A – Excellent
B – Good
C – Mediocre
D – Avoid
Release Date: May 26th 2014
Price:
DVD £ 19.99
Blu-ray £ 22.99
Format Reviewed:
DVD (3 Discs)
(Also Available on Blu-ray (2 Discs)
What It’s About:
WWE’s
attempt to sum up the industry’s greatest factions / stables / groups in a
three disc DVD and two disc Blu-ray, with a short video package designed to
give background information compiling archive footage and a host of talking
heads, as well as one match from each faction’s time between the ropes.
Strengths:
The
Right to Censor: though the faction doesn’t warrant an inclusion on a release
of this nature, the segment documenting The Right to Censor is the first real
in depth segment of a release which gets off to a very poor beginning. Though
it doesn’t feature an interview with any of the original members, Charles Wright
is said to detest everything about that time in his career, there are a host of
talking heads who cover well for the lack of actual members on display. William
Regal adds some much needed light relief when referring to the time the faction
was around as being ‘Prim and Proper’ and for the first time in nearly thirty
minutes, Jerry Lawler is the first person interviewed who even attempts to
delve into any backstory for any faction featured, even though we get only the
basics as he informs us the group attempted to recruit characters who were
deemed inappropriate. It may not sound much, but once you’ve sat through nearly
forty minutes of nothing in particular for half an hour it seems like a huge
moment. However, out of the talking heads it’s A.J Lee who shines brightest
with her quirky interview technique and expressions. Her enthusiasm for women’s
wrestling and Ivory in particular is infectious and she’s a scream with the
reaction and line “I just really remember hating Steven Richards face!” It’s
ironic. A lot of the teams who belong on this list get very little depth added
to them. It’s the ones who should have been omitted that get the best coverage.
The
Right to Censor vs Too Cool (SummerSlam 2000, August 27th 2000) is a breath of
fresh air when it comes along, not to mention a well constructed and exciting
six man tag team match which plays to the group in questions strengths even
though it didn’t include the best wrestlers on the roster. Steven Richards is
faultless here and puts in one of his more memorable WWE performances in a part
of his career which is best forgotten. The action flows to almost perfection
and Too Cool and Rikishi are so good that it goes a long way to highlighting
what today’s tag team division is missing. Rikishi himself is a tour de force
and it’s easy now he’s no longer around to forget what a great wrestler he
really was. If he can still go in the ring in 2014 then WWE may want to think
about rehiring him. Some of the stuff he did for younger talent was above and
beyond. The ending is timed to perfection to put the icing on a very
scrumptious cake.
The
Fabulous Freebirds: is the best video package on a faction included on the
first disc (DVD). Casting away the sickly sweet and often pointless comments
from elsewhere, this section is cold, hard fact with people who actually know
what they’re talking about. Enjoy it whilst it lasts, it doesn’t last long. The
most organic piece up to its inclusion, every comment here is meant and it’s
wonderful to finally hear the great Michael Hayes and Terry Gordy get the
recognition they deserve from all interviewed. The footage compiled with the
sit down interviews is of the highest class and those not readily familiar with
the group should have no problem seeing why they were so popular if so hated
during their time. Thankfully, WWE instructs its talking heads to give some
background on the match to follow and we get a good insight into the Freebirds
vs Von Erich’s feud from Michael Hayes himself as well as those who lived
through it on a daily basis. Once again, it’s A.J Lee who provides the laughs
when the attention turns to a little known stint Michael Hayes undertook in the
early eighties when he for a week he turned singer. The footage of Hayes in a
blue vest top singing is commented on by A.J who says that when you receive
that via text at three o’clock in the morning, it’s almost impossible to get it
out of your head. Great stuff.
The
Fabulous Freebirds and Jimmy Garvin vs The Von Erich’s and Iceman King Parsons
(World Class Championship Wrestling, May 1983) won’t thrill everyone and those
newer fans will find this a chore to get through seeing as they’ve been fed a
steady diet of crap for years, however, the long time fans will eat this match
up with good reason. Maybe not the greatest outing the two warring factions
ever had, but this won’t disappoint. As an all out brawl of an elimination
match there’s nothing slow and dawdling here until it approaches the final four.
It is hard to pick out the wrestling because of the mass of action but there’s
always something watch. Granted, the bout drags on too long once it comes down
the last four men and the booking team got the pace the wrong way around. Had
this been a longer all out brawl and shorter finale it would have been much
better. However this is a treat for any long time fan.
The
Dangerous Alliance: most people will watch this and ponder why the faction
deserves its place on this list. Unless you saw them in action you probably
won’t understand why. However, this is one of the best segments on the whole
release thanks to the sheer effort Paul Heyman goes to in order to fill in
those who may not know much about the faction and provide some insight even the
most hardcore fan may not know. Exploring the origin of the faction, Paul
Heyman is in his best Jackanory mode as he tells of how the faction came to
obtain its name with him showboating his ego to WCW management before spinning
us an interesting and as far as I’m aware untold yarn about the faction only
coming to existence as a vehicle for Rick Rude whom WCW prized away from WWF at
great expense. Heyman speaks on his desire and intention to groom Steve Austin
a star whilst they were together in WCW, not something you’d hear from every
manager and it’s something he went a long way to doing in ECW. Natalya hits the
nail right on the head when she says that Paul Heyman is one of the best
managers and talkers in the world whilst Steve Austin perhaps sums up Heyman
best with the sentence, “Paul Heyman could take a deaf mute and make him into a
walking, talking promo machine’. The only down point here is Dean Ambrose as a
talking head; as throughout the release he looks like he’s just had a smack on
the head. Someone wake him up please. This whets the whistle for the much
anticipated ‘Hello, My Name is Paul Heyman’ release this summer.
