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Submitted by Vince Migliore on Thursday, September 27, 2001 at 5:40 AM EST
 Ok where to start. I've missed two weeks in a row as most of you might know. Please let me explain myself. The first week was obviously for the tragic events that occurred that Tuesday. I didn't think it would have been appropriate to come out with a column about some so insignificant in comparison to wrestling. I had all intentions of writing a column last week especially because it was a PPV week, and I enjoy writing those columns greatly. However due to this thing call "school" and another called "work" I found myself spread a little to thin and only got about half done with the column before I called it quits. I'd really like to apologize because that was the first week since writing this column (including Phat Pharm) that I missed a week. I will be making it up to you though because for the next 4 weeks I will be having DVD reviews in my columns instead of doing them every other week. I'm sure most of you understand and I appreciate it. Now let me get down to business. We have a DVD review today that once appeared on the Phat Pharm so it's new to 95% of you readers. As for the rest of the column just take a look. Table Of Contents I - Short Comments on Debatable Issues A - Kronik is gone B - DDP is coming back C - Smackdown! American Tribute Episode D - UFC on PPV II - Keeping An Eye Open III - Main Topic - Unforgiven Thoughts IV - Question Of The Week V - DVD Review Beyond The Mat VI - My Wrestling Wish List VII - Closing Comments Kronik is gone 21 days!! Yes that's right 21 days and tag team known as KroniK is gone from the WWF. All I have to say is GOOD RIDDANCE!! Anyone who saw that match from Sunday, scratch that, anyone who saw these guys in WCW knew they wouldn't last in WWF. Now the word is that they weren't fired, but instead were going to be sent down to work with the developmental territories. Apparently this offended the two and they just quit. I don't know where they will go now, but I just hope we never see them in a WWF ring again. I can honestly say they are probably the worst tag team to come into the WWF in the last 10 years. Go ahead come up with a worse one cause I don't think you can. DDP is coming back >From talking about two crappy workers to talking about a great worker. Now that DDP has been ruined by the Undertaker he has been repackaged and will be coming back shortly to the WWF as that vignette from Monday showed. Also from that Vignette it appears that DDP will be having a "Kill em with kindness" gimmick. I really don't care what his gimmick is just as long as he is given someone halfway decent to work with and PPV time to put on his matches. DDP is a damn fine worker for someone his age, and for someone who got into the game late. I look forward to him coming back because it can only strengthen the company. I hope later down the road he gets a program with HHH or Austin because I'm sure they could tear the house down. Knowing the WWF they will probably just have him hover over the mid-card and be involved in terrible storylines……..sigh. Smackdown! American Tribute Episode I got a few emails asking me what I thought about the live tribute show the WWF had for the tragedy that happened to America. Well here is your answer. I thought it was well done and not in bad taste at all. Well actually there was only one part that I thought was in bad taste and that was when Stephanie McMahon spoke. HOW IN THE HELL CAN SHE COMPARE THE ATTACK ON AMERICA TO HER FATHERS STEROID TRIAL?!?!?!? What an absurd and tasteless statement made by her. How do legal actions against her father for steroid distribution to the senseless slaughter of the innocents at the WTC and the Pentagon even compare? Oh yeah I know…they don't'!! Besides from that I thought it was good to show the "human" side of the athletes and have their thoughts on the whole situation. It's unfortunate they had to have it, but given the situation it was handled great. UFC on PPV I know most of you don't care about UFC, but it's you who I'm talking to right now. You don't care because you've never seen it or if you have it's been a long time since you've seen the new stuff. The company was sold last year so to say the product has gone through some massive changes would be an understatement. The card this Friday is looking pretty strong with the main event being Tito Ortiz Vs Vladimir Matyushenko. It was originally scheduled to be Ortiz Vs Vitor Belfort, but due to an injury to his right arm he will not be fighting this Friday. In case you were wondering this is UFC's first PPV back on InDemand (cable PPV) since 1997. It will be worth the money so order it!! Keeping an Eye Open Keep an Eye Open for these things this week 1. Spike/Big Show continue as a tag team 2. RVD/Austin feud for the leadership of the Alliance 3. No Mercy card starts being announced 4. Who wins Tough Enough? (Josh and Taylor) 5. Can Kurt Angle's autobiography(even though he didn't write it) reach number 1? 6. What will Undertaker do now that his friend is gone? 7. Jericho continues to be buried 8. More DDP "crazily happy" vignettes 9. Kurt Angles next opponent…..unless of course its Austin again Main Topic - After Thoughts on Unforgiven Well since I never posted my pre-thoughts I don't really have anything to compare my after-thoughts to do I? I'm still going to run through the PPV match-by-match and give you my thoughts. The Good The Dudley Boyz (champions) vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. Spike Dudley & The Big Show vs. The Hurricane & Lance Storm I was so glad to see that the WWF went with this as the opening match. I think it's so important that every PPV starts out with a hot match that can get the people on their feet. Definitely a well-worked match that flowed very well. I was a bit disappointed that Big Show didn't jump off the top rope to the outside like he teased, but then after thinking