How's it going everybody? For those of you who
didn't read my column on the Phat Pharm let me first say, WHY NOT?!?!?!?
Just kidding let me introduce myself. I'm Vince Migliore and
this is the first edition of Reaching For The Ropes here on Lordsofpain.
For some reason a lot of people think my name is gimmicked and I'm
trying to be like Vince McMahon. This is definitely not the case because
my name is really Vince Migliore. After reading a few of my columns
you'll see that a lot of my views on wrestling aren't atypical of the internet
wrestling fan. This will probably cause me to get a lot of hate email, but
I guess getting hate email is better than getting no email at all. Well
let me stop my rambling and show you the setup of my column.

Table Of Contents
I - Short Comments on Debatable Issues
A - Invasion Thoughts
B - RVD
C - Stone Cold heel.......again/Rocky return
II - Keeping An Eye Open
III - Main Topic - Live Event Crowds
IV - Question Of The Week
V - My Wrestling Wish List
VI - Closing Comments

Short Comments on Debatable
Issues
Invasion Thoughts

I didn't realize it until I was watching Sunday Night
Heat,but Invasion looked pretty damn good on paper. I know a lot of
times a PPV that looks good on paper sucks in the ring but none the less
it looked pretty damn good. The show had a very hot opener in Edge
& Christian Vs Mike Awesome & Lance Storm. Christian was a
bumping machine in this match and except for the one botched spot to the
outside of the ring he was the MVP of the match. I really liked the
finish because it just adds another issue to fuel the spilt between the two
"brothers". Don't get me wrong I'd hate to see the two split up but
it just seems inevitable now. Great cameo by Mick Foley in the referee
match which added a little more interest into the otherwise dull match. I
really thought that the APA would squash Pulumbo & O'Haire,but the APA
actually bumped for the two guy's and put on a much better match than I had
expected. X-Pac Vs Kidman was decent at best. I was really expecting
much more out of these two guy's,but I wasn't expecting X-Pac to take the
loss whatsoever because we all know who is friend is. The quickly booked
match between Raven & Regal should have been a lot better than it was.
Both guy's are just awesome workers but something didn't gel and the
match didn't come off too great. I'm still wondering why Regal wasn't
in the main event. Not much I can say about Shawn Stasiak, Chris Kanyon,
and Hugh Morrus vs. Big Show, Albert, and Billy Gunn except....bleh. Tazz
Vs Tajiri was great and we finally saw Tazz do his suplex's stiff in the
WWF. The fans are really starting to get behind Tajiri and I hope he
get's the push he deserves. What can I say about RVD Vs Jeff Hardy
that hasn't already been said. I remember watching their first encounter
in 1997 and even have it on tape. This match blew that one out of the
water big time. Great highflying spots and RVD really showed how great
of an athlete he is. I have many more thoughts coming up in the next
section on RVD some that will probably get me hated. The Bra &
Panties match was very enjoyable to watch and I didn't mind it being a time
filler. The main event was as good as a ten man tag match can be. I
really thought it was well worked and I'm shocked as hell that Austin did
a superplex with broken bones in his back. Smart booking by having
Stone Cold run in and break pins to make it seem like he was doing more than
he actually was. I was really expecting a Rock run-in as the finish,but
the booked finish didn't really bother me. It seems that the WWF is
finally making a strong attempt to make a new star in Kurt Angle. The
PPV in whole was a pretty good show. This was no way the best show
of the year but it wasn't the worst. I could have done without quickly
booked matches,but it seems that's all the WWF has been doing lately. They
really need to start booking long term and not announcing matches an hour
before the PPV goes on the air. Anyway the point is that the WWF has
delivered once again on their PPV. This has to be some kind of record
because so far this year they have not put on a bad PPV. SummerSlam
is less than a month away so start booking now please WWF.