‘Stunning’
Steve Austin and ‘Beautiful’ Bobby Eaton vs Sting and Marcus Bagwell (World
Championship Wrestling, January 18th 1992) is a very good tag team encounter
which showcases The Dangerously Alliance to perfection whilst also highlighting
how god Sting had actually became in a very short time. It’s nice to see how
young and flexible Bagwell used to be before he took to the steroids and piled
on the muscles which inhibited him as a performer. Lively and tense, the bout
is at its best when its Sting vs Austin, a main event feud in the making but
one which never came about thanks to Eric Bischoff. The rabid fans make this
match all the more watchable, their enthusiasm harks back to what wrestling
used to be about and watch the moment when Sting is held in the corner by the
entire Dangerously Alliance at the conclusion as Bagwell is being decimated,
closely. His drive and valiant effort to get to his partner sums up why Sting
was such a hero to children in those times.
The
Hart Foundation: undoubtedly, the Bret Hart led Hart Foundation deserve a spot
here maybe more than most of the factions included. However the video package
and segment gets off to a baffling and bad start courtesy of Natalya who shows
a breathtaking lack of knowledge about her own family. Natty expels her belief
that The Hart Foundation began in 1997 when Bret interrupted a match between
The British Bulldog and Owen Hart, pleading with them and telling them they
needed each other. She’s wrong. In fact she’s so wrong it’s disappointing. For
anyone with even the briefest of wrestling knowledge, The Hart Foundation began
in 1985 when Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart teamed together for the first time
under the name. That is where the group originated from. However, the team of
Bret Hart and The Anvil isn’t even mentioned, as if it never existed. Come to
think of it, Jim Neidhart is barely shown or mentioned either thanks to his
antics in the past which made him less than PG era friendly. Thankfully, the
segment takes a brighter turn from this point, taking in Bret Hart’s heel turn
which is beautiful summed up by Seth Rollins who says, “Bret Hart never
changed. It was the world which changed around him”, and of course he’s
correct. As wrestling fans do, we turned out back on Bret Hart when something
better in Austin came along. We’re a wicked bunch. Dean Ambrose makes amends
for his lacklustre contribution and actually looks awake for once when he
touches upon the face and heel divide in Canada and USA which greeted Hart with
different reactions by saying about Americans, with tongue in cheek, “We are
horrible” and then with a knowing look thumps the air with an unexcited ‘USA’
chant. Bret Hart of course is the main talking head featured and admits this
was his favourite time to be a wrestler.
Bret
Hart, Owen Hart and The British Bulldog vs The Undertaker, Stone Cold Steve
Austin and Dude Love (Raw, July 21st 1997) is a solid six man tag team Flag
Match which features two flags pointing the wring way on massive poles, making
the retrieval of them almost impossible. All six men hold the match together
well and there are some classy counters and reversals on display. It’s an
incredibly heated bout thanks to taking place in Canada, it’s also interesting
to see the faces turned heel for night and vice versa. The match is just what
we need to end the first disc (DVD), whilst it’s also a treat to see Owen Hart
included once again. Isn’t it about time he and The Bulldog got a release of
their own? WWE wouldn’t need his wife’s permission should they decide to make
the release about Owen Hart the wrestler and not the man. A collection of his
greatest matches would be excellent.
NWO: is a segment not rich in history but gets
away with some in depth footage of the factions time in WCW, beginning with
Hulk Hogan’s heel turn which we haven’t seen the last of this year, complete
with interviews with the members of which only Kevin Nash’s is recorded especially
for this release. All the others with Hogan, Scott Hall and Eric Bischoff are
taken from a release in 2002 and have been included on many other media outputs
WWE have shoved down our throat, so there’s nothing new to be had from them
unfortunately. Thankfully, the rest of the talking heads do enough covering for
this and though we get the bare minimum on the genesis of the group with a bare
bones explanation that WCW needed something huge to beat WWE in the Monday
Night Wars and Triple H saying that WWE nearly went out of business, which
isn’t true as it turns out, it’s all very hush-hush about the ideas behind the
faction. It wouldn’t have taken WWE a great deal of imagination to pay Eric
Bischoff some dosh to speak in depth about his idea and creation and with Hulk
Hogan now back in the saddle this could have seemed a whole new take on the
group. Daniel Bryan provides the thoughts of the audience when he says “When
Hogan went dark, it was the first time I’d been interested in him for years”
and it will provide enough information for fans not clued up on the group but
like DX, there really is nothing else which can be said about the faction. It’s
time to leave it alone.
The
Nation of Domination: is a very good segment which may be backed up by seen it
all before footage, but its strengths are in its talking heads which consist
mostly of WWE’s black roster. Kofi Kingston and Seth Rollins are on form when
they state that the Nation were so diverse because they were the first group
consisted solely of black power in society and they’re correct. There had never
been anything like the Nation in wrestling before and that’s why the group was
so good, at least for the beginning. After Seth Rollins rightly states that the
faction allowed its members to do something different, which it did, every one
of them were cartoon characters going nowhere before joining forces, the
segment moves swiftly on to the feud within the group between The Rock and
Farooq with Ron Simmons taking over talking head duties and it’s heartening to
see him look so well post wrestling. Road Dogg righty states, though it’s no
secret, that The Rock outgrew the faction but there’s nothing here that says
the Nation were solely responsible for The Rock’s cataclysmic rise to stardom.
Had he never joined the faction, he would have continued on the path he was
going down and eventually burnt out with the fans. If this much effort had been
put into the rest of the factions, this may have been an essential purchase.
