Step into the Ring

Sunday 31 August 2014

REVIEW CORNER: BROTHERS OF DESTRUCTION - THE GREATEST MATCHES



 

A – Excellent


B – Good


C – Mediocre


D – Avoid







Release Date: September 1st 2014

Available From: www.wwedvd.co.uk

Price:
DVD £12.99
Blu-ray £13.99
(Prices from www.wwedvd.co.uk: high street prices will vary)

Format Reviewed: DVD (1 Disc)
Also Available on Blu-ray (1 Disc)

What It’s About:

A collection of matches featuring The Brothers of Destruction, namely The Undertaker and Kane during their decade long on/off tag team in-between them being enemies. The seven matches on the main release range from 2001 – 2008 whilst the Blu-ray version boasts an extra four matches which bring their partnership up to the present day.

Strengths:

The Brothers of Destruction vs Edge and Christian (Smackdown, April 10th 2001) is a lively romp in which Edge and Christian go above and beyond to sell the beating heaped upon them by a rather out of shape Undertaker, who wasn’t nearly as physically impressive as he became later in the decade. That’s not to say Edge and Christian don’t have their own moments in the sun, Christian is particularly well versed in the technical side of the game against Kane who never looked better than at this point in his career. Kane battles back with a superb short arm scissors slam whilst all four men employ excellent psychology to drain as much heat from the crowd as possible. The Undertaker is a ball of fire and Rhino plays his part to perfection. The only gripe is that The Undertaker dismantles both Edge and Christian too easily at the end.

The Brothers of Destruction vs The Dudley Boys (Raw, July 30th 2001) is an action packed tables match in which get a look at The Undertaker’s former wife, Sara, before he moved onto Michelle McCool. Sara though, is beautiful. Never slowing or dipping, the action rolls and both Bubba Ray and D-Von prove to be great opponents for The Undertaker and Kane. There isn’t much in the way of table action but then the foursome had to stretch out the bout in some type of way otherwise it would have been over in minutes. The ending with Sara nearly going through the table but Bubba Ray being choke slammed through instead is very good indeed.

The Brothers of Destruction vs Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Hare (Smackdown, August 9th 2001) isn’t going to thrill anyone beyond the point of the first two bouts but its not horrible and holds together well, despite being a glorified whipping match. Palumbo and O’Hare do get some offence here but it’s largely Undertaker and Kane thanks to no one seeing the opposition being legitimate competition. Played out against The Invasion backdrop, this bout was totally designed to devalue the WCW/ECW stars and make the WWE guys shine. It shows. But if you can take it at face value, then it’s an extremely watchable bout.

The Brothers of Destruction vs Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon (SummerSlam 2001, August 19th 2001) takes a while to kick into gear but is worth sticking with until it does. It begins with a monumental mistake by Page who follows Kanyon down the aisle at the wrong time and can be visibly seen returning to the locker room only to be told be management that he needs to go back out. This results in everyone looking confused, even Kanyon and the ring announcer who has to throw Page’s name into the mix whilst the sound guys quickly mix his entrance theme into the moment. Overlooking the lacklustre action here, Kane and The Undertaker help the match flourish towards its conclusion, which the fans pop for, when DDP finally gets his comeuppance and Kanyon bails on his partner. It’s a gripping final few moments which maybe go on too long but the pounding of Page is quite good.

The main menu of the release features The Undertaker’s ‘American Bad Ass’ theme tune in its entirety. That’s a plus for any release.

Weaknesses:

The Brothers of Destruction vs MVP and Mr. Kennedy (Smackdown, December 15th 2006) moves like a snail in glue thanks to time and injury to The Undertaker and Kane. The match almost comes to a complete halt when Kane is in charge and the rest of the bout is strictly by the numbers with very little excitement in between. At the beginning of the bout, JBL states that Kane received third degree burns in his first inferno mach, but Kane bares no scars of the incident which would take years to heal not to mention hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses. The only notable part about this match is the final in which the lights go out on Mr. Kennedy who is ready to run Kane over in a hearse, only for The Undertaker to appear in the hearse next to his target.

The Brothers of Destruction vs Mark Henry and Big Daddy V (Smackdown, February 1st 2008) is as you would expect. Monotonous, sickeningly bad and not worth anyone’s time even if you’re the most hardcore fan because the sloth nature of the action will make you want to regurgitate your dinner into the face of whoever is sitting with you. To give him credit, Mark Henry bumps well for Kane and Undertaker but the sight of Big Daddy V’s tits spilling from his top over and over again will make u gag. It’s not a sight you’ll be shifting from your memory any time soon. It’s not an exaggeration to state that literally nothing of note happens as the four plod around the ring and take up ten minutes of our life which we’re never getting back.

The Brothers of Destruction vs The Miz and John Morrison (ECW, April 15th 2008) goes to prove how dismal WWE’s re-imagination of ECW really was. The whole appeal of the company was that they didn’t feature people like Undertaker or Kane. It was raw, rough and thrilling week in and week out. WWE simply ruined it and didn’t care. As for the match, it’s nothing you haven’t seen already on this release even if it holds well. The truth is that by the time you’ve gotten here, the run time of one hour and a half will have worn you down. If you can still stomach another tag team match after that time then you’ll have done really well. Because there’s nothing special to be had with this one.

Blu-ray Exclusives:

Raw – September 21st 1998
The Undertaker and Kane vs Stone Cold Steve Austin and Billy Gunn

Raw – October 12th 1998
The Undertaker and Kane vs Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock

Backlash – April 29th 2001
WWE World Heavyweight Championship, WWE Intercontinental Championship and WWE Tag Team Championship Match
The Undertaker and Kane vs Stone Cold Steve Austin and Triple H

Raw – April 22nd 2013
The Undertaker, Kane and Daniel Bryan vs The Shield

Conclusion:

From the word ‘go’, even the most simple minded viewer will realise that ‘The Brothers of Destruction: Greatest Matches’ has no reason to exist with the exception that its going to make WWE quite a bit of money with the younger generation. It doesn’t celebrate any type of anniversary or serve any reason whatsoever except being a match compilation featuring The Undertaker and Kane. Which is a shame, because if WWE had thought about the release and put in more effort than is visible here, then the company could have released this as a three disc compilation telling the story of The Undertaker and Kane as partners and rivals. The release could have begun with the debut of Kane and carried on right through to their 2013 association which would have been much better than what we got here.

With sentiments such as ‘One from the grave; one the fiery depths of hell’ one can immediately tell that WWE are taking themselves and this release far too seriously when the release itself doesn’t follow along those lines. Credit where it’s due as always, the release shows a wealth of ‘American Bad Ass’ Undertaker which Mark Calloway prefers to keep in his vault in order to sell the Deadman Undertaker persona but that really is the most impressive part of what the company offer us with its latest endeavour. Nothing is explained in the way of break-ups or why the pair reunited years later after Kane turned heel on his faux brother and the best we get is a few lazy captions. It’s simply not enough.

At the end of the day with the look, layout and best material coming from the pair’s 2001 archive as everything from after that year which is included here is rotten, this feels more like an extension of the ‘Superstar Collection’ which WWE aim entirely at children. Even the best matches on this release aren’t that special and certainly do not warrant the release title or the massive asking price for just seven matches. Even if this was a giveaway, I’d think twice about accepting it.

Rating: D

Next Time in Review Corner: WWE Money in the Bank 2014 DVD and Blu-ray

Onwards and upwards...



Monday 25 August 2014

REVIEW CORNER: WWE OMG VOLUME 2! THE TOP 50 INCIDENTS IN WCW HISTORY



 
 
A – Excellent


B – Good


C – Mediocre


D – Avoid







Release Date: August 25th 2014

Available From: www.wwedvd.co.uk

Price:
DVD £ 19.99
Blu-ray £ 22.99
(Prices from www.wwedvd.co.uk: high street prices will vary)

Format Reviewed: DVD (3 Discs)
(Also Available on Blu-ray (2 Discs)

What It’s About:

A three disc (DVD) and two disc (Blu-ray) of a countdown of fifty incidents from WCW’s illustrious history complied together with the matches and angles which feature in the countdown. Though the title is somewhat vague allowing WWE to throw anything they haven’t yet used from WCW’s video library onto the release, each incident is meant to conform to the said ‘OMG’ moment on the title of the release.

It was difficult to rate and place these segments thanks to the category stated by the release, so the thought process behind it is as follows. The countdown segments are rated on whether they really correspond to the OMG tag line of the release title. The segments included on the release will, as usual, be rated as to their content and quality rather than anything to do with their correlation to the countdown.

