A – Excellent
B – Good
C – Mediocre
D – Avoid
Release Date: 29th April 2013
Available From: www.wwedvd.co.uk
Price:
DVD £ 19.99
Blu-ray £ 22.99
Format Reviewed: DVD (3 Discs)
(Also Available on Blu-ray (2 Discs)
What It’s About:
The second volume and follow up to the hugely successful ‘The Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 1’. A selection of complete matches and moments from WCW’s biggest weekly television show which for years, trashed WWE in the ratings and sparked the infamous Monday Night Wars.
Strengths:
Diamond Dallas Page resumes hosting duties from the first volume and is excellent. Page provides some great insight into the WCW programme and his stories never fail to bring a smile to the face. In short, DDP is the perfect host and WWE should seek out more hosts with his flare and panache for connecting to the audience.
Sting vs Ric Flair (4th September 1995) for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship, from the first ever Monday Nitro in the middle of ‘The Mall of America’ is more than respectable. Ric Flair always did bring out the best in Sting, the man he helped to make a star. Taking place in the middle of a shopping mall, you can clearly see shoppers still going about their business whilst the show takes place around them. This is a fitting place to start seeing as the first volume left off on the last Monday Nitro with Sting vs Ric Flair. The match ends in a lousy disqualification but that was WCW’s forte.
‘Medusa throwing the WWE Women’s Championship in the trash’ (18th December 1995) was a momentous moment for WCW. Happening live on television, WCW made sure that the angle had full effect and was a huge shot across WWE’s bow. Some can even pin point the beginning of the Monday Night Wars to this moment in wrestling history. Medusa, who had been known in WWE as Alundra Blaze, had been constantly misused by the company even though she was limited in the ring. Interestingly enough and DDP picks up on this point, obviously told to mention it by Vince McMahon, many believe this was the catalyst of Vince’s decision to screw Bret Hart in Montreal at Survivor Series 1997. He didn’t want Hart doing with the WWE Championship what Medusa did with the Women’s Championship. In truth, Hart never would have, he had too much respect for the company and for McMahon.
The Steiner Brothers vs The Road Warriors (11th March 1996) is a rousing and hard hitting tag team confrontation. Out of all the teams to put on one of the best matches of the entire release, you wouldn’t have banked on these two teams considering their standing in the industry. This match though is full of hard hitting moves and superb athletic manoeuvres. WWE never capitalised on the Steiner’s abilities like WCW did here. In WCW’s rival company, the Steiner’s never had the opposition to make them look like stars. Had they done so, there is great chance Rick and Scott would have been a commercial smash in WWE.
Dean Malenko vs Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger (8th May 1996) is top notch all the way. For a cruiserweight clash you get the feeling the pair could have done better but there is no complaints about the full on action except that there are lingering shots of Ric Flair, Miss Elizabeth and Nancy Benoit dining at the top of the aisle which detract from the talent on show. Malenko may have been one of wrestling’s biggest underrated performers and whilst Liger has added a little weight to his frame, the Japanese star can still move.
Rey Mysterio Jr vs Juventud Guerrera (16th September 1996) is remarkably slower than the average WCW Cruiserweight match but boasts some great moves from the pair. Once again, the match loses out to an NWO angle which takes precedent in the parking lot and WCW are quick to get their cameras back there instead of focusing on the match. Mysterio and Guerrera had some thrilling scraps during their WCW days though and I seriously suggest you seek them out if you favour Lucha Libre wrestling. The ending to this particular encounter is a breathtaking hurricanrana out of a Powerbomb from the top rope which WCW nearly miss because of the parking lot scene.
‘Bischoff’s biggest regret’ (30th September 1996) proves to be an intense promo piece to camera about what he regrets most handling WCW. This is of course staged and scripted for him but the comment that he regrets bringing Hulk Hogan to World Championship Wrestling is more of a sentiment that would belong in Ted Turner’s head rather than Bischoff’s. Whilst its true Hogan and Bischoff took WCW to unforgettable highs, the pair would also have a hand in destroying the company thanks to their ego’s and unwillingness to push anyone who either wasn’t a former WWE star or wasn’t Hulk Hogan, especially after the Monday Night Wars swung in WWE’s favour. With no new stars fans could buy into, WCW was always walking a slippery slope.