about it he probably would have seriously injured all the guys out there who tried to catch him. A great match-up with Big Show & Spike Dudley, and I hope WWF realizes from the response they got to keep them around for a while. I kind of figured it would have come down to Hardyz Vs Dudleys, and that's what the majority of the fans wanted so why not give it to them? WWF Intercontinental Championship Edge (champion) vs. Christian This match was booked a week before the PPV even though this breakup has been in the making for months. I wasn't too sure if it was a good idea to have this match so soon then at the finish of it I realized what the WWF was doing. By giving Christian, a heel, the IC title it makes Edge, the face, chase him for the title. Everyone knows feuds are so much better when the face is chasing the heel for the title. I definitely see this feud lasting a while, and I just hope there is a best of seven series in the future for these two. A very well put together match, and even though the finish was kind of lame I enjoyed it. WWF Hardcore Championship Rob Van Dam vs. Chris Jericho Very fast paced match and pretty entertaining. I will say it's not as good as I thought/hoping it was going to be. I thought both of their styles would gel perfectly, but it didn't quite work out that way. I'm not saying it was a bad match by any means, but I really expected a classic between these two. Anyone notice RVD busting Jericho open hardway? How many wrestlers has he done that to now like 4? Someone needs to tell RVD he's working too stiff because it's not a coincidence that he's busting people open. I'm kind of upset Jericho had to job because he deserves to be up top, and he has proven time and again that he should be. Maybe if the WWF turns him heel then he can join the "Main Eventers Club" WCW World Heavyweight Championship Handicap Match The Rock (champion) vs. Booker T & Shane McMahon I would be lying to say that I was really looking forward to this match. However it's been a while since Rock has put on a real stinker on PPV. There is something about him that just turns on when it's PPV time. He knows it's time to perform and he goes out there and does it. His intensity is unmatched and that is what sets his matches apart from many others. All that being said this match barely made my "The Good". I thought the whole referee fighting was just so stupid. We've seen that done like a million times now and it's getting old. I did however like the Test run-in and hopefully he and the Rock can get a nice little feud going to at least get Rock through No Mercy. Oh yeah anyone notice that Shane didn't do his mandatory crazy ass PPV bump? Maybe he smartened up. WWF World Heavyweight Championship Steve Austin (champion) vs. Kurt Angle What more can I say than this match up is a GUARANTEED good match. Out of all the ones they have had not one of them has been bad. I will have to agree with many people who said this match wasn't as good as the one from SummerSlam. The one from SummerSlam had a lot more intensity in it mostly due to Kurt Angles massive color job. This one was a little slower paced and much more deliberate. Big props go to Stone Cold for tapping to Angle. A lot of people said that Angle had no way of winning cause Austin was holding him back. The proof is in the finish, and Austin showed he was being company man. If only other people could follow in his footsteps. When I saw Kurt Angle's family I thought Austin was going to beat Angle up so bad that his mother would start crying and force Angle to give up. I was wrong and I'm kind of glad I was. Anyway this one goes in the books as my match of the night……..once again. The Bad The backstage segment between RVD and Stephanie after the first match was terrible. Both of them were struggling through it and it served no purpose. WCW Tag Team Championship The Undertaker & Kane (champions) vs. KroniK w/ Steven Richards You had to have known this was coming. Undertaker should be ashamed of himself for getting a piece of crap like Brian Adams hired in the WWF. Apparently Adams never learned how to sell because he didn't!! I don't even think the man went down. I know he kept falling to the corner, but never really taking a back bump. I would go back and check, but the match was so horrific I couldn't watch it again. Undertaker was no better and seriously needs to look into some sort of retirement plan. I feel bad for Kane because he has talent for a big man, but being stuck in a team with the Undertaker doesn't help him out one big. The guys over at the LAW were trying to figure out what was worse, Brian Adams performance or Buff Bagwells performance against Booker? That's a tough one, but all I know is that this was the worst PPV match of the year hands down! Tajiri vs. Rhyno For the time this match was given it was good, but it was so short it shouldn't of even been on the PPV. I know if given the proper amount of PPV time they could put on one hell of a match, but the WWF really dropped the ball on this one. And The Brutal Perry Saturn vs. Raven Goodness did you see this match. Both guys were working pretty damn stiff. The match didn't mean much storyline wise, but it sure was entertaining to watch. If only these two were given the opportunity to wrestle some of the top-notch talent. I hope this feud continues just so we can see more of the same from these two. Overall the show is a thumbs up. It had its low points but I'd say it was a success. Question of the Week Two weeks ago I asked What is your favorite Gimmick Match and Why? Anthony Randazzo wrote: My favorite gimmick match is the Ladder match in its many incarnations. Whether its Michaels vs Razor Ramon, Rock vs HHH for the IC title a few years ago, Jericho vs Benoit, any of the TLC-based matches, etc, they almost always deliver. Hell, even WCW was able to do it with 3 Count and company in its last few months. No other gimmick match has provided so many classics so consistently as the