Strengths:

‘Canadian Hacksaw’ (49) (September 17th 2000) only just manages to scrape the barrel of acceptable material for this release. Unlike other so called ‘incidents’ included, the moment the patriotic ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan turned his back on America and sided with Canada was a jaw dropping moment for long time fans even if newer wrestling fans at the time had no real idea of what it really meant or who Jim Duggan really was. Talking heads on this segment include both Jim Duggan and Fit Finlay who suitably berate WCW management for turning Duggan heel and cutting his hair and shaving off his beard. Whilst Fit Finlay correctly states that no one brought into the storyline, Jim Duggan carries off the appearance of a man who can’t bear to think back to an unhappy time in his career. The segment is nicely complimented with some rarely seen footage from WWE’s extensive archives of a shaved and groomed ‘Hacksaw’ which is a site to behold in itself.

‘Warrior’ (48) (August 17th 1998) may have been a terrible mistake by WCW, but the return to a wrestling ring of The Ultimate Warrior warrants a place in this countdown thanks to the shock nature of the arrival, even though Hulk Hogan signposted the comeback with the line, “There’s not a Warrior, I can’t beat” amongst other names for a wrestler. In a brand new sit down interview, Hulk Hogan reflects with honest on the period and says that Warrior’s WCW appearance and subsequent run “didn’t roll out exactly the way they planned it”. That could be an understatement considering the depth the rot set in at and the pace with which Hellwig’s presence became monotonous. All credit to WWE for leaving in the frankness, though it’s not a shock seeing as Vince likes to leave in any derogative comment about another other promotion but his own, which continues in the form of Dean Ambrose who rightly states that Warrior’s return was a “total mess” and that the Halloween Havoc match between Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior was “one of the most dreadful matches you will ever watch” which is then backed up by a reborn Hulk Hogan who admits that it was all his fault. In a pre-taped interview before his passing, Warrior states; “you have a platform from history to use and you should use it. But they didn’t”.

‘Bad Goldberg?’ (43) (June 11th 2000) clinches its place on the countdown thanks to the shock factor Goldberg turning heel had on the company, though when you watch the angle in which it occurs again (it’s included on the ‘Goldberg Ultimate Collection’ release) you can see what’s coming as Goldberg runs Kevin Nash down like a freight train. Still, it was a genuinely disbelieving moment after old Bill had been a babyface for his entire WCW run to that point. The number of talking heads includes Ric Flair who accurately orates that Goldberg had the “it factor” whilst “he never had a chance to learn the wrestling business but what he had to do, he pulled it off”. William Regal refers to Goldberg as the “ultimate in superheroes” before the injudicious nature of the heel turn is shed light on by Terry Taylor who informs us the decision to turn Goldberg was based solely on the fact that he’d beaten every heel on the roster and there was nothing else for him to do. Weighing on the theories of why the turn failed to succeed, Regal offers up that it was doomed to fail because the character wasn’t Goldberg and that in fact; he was a really nice guy. Terry Taylor hands John Cena a convenient excuse as to why he shouldn’t turn heel with the correct belief that if a talent doesn’t buy into a heel turn or doesn’t know how to work within those parameters, then it will never work. You can see John Cena wheeling that out in six months time when his character grows stale yet again.

‘Caged Horsemen’ (41) (September 29th 1985) deserves to be higher up the list than it actually is. The breaking of Dusty Rhodes leg inside a steel cage occurred at a time when wrestling was still in the grip of kayfabe and situations such as this rarely occurred, making them even more disturbing when they did. The footage of the Horsemen decimating ‘The American Dream’ has survived incredibly well over the years, as has Arn Anderson’s recollection of it when he offers up the regret of carrying out the act because they could have been killed by the baying audience. His exertions are no exaggeration as the footage proves. Though this occurred when the company was still known as Jim Crockett Promotions, we’ll take it as there’s very little legitimate incidents included on the countdown.

‘Litigation’ (39) (July 9th 2000) necessitates a long winded explanation of which I will try to keep as short as possible. The segment focuses on Hulk Hogan’s exit from the company in the new century thanks to a major disagreement between Hulk Hogan and new WCW head writer, Vince Russo. The true story is that Hull Hogan, Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo worked out a way for Hulk Hogan to leave the company for a few months with the meaning for him to return. In a completely staged angle, Jeff Jarrett would lay down in the middle of the ring at Bash at the Beach and Hulk Hogan would act shocked and surprised whilst cutting a promo on Vince Russo which blamed the writer for the company going downhill. Hulk Hogan would then cover Jarrett for the victory and the Championship but leave the company in disgust. The story which would be fed to the fans would be that Hulk Hogan had legitimate beef with those who ran the company and had left. In his absence, WCW would crown a new World Champion and then Hulk Hogan would return a few months later to contest a Champion vs Champion feud to decide the undisputed WCW World Heavyweight Champion. As you can guess and probably know, it went awry when Vince Russo cut a scathing and somewhat undeserved shoot promo on Hogan moments after the bout, calling him a ‘piece of shit’ for which Hulk Hogan rightly took offence and refused to return, suing Russo for defamation of character. That is the story and truth behind this angle, which is warranted in its conclusion thanks to its controversial nature. There are two different sides to this story, of course, Vince Russo’s and Hulk Hogan’s. Hogan begins by stating that he had creative control over the finish of all his matches but never exercised it...yeah right...before stating that the first he knew of the controversy was when word reached him that Jeff Jarrett was going to lay down without putting up a fight. The release then cuts to Vince Russo, who much be back in McMahon’s good books, who states that he was told Hulk Hogan wasn’t going to do the job and when he relayed the information to Jeff Jarrett, he’d never seen Double J so angry. There is no reason not to tell the truth here especially when Hulk Hogan contradicts his story by stating that the only part of the whole thing that was a shoot, was Vince Russo’s rant. Meaning that everything else was planned. Despite the contradictory story and lack of truth here, Russo’s admission that he lost the war thanks to a lawsuit and Hulk Hogan’s wry smile before having a dig at Russo with the line; “I didn’t have to do a job in court”, as well as the nature of the story makes it interesting enough to sit through.

‘The Debut’ (36) (September 4th 1995) focuses more on the debut of Monday Nitro rather than Lex Luger’s surprise appearance twenty four hours after competing for Vince McMahon, which makes it less an incident and more a history lesson, but it comes around to the real point of the entry soon enough and in a very rare appearance as a talking head, Lex Luger sheds some light on the situation for us. It’s good to see Lex again, and looking so well too. Yes, for the nature of the subject this should be here but WWE should have stopped both The Miz and Brodus Clay appearing to comment as neither has anything useful to say. The latter states that Lex Luger jumped ship one week after competing for WWE, thankfully ‘The Man Made in the USA’ is there to correct his ridiculous mistake and point out it was just twenty four hours. There’s no reason provided from Luger as to why he chose to jump ship, though he was going nowhere in WWE, which would have been nice to hear after twenty years but someone jumping ship especially whilst still under contract to another organization is always a legitimate OMG moment and should be included on a release such as this.

‘Robocop’ (32) (May 19th 1990) has to be one of the earliest and most nonsensical actions WCW ever sanctioned to sell a pay-per view event. The inclusion of Robocop was utterly ludicrous even though it’s one of the memories of the business I have as a child, and I’m not the only one who thinks so either. Rightfully, Arn Anderson refers to the situation as ‘Ridiculous’. For as bad as the idea to include Robocop was, the main reason this is in the ‘Strength’ category is for the thoroughly wonderful insights of Jim Ross who does manage to lift this segment above terrible with his hilarious comments. The first of which states; “I’ve been told I have no acting skills, but I debate that because I acted like I cared about Robocop”. What a wonderful ad lib by a man who wasn’t allowed to do this kind of material when under contract to the WWE. Footage of the steel cage breaking is feeble, it was obviously rigged as the bars spring off and look like foam in the process whilst Tony Schiavone who has aged remarkably options that he’d just come from working for the WWE and thought he’d better call Vince and get his job back. Arn Anderson end the witty segment talking about he didn’t know what he was more angry about; the fact that he has to run away from Robocop, or that it wasn’t even the real Robocop. What would have been a thoroughly deplorable angle turned out to be one of the funnier and more enjoyable inclusions on the list. Though on the basis of Robocop supposedly being an OMG moment, it doesn’t deserve to be here.