‘Hollywood Hogan makes Sting worship him’ (26th May 1997) attests a great angle which receives a huge reaction when the real Sting drops out of the sky and floors Eric Bischoff and Fake Sting. As the selfish and dastardly ‘Hollywood’, Hulk Hogan made a delicious villain and the angle would continue the Sting vs ‘Hollywood’ Hogan feud which would take a brilliant nine months to expertly build.
Goldberg vs Hugh Morrus (22nd September 1997) is Goldberg’s debut match in WCW and what an impact he makes. Short in length as mostly all early Bill Goldberg matches were, contributing to the fact that he would blow up hideously in long main events, Goldberg was always able to make himself look good in shorter matches. Before the match a sign can be seen in the crowd which says ‘Raw – retired and awful wrestlers’. The irony of this is that WCW had and would acquire more retired and awful wrestlers than WWE ever had.
Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett (6th October 1997) looks polished and is very well received by the audience. A younger and leaner Booker T was one of the best workers WCW ever had on their roster. The potential for a Booker T singles run was evident here and the match sparkles. Jeff Jarrett could be very good in the ring when it suited him and coming off of a dreary WWE run as ‘Double J’, Jarrett had something to prove to the wrestling world who had forgotten what he was capable of. The bumps look sumptuous but Booker T is the real star of the match.
The Steiner Brothers vs Public Enemy (3rd November 1997) in a Street Fight match is a very commendable effort for two teams which were beginning to step into the twilight of their shelf life. Even though Rick and Scott Steiner are beginning to look rough here, Scott Steiner’s eventual herculean physique is commencing its debut and the four really do look like they are stumbling through planned spots, the match is notable in other areas and credit goes to all four for making a match which looked like a stinker on paper, watchable.
‘NWO sings O’Canada’ (10th November 1997) is only just kept watchable by Eric Bischoff who is dynamite on the microphone. Kevin Nash’s promo is repetitive and there is no real point to the segment other than to announce the arrival in WCW of Bret Hart, citing that he’s the newest member of the NWO and to set up a Kevin Nash vs The Giant match. The biggest laugh of the disc though comes here, when talking about the NWO, Eric Bischoff states that he surrounds himself with the biggest and most important names in the business as Buff Bagwell and the man formerly known as Virgil stand next to him.
Booker T vs Randy Savage (15th December 1997) as usual is a good effort by both. It is the longest match to feature a member of the NWO on the release, up to that point, which is a plus. The only gripe is that to cement his status as a serious singles wrestler and a future main event star in the company, Booker T should have gone over Savage here. Nevertheless, the fans at this point have already fallen in love with Booker T as a singles wrestler and his ascension to the top was as good as guaranteed. Randy Savage also proves Vince McMahon wrong who said there would be no call for old times such as Savage to keep wrestling, which is why Savage jumped ship to WCW.
‘Remembering ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage’ is a touching tribute to the star from Diamond Dallas Page. DDP’s impression of the Macho Man is spot on and speaking highly of Savage, it’s obvious how close the pair were as Page gets suitably choked up to the point of tears remembering his friend. As good as this segment is, one couldn’t help but get the feeling this could have done with a specially made tribute video from WWE to make it complete.
Rey Mysterio Jr, Juventud Guerrera and Hector Garza vs Silver King, Psicosis and La Parker (22nd December 1997) is nothing short of excellent. Displaying a whole host of breathtaking and awe-inspiring ariel moves which have to be seen to be believed, the finishing sequence between Silver King and Rey Mysterio Jr is one of the best WCW ever produced. WCW’s Cruiserweight division produced some of the greatest matches of the company’s history on a regular basis and therefore I would like to see WWE produce ‘The Best of WCW’s Cruiserweight Division’ in the near future. The matches merit their own three disc release and WWE would not be short of material.
Diamond Dallas Page vs Chris Jericho (5th January 1998) for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship is horribly short but packs in some great back and forth reversals and catch me if you can wrestling before Page hits a stunning looking ‘Diamond Cutter’ for the victory. Booking like this though is why Jericho never made it big in WCW. Page was very good when he wanted to be, produced some very fine performances in the ring and towards the end of the companies run was an ample caretaker WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
Randy Savage, Sting and The Giant vs Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (9th March 1998) proves to be much better when Nash and the Giant have departed and the action is left most notably to Savage, Hall and Sting. Even though the match never amounts to much it isn’t terrible though there are long periods where the NWO members are working over The Giant’s neck. It does make one wonder whether Eric Bischoff was either blind to the fact that Hogan wasn’t the main event draw he once was in 1998 or truly didn’t know.