The
Nation of Domination vs D-Generation X (Over the Edge 1998, May 31st 1998) begins
slow and dips in the middle with audible chants of ‘boring’ but on the whole it
isn’t the worst six man tag team match in the world. It features some slick
action courtesy of Triple H and Owen Hart; however it features three Nation
members (Kharma, D-Lo Brown and Owen Hart) who aren’t the focus of the previous
segment on the group. Why put the emphasis on The Rock and Farooq when
detailing the faction and not include a match which features them? This is much
better than the offering we got for DX which opened the release.
Blue
World Order: they aren’t a faction you would generally associate with a title
such as this release boasts and those who have no idea whom they are will be
left in no doubt how important these were to ECW in the late 1990’s. A parody
on the NWO, Steven Richards, Nova and The Blue Meanie did everything the NWO
did but with more fun and their stint may have been frowned upon by many but it
was great fun whilst it lasted. Here it’s covered with joy by Paul Heyman when
he says that he can’t believe he made money on a concept which was nothing but
ridiculous. The footage provided, of Richards super kicking a Santa Claus plus
more is first class though it’s up to you to decide whether the group warrants
a place on this list.
Stevie
Richards vs Axel Rotten (ECW Hardcore TV 194, January 7th 1997) is an
entertaining jaunt though it won’t win any awards for its action in the ring.
What we have here is a routine ECW singles match without the hardcore action
but the reversals are very good and Richards flows with ease against a man who
is more comfortable with glass taped to his fists. It’s a shame more wasn’t
made of him, he could have been a huge star had someone really pushed him to
the top. It’s short but it’s worth the watch.
The
Corporation vs Stone Cole Steve Austin (Raw, February 8th 1999) is billed as a
Gauntlet match though it throws the rules out of the window and becomes an
‘anything goes’ when Corporation members get themselves willingly disqualified
just to keep Austin under pressure. It’s a good, if short bout and could have
gave way for something more worthy but this is what WWE decided we wanted to
see, how kind of them. The rules are simple, if Austin pins any one member of
the faction he gets McMahon in a cage at St. Valentines Day Massacre however
things take a confusing turn when McMahon’s men risk all getting disqualified
when Bossman uses a nightstick willingly in front of the referee who does
nothing to stop him before they pile onto Austin. The match ends with the
infamous scene of McMahon standing over a seat Austin in the corner, berating
him.
Evolution:
begins with a fresh interview with Ric Flair instead of one taken from other
releases which is common with wrestling’s biggest names here. Flair has a
sparkle in his eye when talking about what a great time he had with the faction
and how it was like the reincarnation of the Four Horsemen. It’s refreshing to
hear Batista admit that he needed the coverage that a role in Evolution gave
him and how vital it was for his career and growth to be the centre of
something so important. Surprisingly, Randy Orton, who had a wealth of more
talent than Batista but was treated like a second class citizen by Triple H
throughout the run in favour of ‘The Animal’ admits that he didn’t believe he
had the ‘it factor’. Sadly, whilst the admissions set this apart from the usual
formula on show here there is nothing on how notoriously selfish Triple H was
during this time and this would have been amongst the best segments on the
entire release had either Triple H came out and admitted he could have done
more Randy Orton, Batista told us that he was given preferential treatment by
WWE and Triple H because of his friendship with ‘The Game’ whilst Orton and
Hunter didn’t see eye to eye or Randy Orton himself slammed Triple H for the
way he stalled the then ‘Legend Killer’s’ career. As far as the group as an
entity goes, Dean Ambrose sums up the faction well with a brief description of
each role whilst Natalya offers the opinion Armageddon 2003 was the groups
shining moment, because they all won gold that night. She may have a case, but
surely the golden moment of Evolution was the creation of two new mega stars or
the night Randy Orton defeated Chris Benoit for the World Heavyweight
Championship at SummerSlam 2004? That night, the faction truly succeeded
without three of the four being present. It’s a well put together video package
for a group who deserve their placement because of what it achieved in the long
run. However one can’t shake the feeling it would have been better had WWE
deviated from the well worn path and put together a time line from beginning to
end in order to get over the faction better.
Triple
H, Ric Flair and Randy Orton vs The Dudley Boyz (Raw, July 14th 2003) is a well
done six man tag team elimination match even if The Dudley Boyz don’t stand any
real chance of victory. Evolution dominate for the most part but everyone puts
in a shift and the whole bout, as it should be, is manufactured around the
success of Randy Orton. The Dudley Boyz remind us of how good they were as a
team and Bubba Ray shows some of that quality which he now exhibits on a
regular basis in TNA. Ric Flair is very game and Bubba’s valiant performance is
a nice way to end the bout when it’s clear he’s fighting a losing battle but
never concedes until the very end. However, to prevent them from looking like
Evolution’s whipping boys and to extenuate Randy Orton’s rise both Triple H and
Ric Flair should have been eliminated leaving Orton to pick up the win single
handedly.
The
Triple Threat: I don’t know if I would call the trio one of the greatest in
wrestling history, but there’s no denying this coverage of the trio is of the
highest quality. Paul Heyman admits he was never a fan of the concept as he
believed it would come off as Shane Douglas trying to his own version of The
Four Horsemen, but tells of how he was eventually sold on the idea of all three
pushing each other to attain a level of performance that may otherwise have
been beyond their reach. This is a wonderfully informative moment. Tommy
Dreamer drops some background on Shane Douglas and informs those who may not
know that he was very angry at wrestling politics which held him back in other
companies but his real life hatred of WWE and Ric Flair in particular is barely
touched upon when it should have been as it was the main reason behind the
formation of this group. Joey Styles does something here no one has done on any
release ever and gives the late Chris Candido some much overdue credit for
being a workhorse and for those who didn’t see his ECW days, he was a million
times better than the Skip character WWE fans will remember him for; it’s also
a highlight when Curtis Hawkins of all people admits Candido is underrated. You
see, it doesn’t take much to make something special and that feeling is capped
off by Tommy Dreamer who comments on the third member of the group by crediting
Bam Bam Bigelow for being one of the best big men in the business. Something
wrestling fans may not know, which comes via Paul Heyman is that Bigelow burned
his bridges with both WWE and WCW, something even your Wrestling God wasn’t
aware of, and is a great piece of information on a release which seems aimed
solely at keeping this kind of stuff behind closed doors. Why is this segment so
strong you may ask. Well, apart from the truthful sentiments, it’s also the
first time on this release and maybe a release for many months where a former
booker has analysed one of his creations and truthfully told us on camera, that
he didn’t believe it was a good idea.