‘Who’s Better Than Kanyon?’ (31) (May 7th 2000) focuses on the disastrous triple decked steel cage match at Slamboree 2000 in which the late Chris Kanyon took a nose dive from the summit and went straight through a padded entrance aisle. Though the footage clearly shows where the aisle has been rigged to break his fall, it doesn’t make the dive any less death defying and he should be given credit for willingly offering to make an otherwise rotten bout that much more interesting. Bill DeMott provides the laughs with the line; “The one-upmanship was insane. ‘I know, let’s build a three tier cage and whoever takes the best bump off of it wins!’” Though William Regal tries to take the limelight away from Kanyon with his belief that after seeing Mick Foley fall from the top of Hell in a Cell, everything else was just second rate.  

‘Ambush’ (29) (October 25th 1986) is another entry that may be at the backend of the twenties, but deserves a higher placing for its originality at a time when legitimately vicious attacks weren’t the norm. This one focuses on the sickening attempt to break Dusty Rhodes’ arm by the Four Horsemen and the footage of them following Rhodes on his supposed day off, attacking him in a parking lot and breaking his arm with a tyre iron. Sadly, the inclusion is only in this category thanks to the excellent footage and not for anything Arn Anderson says on the incident. Seemingly believing this was real and not an angle with the comment, “We went too far and probably should have been arrested”, Anderson conforms to kayfabe to stay in the good books of his employer. Cody Rhodes is spot on however, by relaying that the intention was more violent than the act which was censored.

‘Powerbomb’ (26) (June 16th 1996) is the already well documented Kevin Nash Powerbomb on Eric Bischoff on pay-per view when Hall and Nash were relative newcomers to the company, leaving WWE for a better offer. Though this has been on countless releases over the past year and god knows how many before, it justifies an inclusion as the beginning of what would grow to be the NWO. The talking heads on the clip say nothing much of note, but you can’t deny it was a very well acted out attack by all three men.

‘Cruiserweight Showcase’ (24) (October 26th 1997) richly deserves its place on this list, though seeing what was rated higher than it, it deserved a bigger placing than twenty sixth. The Eddie Guerrero vs Rey Mysterio spectacle from that year’s Halloween Havoc is one of the greatest cruiserweight matches ever staged and up to the point it was staged, WCW’s cruiserweight division was good but never hit the heights promised. If you’ve never seen this bout then you owe it to yourself to do so. Arn Anderson correctly opines that both Eddie and Rey were very special acts and that the bout was the most unbelievable athletic display anyone could image. Certainly, there was nothing which has topped it since the present day.

‘N.W.....NO!’ (23) (January 13th 1997) is one of the lesser definitive moments in WCW which this release should have been based around. Centring around Diamond Dallas Page rejecting the faction in the form of a Diamond Cutter on Scott Hall, this left jaws on the floor at time for the simple reason that Page wasn’t a major player and was treading water in the mid-card defeating no names for a living. That WCW management had chosen DDP to take centre stage in the feud was a shocking in itself but showed a will to take a step forward rather than have the usual suspects in the same old roles. As a talking head, DDP himself bravely states that was the moment he took off as a talent because he hadn’t resonated with the fans beforehand. This is a good choice for inclusion and one which may not have been readily available at the front of audience’s minds.

‘Garbage’ (17) (December 18th 1995) proves to be one of the most truly shocking moments in the promotion’s history and one of the first shots across the bow of Vince McMahon and one of the sparks which ignited the Monday Night Wars. Fans of WCW of the time period will well remember Medusa, formerly Alundra Blaze, binning the WWE Women’s Championship live on Nitro in a shocking act. Beth Phoenix states that Medusa was the next step up from female ring valet whilst Michael Hayes looks slightly disappointed at Blaze when he tells us that “it’s something you just don’t do”. This may be a true OMG moment but A.J Lee lightens up proceedings with her distinctive interview style when she turns to the camera and declares “it just goes to show you what some people will do for a dollar”. The talking heads on this segment are all frank and honest, none more so than Paul Heyman who says what everyone else is thinking but too scared to come out with in that Medusa tarnished the WWE’s Women’s division and title to the point where Vince McMahon wouldn’t even consider another title for three years. More than an OMG moment, this was the catalyst for the Montreal Screwjob two years later.

‘To Streak? Or Not to Streak?’ (16) (December 27th 1998) looks at the end of Goldberg’s mammoth undefeated streak at the hands of Kevin Nash. Though it was a wrong decision on the night to end the most valuable commodity WCW had at the time, especially to someone who didn’t benefit from the outcome, it’s without a doubt another legit incident which no one saw coming. The thought process behind ending the streak is well explored by the talking heads, beginning with Terry Taylor who announces the small mindedness behind the decree in that Kevin Nash was part of a booking team which made the decision to defeat Goldberg. The way Taylor explains it is that Goldberg had no choice in the matter and it was done just to sooth an ego. Going on to exploit the correct opinion that the result hurt business whilst footage proves the finale was a weak one and if this was going to occur then it should have done so clean. By defeating Goldberg by questionable methods, Kevin Nash got nothing from his victory. Paul Heyman wades in with the belief the result was a “rip off”, whilst Terry Taylor is on form with the statement that “talent booking themselves doesn’t work as everyone wants to win and everyone wants to go on last.”

‘Trailblazer’ (15) (August 2nd 1992) is a truly momentous moment not just in WCW history, but in wrestling history. The instant Ron Simmons defeated Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and became the first African American World Heavyweight Champion is a glorious moment especially after his time as part of Doom. It may have been a sudden push but that doesn’t prevent it from being very special indeed partly because no one saw it coming. The talking heads have nothing but praise for Ron Simmons as a man and wrestler, with Booker T being the biggest admirer, announcing his belief though somewhat questionable that Ron Simmons is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. It’s just a damn shame it didn’t work out of Ron, he could have been one of the biggest African American wrestlers to ever step foot in a ring. Regardless of that, it’s heartening to hear his take on the occasion and that it meant a lot not just to him but everyone who ever had a dream.

‘The Decision’ (14) (March 16th 1997) isn’t a true OMG moment but is another definitive moment in WCW history as Sting chooses WCW over the NWO and continues his career long face run. Though it isn’t outstanding, the moment is somewhat definitive as everyone who was anyone was turning to the dark side just because they thought their career would be advanced by getting in with Hulk Hogan behind the scenes. Talking head Larry Zbyszko backs up this assertion with the line “someone had to do that job. It may as well have been him.”  Sting rallied against the machine and that was why everyone loved him. Terry Taylor puts it best when summing up Sting’s appeal with the quote; “Sting was the man who didn’t choose money and fame.” The inclusion is compiled with some excellent footage of the build-up and the incident in question which fans of the era will love.

‘Piledriver’ (13) (May 7th 1989) could be one of the top three most definitive moments in WCW history but is maddeningly ranked thirteenth instead of in the top three. That it’s ranked below such moments as The Giant falling off of a roof, David Arquette winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and Rick Rude appearing on WCW and WWE programming at the same time is just bizarre. For those not familiar, this spotlights Terry Funk’s shocking and heinous attack on Ric Flair which will always stand as one of the greatest heel turns in the business. Everything about it was sublime, even Ric Flair’s sell job and taking a month off of television. William Regal looks like a gleeful child when referring to the angle as “magical” before following it up with the assertion that everyone involved played a perfect role. It truly was a flawless moment.

‘Shockmaster’ (10) (August 18th 1993) could possibly be one of the most memorable mistakes WCW ever opened its doors to. The Shockmaster, aka Fred Ottman better known as Typhoon of The Natural Disasters, clad in a glittery Darth Vader helmet fell head first through a wall on live television to the embarrassment of everyone present including intended partners, Sting and The British Bulldogs. Whoever thought this would be a wonderful plan for a character needed firing, *cough, cough, Dusty Rhodes*. The talking heads struggle to keep a straight face whilst recapping the event with Ric Flair looking genuinely sorrowful with the line “I felt sorry for him. Fred was a nice guy” whilst brother-in-law Dusty Rhodes has the outright cheek to try and pass of the cheap and tacky helmet as costing the company a great deal of money. What complete rubbish. I won’t deny though, audibly hearing Davey Boy say “He fell flat on his arse” off camera will bring a smile to your face.