Sting vs Diamond Dallas Page (23rd March 1998) for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship ascertains Sting’s main event appeal and Page’s rise up the card. The match is solid in every way and each move and counter is well thought out in advance. Sting really did learn well from Ric Flair who through his efforts with the Stinger in the late 80’s and early 90’s really schooled Sting in how to carry a match. DDP does brilliantly here, holding his own against WCW’s best and proving to be a reliable worker.
Raven vs Goldberg (20th April 1998) in a Raven’s Rules match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship turns out to be ultra heated with the fans solidly behind Goldberg. Raven is a class act all the way in this match but going nowhere in WCW it’s not a stretch of the imagination to realise why he left WCW and went back home to ECW. WCW were never going to take Raven seriously as ECW did. WCW did however build Goldberg correctly, taking him through the United States and Television Championship divisions first before landing him the big one. This is something WWE should have imitated with Ryback instead of shoving him in at the deep end. It’s also nice to see a United States Championship which really meant something to the company and fans.
Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio Jr (21st October 1998) enthrals with great looking submission holds and ariel assaults all the way. The clash isn’t as good as their Halloween Havoc stunner and there’s yet another ref bump and screwy finish. For any current WWE fan who isn’t familiar with Mysterio’s prior work and sees him just as another WWE wrestler who is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, they really need to see his performances here.
Scott Hall vs Bam Bam Bigelow (25th January 1999) in a Ladder Match for a taser, is a fair effort even though the stipulation is a dumb one seeing the pair fight for control of the stun gun hung above the ring. Whilst the match is made pointless by the induction of a second stun gun at the conclusion of the match and it isn’t the most exciting ladder match in history, Hall and Bigelow pull out some virtuous moves off of the ladder and should be credited for giving their best when it’s clear WCW had begun to stop caring. Hall, on his left arm, is wearing his old Razor Ramon purple elbow pad under his NWO one.
The handicap match for the WCW World Tag Team Championships, pitting Diamond Dallas Page and Bam Bam Bigelow vs Perry Saturn (31st May 1999) turns out to be more than adequate for a two on one effort with three very talented wrestlers on display. It is good to see Perry Saturn on a WWE release once again and one hopes he can continue to get his life sorted out and return to wrestling in some capacity. He has the skills to help younger talent get over, backstage that is. Knowing how far wrestling dragged Saturn down, he should never risk stepping back into the ring. The ending of the match sees the late Kanyon come to Saturn rescue as his partner but the merriment is short lived.
Backstage footage and a montage on the Nitro Girls, featuring one of wrestling’s biggest success stories, Stacey Kiebler along with Kimberly DDP’s former wife and Shawn Michaels’ current wife is a welcome distraction from the seemingly never ending host of matches featuring old timers in the main event. Stacey Kiebler has become such an attraction away from the ring at the side of George Clooney that she no longer needs wrestling.
Goldberg and Bret Hart vs Scott Hall and Kevin Nash for the WCW Tag Team Championships (13th December 1999) is sufficient enough to sit through without getting bored. An odd tandem, Hart and Goldberg as Tag Team Champions was designed to further their feud for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Uncomfortably, this match comes just six days before the match between the pair at Starrcade 1999 which would effectively end Bret Hart’s career when the careless Goldberg booted Hart in the head. The kick would give Hart a concussion which many feel lent a hand to his eventual stroke. In his ‘Ten Years later’ Interview on the ‘Wrestling With Shadows’ release which is a must see for all and any wrestling fans, Hart talks about the kick that ended his career and describes Goldberg as reckless in the ring who saw and treated his opponents as mere rag dolls. This is evident in this match when Goldberg tears into Hall.