RVD

All the time in ECW and now in the WWF RVD has impressed
me with his high flying spots and athleticism. That being said he is
nowhere near a complete wrestler. I think he has a lot to work on before
he can be considered a great wrestler. One major thing is that he needs
to realize that his role in a match is not always to put himself over.
Many times in ECW and especially this Sunday during Invasion I have
noticed that he is all about getting himself over. WCW/ECW are the
heel's at this point in the Invasion. When RVD wrestled Jeff Hardy
on Sunday he should have been wrestling as a heel,but you could of fooled
me. Now it's one thing if you perform as a heel and the crowd cheers
you,and it's totally another thing when you go out of your way to make yourself
a face so the crowd cheers you. As a heel your not supposed to play
to the crowd and he sure as hell did a lot of that. RVD is one hell
of a worker,very athletic,and extremely entertaining but like I said he's
far from a complete wrestler. His stalling during matches,lack of
selling,and flipping around is just proof of this. Until he cleans
up his ring work a bit I don't consider him more than a spot wrestler.

Stone Cold heel.....again/Rocky return

Last week I said I really didn't want to see them turn
Austin heel at the PPV,but now that I'm thinking about it the turnwas
a good idea. This sets up for the Rock's return as a babyface against
the heel Austin. We've already seen a Heel Rock Vs a babyface Austin
and a babyface Rock Vs a babyface Austin so why not have a Heel Austin Vs
a Baby Face Rock? I do however think it would have made sense to have
the Rock join WCW/ECW because Vince suspended him and it would almost be
like Vince shooting himself in the foot. The only thing I really don't
like about this turn is the fact that they turned him twice in one week.
Wouldn't have been better if Austin didn't show up at the Raw or Smackdown
before the PPV and everyone was wondering what side he was on,and then at
the PPV you just have him join WCW/ECW. This way your not really turning
him. Of course having either Rock or Austin join the ECW/WCW buries
Booker but he wasn't getting over anyway so I guess it's alright.

Keeping An Eye Open (I only do 9 cause
10 is such a cliche)
Keep an eye open for these things in wrestling this week

1. The booking for SummerSlam to begin
2. Rocky to return
3. If Kurt Angle keeps getting the strong crowd response
4. The location of WrestleMania 18 to be confirmed
5. More great skits with Billy Gunn and The Big Show
6. WWF pays off all the ECW debt
7. Who get's kicked off Tough Enough? (Shadrick)
8. Someone takes over for commentary ( Michael Cole's spot)
9. If the ratings stay up

Main Topic - Live Event
Crowds

A live crowd can definitely make a show seem a lot better
than it actually is,and can also bring the overall feel of the show down.
I myself have been to many live event's and I make sure I cheer for
the faces and boo the heels because that's my job as a fan. Steve Austin
is my favorite wrestler but when I went to Raw a few weeks ago I booed the
hell out of him because that's what I'm supposed to do. I'm not necessarily
a huge Rock fan,but I cheered him a couple months back when I went to a different
Raw. I know a lot of people are probably saying "I paid my money I
can boo or cheer who I want!!" I totally understand this but if a wrestler
is a heel and he is your favorite wrestler you are helping him a great deal
by booing him instead of cheering him.

Something I don't understand are the people who pay all
that money to go to PPV events and don't cheer whatsoever. Do you realize
how bad that makes the fan's look? Seriously if WrestleMania this past
year didn't have such a hot crowd I would have probably thought less of it.
Granted WrestleMania was one hell of a show this year,and even dead
people would be cheering their ass off,but I think you get my point. Also
think of it this way, if there is a very small crowd reaction the WWF may
think twice about going to that venue again.