‘World Champion Actor’ (9) (April 26th 2000) could be the dumbest booking decision Vince Russo ever made and that includes making himself WCW World Heavyweight Champion. At least he was part of the company and the writing team could insert it into the storyline. Making the actor David Arquette WCW World Heavyweight Champion was just plain dumb. But, another genuine OMG moment because who saw that coming? Diamond Dallas Page seems reserved when speaking on a storyline which he played a huge hand in, it’s no surprising as no one wants to admit something which was partly down to them was rubbish, before touching on the negative effect it had within the company and the ratings for its television and pay-per view events. Incredibly, the blinkered Vince Russo has the sheer gall to say that he still doesn’t see anything wrong with the decision as long as it got the publicity the company needed via word of mouth. What a complete dick. The moment didn’t get the company the publicity needed and did get around via word of mouth when people began telling their friends not to watch the crap because it had gone drastically down hill. When you see the chain of events which lead to WCW’s demise put together, it’s not hard to see why they went out of business. Though the talking heads seem largely ineffective and in some cases in denial, this deserves a place a proper OMG moment.

‘Cobo Chaos’ (8) (October 29th 1995) will sit with those who haven’t seen it as a shocker and those who are still trying to erase it from their memory banks as a horrible reminder of just how cheesy WCW could be. Looking at the monster truck match between The Giant and Hulk Hogan on the roof of the arena which lead to the astonishing moment of the man we know as Big Show falling from the roof of the arena into the river, though you never see his landing and its clear a crash mat catches him about ten foot down from the edge of the drop. Hulk Hogan sells the moment to perfection and it’s really for this part of the segment which warrants its strengths inclusion. What was to follow was simply dreadful. With The Giant returning from the fall minutes later and bone dry to boot to contest a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match which ended in Jimmy Hart turning heel on Hulk Hogan, the bout ends in a truly hideous visual of The Giant and The Yeti attempting to squeeze Hulk Hogan to death but actually looking like they’re dry humping him. I won’t go into too much detail here as WWE have included this bout on the match section of the release but the talking heads are a scream with Hulk Hogan pronouncing that he now looks back on that with remorse and can’t believe he went through with it. It’s William Regal though who provides the biggest chortle and saves this when it turns into a calamity with a constant grin and articulation that if you’ve never seen this, then you’re missing out.

‘Double Feature’ (7) (November 17th 1997) isn’t an OMG moment as far as anything spectacular goes but it does warrant a place in remembrance as Rick Rude returned to the company on the same night as his final appearance on a pre-taped Raw aired at the exact same time as his return on a live Nitro, meaning he was on two separate programmes for two separate companies at the same time. Summer Rae is worthless as a talking head and should be barred from every future release because she brings it down with her over the top comments and exaggerations. The segment was crap but the intention to shock came off brilliantly.

‘Goldberg Dome’ (5) (July 6th 1998) is the moment Goldberg finally took the step up to the main event by defeating Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in the Georgia Dome in front of WCW’s biggest ever live crowd and television audience. The footage doesn’t do the moment justice but the reception Goldberg receives when he pins Hulk Hogan for the title is just unforgettable even if the match wasn’t. Those watching live at time, as your Wrestling God was, will remember the feelings that Goldberg couldn’t fail and Hulk Hogan himself cements this with the line “If you were in the building, you knew it was going to happen! It was in the air.” Was it too soon? I think it was, but nonetheless, it was a massive OMG moment and the making of a star. Paul Heyman’s assertion that it was the greatest moment in WCW history may be somewhat misguided, though it can’t be far off the truth.

‘I Quit’ (4) (November 28th 1985) no doubt deserves a place on the release for the shocking and brutal nature of the steel cage match between Tully Blanchard and Magnum T.A but I’m not convinced it should be ranked so highly and especially not above Terry Funk’s heel turn on Ric Flair. A brutal, bloody and brilliant bout has been well documented on other WWE releases but the footage never gets any less impressive for its hardcore action especially the spike in the forehead incident. William Regal adds intrigue to the segment with his shout that Tully Blanchard was “someone everyone wanted to hit” but doesn’t stray into any further explanation leaving us to ponder on whether he meant within his character or in real life. Dusty Rhodes may have something when he describes the bout as “the most brutal moment of a very brutal age.”

‘Outside Invasion’ (3) (May 27th 1996) sees the return to World Championship Wrestling of Scott Hall who once plied his trade in the company as The Diamond Studd. Though we now know it led to the formation of the NWO, at the time it was a startling moment as only weeks before Scott Hall had been Razor Ramon in WWE. A brand new sit-down interview with Scott Hall sheds light on his appearance as he declares that he was still a WWE guy and fighting for the promotion he had left. You don’t usually hear this from a talent who jumped from one ship to another so it’s a refreshing admission to accompany an otherwise piece of stagnant wrestling history. Hall berates WCW’s programming before he arrived in the company as where the big boys played but routinely had Sting defeating no names whilst Diamond Dallas Page backs up Hall’s exclamation that his appearance was completely kept under wraps and even the talent didn’t know he was there. Wrestlers appearing for other companies before the internet telegraphed every exit and entrance was a genuinely shocking piece of television as is Scott Hall’s admission that he received a law suit from Vince McMahon the very same day for his Razor Ramon mannerisms.

‘Surprise Purchase’ (2) (March 25th 2001) for your Wrestling God at least, should have been number one as the defining moment in the promotion’s history and obviously WWE thought so to as its the picture which adorns the cover of this release. Vince McMahon purchasing the company which nearly put him out of business and on such a worldwide platform was irony of the highest calibre and one of the most startling moments in the whole of wrestling. The duel telecast and both Vince and Shane appearing on Turner Network Television in some shape or form was just unmissable television. But we must not forget that at its heart, it was also a death of a company which could have put Vince McMahon out of business completely. The never heard before story is told in at least a little detail by the various talking heads who were around at the time, including WWE production trucks being present at the venue when talent turned up and Terry Taylor uttering, with some level of sadness that it was obvious they were the conquering army and WCW had finally been vanquished. It’s a somewhat poignant moment on the release and credit to WWE for including it. Both Ric Flair and Tony Schiavone relay their happiness at the company falling, with ‘The Nature Boy’ voicing the joyful glee that he knew it was over and was so glad, whilst Schiavone comes across as someone who was overtly relieved as he tells of what a terrible place it was to work.

‘Who is the Third Man?’ (1) (July 7th 1996) takes its rightful place as the standout OMG incident and to be fair, it was a legitimate shocker and possibly the most memorable moment wrestling has ever produced. WCW have the right to that claim at least. With Hulk Hogan joining Hall and Nash to form the NWO, wrestling had suddenly ran out of heroes and for a short time at least, was better off for it. Scott Hall is left to relay an unknown tale from the night in question and tells us that Hulk Hogan had creative control over his contract and whilst filming a movie on California could have rejected the plan to turn heel. Scott Hall is glorious in his storytelling, verbalizing that as the pay-per view was happening Hulk Hogan was still in the air and no one backstage had any idea if he’d go along with the plan. In the absence of Hogan, the company were going to turn Sting which has never been disclosed before. Though Scott Hall is right when he says that it would not have had the same effect, partly because Sting was already part of the match, because it had to be a former WWE guy so it looked like an invasion, Hulk Hogan weighs in with his joy at going along with the plan which is nice to hear from a man who has seen it all and done it all. Just image if John Cena did this, it would top even Hulk Hogan.

Cactus Jack vs Big Van Vader (WCW Saturday Night, April 24th 1993) is the bout which leads to the dreadful angle of Cactus Jack losing his memory and completing a several week set of vignettes which saw him live on the streets as the defender of the homeless. Up to this point on the release, it’s the best match included with those that go before paling in comparison. Certainly not the best brawl the pair ever contested, but it does provide drama at the right moments which begins with a gripping hardcore brawl around the Saturday Night set as both men use the weapons to their advantage, before Cactus displays an impressive feat of strength by suplexing Vader over the barrier front first. The height Mick Foley gets on the move is nothing but awe inspiring. Though the bout goes to a commercial break, there’s no reason for WWE not to leave in the action in between as it was available to them but that is a minor gripe of an otherwise respectable effort in which Vader shows just how agile he was for a big man. The match ending Powerbomb is both vicious and sold well by Mick Foley.