Shane
Douglas and Bam Bam Bigelow vs Rob Van Dam and Sabu (ECW CyberSlam, February
21st 1998) isn’t the greatest ECW match you’ll ever see and you could certainly
hunt out better on ‘ECW Unreleased volumes 1 and 2’ but for what it is and amongst
so many turds, it’s ample enough to sooth any wounds left by this release.
Getting off to a flying start with Rob Van Dam and Shane Douglas the bout turns
into the usual free for all brawl we came to expect from the company. The
quality isn’t great either as there are some clear audio issues with the
footage, listen carefully and when anyone is talking within the ring, not
including Styles on commentary, there’s a horrible and somewhat distraction
echo. Still, the match quality itself manages to keep throughout the bout and
there is some very good team work from RVD and Sabu despite the outing being
sloppy in places. RVD’s flying reverse hurricanrana looks divine and does his
missed spinning kicks, which sees him straddled the top rope allowing Bigelow
to hurl Sabu at him in a great looking segment.
Legacy
vs Triple H, Batista and Shane McMahon (Backlash 2009, April 27th 2009) is a
stunning six man tag team match which was everything Triple H vs Randy Orton at
WrestleMania XXV should have been. For maybe one of the only times whilst a
part of the group, Rhodes and Dibiase look like true stars whilst Randy Orton
executes his heel character to perfection not that that stops the fans cheering
for him. We love a rebel. The in ring action is crisp and just some of the best
on the release whilst Triple H goes a long way to righting some wrongs he
committed in 2004. The match ending segment is so good it’ll make your mouth
water whilst the fans reaction to Orton’s win and capture of the WWE
Championship is a huge turning point in fan interaction when we began cheering
the heels and jeering the faces.
The
Four Horsemen: naturally, the Ric Flair led group deserve their place on this
release more than any other featured. Literally the greatest faction to ever be
conceived in the wrestling industry, it would have been criminal to leave them
out. Thankfully, the faction get the treatment they have earned over the years
and the final segment sees this release go out on a high. Ric Flair begins
proceedings by delving into the origin on the group and informing us where the
name came from crediting Arn Anderson for thinking of it at a television taping
as well as the hand gesture. It may not be the most in depth explanation but he
tries, more so than others do here. Daniel Bryan couldn’t be more correct when
says the reason the group was so special was because each member was excellent.
Even Tully Blanchard was a brilliant wrestler, something you don’t always get
with a stable. The sentiments keep coming but Flair’s group have more than
earned them, with Booker T calling the group a dynasty before Gene Okerlund
provides the humour stating the thing you needed to keep up with or be a
Horseman was a strong liver. The limos and planes the group used to roll around
in are mentioned but it’s not offered those were one of the reasons Jim
Crockett lost his company which may not have been needed but would have been a
nice piece of wrestling trivia, something we don’t get a lot of with wrestling
media these days. Finally, Jerry Lawler has the last say by simply calling the
Four Horsemen the greatest faction to ever reign in wrestling and crediting
them for laying the groundwork for every faction to come. Excellent.
Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and Arn Anderson vs
Sting, Lex Luger and Barry Windham (NWA Main Event, April 3rd 1988) is a solid
effort in which even Barry Windham looks good despite his clumsy moments. The
footage begins with Arn Anderson stating in an interview before the match that
“the only way to get to the present is to go through the past”, a comment Vince
McMahon may want to heed. It wouldn’t hurt him to take a look back on how he
used to make stars and incorporate that into the present. As for the bout, it’s
a tense and competent outing which really comes to end when Ric Flair is on the
receiving end of a beating. Sting is also very good here, though one doubts it
wouldn’t matter if he wasn’t. He’s so over the fans enthusiasm covers for any
potential flaw in his arsenal.
Weaknesses:
D-Generation
X: this is the first segment included on the release and unfortunately sets the
tone for most of what’s to come. Though the group undoubtedly deserve a place
on this list, you wouldn’t know it from the segment. Watered down and with no
real meaning, what we get here isn’t an in depth insight to the creation of the
group or the friendship which lead to the formation, instead we’re made to
settle for awful and meaningless comments from DX members and those who think
they still matter in wrestling. Such nuggets of priceless information include
the awe inspiring, “X-Pac had the Bronco Buster” and “We tore it up every
night”. Wow, thanks guys. This seems more like an attempt for several middle
aged guys to relive their glory days instead of adding something to their
legacy which could surprise us or enthrall us. There’s nothing here you wouldn’t
have heard before unless you live in a cave and it’s a wasted opportunity to
delve deeper behind the scenes and explore unchartered waters. Though I will
say, in 2014, is there anything else that can be said about DX?
DX
vs The Corporation (Raw, January 11th 1999) is the Corporation Battle Royal to
determine the number thirty entrant for the upcoming Royal Rumble. Sadly
though, that’s its only drawing point as it’s a poor excuse for a battle royal.
