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Submitted by Vince Migliore on Sunday, November 25, 2001 at 5:11 PM EST
 Happy Thanksgiving all my fellow U.S. citizens!! The week went by way too fast, but it looks like it's that time once again for my column. I got a lot of positive feedback last week from my column. I actually thought I 'd get a lot of people bitching at what I said, but for the most part everyone agreed 100% As a matter of fact the only negative emails I received were from Boston Red Sox fans to remind me how much the Yankees "suck" Whatever…. Anyway I talked enough Baseball last week to fill my quota for the year. I promise there will be no Baseball talk this week in Reaching For The Ropes, however there will be a hell of a lot of wrestling so I might as well get to the damn thing. Table Of Contents I. My thoughts on Survivor Series II. Short Comments On Debatable Issues A.The Invasion Angle comes to and end on Raw B.Ric Flair makes his WWF return C.McMahon's head flies off his body III. Keeping An Eye Open IV. Question Of The Week V. DVD Review - PRIDE 11 VI. My Wrestling Wish List VI. Closing Comments My Thoughts on Survivor Series After reading many fans afterthoughts of this PPV I got the impression that everyone had REAL HIGH expectations for this PPV. I guess the blame for this could fall on the shoulders of the Internet, but it shouldn't. Nowhere did I read that it was a lock for Ric Flair, HHH, Mick Foley, HBK, Hall, or Nash to show up at this PPV. For some reason when people see the word possibility or rumor it goes into their head and is transformed into the word "guaranteed" Now if I told you that I didn't want Ric Flair or HHH to run-in on the main event I would be a liar. I would have loved to see it happen, but I wasn't expecting it. Hell I was sitting on the edge of my seat during that Main Event wondering if someone was going to make a debut, but when it didn't happen I did not get pissed off and say the PPV sucked. Most of you people would enjoy these PPV's a great deal more if you just watched it instead of making some great expectation for it and when it doesn't happen get all pissed off. So anyway, let me run this thing down and let you know what I thought. Christian vs. Al Snow A quickly thrown together match on HEAT to open the show is not what I'd call a good thing. I can't say I disagree totally by having it open the show because of it's short announcement, but I wonder if some kind of story could have been made a few weeks ago to get these guys in the ring and have it mean something. Either way it was a real good match to get the crowd hot and start the night off on a good foot. Looks like Al Snow will be gone for a few months for Tough Enough, but it's not like his television wrestling career is going any further than it already has anyway. William Regal vs. Tajiri Going into the PPV I was dieing to see this match. I really love both workers and I know they can deliver, but it's so damn hard when you are only given 3 lousy minutes to wrestle. What the hell was that? Was I watching Monday Night Raw? Now I'm not 100% sure if this match was cut short cause of Regal breaking his nose, but if it was intentionally booked to be that short than I give a big 'Screw You!' to the WWF booking committee. It was real good for the time they were given. Some very stiff shots in this match. Tajiri wasn't hitting his pants to make the noise when he kicked this time, and those shots were 100% legit. Maybe someday down the road these guys can have a good long feud. Edge vs. Test Good match I thought and I'm glad to see one less championship belt. It's sad to see the US belt go after all the great title matches that were fought for it, but the WWF owns WCW so do you really think they will dissolve the IC strap or any other WWF title for that matter? I suppose that this feud can continue to grow into something more, but I'd much rather see them go back to the Christian Vs Edge program. Test has a bright future because the WWF is really high on him, and he has the work rate to back it up. Hardy Boyz vs. Dudley Boyz (Tag Team Unification Match) A typical match between these two great teams. The match was really good and both teams worked hard, but I think I've seen everything that I can between these two teams. The finish made sense because due to the outcome of the Main Event Hardyz keep their jobs and now so do the Dudleys…good booking Immunity Battle Royals Like I said last week I'm a sucker for Battle Royals, but this one just pissed me off. However before the match starts we see Test take out Scotty Too Hotty Now this set of a warning signal to everyone but me that Test was going to win this thing. My money was still on Tazz due to the fact that he was taking the loner role. However it makes a lot of sense to have Test win after he lost his match to Edge because this way he keeps a job. I would love to see him have some cocky gimmick where he does all this crap to all the wrestlers and McMahon that would normally get someone fired but he can't be. Anyway Billy Gunn eliminated Tazz so I'm just a little pissed with this match. Not good at all. Lita vs. Trish Stratus vs. Ivory vs. Mighty Molly vs. Jacqueline vs. Mystery Did you hear that earth shaking pop when