Sting vs Vampiro (15th May 2000) inside the House of Pain Match, looks stupid with the rule being the only way to win is to handcuff your opponent to the side of the cage, but is tolerable though their feud wasn’t. It’s hard to comment on the matches which would lead to WCW’s downfall because there was another way WCW could have gone with its product which may have seen it survive. Ghastly booking such as this and Sting and Vampiro’s stunt at the Great American Bash 2000, where Vampiro and Sting fought to the top of the titan tron, where Vampiro supposedly lit Sting on fire and Sting fell from the top through the fake entrance ramp (it was obvious it wasn’t the real Sting and just a stunt man) just pushed the company to the edge of self destruction.
Shane Helms vs Shannon Moore (26th February 2001) is an entertaining short match. WCW could have built their company around talent like this as the once great and dominant corporation stumbled towards its conclusion and not past it old timers such as Hulk Hogan. Helms, who would go on to be a smash in WWE as The Hurricane was never going to be taken seriously enough in WCW to make it.
The release end on a sombre note with Scott Steiner vs Booker T for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the very last WCW Monday Nitro (26th March 2001). Even though everyone in attendance was aware that this was WCW’s final hurrah and the show featured an opening by Vince McMahon, Booker T and Scott Steiner gave it one last tremendous effort to leave fans with at least one great memory. Steiner, who had phoned his performances in when he put on the bulk of his muscle mass, threw caution to the wind here and honoured the promotion that made him a star with a respectable final performance. Booker T winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship is the icing on the cake and a real uplifting moment.
The DVD extras consist of two matches. The first, Rey Mysterio Jr and Lord Steven Regal vs Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko (3rd November 1997) looks well put together and is all go until the final bell. Everyone involved puts together a credible string of events.
Bret Hart vs Sting for the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship (5th October 1998) is the second DVD extra and isn’t a match per se. The bell never rings and the whole thing takes part in the backstage area. Undoubtedly though, the whole affair does benefit from this and gives it a different feel after the heavy offering of often samey in ring action.
Weaknesses:
Arn Anderson vs Hulk Hogan (12th February 1996) plods appallingly. Arn Anderson does his very best with a dramatically slimmed down Hogan but it never quite comes off. Hogan, who was always a very limited worker, seems to be sticking to the in ring script that he always based his career on, though does look in one of the best shapes of his life with hardly any muscle on him. Certainly he looks better than he did with all that unnatural muscle patching him up. The match though is a stinker with another screwy finish to protect the Hulkster’s image.
The WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Tournament Quarter-Finals match between Jeff Jarrett vs Diamond Dallas Page (9th December 1996) is sloppy and ineffective. Playing to almost sheer silence from the audience, this wasn’t one of DDP or Jarrett’s finest efforts. The pair never seem to be able to click or string together a sensible or good looking string of moves to get the fans engaged. The audience only begin to get invested when Page gains some momentum, otherwise this couldn’t be flatter if a steam roller ran over top of it. Interjecting himself into the match, Scott Hall attacks Jarrett. Usually this would be another complaint about yet another of the endless run in but in this match it comes as a welcome addition.
‘Kevin Nash Patches up Potholes’ (21st April 1997) begins with a disjointed tirade by Sean Waltman as Syxx, which was meant to be a character based on the final number you got if you added up the 1, 2, 3 from his 123 Kid gimmick in WWE, who seems to be out of breath before getting to the ring and continues in that vain with Kevin Nash’s speech. Hitting a double standard when talking about the fact that WCW used to be fathers pushing sons, Nash conveniently leaves out the fact that the WCW he wrestled for was friends pushing friends to the detriment of the younger talent. Nash’s promos on this release are dire across the board. In the background, False Sting parades around the ring. It is unbelievable to think that anyone brought into the story this was the real Sting. It’s obvious to anyone with sight that it isn’t.
Ric Flair vs Scott Hall (2nd June 1997) is a choice effort. It is disappointing to witness knowing that both men could and have done so much more together than this. It appears though and the lasting impression you get is that WCW are more concerned about the forthcoming interference which results in yet another disqualification finish, than putting on a decent match. Ric Flair’s anger at WCW and the way they used him in the late 90’s is more than understandable when you see matches like this.