Beginning at a crawl, the match struggles to up the pace and goes through its
entrants with brevity and without any real cause for them to be there. X-Pac
and Test share a decent reversal which leads to an elimination and Vince
McMahon’s participation reels the audience back in but it’s only really notable
for Chyna and her elimination of Vince McMahon at the death. There were so many
more matches, better than this which could have been included.
The
Heenan Family: whilst like DX, Bobby Heenan’s men deserve their inclusion; the
segment on them is comically bad. Instead of going for the realism of the
situation which Bobby Heenan was all about, WWE instead sugar the pill so much
if it were a real life treat you’d come down with diabetes. Every comment
sounds forced and are delivered by wrestlers who weren’t around at the time so
we get their interpretation of events. Ted Dibiase is interviewed for this
release so why not allow him to comment, he was around for the duration of the
faction. It’s madness. Brodus Clay reels off one of the most confusing and
ridiculous comments on any WWE release ever when he states, “What made The
Heenan Family stand out, except the sparkle in my eye every time they came on
television?” What does that even mean? Whilst Josh Matthews reels off a list of
adjectives instead of giving any insight at all, why he’s here I will never
know. He may be a great host but as a talking head I want to punch him until he
bleeds especially when says the faction was filled with the best wrestlers
around. It really wasn’t, unless you class King Kong Bundy, Paul Orndorff, Big
John Studd and Hercules not to mention several others as the best wrestlers to
ever step into a ring. Dean Ambrose should be stopped from talking on any WWE
release every again as he looks half asleep and on something which makes his
speech slur whilst Paul Heyman talks about Heenan’s antics like they’re real.
Only Gene Okerlund speaks the truth when he says what really made the faction
special was Heenan, but sadly ruins himself by referring to The Heenan Family
as the greatest faction of all time. They were good later in the run which
isn’t covered, but not the greatest.
Bobby
Heenan, Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy vs The Machines (The Big Event,
August 28th 1986) is just terrible. I know it was 1986 and big men were the
main interest of every promoter, but this is just horrendous to watch. Despite
there being a lack of anything except many, many slam attempts which never come
off, The Machines are announced as hailing from Japan when it’s obvious to
anyone with eyes one of them is Andre the Giant who hailed from Grenoble,
France. Even Bobby Heenan can’t save this mess and it leaves you wondering why
WWE included it when there were so many more matches featuring later members
like Mr. Perfect and Rick Rude which would have been better included,
especially after messing up the coverage of the faction.
Nexus:
now let me guess this straight. On a release entitles ‘WWE Presents Wrestling’s
Greatest Factions’ and it’s the world ‘Greatest’ we’re concentrating on here,
WWE truly believes the Wade Barrett led 2010 flash in the pan belongs here? The
same Nexus that were single handedly dismantled in one night at SummerSlam 2010
by John Cena and his ineptitude? I guess it tells you everything you need to
know about WWE’s judgment. Seriously, Nexus belong so far away from this
release I can’t even begin to tell you. Maybe had John Cena put them over to
the point they were untouchable a place here would have been deserved, but now,
not in a million years. It’s an attempt to flesh out the run time and it shows.
Amongst the trash the talking heads spout is the most infuriating comments
possibly of the entire release when the WWE locker room come out in force and
act as if they had no idea the invasion was coming. Kofi Kingston states “When
I saw Nexus come out, I didn’t know what to think”, whilst Michael Cole who
should know better and bare in mind this is the Michael Cole who as lead
commentator on Raw and Smackdown is required to attend every production meeting
before a show so he knows what’s coming tries to makes us think wrestling is
real again by stating, “It took a bit to figure out what was going on. We knew
them from NXT but what the hell was going on out here”. Comments like this are
rife through the laughable segment which is almost as funny as the group’s
inclusion. David Otunga provides a sense of truth here when he states John Cena
was the perfect first target because he was, and had he been willing to help
make these young guns then he’d have been an even better target, but he wasn’t.
The segment is awful and then Fandango turns up and you know from that point on
WWE are now having a laugh with us right up to the point where Darren Young
states his belief that had the original seven stuck together, they could have
been huge. Maybe he’s right, they could have been huge had they not run into
the Cena-roadblock.
Nexus
vs John Cena, Sheamus, Randy Orton, Edge and Chris Jericho (Raw, August 30th
2010) is almost all lifeless. Randy Orton and Sheamus struggle to restore any
kind of life to the bout because quite simply, the damage has been done
already. John Cena wastes Michael Tarver like he’s nothing but Sheamus tries to
make up for that by selling non-stop for the NXT rookies. It isn’t enough. At
this point in the release we need something stunning to pick us up and this
isn’t it. As per usual, John Cena runs through Heath Slater without a care and
if anyone disputes John Cena ruined Nexus then look at this and SummerSlam to
see how he treated them. Though I will give him credit, he did look at the
lights for Justin Gabriel who was then, with Michael Tarver eliminated without
care by Randy Orton before Wade Barrett pinned Orton for the victory. By this
time, WWE had lost interest in the faction as had we. This is only notable for
the final few minutes.