they announced Jazz as the mystery woman!! Oh wait there wasn't one. I thought the rule about Mystery wrestlers is that the mystery person has to be someone people know. Does anyone who didn't watch ECW know who Jazz is? I see no future with Jazz in the WWF and I really don't see any purpose in bringing her in. Isn't it also amazing how they can have Women's championship match without the Women's Champion (Chyna) in the match? Trish wins with an impressive finisher and that's about the only good thing in this match. Main Event WWF Vs Alliance I really don't see how people can be upset with this match. It was 45 minutes long and the whole thing was good. Basically what it comes down to is the people who hated it hated it because there were no run-ins from HHH or Ric Flair. Overall this match was really good and it looked like everyone was working really hard to make the match enjoyable to watch. I kind of figured it was going to come down to Rock Vs Austin and it was the right choice. I'm not sure if Jericho's heel turn had as much of an effect as the WWF planned on it having, but it was welcome in my book. However his heel turn is about a year and a half overdue. I think the best choice was made by having the WWF win the match. With the viewership at it's lowest point in like 3 years I wouldn't chance making such a big move as having the WWF lose the match. It's pretty sad that WCW is gone forever, but hey it was gone after that last Nitro anyway right? Overall I would say that this PPV passed the test and I give it a thumbs up. Sure there were a lot of things that they could of done different to make it better, but I really can't complain too much. Storyline wise they did what they had to for it all to make some kind of sense. Certainly this wasn't one of the best PPV's of the year but was worth watching. Short Comments On Debatable Issues The Invasion Angle Comes To An End On Raw What could have been the greatest angle in the history of wrestling was placed in the lap of Vince McMahon this summer. It only took him 6 months to screw the whole thing up and end it. Face it people the Invasion angle was a complete and udder disaster. I'm kind of glad this thing is over and the TV can go back to being normal, but I can only imagine how great this thing could have been. I'm not going to say all negatives came out of this angle, but the negatives definitely outweighed the positives. One thing I really liked about the Invasion was the fact that Paul Heyman did the Color Commentary for the past 6 months. This Monday he was "fired" and Jerry Lawler was brought back. Now I must admit it was pretty good to see Jerry on RAW because it made it seem like the good ol' days of the WWF before they fudged up this angle. However as a color man he sucks greatly. I'm so sick and tired of him sitting there giggling about the girls and making dumb jokes. Paul Heyman added such a great element to all the shows and made the matches seem important. Being that he was doing a lot of the booking he could commentate exactly how he needed to, to get his angle over. I guess it could be for the best and Heyman can focus all his energy into booking. Ric Flair Makes His WWF Return Everyone was bitching and moaning after the PPV about how Ric Flair wasn't there. Well you only had to wait one whole day to get your Ric Flair fix. If the rest of this angle is booked how it was on Monday it's going to be a huge success. Turning Austin face on Monday was probably the easiest face turn in the history of the business. Just seeing Rick Flair and Steve Austin sharing a beer in the ring got me real pumped to watch Smackdown. Ric Flair accepting that buyout of his Time Warner contract just goes to show you how much he loves this business and will do almost anything to keep it going. I know a lot of you may groan when I say this, but I think Ric has a few more matches left in him, and I would love to see it. This man is the best COMPLETE wrestler ever. Were there men more talented than he is in the ring? Yeah of course, but can you name someone who has preformed at this top level as long as he has? No of course not case closed. McMahon's Head Flies Off His Body What was that complete and udder bullshit I saw this Monday? Did I really see Vince McMahon humiliate William Regal by having him kiss his ass? I'm sorry Vince but you were WAY out of line on this one. Now don't get me wrong I laughed at the situation, but Regal is one of the best workers in North America and for him to be treated like that is just not right. Vince's ego is way out of control. I guess after being put in his place by Heyman he needed to get some Self-Esteem back. If Regal doesn't get a push after all of this crap then….well I don't know but it's just not right. Keeping An Eye Open Keep an eye open for these things in wrestling this week 1. More craziness between Ric Flair & Vince McMahon 2. The replay of WWF Superstars on The Weakest Link! 3. Matches announced for Vengeance 4. A Hardy Split coming? 