MikeCampbell

At the end, he tells Shamrock that the incest angle wasn't his idea, and that it must have been Vince McMahon or JR who came up with it!

PWG is pretty much the only reason I subscribe to the Highspots streaming service.

We need Lita or Trish Stratus to be the referee for the Women's Title match.

From what I've seen from both of these guys this year, I'd put this at the bottom of both of their lists. The idea of working over Omega's head/neck and Naito's shoulder is completely thrown away. And we're left with a total bomb fest, without of much of anything in the way of engrossing work or storytelling. One of the elements that made me appreciate the Omega/Okada draw, was the idea that their strikes progressed during the match to the point of looking like something that could end the match, but, it didn't seem to dawn on either of them. Compare that to the way the V-Trigger is used here, with Omega hitting at least a dozen of them (I lost count) with a sickening smack. Not only doesn't he even try to pin Naito, but, Naito eventually starts sucking them up and making a comeback. The Destino is the same way, with Naito using it far too often, by the time it's over the message it gave me was that Naito won after hitting his finisher multiple times, after he'd worked over the area that the move targets. The one V-Trigger spot that I liked was when Naito dropped to avoid it, like Omega with the Rainmaker in June, and then him blocking the next one. But, instead of going anywhere with it, Omega just cracks him with another knee. They had some clever spots, like the facebuster counter into the corner that SLB pointed out, and the Destino counter to the One-Winged Angel. But, it didn't matter because they just hit their bombs and then it was onto the next one. The spot with Naito slipping on the top and hitting the post is a perfect example. It could have allowed Omega to take advantage the opening and try to win. But, instead they just got to the top rope powerbomb, countered into the rana, making the post shot mean nothing. God Bless Callis for trying to make it seems like the last Destino would have to be the finish, because Omega landed on the top of his head, but, he'd already been hit with several of them by that point.

The big failing of the June match, to me, was them not making the body part work factor into the match long term. And, boy did they make sure to not repeat that mistake. They establish Okada's neck as the weak spot early on, and stick with it for the whole match. I really liked the idea of using Okada's height against him with Omega doing seemingly basic spots, like the backbreaker, to create the whiplash effect on Okada. I just wish Omega hadn't felt the need to do the reverse rana so often, the first one was perfect, and it felt like the spot was cheapened by him going back to it so often. The Croyt's Wrath near fall was brilliant! Over the course of three matches, we've seen how easily that Okada can escape the One Winged Angel, and Omega finally had something up his sleeve to offset that. I sort of wish that the Croyt's Wrath had gotten the pin, only so as not to completely close the book on the story surrounding Okada and the One Winged Angel. The only thing that match seemed to lack was drama, mostly because Omega's win seemed like a foregone conclusion, with there not being anything at stake this time. But, with the story of Omega mercilessly attacking the neck, and knowing that he's under the gun because of the shortened time limit, it wouldn't exactly jive to have Okada Hulk-Up and start firing back on Omega.

Not sure, but one interesting note on Heat is that several episodes were only shown overseas (the ones done on PPV weekends, US viewers got essentially a ppv preview show). I wonder if we'll get those episodes. That's actually not out of the realm of possibility. They got around the Christ Benoit tribute show, by showing the International version of that night's Raw.

The storyline here is that if Mike can last ten minutes with Flair, then David gets another shot at the NWA Title. This obviously isn't up to the usual standards for Flair, but, this is a nice example of seeing the Flair formula at work. Flair helps lead Mike through some early mat work, and goes out of his way to stooge and sell huge for Mike, when he tries working some offense of his own. Flair has some fun torturing him for a bit with an abdominal stretch and then the figure four. David shows up to cheer on his brother, and Mike makes the comeback and keeps Flair in a sleeper until the time runs out.

I'm with Soup as far as thinking that this was below their January match. But, my big problem was this was that it didn't seem like Naito was using the arm to really try to win. He mostly just used it as filler, by yanking on it, and the armbars were nice, but nothing that seemed like it would get the submission. The one time it seemed like he was trying to use the arm to win, when he attempted the Destino after Tanahashi wiped out on the High Fly Flow, Tanahashi blocked it. I thought Tanahashi's selling was great. and he added some smart touches. The knee wasn't worked over nearly as much as it should have been for being the finish, they made up for that with letting Naito linger in the Cloverleaf for a bit before he gave up.