Bret
Hart, Hulk Hogan and Stevie Ray vs Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper and The
Ultimate Warrior vs Sting, Kevin Nash and Lex Luger (Fall Brawl, September 13th
1998) is billed as every man for himself with the winner receiving a shot at
the WCW Heavyweight Champion, Goldberg. However it would have been a better
idea for WCW to book this as a nine man free for all WarGames instead of making
it teams, who wrestle each other anyway. Bret Hart and DDP start the match with
a good back and forth tussle but the bout takes a turn for the worse when
Stevie Ray enters first. Ray, formerly of Harlem Heat adds nothing to a stoic
match up which borders on dull but is pulled back from the edge by Hart and DDP
who provide the majority of the best action when combating each other. Sting
receives a huge ovation and completes the obligatory dive over both rings which
by this time in the release has become just another spot. Though here, Sting
botches the moves and nearly lands on his head. The match takes a welcome and
different turn when the ring fills with smoke and when it clears an Ultimate
Warrior imposter is standing in the centre of ring 1. The imposter takes a
beating when the ring fills with smoke again. When the smoke clears the
imposter is gone and Warrior comes tearing down the aisle to huge approval. The
problem I have with this is that the commentators don’t acknowledge the
imposter instead trying to make us believe that Warrior somehow got from the
ring into the back without anyone seeing him in mere seconds. A claim which
would be much more plausible if the imposter wasn’t visible several times on
camera between the two rings after Warrior enters the match. Bizarrely,
referees separate Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior as they fight up the aisle,
yet they were both apart of the match so why separate the pair? This is mostly
dull with repetitious action going around in circles.
The
Brood: do they really deserve an inclusion here? To my recollection the faction
as a one hit wonder and if WWE had to put Edge and Christian on the release I
would have much preferred to see their group with Kurt Angle or Rhino instead
of the vampire wannabes. They didn’t do much in their time and with a still green
Edge and Christian it was limited at best. Edge is interviewed especially for
this release though he may as well not have bothered for all the coverage he
gets and his biggest contribution is a very swift story in which he tells of
buying various and numerous vampire books to study for the role. Money well
spent there then. This goes over the bare basics and nothing else as WWE try to
convince us how scary the group were when they really weren’t. The footage of
Edge’s early promos are cringe worthy and forced whilst Christian treats us to
the most boring play by play in the world of The Brood’s entrance. Natalya
strikes again on this release with the laughable statement “The Brood are one
of the greatest factions in wrestling history”. They’re really not and like
other unworthy entries, this is filler.
The
Brood vs The JOB Squad (Rock Bottom, December 13th 1998) is a by the numbers
affair which really begins to stink halfway through. Fans are bored with it by
the fifth minute and with good reason. With so much raw talent in the ring this
should have been a highlight of the show but instead it conformed to everything
else which had been and provided nothing spectacular. Slow, unsteady and
wearing with long rest holds which zap all the life from the bout, maybe this
would have been a great outing had WWE allowed Gangrel and Scorpio more time to
fight but they get a secondary role. It tries too hard to be interesting too
late and never pulls off that ‘must see’ feeling.
The
Million Dollar Corporation: yes, this faction deserves its place on this list
without a doubt but the segment which represents it has to be one of the worst
on the entire release. Instead of an insight as we got from Paul Heyman on The
Dangerous Alliance, Ted Dibiase may have well as stayed at home. He says about
five words and then he’s forgotten about. David Otunga begins proceedings with
the statement that the group had amazing wrestlers in it when in actual fact it
featured Tatanka, Nikolai Volkoff, Kharma, King Kong Bundy and other who couldn’t
string a move set together if they were shown how to do it, whilst everyone
else seems more bothered talking about how Dibiase could buy anyone he wanted
and that everyone has their price. Damien Sandow even goes to the lengths to
say everyone will sell out and they know they will. By this time you’ll be
pleading for them all to shut up. There is nothing of value here and nothing on
how good Dibiase was. The highlight of the segment is Dibiase doing his
trademark laugh.
The
Million Dollar Corporation vs Lex Luger, Mable, The Smoking Guns and Adam Bomb
(Survivor Series 1994, November 23rd 1994) could possibly be on the worst
choices for matches WWE could have included. It’s boring in the extreme and
centred around the Lex Luger vs Tatanka feud which held very little interest at
the time, that fact makes everyone else seems pointless and unimportant. This
may have happened during the golden era of wrestling but there’s very little
golden about this. It’s sluggish in the extreme and with so many big men in the
ring it never stood a chance. Instead of cutting through the field to get down
to business, this goes on and on and lasts way too long to keep anyone’s
interest.
The
Corporation: it was always going to be included seeing as the faction was lead
by the owner of the company, but again this is a wasted opportunity. Talking
heads include no one of any importance and like so many releases the owner
couldn’t be bother to take the short trip from his office to one of his studios
in the same building in order to speak on his time as leader. Instead of
concentrating on the group which is what this is meant to be about, the
attention turns too quickly to the feud with Steve Austin which has been
covered to death and the feud between Austin and The Rock completely leaving
out anything important about the faction itself. Ryback says “the boss is in
charge” because we would never have guessed that before following it up with
“he tells you how to think, what to do, what to say and how to walk”, yep, that
sounds like Vince McMahon. If you want some insight on the group or even why it
was created then you may as well skip this completely to avoid disappointment.
The
Oddities: really? The Oddities! WWE are taking the piss with this inclusion and
it’s never more apparent of how the company wanted to fill the time than here.
The group were crap, literally the pits. For those who don’t remember, the
wrestling side was mostly comprised of Kurgan who made the transition from The
Truth Commission to this to Hollywood and Golga who was the late John
‘Earthquake’ Tenta in a mask in his slimmer and last years. To add to the
insult that WWE believe we are morons by including this, Brodus Clay seems to
have given up any hope of being relevant when he offers up the nugget of information
of, “a big guy came out, then a more bigger guy”. Every talking head here are
more bothered about getting over how much fun the group had and were which they
weren’t, rather than providing a reason why they should be included on this
release. Though to be fair, a reason such as that can never exist so everyone
here is just trying to run down time. So they were fun, does that really
warrant an inclusion on a release with a title such as this one has? If only
The Four Horsemen had told jokes and handed out balloons so they could be as
great as these. Give me a break. This is awful.