Signs are something that really only got popular in the
late 90's. A sign is only brought to the arena for one purpose and
that is to get on tv. I myself have only brought one sign in all the
live events I've been to. I find it such a waste of space especially
since they don't give you much room anyway,and your very likely to piss off
a drunk guy who's bigger than you and sittingbehind you. I'm
not saying people shouldn't bring signs because they definitely should,but
why bring a sign that has nothing to do with wrestling? Sure a sign
that says "My nuts smell like apples" will get a chuckle out of me,but why
the hell even waste your time. Watching a show on tv, signs don't bug
me at all but it's mostly when you go there live you realize how much signs
piss you off. Especially when you got 10 guys sitting in a row in front
of you with one letter on each piece of their posterboard spelling "Vince
Is God"

My final thought on live event crowds only pertains to about 5% of the fans.
These fans are the crazy bastards that try to get in the ring during
the show. Please if you want to get on tv just bring a sign that says
"Sellout 3:16" If you run into the ring the wrestlers,security,and
even the referee's will pound the hell out of you. If you jump over that
guardrail you lose all of your right's and your ass becomes the property
of the WWF. I remember one time a few years ago some guy tried running
into the ring and got a swift kick to the gut by Austin. Sure that's
a cool story to tell your friends,but I could live without the pain.

Well that's about all my thoughts on Live Event Crowds.
You'll find that I write my main topic each week on something that
I have many thought's on. It could be about ongoing storylines or something
like this. What will I write about next week...........who
knows?

Question Of The Week

Every week I have a question that I want the opinion of you the reader.
Then the next week I take one or two of the best email's and post them
right here. Last week I asked "What did you think of Invasion?"
Juncti wrote "Having just watched it and seen
Austin turn I still think this was their best option. WECW has been pushed
as heels lately, and Austin has been a heel since wrestlemania, he gave a
tease of a face turn like HHH did a while back, and now that he turned his
back on wwf he's become an even bigger heel. Now the rock can return and
play the face saviour of the WWF. Vince will be humble and "un-suspend" the
rock, who will then be the biggest face you can imagine to face the evil
wecw austin. Another huge benefit of this turn is that Austin is a fan draw
of WWF fans, heel or not. And the only way a wecw show will develop is if
wwf can interest wwf fans into watching. By having austin you can use his
pull to draw fans to a wcw show, then you use this to build up the other
members of wecw. Just my thoughts on that topic. Invasion was simply incredible.
My first time seeing RVD in action and I can't wait to see him defend the
title."

Bob Patchen wrote: I was
in the crowd at Cleveland for Invasion. Let me tell you this. The opener
was hot. As bad as the refs match was to watch, the crowd ate it up. It was
loud for that terrible display. Xpac and Kidman was hot too. I wonder how
it feels to be XPAC and be the ONLY WWF guy to get booed. That has to stink.
Then the dreaded APA match came. You want to talk about a crowd killer.
The six man tag match was just as bad. DEAD. The Regal/Raven match didn’t
help. These three matches killed the place. The place started to heat up
for the tajiri/tazz match. Then the RVD/Hardy Match heated up, and just about
blew the roof of the place. The inaugural brawl was hot, but confusing. You
really couldn’t follow it. Too much action, and it was pretty obvious
of the outcome. Overall it was a good live show. It could have been better
if they would have cut out that six man tag match. Not allowed the tag match
to be a squash, and given the Tazz/Tajiri match more time. But that’s
my humble opinion.

Thanks to all who responded for your thoughts. This
weekk's question is "Who would you have had the WWF turn heel at Invasion
and why?" Send all responses to
NYYanks24@mediaone.net

My Wrestling Wish List
Here is a short list of thing I wish to happen in wrestling soon
1. Wrestlemania 18 is in Atlanta
2. Austin fully recovers from his injuries soon
3. WWF ratings continue to go up
4. Tazz wrestles more...please
5. SummerSlam get's booked a few weeks before the event itself
6. Goldberg get's signed
7. Scott Steiner get's signed
8. Kurt Angle doesn't get buried in the Rock's return
9. HBK makes his triumphant return to the WWF

Well that's about it for the first edition of Reaching
for the Ropes. I hope that you liked it,but if you didn't then that's
cool too. Send all your questions,comments,suggestions,or soup recipes
to NYYanks24@mediaone.net I
respond to every email as long your not an asshole so please be nice. I'm
going to try and make an archive page so you can view all my old column from
the Phat Pharm. I'm also thinking about writing this column twice a
week,but I may only do that on PPV weeks. Until next time this has
been Vince Migliore and you just read Reaching For The
Ropes!