Holy crow this was awesome! The anger and intensity from both was totally believable, and KUSHIDA acts like he's lost his mind, with things like the dropkick into the stands, and stomping the hell out of Takahashi before trying for the Hoverboard lock. KUSHIDA's attack on the arm was relentless, and Takahashi's selling and reactions were awesome.

Flair's retirement ceremony on RAW, even now when I watch it, I get a little bit misty-eyed.

He did a one-shot appearance in ROH after he left TNA, and before he joined up with NXT, so apparently there isn't any lingering heat from when he left in 2011. GFW is under new management, so there shouldn't be any reason why he can't get a slot in GFW, if he wants to go there. I don't really see a slot for him in NJPW, unless they stick him in Kenny Omega's former role as the junior division rep for the Bullet Club.

Actually, they lost the titles by countout, to Buddy Rose and Doug Somers. For my own pick: David Arquette. Need I say more?

The Hogan/Andre dq was designed to get Hogan out of there without having to beat him. So, if they're going all the way with Ted, who is he beating in the finals? Based off the brackets, the only one who seems to make sense to me is Steamboat.

The consistency is probably attributed to Cornette. He clearly does an insane amount of research to prepare for these shoots, the last coupe of cold openings have been especially great. This series has shown how good of an interviewer he is, with his ability to keeps things moving along, and knowing the right questions to ask. And, now it seems like they're trying to cover some of the areas that aren't really remembered all that well, like Detroit and Houston (NWA Classics notwithstanding).

Savage got wins over Warrior during his first title run in 1989 after his heel turn. I don't know if it was specifically pins, however.

It was more the former than the latter. He and Misawa weren't getting along at all by that point. Kawada had already been cast aside in favor of Kobashi, and then Misawa was trying to make Kobashi and Akiyama the new top guys, while phasing himself out. So, it wasn't so much that he was sick of being in Misawa's shadow, as it was that he was just sick of Misawa.

Punk and Cabana did that once, when they had an iron man match, and both lost track of the falls. So, they did the pin reversal sequence with Punk getting two counts, and Cabana getting three counts, since he was supposed to go over.

This. Cactus Jack got into WCW off the strength of his work in Continental, which almost nobody (save for Cornette) was watching at the time.

Unless I'm remembering wrong, didn't Flair say that Sting wasn't interested in being in the Horsemen, and that's part of why it only lasted such a short time?

Truth be told, this is probably the peak of Bagwell's career. He was teamed up with three guys who were head and shoulders above him as far as talent went, but, he was the one who came out looking like a star.

Kayfabe Commentaries has announced that they've signed Manny Fernandez to do a YouShoot. If nothing else, this ought to be entertaining, much like Larry Zybyszko's WWE Timeline Interview.

This is perfectly booked segment, to give WCW a decisive win over the nWo and end the year on a high note. Flair gets another crack at Bischoff, after being denied his rightful revenge the night before. The Horsemen are present to stop nWo interference, and the three of them and Arn keep the nWo from saving Bischoff's hide. When they're getting too outnumbered, DDP and Konnan help even the odds. The Giant finally makes it into the ring, only for the Macho Man to take him out. Flair does the Figure Four and Bischoff holds on as long as he can, but eventually has to give up. He holds out a tad longer than most TV jobbers, but not nearly as long as anyone who faced Flair in a legit TV or PPV main event. The show ends with an in-ring celebration between Flair, the Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes, Tony Schiavone, Larry Zybyszko, and a host of others.

Bubba and the Briscoes won the ROH Six Man Titles tonight. I assume it's due to TK O'Ryan getting hurt last night.

The only thing that I didn't particularly care for was the final stretch, with all the head drops, and the kicks and knees to the head. I don't particularly care for Kenny Omega, but, I also don't want him to turn into the next Chris Benoit.

A few months back, there was talk in this thread about the streaming rights to TNA. Has anything ever happened as far as that goes? I can't imagine why they haven't tried to get Impact on Hulu already.