The
Oddities vs Too Much (Shotgun Saturday Night, October 17th 1998) is just as
terrible as the previous video package which preceded it. Too Much spend most
of the time prancing about the ring and worrying about their faces and if
they’re not doing that they’re being crushed by the massive Kurgan and Golga
who is the only notable thing about this bout and that’s only because seeing
how much weight Earthquake lost is a triumph in itself. Apart from that, this
will dull your senses.
Legacy:
again, seriously? A group that could have been so revolutionary and historic
but ended up being a cheap imitation of Evolution and lost the interest of
WWE’s booking committee early on they were buried by John Cena at every
available opportunity? What are WWE trying to do? Actually, scratch that
question because the answer is pretty obvious with this release; WWE are
attempting to cram in every faction they don’t have legitimate beef with. The
package does begin with a nice look back at photographs of each member as a
child with their fathers which is probably the best thing about this part
whilst Randy Orton makes you want to reach through the screen and punch him
when he idiotically treats the whole situation as if no one had any control
over it and says about Dibiase and Rhodes during matches, “They’d do something
stupid and jeopardize the team”. Curt Hawkins has the bare faced cheek to say
that Legacy launched Cody Rhodes and Ted Dibiase into the stratosphere; would
that be the Ted Dibiase who had a very unmemorable run with Maryse and a
gimmick which died twenty years earlier before leaving the company to toil for
no money on the independent circuit and the same Cody Rhodes who was hideously
buried in a tag team with Damien Sandow before being shoved, with his brother,
onto the pre-show and forgotten about? What successes they became. This is
kayfabe crap at its very best, or worst depending on how you view it.
The
Dungeon of Doom: insert sigh here. And it’s not even the only mistake WWE have
made with this release either. In fact it’s just one in a very long line. The
absurdity of this inclusion and indeed the release won’t quite hit newer fans
who aren’t familiar with this group until they realise it includes some of the
worst and most unmemorable wrestlers to ever step into a ring. Kamala,
Earthquake, One Man Gang, Barbarian, Meng and Brutus Beefcake to name but a
few, of course the majority are under different names, which Mick Foley has the
balls to say were and I quote, “all guys who had been valuable assets to the
wrestling industry at one time”. If I had a billion pounds, I would willing
give it to the first person who could tell me what Kamala ever gave to the
industry that was ‘valuable’. As if that wasn’t bad enough, some of the footage
complied is hilariously terrible. Consisting mostly of cheesy and cringe worthy
film sequences, one features Vader and Kevin Sullivan for which the dialogue
would make even the worst writer cringe in his seat and the as for the acting,
well let’s just say Tom Cruise can sleep easy at night. The next and maybe most
preposterous features Hulk Hogan, who we can thank for this mess seeing as it
was he who convinced Eric Bischoff to hire these clowns he calls friends and
put together this calamitous group just so he could beat them all, in a dark,
foggy and mysterious place trying his best, bless him, to act scared. When Hulk
Hogan wakes up on the floor, searches the rocks for a way out and utters the
line “Where am I? There’re no Hulkamaniacs here” you can literally feel your
soul die and Vince McMahon Sr. Turning in his grave. And it wasn’t even his
former company; this was done by the opposition. Hulk Hogan literally got away
with professional murder. This whole segment is worse than terrible and made
more so by Big E trying to convince us the sequences were creepy. Watch them,
they’re like the worst pantomime you will ever see. The segment does cover the
Big Show’s wrestling debut, but it’s Chris Jericho who utters the one slither
of truth by rightly stating that everyone in the group had a dead end career.
The
Hulkamaniacs vs The Dungeon of Doom (Fall Brawl, September 17th 1995) is the
pits. Whilst Sting’s slam on an overweight Shark, Shark diving across the two
rings and getting caught between both top ropes are small highlights, the whole
match runs at a tediously slow pace beginning with The Shark and Zodiac vs
Sting. Zodiac’s selling is cringe worthy at best and Sting looks a complete
tool when he’s forced to lie on the mat and take the dodgy offence from Shark
and Zodiac. What makes this match even more laughable is that features Luger
and Hogan on one team – two men who never had the best patter inside the
squared circle – against four former WWE rejects, two of them too overweight to
do anything of note. Earthquake and Brutus were only hired because they were
Hogan’s friends, Meng (who was Haku in WWE) has at least some talent, but it
boggles the mind why WCW ever hired Kamala. Sadly Randy Savage and Sting are
wasted in this match and not even their skills can save this trash which is
embarrassing to watch. Luger blows up super quick, Kamala is repugnant to watch
as he waddles around ring and Shark and Zodiac are an embarrassment to
wrestling here. Hogan heats up the match on his entry into the match but even
his offence is weak in its execution. I still don’t know what WCW were thinking
when they came up with this drivel.
The
Straight Edged Society: you can see where the third disc (DVD) of this release
is going now. Not only don’t C.M Punk’s short lived group belong here, but
they’re so far off the mark it’s painful to watch by this point. If you ever
had the urge to listen to someone sit there for five minutes and spout more
crap than a leaky sewer then you’ll love what the wise and clearly totally
blonde Summer Rae has to say. I would convey some of it but it’s all best
forgotten especially for those with anger issues. Every talking head speaks on
the group as if they were covering a religion and whilst it had a great
message, the one being sent out here is less than encouraging. C.M Punk admits
he was aiming for a character much like a wrestling preacher but there’s
nothing on the origins of the group which would have been a welcome release had
Punk come out and said that he was bored of having nothing to do and told of
his rebel ways when dealing with McMahon. Those who came from the audience to
have their heads shaved are passed off as legitimate people when in reality all
were plants. This is another segment which dumbs down and treats its audience
like idiots.