5. Tazz continues to be jobbed out 6. Regal Vs Austin on Raw? 7. Kurt Angle continues his EVIL streak 8. Test/Edge/Christian start a three-way feud? 9. RVD gets a program with someone Question Of The Week I didn't have one last week so I might as well have one now. The question this week is What do you think could have made the Invasion angle a success? I'm really curious to see what everyone out there is thinking could have helped. Email them to NYYanks24@mediaone.net and I'll put a few on here next week. DVD Review PRIDE 11 - Battle Of The Rising Sun A lot of you people out there probably have never heard of PRIDE. However chances are you have heard of UFC correct? Well basically PRIDE is another version of UFC. There are many differences though like for instance instead of an octagon the matches take place in wrestling rings. This of course is a lot more dangerous because you can fall out of the ring when you're grappling on the mat. I can go over all the rules because there are so many. If you watch it once though you will pretty much catch almost all of them. First off let me clear some things up. Pride does not take place in dinky little bingo halls. No on the contrary, PRIDE events take place in pretty big arenas. From a presentation aspect they put on a hell of a show. They have music, pyro, laserlights, and graphics. You would probably exceed your expectations just by watching the opening. To begin they introduce all of the men who are going to compete that night, and they call come down to the ring. A very cool ritual that PRIDE does, and it really gets the crowd into to it early to see all the fighters. After that we have a nice little graphic and the first fight is set to begin. Tom Erikson Vs Heath Herring Pre-fight opinion As I mentioned before I am writing this review while I watch the DVD. I have not seen this DVD yet, nor do I know the outcome of any of the matches. Erikson definitely has the size advantage working for him. However I just think that Herrings Sambo style will be a lot more effective in this fight going against Erikson the wrestler. So my pick is for Heath Herring. The Fight This thing went to the mat right from the start. This heavily favored Erikson who just smothered Herring. After about 5 minutes and nothing happening the ref stood both of them up. This changed the fight because as soon as he stood them up Herring kicked Erikson in the stomach and then put him in the rear-naked choke and got the tap out. A decent fight to start to DVD. 1 for 1 Gilbert Yvel (Free-Fight) Vs Vanderlei Silva (Muay Thai) Pre-Fight Opinion Unlike the last two guys I have heard a great deal about of these men who are about to fight. My pick is going to be Vanderlei Silva for a few reasons. The first being that Muay Thai is a very effective style of fighting. Yes I know that Yvel is also proficient with Muay Thai but not as well as Silva. The second being that Silva looks like a crazy man. Seriously he looks like he bites the heads off of babies without remorse. Plain and simple this guy looks like a nutcase. The Fight Nothing like a low-blow to start a fight. Silva kicked Yvel right in the not-so-sweet spot. Thank god these guys are allowed to wear steel cups. Silva is issued a warning and a two-minute break. If a fighter is given 3 warnings in a fight he is dq'd. In the mean time Yvel is not getting up off the mat. After 5 minutes Yvel can't recover and they postpone the fight. Yvel apologizes to the fans and shakes hands with Silva. I told you people that Silva was a psycho. He actually broke Yvel's cup!! Do you know how much that had to hurt? It must have been like having Roger Clemens throw a fastball as hard as he can at your nuts. Decision is a technical draw. Yoshiaki Yatsu Vs Gary Goodridge Pre-Fight Opinion I've seen a lot of Goodridge and he always impresses me. I'm going with him being that I have seen him lay opens out many times, and looks to be in superior shape. The Fight This whole fight was Goodridge just pounding on poor Yatsu. He just unloaded punch after punch to Yatsu's head. Yatsu wouldn't go down though after all the abuse. Yatsu definitely proved he could take a strong punch…..over and over and over again. This thing finally gets down to the ground and Goodridge gets Yatsu in the rear mount and continues to pound on this poor dudes head. Goodridge finally wins when he unloads 5 uppercuts in a row directly to the jaw of Yatsu and the ref has no choice but to call the fight. Gary Goodridge gets the win and I'm 2-0 Alexander Otsuka Vs Maike Bourke Pre-Fight Opinion I've seen what Otsuka can do and I think he can do it again. I'm going to go against the hometown USA boy Maike Bourke and give this one to Otsuka. The Fight Maike Bourke was the power and Otsuka was the grappler. This thing goes to the ground early with Bourke in control. Then out of nowhere Otsuaka pulls off this double leg arm choke. Basically he squeezed Bourkes arms around his throat hyper extending both arms with his legs. Very cool maneuver that I have never seen before. Short fight but enjoyable to watch. 