‘Scott Hall Appears on Nitro’ (Nitro, May 27th 1996) is an excellent promo by the newest WCW acquisition even if it does fox those in attendance. The real problem with an otherwise memorable entry is that as Scott Hall talks about ‘Billionaire Ted’, ‘The Nacho Man’ and ‘Scheme Gene’ and the only way people would understand what the former Razor Ramon was talking about is if they were familiar with the cringe worthy skits Vince McMahon put out in the run up to WrestleMania XII which mocked Ted Turner, Randy Savage and Gene Okerlund amongst others. As is evident by the confused reaction to Scott Hall’s promo, many in attendance here weren’t. Nonetheless, it doesn’t the appearance from shocking many and when Scott Hall looks down the hard camera and declares war on WCW, you can’t help but get that childish tingle down your spine once again.

‘Eric Bischoff Has an Answer for The Outsiders’ (The Great American Bash 1996, June 16th 1996) is another short interview but ably handed by Eric who takes a sporting Jacknife from Kevin Nash at the conclusion. The promo pieces in between are also well handled by all involved especially Kevin Nash who wasn’t known as a great microphone guy in the business.

Kevin Nash and Scott Hall vs Sting, Lex Luger and Randy Savage (Bash at the Beach 1996, July 7th 1996) is historically necessary on a release about the fifty incidents in the company’s history and even though the inclusion is more about the ending and less about the actual bout, the meat and bones is pacy, entertaining stuff made all the more unforgettable by the momentous Hulk Hogan heel turn at its death. There aren’t many turns that eighteen years later you can still turn around and say you didn’t see it coming. That is why it will always remain one of the greatest wrestling moments in existence.

‘Sting Chooses WCW’ (Uncensored, March 16th 1997) is, as it says on the tin, Sting choosing WCW above the NWO and even after all of this time its still a good piece of television. Granted, it’s not much of angle and lasts about the same time it would take you to make a cup of coffee but Sting’s descent from the ceiling is breathtaking and his dismantling of the NWO is swift and greeted with nothing but cheers.

Goldberg vs ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan (Nitro, July 6th 1998) is a stature enhancing moment in Goldberg’s career in which he finally makes the transition for upper-card player to main event star. The atmosphere in the Georgia Dome is one of the best I’ve ever seen in nearly thirty years of being a fan and the chant of ‘Goldberg’ drowns out every other sound in the arena, though its nothing compared to the reaction Goldberg gets when he pins Hulk Hogan for the title with the Jackhammer. It’s one of the most special moments WCW ever had as far as star making went and even though the bout isn’t up to much, this was the one time Goldberg should have ran through Hulk Hogan in ten seconds or less to heighten his threat to the NWO and the rest of the WCW roster which was massive anyway.

‘Goldberg Spears Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart’ (Nitro, March 29th 1999) may not belong on the countdown but its still a very notable angle when standing alone. Bret Hart handles a complicated promo very well before taking shots at WWE with his scathing words. In Canada, Hart gets a heroes welcome as was expected whilst Goldberg plays the part of the American invader well when answering Hart’s challenge which ends in a Spear and the slaying of Goldberg thanks to a metal chest protector. Bret Hart sells the move to near perfection before standing up and revealing the plate under his shirt which, if thought about, could have been used before now to thwart the impact by an oncoming Goldberg.

Jeff Jarrett vs Booker T (Nitro, October 2nd 2000) should also have been omitted from the countdown but that’s not to say the match isn’t very put together, because it is. Even though the company was going down the toilet and a hand was poised over the flush, WCW still had the talent on certain parts of its roster to put on a good match once in a blue moon. Though the stipulation which sees four wooden boxes hanging from each corner of the ring with one them containing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the first wrestler to find the box with the title is crowned champion, is a totally ridiculous bout designated a ‘San Francisco 49ers Match’ Booker T and Jeff Jarrett manage to turn it into an enjoyable hardcore jolly with tension and at least a little drama. Booker T looks like a true champion and his Book End as Jeff Jarrett comes off of the ropes is excellent. Jeff Jarrett is also willing to put a new talent over and though the ending to the bout where the belt falls from the box shows how little production values the company had towards the end.

Weaknesses:

‘Junkyard Brawl’ (50) (July 11th 1999) is a great representation of what WWE intended this release to be. Namely, a collection of ridiculous, uninteresting moments which long time fans have tried to rid from their memories and hoped would never see again. As the countdown begins, so does the madness surrounding the construction of the latest WWE release. The Junkyard Brawl, for those who aren’t familiar with it, was a large group of WCW stars battling in a junkyard where the stipulation was that the winner would be the first man to escape the destination before the place was set on fire. Though William Regal is one of the only men to talk sense when it comes to this pathetic and ridiculous match, his stories about only getting out of a car where he took refuge when the helicopter spotlight came around are a laugh and stating that everyone else “thought they had something to prove, rolling around in broken glass”, but they’re the only notable thing about this inclusion. Cody Rhodes makes himself look completely dumb here by putting forth the false truth that the bout was a good example of what WCW were capable of and that it put Fit Finlay on the map. Wrong, he was on the map at least a decade beforehand. This is not an incident and therefore shouldn’t be here in any shape or form. William Regal ends the segment on a high with the quote; “Without a doubt, the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen in the industry”.

‘49ers Match’ (47) October 2nd 2000) carries on the tradition of worthless inclusions which somewhat bewilder the viewers by not cementing any boundaries as to the criteria needed to make the cut, seemingly anything by the looks of this, with this mystifying insertion which sees Booker T vs Jeff Jarrett in a match which had four boxes suspended above the ring with one containing the WCW world Heavyweight Championship. You guessed it, the first person to find the box with the gold in wins the match. A ridiculous concept Vince Russo would wheel out in another form in TNA. ‘Mene’ Gene Okerlund, who looks his age in 2014, is unintentionally funny when noting the bewilderment of the audience who were as confused as the wrestlers before footage of the match crowns off another preposterous collision when the title falls out of the box before Booker T has a chance to grab it. If anyone can tell me how this qualifies as an OMG incident, then I’d love to hear it.

‘King of the Road’ (46) (March 19th 1995) has footage which has to be seen to be believed. If you weren’t present for this bout when it aired then prepare yourself for Dustin Rhodes and the completely forgettable The Blacktop Bully wrestling in the back of a tractor trailer packed with hay, as the vehicle speeds down the road with the winner being first to sound a horn at the top of the truck. For those who have no idea of how ludicrous the company could be at times, welcome to WCW. It’s laughable that the company would add this to a collection of incidents which are meant to make you sit on the edge of your seat and shout ‘Oh My God!’ at the television but around about entry forty six, you being to realize they actually ran out of material and needed something to pad out the release. The production values look like something from the eighties whilst the talking heads are largely absent of anything effective to say, with one moron making the ridiculous assertion that he could watch it all day. 

‘Russo’ (45) (April 10th 2000) was a monotonous moment when it aired live on Nitro and still is today, even in momentary clips. Apparently, the OMG factor here stems from Vince Russo attempting to reset WCW and stripping everyone of their titles. Wow, I mean hold on guys; it’s going to be a bumpy ride. Michael Hayes looks back on the moment with a little regret even though he was working for Vince McMahon at the time and says Russo made a lot of older talent very mad indeed. It’s true, not just with this angle; he was constant thorn in the side of the company. Though Michael Hayes is candid with the exact truth that with Vince Russo the ship sunk faster, the segment can’t be saved because it shouldn’t be here because it means nothing to history. To add insult to injury, as the camera pans around the collected WCW roster, you will never have seen a weaker group of talent in your entire life.

‘Chucky’ (44) (October 12th 1998) is one of those double take moments, as the Chucky Doll from the ‘Child’s Play’ movies makes an appearance on Nitro to confront Rick Steiner who was said to have been afraid of the doll as a child. Yeah...I know. I won’t go into the angle now because just for you lucky people WWE have decided to include it in its entirety on the main release so you can read about it elsewhere in this blog, but to say it was completely pitiable is an understatement. Talking head Billy Kidman is jovial in his criticism of the angle, rightly so, before relaying to us that the doll got more backstage heat than anyone of the time because it had more television time than most of the talent. Correctly labelling the angle as ‘rotten’ Billy Kidman is substituted for Justin Roberts, who moronically says that if there’s one match you want to see its Rick Steiner vs Chucky. And to think, this is the booking team TNA entrusted with its product. Not so much an ‘Oh My God’ moment than an ‘Oh Why God?’

‘La Parka’ (42) (July 7th 1997) is another useless moment in WCW history as it chronicles not an incident which will live long in memory, but rather Diamond Dallas Page dressing up as La Parka and defeating Randy Savage. Had it been the original La Parka, then maybe it would have stood the test, but a far superior rated wrestler? Not a chance. Terry Taylor ridiculously describes La Parka as a ‘huge star’ when he was nothing of the sort and whilst the angle may have been a little surprising at the time but seventeen years later, it fails to bring about that factor supposedly needed to qualify for an inclusion on the release.