ladder/table&ladder/TLC match. This week I want to know who do you think should jump sides from the Alliance to the WWF or from the WWF to the Alliance next? Send all responses to NYYanks24@mediaone.net DVD Review - Beyond The Mat Today I'm going to be reviewing Beyond The Mat: Unrated Directors Cut. If you saw Beyond The Mat in the theaters, which I did not, then you have to watch the DVD. From what I understand there are added scenes that were not in the theater version. If you haven't seen Beyond The Mat I would recommend that you go out and rent it. It is definitely a good wrestling movie. So what is it about? I'm going to give my famous thirty-second synopsis. Basically Universal Studios Producer Barry Blaustein wanted Universal to fund his lifelong dream. That dream was to make a documentary on pro-wrestling. Barry goes to the WWF,ECW,and indy fed APW. I don't know why, but WCW is not in this movie at all. The movie has four main focuses. The first is on legend Terry Funk. Barry follows Terry on one of his many retirement tours. Remember this film was filmed in 1997/1998 so of course most everything has changed. We see how bad Terry's knees actually are after a doctor's visit. The doctor informs Terry that he shouldn't be able to walk. Isn't that amazing? This was 4 years ago and he is still doing moonsaults. The second focus is on indy federation APW, and the wrestlers Tony Jones and Mike Modest. The promoter of the fed, Rolen Alexander, got a really bad rap in this movie. Barry makes him out to be a fat, unknowledgable, shifty, untrustworthy wrestling promoter. After listening to many interview from this man on Dave Meltzers Wrestling Observer Live I have come to the conclusion that he cares very much about his wrestlers, has a great knowledge of the business,works damn hard, and.....is still fat. The fact that he is overweight doesn't hinder him from being a great promoter, and as well it shouldn't. Now to the wrestlers. Most of you know Mike Modest. He was given the match on Nitro against Christopher Daniels only to have their legs "broken" by Scott Steiner. This movie shows Mike and Tony getting a tryout match for the WWF. Much like any other tryout match it takes place in the form of a dark match. From what they show it was a pretty good match. Obviously you know they didn't get in. I think it's a shame cause both are strong workers, and the best of the best in indy wrestling. The third focus is on another legend Jake "the snake" Roberts. This is the saddest thing of the whole movie. A wrestler that was so great in his prime, and has been reduced to a junkie is just pathetic. I don't have much to say about this part of the movie except it's depressing. I'm not sure how Jake is doing now, but I hope he got himself some help. The fourth, and my personal favorite, focus of Beyond The Mat is the part on Mick Foley. I don't know what it is, but every time I see Mick Foley I just giggle like a little schoolgirl. This movie really showed Foley's family life for the first time. Barry takes us behind the scenes of the 1999 Royal Rumble, and it's main event, the famous I Quit match between Mankind and The Rock. In case you didn't know Foley brought his wife and kids to the PPV, not thinking they would be affected by the violence. After getting obliterated by chair shots his wife and kids run backstage with tears pouring down their face. Foley admits that this was a huge mistake, and wouldn't do it again if he could do it over. THE EXTRAS Feature Commentaries by Mick Foley,Terry Funk, and Barry Blaustein. Excellent addition to this DVD. The Mick Foley commentaries are great. This was the first time I heard Foley's true thoughts on the whole Rock situation. Of course if you read his new book Foley is Good then you get a more detailed account. Great humor in this, and even an Al Snow joke. The best commentary far. Barry's commentary is pure crap in my opinion,and I thought it was a waste to listen to. The Terry Funk commentary was really good. Awesome stories and a great perspective on wrestling. Theatrical Trailer I remember when I rented a movie and I saw the trailer for Beyond The Mat. I was really excited because I love documentaries on wrestling. So you can relive my excitement by watching the theatrical trailer over and over to your hearts content. Production Notes Self-Explanatory Cast & Filmmakers Just notes about all the cast and filmmakers. The Final Verdict I had to come up with some sort of rating scale. I didn't want to steal Tito's so I devised a intricate rating system which goes: Excellent,Great,Good,Fair,Poor Yeah I know it's been done, but do you have any better idea? If you do then email me. Anyway to the final verdict. All in all I liked this movie. It's cool to see all the behind-the-scenes stuff, from putting matches together to seeing a wrestlers job interview for the WWF. Not to mention a 15 second cameo by Stone Cold Steve Austin. If there wasn't a Mick Foley commentary as an extra I would have given this DVD a fair. The Foley commentary made this DVD reach mediocrity and I give it a GOOD. My Wrestling Wish List 1. Jericho turns heel 2. DDP's new gimmick doesn't suck 3. Unforgiven is booked by the end of next week (yeah right) 4. Big Show & LSD get a run at the tag titles 5. Little Guido gets signed 6. Undertaker either drops the ego or retires 7. Saturn and Raven stay feuding 8. Stephanie stops talking……for good 9. ……take a guess ******************************** Well that would be it for this week. It felt good to get back to writing about wrestling. Sorry if I made a few mistakes, but even after two weeks I feel rusty. Yankees are now officially in the playoffs. The series between them and the A's is going to be a classic, and I can't wait. Well my email addy is NYYanks24@mediaone.net so email me if you need something. Until next week I'm Vince Migliore telling you to buy the new Tenacious D CD or Satan will steal your soul.
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