The segment recapping the celebrity participation is another attempt by WWE to show the doubters that wrestling can attract more big names than any other industry apart from acting. It’s needless and certainly adds nothing to the title ‘Best of WCW Monday Night Raw’. Almost always, the celebrity participation was dull, drab and detracted from what was meant to be a wrestling show. Even worse was when the celebrities wrestled and we really didn’t need to be reminded of David Arquette’s WCW World Heavyweight Championship reign which was just abysmal both in the ring and in a booking sense. The only celebrity to make an impact was Dennis Rodman, who has to be credited for his participation and even managed to grind out a decent match on pay-per view.
Hollywood Hogan and Dennis Rodman Call out Lex Luger and The Giant’ (16th June 1997) may get a huge reaction from the crowd but is a meaningless beat down of Luger and the man who would go on to become Big Show in WWE, which would have been made better had WWE given DDP the story to give us before the angle. Without the story, those who don’t know what it was all about will be left dumbfounded and confused. The ring at the end of the segment looks like a rubbish tip as the fans pelt Hogan, Rodman and the NWO with cups full of drink.
Kevin Nash vs Rey Mysterio Jr (30th June 1997) is the first in a succession of matches featuring NWO members that is so short they have no bearing on anything either on the release or in WCW’s grand scheme of things. Rey is pounded mercilessly by Nash who shows no interest in giving Mysterio offence or helping elevate the cruiserweight. The only reason this match exists is to set up Mysterio’s feud with Konan who attacks Mysterio after the match.
La Parker vs Randy Savage (7th July 1997) resembles an early 90’s Wrestler vs Jobber encounter. Short and the only notable occurrence from the match is the finale when La parker rips off the mask to reveal Diamond Dallas Page underneath to a huge pop from the crowd. Had WWE omitted this and the previous two segments from the release they could have included one match which warranted an inclusion instead of two matches which only went to serve the image of the NWO.
Whilst talking about his days in WCW, DDP comically says that WCW were constantly promoting people. He neglected to add to that sentence; as long as Hulk Hogan approved of them otherwise his best buddy Eric Bischoff would cast them to the curb. Page’s comments are made redundant on the release when you see for yourself that no one new was promoted or elevated in any of these matches. Chris Jericho is a perfect example of this.
‘Spring Break’ highlight reel is nothing short of dumb and needless. With nothing to do with wrestling, it basically highlights WCW wrestlers and scantily clad fans messing about. What little wrestling does evolve from this clip comes in the form of WCW stars clothslining each other into a swimming pool. If anyone can tell me how this remotely represents the best of Monday Nitro then I will once again concede my point. However, I wish you good luck in trying to do that once you see this footage.
‘Birth of the Wolfpack’ (4th May 1998) first interrupts a match between Billy Kidman and Scott Putski, showing total disregard for the younger undercard talent thus illustrating my point the company were not bothered about promoting anyone who didn’t come from WWE or stars that were home grown in the early 90’s such as Sting and DDP. To make proceedings worse Kevin Nash takes the microphone again, which should be a warning bell for anyone purchasing this release, and cuts a less than thrilling promo which even Randy Savage looks frustrated at. As a promo man in WCW, Kevin Nash was very poor.
Hollywood Hogan and The Giant vs Kevin Nash and Lex Luger (1st June 1998) possesses the main event feel yet lacks everything else in the ring. The four men are inadequate in the squared circle and another of the incessant disqualification finishes is wheeled out for the umpteenth time much to the ire of the viewer. Notable only for its ending in which Sting descends from the rafters and chooses whether he’s going to join the NWO or NWO Wolfpack. It’s clear that the Wolfpack branch of the NWO were more popular than the original NWO.
‘Jericho Meets the Real Goldberg’ (2nd September 1998) consists of Goldberg destroying Jericho’s personal security of old men. Famously, Jericho was vocal about his frustration with Goldberg in WCW and that Goldberg held him back by refusing to put Jericho over in their feud and not seeing Jericho as a high enough wrestler in calibre to take their feud seriously. Goldberg gave Jericho the same treatment in their feud that John Cena gave the Miz in their 2009 feud and resultant match at the Bash in 2009.