3 - 0 by the way. Akira Shoji Vs Herman Renting Pre-Fight Opinion Jiu-Jitsu is going to win out in this fight which means Shoji is going to get the win. Both guys look like they match up rather well and it should be a good one. The Fight A very boring fight until the final few seconds. Out of nowhere Shoji pulls the arm bar from the side mount position on Renting. Renting has no choice but to tap because his arm looked like it was about to snap. Damn that looked pretty painful. I guess that makes me 4-0. Nobuhiko Takada Vs Igor Voychanchyn Pre-Fight opinion This one is a pretty tough fight for me to call a winner. I have seen Igor a lot and I know he is very capable of knocking guys out. On the other hand Takada looks very determined and has the crowd behind him. Something inside me is telling me to go with Takada but I'm going to go with who I know and that is Igor Voychanchyn. The Fight Igor started the action off with a nice little flurry of punches that startled Takada. Then the fight goes to the ground with Takada in control. Due to the fact that they were so close to the edge of the ring the ref moved them to the center of the ring. This is one of the weird things about PRIDE, but it is totally understandable. If the ref calls for a move then the fighters literally stand up,move to the center of the ring, and get back into the same position. This of course is for their safety because if they fall out of the ring that could be really bad. The bell rings and the second round is about to begin. They go back into the full mount and Igor just kills Takada. The punishment Takada was taking was too much and he had to tap out. Igor gets the win and I'm 5-0. Very good fight! Naoya Ogawa VS Masaaki Satake Pre-Fight opinion I have never seen either of these two men fight before. I'm not really sure of their style, but from look along I will have to go with Ogawa. The reason I am going with him is because he looks even crazier than Silva does. I guess we will see The Fight Standup punching to begin the fight which can be quite boring. Basically they just stood there and boxed each other, but without any jabs so it was like 15 seconds between punches. After 10 minutes of a kickboxing standoff the round is over. Not a terrible match, but it's not very exciting. After another minute of standup fighting to begin the second round they take it to the mat and Ogawa gets Satake to tap to a rear-naked choke. People I must assure you I have never seen these fights before nor read the results. I guess I'm just good at picking the winners when it comes to PRIDE. 6-0 Kazushi Sakuraba Vs Shannon "The Cannon" Ritch Pre-Fight Opinion I have seen Sakuraba beat Royce Gracie who is one of the best ever when it comes to fighting MMA (mixed martial arts) Based on this knowledge alone I will go with Sakuraba to take this match. The Fight Some crazy looking flurry by the dumb American and every punch misses. Sakuraba uses this to an advantage,takes Ritch to the ground, and makes him tap to an Achilles Lock. Total time of fight is 1 minute and 8 seconds. Fight Overview Ladies and Gentlemen I went a perfect 7-0 in my predictions for this DVD. Honestly I am amazed I got so many right. I'm sure next time I do this I will get them all wrong so I will bask in it while I can. If I had to pick a fight of the DVD it would be the Nobuhiko Takada Vs Igor Voychanchyn fight. It was the only one to go two rounds and it was very enjoyable to watch. DVD Extras Highlights This is a very well put together video montage of all the fights that are on this DVD. Basically they show key moments and big hits in each fight. Not a great extra, but a pretty neat bonus. History of PRIDE Now this is what enhances the DVD's value greatly in my opinion. If you have never seen a PRIDE event in your life then definitely watch this feature first. It's a good 15 minutes telling you about the history of PRIDE and giving you more of an insight of what it is. A great feature and enhances the value of this DVD. The Final Verdict If you have never seen PRIDE before I wouldn't really recommend this DVD to start out on. It's not a good example of what PRIDE is all about because most of these matches are short. However if you have watched some MMA (mixed martial arts) in the past then I would say rent it. Being that it's only 2 hours long it's not really worth buying (I guess I'm just a sucker) If you want to see that history of PRIDE feature don't worry because it's on all the other ones too. This DVD entertained me, but it was definitely not the greatest ones I have seen. My Wrestling Wish List 1. Regal gets a huge push 2. Y2J gets over as a heel 3. The McMahon/Flair angle continues to stay entertaining 4. The mid-card shapes up 5. MTV never shows that episode of Cribs with Chyna in it again (good god that was ugly) 6. Mick Foley isn't gone from the WWF forever 7. Little Guido is signed by the WWF 8. No one has to suck Vince's balls on Raw this week 9. HBK comes back ************** I guess that's it for this week. A lot of people out there think that these lists are so easy to write, but it's pretty tough coming up with new ones every week. Yeah I know I have some of the same ones from week to week but even still. Oh I bought Metal Gear Solid 2 for PS2 last week and have beaten it. If you beat the first MGS for playstation then play this one. The story is so damn awesome, and I have no idea how Hideo Kojima came up with it. Some people don't like it because there are too many cut scenes and FMV's, but I'm a sucker for a good story in my videogame and this one delivers. Alright I'm done ~"That's just my opinion I could be wrong" - Dennis Miller~
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