‘Jericho’s Challenge’ (40) (November 9th 1998) intends to focus on the rivalry between Chris Jericho and Goldberg, culminating in the supposed OMG moment of Goldberg spearing Chris Jericho in the aisle, but it spends more time focusing on Chris Jericho’s rotund and old security guard Ralphus and Y2J’s small rivalry with Gillberg as portrayed by Duane Gill. Is this really what WWE believe qualifies as in incident? Because to my mind, a real incident is either an unplanned happening or one so cleverly devised that it makes you stand up in shock and awe; this, my fair minions, isn’t anywhere near. Because quite simply the culmination was expected. Chris Jericho as talking head takes credit for the angle which is nothing to be proud of, quite simply, in his own words, because WCW had nothing for him to do but the parts where Chris Jericho touches upon Goldberg’s legit backstage fury that Gillberg made him a laughing stock is at least mildly interesting.

‘Helicopter’ (38) (March 15th 1998) isn’t much of an inclusion in neither depth nor length and highlights one of Sting’s greatest entrances from a helicopter to the floating ring. That’s it, except the talking head who bores about helicopter technology and there’s nothing here about how or why or how Sting felt about it.

‘Forklift Match’ (37) (August 13th 2000) looks at Judy Bagwell being placed on a forklift as a prize for the winner of the banal bout between Buff Bagwell and Kanyon. They really were scraping the bottom of the barrel towards the very end. Cody Rhodes strikes again with the comment, “Judy Bagwell is a legend” before, to his credit, adding “for all the wrong reasons.” If my honest opinion is required then it’s a steaming pile of horse shit which isn’t welcome on this or any release and I would be very interested to know how it made the cut. If Bagwell’s mother wasn’t enough to put you off, then the inclusion of actor David Arquette, who would be responsible for one the most ridiculous moments in wrestling history, at the ending of the bout is completely brainless.

‘Demolition’ (35) (September 27th 1999) doesn’t hub on one particular occurrence, rather a collection of them centring around Sycho Sid and his time in the promotion. Not one talking head has anything positive to say about Vicious, who was well past his prime if he ever had one, by the time 1999 rolled around. Teddy Long calls him dumb whilst Michael Hayes points out one of Sid’s biggest flaws on the mic and not being able to speak just once without getting the words wrong. Admittedly, it’s mildly amusing as is the footage of a tenth of the Sid vs Goldberg feud where Goldberg crushes Sid’s car. His reaction is desperately poor but humorous at the same time, whilst Gene Okerlund keeps the laughs coming with the quote, “You get what you get”. Had this been replaced with Sid breaking his leg on live television in one of the most revolting and sickening moments in WCW history which did deserve an inclusion, then it would have been another step in the right direction.

‘Electric Chair’ (34) (October 27th 1991) revolves around the tiresome Chamber of Horrors match which was the pits and the fake electrocution of Abdullah the Butcher in the electric chair which was at the centre of the cage match and was used to win the bout when one team forced one member of the opposing squad into the electric chair and pulled the lever, electrocuting said person. As he is in so many other segments here, Jim Ross is the highlight but even his witty comments which have gotten a lot braver since he was fired by the company last year, can’t save this travesty. “There’s some stuff in my memory which I purposely suppress and this is one of them” says Ross and he’s right. Even the footage shows how stupendously bad the match actually was using lights and sound effects to make it seem as if Abdullah the Butcher was being electrocuted. For more on the bout see below. William Regal has a hard time keeping a straight face when describing the moment as entertaining before the release immediately cuts back to Jim Ross who utters the phrase; “it was terrible...it was terrible” with all the respect he can muster. Good old J.R ends the segment with another chuckle, telling the audience that if they watch the bout they do so at their own risk. Maybe this does deserve an inclusion for the ‘Oh My God why are they doing this?’ factor, but WWE do nothing to hype its appearance or why it should be here.

‘Movie Magic’ (33) (June 1993) is a complete banal and infuriating few minutes which look at the utterly repugnant short movies Dusty Rhodes made, filmed, directed and edited in his second stint as WCW booker. You have to see them, to know how bad they truly are but don’t worry, across the release there’s plenty of footage for you to throw up at. Incredibly, talking head Vader relays how much he enjoyed filming them before Dusty Rhodes gleefully takes the credit for the content will make you want to scratch out your eyes. Cody Rhodes seems to believe its something to be proud of when he says that his father has never treated wrestling like professional wrestling and more like sports entertainment, god only knows why but to his credit, Dusty Rhodes does admit their shortcomings by saying they were “pretty honky” but at the time they were ‘Gone With the Wind’ in his mind. The only reason they should be here is for the shock factor they ever existed.

‘Human Torch’ (30) (June 11th 2000) may have been a worthy inclusion had it not been sabotaged fourteen years earlier when it was actually perpetrated. Looking at the Human Torch Match between Sting and Vampiro at that year’s Great American Bash event, the segment focuses on Sting being set alight at the very summit of the titan tron and plunging nearly fifty feet to a crash mat below. In theory, it’s a stunner of an idea but in practice it never really came off. Anyone with, let’s say...eyes...can tell the man plunging isn’t Sting but in fact a stuntman wearing a Sting mask and wig. It kind of kills the moment; otherwise this would have been a great inclusion. Cody Rhodes sums up the feeling of the audience with a sigh and “That’s all I can say!” Both Gene Okerlund and Tony Schiavone completely mark out by talking as if the incident was real. There’s nothing of value here.

‘Russo Wins the WCW World Title’ (28) (September 25th 2000) is portrayed as an accident, when Goldberg spears him through the cage instead of Booker T and Vince Russo is the first man to touch the floor, but in reality it was a bloody foolish decision, though only for three days, brought about by a desperate need to win some support back in the ratings. Though Vince Russo tries to justify the decision by saying that you have to throw a tyre iron into the works and change things up otherwise you’d have the same show every week, taking the main prize away from a top tier talent was completely unacceptable. WWE rarely ever make dumb decisions to this level and survive week in and week out, it’s no excuse. Cody Rhodes disappoints me here with the line; “it wasn’t the end of the world. Wrestling purists act like its sacrilege.” It was and I thought Cody was savvier than that. Obviously I’m going to have to revise my opinion of him. Thankfully, Arn Anderson is on the ball and verbalizes his belief on Russo winning the gold with; “I don’t know if you would call it self deprecating humour on his part!”An OMG moment? Partly! Had this been a momentous title change from talent to talent, it would have been worthy.

‘Chest Protector’ (27) (March 29th 1999) stands as more of a storyline advancement than an OMG moment, and therefore shouldn’t have even been considered when compiling this release. There’s a theoretical prize for anyone who can tell me what’s so OMG about using a chest protector to stop the Spear hurting you, as anyone with brains would have done this a long time ago had they been permitted by the company. It’s complete rubbish and it’s a toss up as to what’s more painful, the inclusion or Natalya’s narration of it.

‘Finger Poke of Doom’ (25) (January 4th 1999) could be one of the worst endings to a wrestling match the company ever booked and that’s against some tough opposition. Basically what we have here is Hulk Hogan poking Kevin Nash, who then drops to the canvas and allows Hulk Hogan to pin him. In a WCW World Heavyweight Championship match, this kind of behaviour is just despicable. Rather than an edge of your seat OMG moment, it serves as more of an ‘Oh My God why did they ever bother booking that?’ Arn Anderson looks suitably disgusted when recalling the skirmish and rightly states that the audience come first and they have a right to be entertained, before voicing that the bout was hyped for weeks as the match of the century but ended up being a popcorn fart. As Kevin Nash’s brain child, Chris Jericho is openly critical of Nash and says that he’d like WWE to interview the man in question because they didn’t book that for any other reason than they believed it would be a fun thing to do. Kevin Nash is interviewed but doesn’t seem to see anything wrong with the ending in question. Moronically, Jimmy Hart tries to stick up for the angle, naturally seeing as it involved his friend Hulk Hogan, by asking what the pair were meant to do, “have a twenty minute match and shake hands at the end?” Yes Jimmy, others have. At least Hulk Hogan has the sense to say it was off base.

