in their early 60's, and that's assuming that you believe they're telling the truth about how old they are. (Rumor has it that Ricky Morton is actually significantly older than he claims to be. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt.) All putting the titles on those guys does is send the message that you're either stuck in the past, and/or have a very weak Tag Team Division. Those guys were walking around during that match at stooped over, and that "double dropkick" was hard to watch. The match wasn't all that good, and how could it have been really? There really isn't any upside to this decision. If The Wild Cards win the titles back (which I assume they will) then what have they accomplished? They beat up a couple of old guys, wow. If they don't win the titles back at the PPV, then what does that say about how good they are? It's not like I am salivating at the prospect of this PPV, I'm not. It's still a pretty weak card on paper, but I am inclined to give the NWA the benefit of the doubt now because I support what they are trying to do, for the most part. Now that we are through their first set of taped episodes, I give the concept an A+, but the execution a C-. They badly need to add more talent, including fresh new faces. They need to weed out the stupid bullshit like this whole Question Mark angle, I don't care HOW over it is with the studio audience. I know they strongly hinted at it this week, but they just need to unmask this guy already. And they need to meticulously plan out their booking for the next set of tapings, so there is a more cohesive story leading into the next PPV after Into The Fire (assuming there is one.) I don't want to see the glut of competitive matches every week like we see on AEW and NXT, but I would like to see an improvement on the in-ring action. But I still firmly believe that this promotion and television show is important. It fills a void and carves out a niche for fans of old school Pro Wrestling for feel alienated by modern wrestling. I am going to continue to support them, but I hope they learn from the mistakes they have made so far.

FTFY

If you are putting together a "Best of Stone Cold" compilation, I would imagine you'd have to include one of his matches with The Undertaker, considering they fought approximately 957,000 times during The Attitude Era. Problem is, most of the matches are underwhelming. For whatever reason, those two guys never seemed to click and Lord knows it wasn't due to unfamiliarity or lack of practice. If I had to pick one Austin/Undertaker match, I'd probably pick the Main Event of SummerSlam 98. I know both Austin and The Undertaker weren't happy with that match, but to my mind it was the best pick of a bad lot. A lot of people prefer their match in 1997 at "A Cold Day In Hell" because it was before Austin's injury and they actually wrestled during the match. I remember the finishing stretch of that match being really good, but there was a ridiculous amount of outside interference and shenanigans. EDIT: Also, people tend to disagree with me about this one, but don't forget the infamous "Three Stages of Hell" match between Austin and Triple H at No Way Out 2001. I really liked that match, although I admit I seem to enjoy Triple H's ring work a hell of a lot more than most people around here. But if you're going to include an Austin/Triple H match, I would definitely pick this one.