The WCW United States Heavyweight Championship Match between Bret Hart and Roddy Piper (8th February 1999) is the pits. By this point in time, Bret Hart had perceptibly given up any hope of being used properly in WCW and Roddy Piper was turning up just for the payday despite the odd decent effort. WCW paint Bret Hart as a coward in the ring when they book him to try and get out of the match with a fake injury to his groin. That Bret Hart had to pretend to be scared of an aging Piper and try to duck their encounter must have zapped all enthusiasm Bret had for his WCW career in one short night. The ref bump and Will Sasso (from Mad TV!) involvement is bad enough but WCW putting the United States Heavyweight Championship on Piper is despairing to see. The Championship should have been around the waist of a younger talent who Hart could have entered a feud with and elevated them. It’s clear by this point in the release that WCW were beginning to lose their way.
Hollywood Hogan vs Randy Savage (12th July 1999) for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship is a borefest. It is inconceivable that WCW would put its world title on either man at this point, when they needed viewers to keep up with WWE who had younger and more popular talent, let alone book two men who had headlined WrestleMania 5 nine years earlier in the main event of a programme they desperately needed to reinvent. Once again, the WCW booking machine stuck again contributing to WCW’s demise. Despite the fact that Savage could still go in the ring, there’s no reason for either to have been pushed as they were this late on. Hosting a predictable ending complete with screw job, it is pathetic that Hogan would cling so desperately onto the spotlight knowing the damage he was doing to anyone below him on the card.
DVD Special Features:
3rd November 1997
Lord Steven Regal and Rey Mysterio Jr vs Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero
5th October 1998
WCW United States Championship Match
Bret Hart vs Sting
Blu-ray Exclusive Extras:
11th September 1995
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs Lex Luger
18th September 1995
Ric Flair vs Brian Pillman
21st October 1996
J.L vs NWO Sting
16th March 1998
Sting and Lex Luger vs Hollywood Hogan and Randy Savage
15th June 1998
Steel Cage Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs Randy Savage
14th September 1998
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Goldberg vs Sting
1st February 1999
WCW Television Championship Match
Scott Steiner vs Chris Jericho
15th March 1999
Ric Flair and Goldberg vs Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash
22nd November 1999
Jeff Jarrett reclaims his WCW World Heavyweight Championship
DDP and Randy Savage’s War of Words
Conclusion:
The Best of WCW Monday Nitro Volume 2 fails to live up to its predecessor. Volume 1 was much better and a lot fresher with its in ring product. Whilst WCW can of course be held accountable for this, WWE have to be partially to blame for its choice of matches. With an entire video library at its disposal, that WWE chose so many matches which were either too short to matter, had as many screwy and disqualification finishes as appeared or featured an abundance of NWO wrestlers, mostly Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Randy Savage, is an oversight on their part.
If you own volume one then this will be a necessity for your collection, if not then you’ll either want to hunt down the release or you will have to be a WCW fan in order to sit through all the frustrating and somewhat disappointing material included here. However, if you’re not a fan of Hulk Hogan or the NWO then you may want to think about giving this release a wide birth as Hogan is plastered all over it and there is no escape from him presence. If you were to skip all of his matches then you’d be left with only the bare minimum and certainly not enough to warrant value for money.
By the time you get to the end of the second volume, it isn’t hard to see why WCW began to decline and lose its audience to WWE. Or, for that matter why fans preferred the younger and more up to date WWE product instead of the old timers hanging on to the spotlight so dearly. The release is heavy in that by the time you get half way through the second disc (first for Blu-ray) the though of sitting through another two and a half hours in the third disc becomes slightly unappealing. WWE could have easily cast the NWO aside for this release, seeing that their matches and influence on the business in the 90’s can be found on other releases people who are going to purchase this most probably already have in their collection, and concentrated it on the cruiserweight talent which would have been preferable to the endless NWO involvement.
Should there be a volume three then WWE severely need to dig deep into that video library and find some rare gems. Whilst I could sit through another DDP hosting session I’m not sure I could stomach another nine hours of material that is so obsessed with pushing the NWO down our throats it sacrifices quality for quantity on many occasions. And that’s the main problem with this release, whilst it’s not awful by any sense of the imagination WWE have copied their usual format on these releases of concentrating on the most popular stars of the era and ignoring the matches and talent that would have made this a must have release.
On this release, the final thought provoking moment comes from Diamond Dallas Page who rightly states “Success is about trying new things and seeing what sticks with the fans!” With all these nuggets of wisdom coming from their releases, I wonder when Vince will start listening to what his employees and writers are trying to tell him.
Rating: B
Onwards and upwards...