‘Lost in Cleveland’ (22) (April 1993) are the painful set of videos which aired when Cactus Jack was powerbombed on the concrete by Vader and supposedly lost his memory. Seeing Cactus being the defender of the homeless somewhere in Cleveland was painful and they weren’t that well written either for which Dusty Rhodes has to take the blame seeing he’s the one who penned them. God only knows what the thought process behind this was but Mick Foley says he thought it was a ridiculous concept until they offered him a fully paid four weeks off to film the small episodic videos. The acting in them just repellent but the segment does end with Foley admitting it was all horrible.

‘Stir Crazy’ (21) (April 1999) is the wholly forgettable storyline which saw Ric Flair take over presidency of the company and then go insane with power. This is another of those segments which has to be seen to be believed, just because of how nauseating it was. Ending up with Ric Flair in a mental institution and being carted away by men in white coats, before Flair parties in the asylum with the inmate the entire this is abhorrent. Thankfully, Arn Anderson’s comments help turn this in at least right direction when he says that Ric Flair is genuinely insane and that there are people locked up saner than Ric. It shouldn’t be on this countdown.

‘Piñata’ (20) (November 15th 1999) looks at the ridiculously stipulated Piñata on a Pole Match which was a good cruiserweight clash but the stipulation brought it down to the level of a dumb time filler which meant nothing to anyone. As you can probably guess, the rules stated that the winner would be the first man to smash open the piñata and retrieve the contents for which Billy Kidman refers to as “just horrible”. To add to the outlandish nature of the bout, the piñata didn’t even stay on its perch and fell mid-way through the bout. The Jim Ross impersonator is an offense to humanity as he even stoops so low as to mimic Ross’ collapsed lip as a result of Bells Palsy.

‘Masked Luchador’ (19) (May 17th 1998) may have been a surprise on the night as Dean Malenko unveiled himself as Cy-clo-pe at the end of the battle royal and challenged Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight title, continuing their feud which had been on ice since Malenko left the company months before, but all these years later I doubt anyone can truly call this an OMG moment. For one, you could just tell who was in the suit as it made sense to carry on the feud and to make it worse; talking head Dean Malenko describes it as a shocking moment.  Next, please.

‘Parking Lot Mess’ (18) (July 29th 1996) sees Scott Hall and Kevin Nash invading Nitro backstage and leaving talent lying. What I will say, is that at the time, it could have been mistaken for a shocking moment but shouldn’t WCW have really expected this? After all, Hall and Nash were an invading force, if extra security isn’t called for at that time then when is it? The footage proves this fake because if it was a real ambush, Hall and Nash wouldn’t take apart the defending roster with predetermined wrestling moves and would have used something more organic and unprofessional looking. The whole things screams of ‘fixed’ and it shows though the talent sell the beating well. To add to the lunacy and make this moment seem as if it was a shoot, Cody Rhodes, a man who grew up around wrestling and knew the ins and outs of the industry as a child says that he remembers phoning Dusty to ask if everyone was ok. Give me a break.

‘The Worm’ (12) (March 16th 1997) focuses on Dennis Rodman’s association with WCW and the NWO. Dennis Rodman was much like Mr. T. He did a good job the first time he was required to wrestle but quickly outstayed his welcome. Wrestling had many links to celebrities but here the company try to make out Rodman was the first. I’ll give them credit for interviewing Dennis Rodman but it goes nowhere, even Hulk Hogan’s explanation as to how he met Dennis is so brief that he could have just made it up on the fly. Another segment just included on a release to prove wrestling has the desired appeal to reach a celebrity audience.

‘Parody’ (11) (September 1st 1997) first shows us Arn Anderson’s retirement speech before cutting to a week later when the NWO parody the speech with Kevin Nash dressed as Arn Anderson. It’s not shocking, it’s not particularly funny and in no way does it conform to the OMG category of the title. That this moment is ranked higher than Terry Funk’s heel turn on Ric Flair shows just how little WWE’s current crop of employees known about the wrestling industry. Anyone who this is a shocking moment let alone one which trumps 1989’s fine attack shouldn’t be a wrestling fan. I think it’s time we began to vet these people. Arn Anderson says that it was the moment he left the wrestling industry but that’s a plain lie since he’s still working as a road agent today whilst William Regal has the cheek to call it entertaining.

‘Scaffold’ (6) (November 27th 1986) is an entry which I can see why it exists on the countdown but doesn’t have the same OMG factor other happenings at the same time did. What we basically have here is Jim Cornette falling from the scaffolding after The Road Warriors defeat The Midnight Express in the same match. It’s a painful fall and once which did him legit damage but this was completely expected. There’s at least some information about the match provided by Arn Anderson when he says The Midnight Express didn’t even want to compete in this bout and that Ray Traylor was meant to catch Cornette but didn’t, but it’s really not enough to warrant an inclusion.

The Road Warriors vs The Midnight Express (Starrcade 1986, November 27th 1986) is a dud, even though the audience seem to display a big fight feel. As if the notion of a match on scaffolding wasn’t dumb enough, how the company ever expected anyone to perform is worse. It takes The Midnight Express an age to get up to the platform where they exchange a banal amount of punches and kicks with Animal and Hawk because it’s the only thing that can be done. The only time tension is to be had here is when they hang from the bottom of the scaffold where Dennis Condrey can be seen talking Hawk through what comes next. The only reason this bout is included here is to show Jim Cornette falling from the scaffold in full, but they’d already done that with the clips in the countdown. There was no need to inflict this upon us.

‘The Return of Robocop’ (Capital Combat, May 19th 1990) is the complete segment featured on the countdown in which Robocop saves Sting from a rigged jail cell which he was put into by The Four Horsemen. When I was a child, this was a brilliant angle but now I’m older and can see the bogus nature of the angle, it really hasn’t stood the test of time. Sting’s false imprisonment is hokey and the bars which Robocop tear apart to free him, after taking an age to get to ‘The Stinger’, are quite obviously rigged and foam. Sting’s reaction will make you cringe in your seat whilst The Four Horsemen retreating from the man-machine look weak and feeble. If you must watch this, then do so on your own. You won’t want anyone else to witness this claptrap.

Sting, The Steiner Brothers and El Gigante vs Big Van Vader, The Diamond Studd, Cactus Jack and Abdullah the Butcher (Halloween Havoc 1991, October 27th 1991) is the preposterous Chamber of Horrors Match which will be etched on your memory forever and not in a good way. That WCW threw eight men into a very small cage is ridiculous enough, but then when they compress the space the eight have to work in even more by landing the electric chair in the middle, there’s no hope anyone can do anything of consequence. El Gigante, Abdullah the Butcher and The Diamond Studd are ineffectual whilst Vader, Sting, The Steiner Brothers and Cactus Jack are restrained by the lack of space. No one does anything of note and the only point of interest is the disastrous finale where Abdullah the Butcher gets electrocuted by Cactus Jack because Jack supposedly isn’t watching what he’s doing. The flashing lights, sound effects and Abdullah doing his best electrified impression are laughable and embarrassing at the same time. The less said about the aftermath where he stands up like nothing has happened and fights his way to the back is just ludicrous.

Dustin Rhodes vs The Blacktop Bully (Uncensored, March 19th 1995) has to be one of the most ridiculous match concepts WCW ever came up with. Locking Rhodes and Bully into a tractor trailer heading down the highway at over fifty miles an hour and expecting them to contest a gripping encounter is a firing decision for offenses against wrestling. Dusty Rhodes, we’re looking at you my friend. To make matters worse, the King of the Road match designation doesn’t even make sense. How does blowing a horn at the summit of the trailer make you a king of the road? It’s just ridiculous. Dustin and Bully stumble around the trailer like two old drunks on Friday night before hitting each other with hay and moves on hay which they’re forced to sell as if they’ve been dropped on steel. It’s embarrassing, completely cringe worthy and fifteen minutes of your life which you could spend doing something worthwhile. Don’t forget, I watch these things so you don’t have to.

Hulk Hogan vs The Giant (Halloween Havoc, October 29th 1995) in a Sumo Monster Truck Match is the first of two encounters the pair have on the night and release. Both are included here. With the ruling stating the first man to force his opponents monster tuck out of the circle a predetermined number of times wins the bout and yes, it is as monotonous as it sounds unless you like sumo wrestling or monster trucks. The most impressive part of the whole angle is after the pair contest a brawl on the rooftop which sends The Giant plummeting from the edge supposedly into the sea of parking lot according to the commentators. I will admit however, that Hulk Hogan’s monster truck is quite brilliant. The way they sculpted the WCW World Heavyweight Championship onto the front and his arms coming down each side is really impressive, sadly, that’s all that is. Bobby Heenan proves how much he’s lost his knack after joining WCW with the assertion, “This is exciting!”