The
Straight Edged Society vs Big Show (SummerSlam 2010, August 15th 2010) follows
a basic formula and is therefore nothing spectacular. Punk’s cowardice is
amusing but that’s where the entertainment stops. Big Show decimates the trio
before being beaten down by them and making a miraculous and unrealistic
comeback to win. Not only is it predictable but to my recollection it’s the
only bout in which a featured faction lose. Anyone else but me think that by
choosing a match where C.M Punk loses even though his group is featured is WWE
sending a message to the Straight Edge Saviour?
Blu-ray Exclusive Extras:
The Wyatt Family
TLC – December 15th
2012
The Wyatt Family vs
Daniel Bryan
The Spirit Squad
Raw – April 3rd 2006
The Spirit Squad vs
Kane and Big Show
The Shield
TLC – December 16th
2012
The Shield vs Ryback
and Team Hell No
Conclusion:
When
‘WWE Presents Wrestling’s Greatest Factions’ was announced for release, your
Wrestling God had such high hopes this was going to be an in depth look at only
the greatest factions the industry had produced with extensive interviews from
those who lived through the times and profited from them. Sadly, that’s not
what WWE have given us. With it’s short video packages and talking heads of
which seventy percent have nothing interesting to say, this very much resembles
WWE’s previous release of it’s greatest rivalries in that it looks thrown
together without any great thought at all.
Not
only does it have an uneven balance to the layout, as some such as Paul Heyman
are willing to go behind the scenes and break kayfabe whilst almost everyone
else sticks to it and pretends every event covered is real which is hugely
infuriating because we known that to be rubbish which means we feel like WWE
are treating us like idiots, but we’re also being lied to by the company. The
release beings with the voice over guy telling us that what follows is a
collection of factions which have changed the face of sports entertainment as
we know it; The Brood, The Oddities, The Straight Edged Society, Legacy, The
Dungeon of Doom as well as many other prove that statement to be faux and
somewhat laughable. It’s almost as if WWE now believe they can wheel out
rubbish and still expect a huge revenue for it. Those days are long gone.
There
are moments of quality here but they are few and far between and only occur
when something previously buried is unearthed. This release would have been
much more effective had the company not tried to cram in every single faction
possible regardless of their standing in wrestling history, omitted those that
clearly don’t belong and fleshed out those that do. I would have rather watched
seven and a half hours of deep, meaningful material on ten factions than seven
and a half hours of short, inconsequential material on too many factions to
count. The deserving should have had at least a fifteen minute highlight
package as well as talking heads from those who meant something to the group.
Not anyone and everyone WWE need to get out there.
For
the most part, the layout of the release is a complete jumble, jumping from one
faction to the next without any sign of a link to be had. There’s is no
indication of how WWE chose the included apart from the company saying to us in
a clear voice “this is what we believe and you will like it”, when all this
could have been avoided by holding a vote of WWE. Com, polling us about the top
fifteen or less and then using a countdown to work through the inclusions based
on the votes of the public. Would it have made much difference? Possibly. It
would certainly have given the release a greater sense of importance had WWE
ranked the factions rather than just thrown them together. The same goes for
the included matches. A good percentage of them feature the whole faction which
means WWE were limited to what they can include and in a lot of cases the match
fails to live up to expectation. Surely it would have been much better to
search for a memorable bout featuring just one or two of the members
representing the faction in question. I know WWE have tried to include matches
not already available elsewhere, but on this occasion, for a large part, it
didn’t work.
At
times, this release feels like it should have been titled ‘An Idiot’s Guide to
Factions’ because for too long WWE treat us like we know nothing and it’s as
clear as day this isn’t aimed at long time fans who the company clearly don’t
care about any more. Instead, the whole things feels like it’s made especially for
newer fans and children, that in itself is a huge turn off. If I am correct and
this is made for newer fans and children then surely it’s a bigger insult than
had it been made for long time audiences. In a generation where children
believe John Cena is the best wrestler in history, surely WWE should be
safeguarding the history of the industry and instead of entertaining and
pandering to these people the company should be trying to do everything in its
power to educate them on what has been before. This was the perfect place to
begin, but obviously this was compiled by someone who hasn’t been around the
business for very long at all.
On
a title named ‘Wrestling’s Greatest Factions’ only maybe a dozen deserve to be
here, which includes the Blu-ray extras as well as The Spirit Squad should have
been kicked as they were terrible and I doubt anyone can yet say The Shield and
The Wyatt Family whilst popular today can yet be considered for such a
prestigious title, whilst the title doesn’t live up its name omitting factions
from England, Japan and the rest of the world including TNA and Ring of Honor.
If WWE weren’t willing to pay to include factions which they don’t own
copyright for they should have found a better name for the title because this
only covers factions for which Vince McMahon now owns the rights to. It
certainly doesn’t cover the entire spectrum of ‘wrestling’ as the title would
have you believe.
In
all honesty, I can’t tell you this worth your money even though it does feature
an array of quality throughout its run time, be it heavily interspersed by
complete rubbish. There’s just too much pandering to people who need to learn
more and too much of what WWE believes we should be thinking rather than what
we actually do believe. If you’re a new fan looking to get some information on
times you weren’t present for then this is for you. It doesn’t tell the full
story but then when has anyone new and unsure if they’re serious about this
industry been bothered about that? As for children, it’s the perfect release
not that I believe anyone who owns a John Cena shirt will care for footage of
The Fabulous Freebirds or believe Ric Flair is the best all round talent to
ever lace a pair of boots.
Maybe
this release, in its own way, says everything we need to know about the sorry
state of wrestling’s audience today.
Rating: C
Next Time in Review
Corner: WWE WrestleMania XXX DVD and Blu-ray
Onwards
and upwards...