Hulk Hogan vs The Giant (Halloween Havoc, October 29th 1995) is the second and final contest between the pair which occurs minutes after The Giant’s fall and wouldn’t you know it, he wanders out as if nothing has happened. He’s neither bleeding nor wet and Bobby Heenan’s previous assertion that if someone fell into the river it would take weeks to find them proves utter rubbish. I will give Bobby Heenan credit though for at least trying to explain The Giant’s presence by posing the question of whether the roof was layered when the other commentators just don’t bother to react like they should have done, opining the simple reason for The Giant not being dead is that he is “more than human”. The match itself is rotten to the core, and even though he’s fought bigger and stronger monsters in Andre the Giant, Hogan acts scared which he doesn’t use his minor acting ability to convey and looks like he’s trying to negotiate a tricky dump. Slow, plodding and completely uninteresting the bout only comes to audience’s attentions at the conclusion when Jimmy Hart turns heel on Hogan before The Giant hugs his opponent and awaits The Yeti. If you’ve ever wanted to see seven foot plus man wrapped in mummy bandages acting like he’s possessed then you’ll lap this shit up, if not, you have to see this just for the hilarity of the moment when The Yeti climbs into the ring and begins to dry hump Hulk Hogan from behind. It’s so bad; it’s actually watchable if you fast forward the entirety of the match.

Randy Savage vs La Parka (Nitro, July 7th 1997) highlights the contest in which Diamond Dallas Page dresses up as La Parka just to get a victory over Randy Savage and that is the most interesting things about this slothful outing. Lasting merely minutes, neither man has a chance to do anything meaningful but then had the match lasted long than ten minutes, fans would have begun to guess it was a faux Parka because DDP couldn’t complete the arsenal La Parka brought with him to the company.

‘NWO Parody The Four Horsemen’ (Nitro, September 1st 1997) was meant to be funny when booked by Kevin Nash prior to the event but turns out to be a chore and deeply tedious. Parodying Arn Anderson’s retirement speech is highly disrespectful and when Kevin Nash calls ‘Double A’ a man with limited talent you can’t help but laugh because many said the same thing about Nash. It’s a tough piece to get through with the failed humour, but the NWO persist regardless when it would have been better to wrap up the angle early and head for the bar. I will admit, Sean Waltman is funny as Ric Flair.

‘Chucky Interrupts Rick Steiner’ (Nitro, October 12th 1998) is a senseless and painful segment which wouldn’t be believable to a two year old let alone fully grown men and women who paid good money to see the advancement of The Steiner Brother feud. In a failed attempt to recreate the Doink the Clown 1993 Survivor Series moment, Chucky pours out so much crap that you could be forgiven for thinking his mouth is a garbage shoot and he gets the customary jeers for plugging his movie on a wrestling show. Rick Steiner looks utterly off his rocker when he challenges a doll to a fight though those who saw him wrestle in his later years will know that he stood a better chance of looking decent against someone who couldn’t fight back than someone who could think for themselves. Though knowing WCW, Chucky would have probably gone over.

‘Vince Russo Hits the Reset Button’ (Nitro, April 10th 2000) rolls out as dull, lifeless and a signpost of where the company would end up less than one year later. What you’re basically watching is Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff standing amongst some of the weakest talent roster anywhere in history berating the WWE for not keeping Vince Russo on, he actually has the cheek to say Vince McMahon’s writers weren’t in his league when in 2000 WWE’s staff writers regularly churned out exciting, gripping and must see television opposed to Russo’s mindless, crappy and illogical product which helped flush the promotion. When naming the people who left for WWE, the company have notably edited out Chris Benoit’s name in another pathetic attempt to eradicate him from history before Vince Russo says that WCW is entering a brand new dawn when surrounded by wrestlers like Van Hammer, Jeff Jarrett, Virgil and Brian Knobbs who has a championship draped over his should. It’s long, pointless and a desperate effort to gain more viewers by trying to add intrigue to the product by stripping all champions of their gold.

Sting vs Vampiro (The Great American Bash 2000, June 11th 2000) is the Human Torch Match which is complete garbage. The pair spends little time in the ring before Sting gets doused in petrol and they fight up the aisle and to the top of the titan tron. Vampiro tried to come off as scary and demented but I have a little tip for him. If you’re trying to carry off the mentally unstable character who values neither, safety, friend nor family then take off your wedding ring before go to the ring. It really kills the image. As the pair trades some banal offence at the very summit of the Titan Tron its clear than when the lights go out and come back on, Sting has swapped with a stuntman who is wearing a wig and mask and disguised by the flickering lights, before being set on fire and plunging from the peak. The amount of fire extinguisher spray they use to cover the stuntman so people don’t see it’s not the real Sting is ridiculous.

Kevin Nash vs Jeff Jarrett (The Great American Bash 2000, June 11th 2000) doesn’t have enough about it to hold anyone’s interest. Both Nash and Jarrett have had their time in wrestling by this point and have nothing more to offer the business. Filled with lame distractions including an abundance of interference from the outside, this match is so hard to get into and so predictable that you can see where it’s going before it reaches its final destination. It shows Rey Mysterio without his mask, that’ll annoy him, and you can hear Kevin Nash shout ‘Oh Fuck’ when trapped in a Figure Four which goes on way too long. Goldberg’s presence at the end is also predictable; when he takes an age to line Jeff Jarrett up for a spear you know his intended target is Kevin Nash in a not so surprising heel turn.

Kanyon vs Buff Bagwell (New Blood Rising, August 13th 2000) in a Judy Bagwell on a Forklift Match just added to the madness running wild within the company at the time. Judy Bagwell acts as if she’s cared to be on the forklift on entry which is a foot off of the ground and easily escapable as are her bonds if she was that scared, whilst the match is beyond dreary right up until its finale which does boast some nice near falls, one or two inventive moves from Kanyon and a great Double Blockbuster on Kanyon and David Arquette who the commentators maddeningly refer to “One of the legends of the pro wrestling game!” Looking at this, it’s no wonder Vince McMahon scrapped ideas to rebrand Raw as ‘WCW Raw’ once he purchased the company. On this evidence, it would have sunk the most successful episodic wrestling show in history and cost McMahon hundreds of millions of dollars.

Booker T vs Vince Russo (Nitro, September 25th 2000) is a car crash which takes place inside WCW’s rip off of the Hell in a Cell structure. In the countdown, Vince Russo describes his WCW World Heavyweight Championship victory as something which was needed just to draw more viewers in. If that was the case, there was no reason whatsoever for Russo to have so much offence and even though the ending would look like a mistake on Goldberg’s part, spearing Russo through the cage for the victory, it would have made more sense for Russo to be decimated by Booker T before winning the bout.

Blu-ray Exclusive Extras:

WCW Slamboree – May 17th 1998
Cruiserweight Battle Royal

WCW Bash at the Beach – July 11th 1999
Junkyard Invitational Battle Royal Match

WCW Monday Nitro – November 15th 1999
Piñata on a Pole Match
Silver King vs Juventud Guerrera vs El Dandy vs Psychosis vs Villano V

WCW Slamboree – May 7th 2000
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Ready to Rumble Cage Match
David Arquette vs Diamond Dallas Page vs Jeff Jarrett

WCW Fall Brawl – September 17th 2000
WCW United States Championship Match
Lance Storm vs General Rection

Conclusion:

‘OMG Vol 2! The Top 50 Incidents in WCW History’ is a release of two halves which will do different things for different fans. Newer supporters who have no real knowledge of the company or just how ridiculous they could get at times will garner a lot from this release whilst stalwarts who have lived through this once will want to think twice before shelling out big money on this DVD or Blu-ray as it contains some of the very worst angles the promotion ever came up with which long time fans will have tried to erase from their memories. With more bad than good to be had from the two and a bit hour countdown as well as the matches and angles included in full, WWE would have been better advised to strip this release of the moments which do belong here and replace them all with some more of the worst angles World Championship Wrestling ever produced and labelling it, ‘OMG Vol 2! The 50 Dumbest Moments in WCW History’; it’s not like they were short of material.

Though the countdown which makes up the main body of the release runs for a respectable two hours and thirteen minutes, its largely ineffective thanks to WWE giving us no indication as to how the incidents in question were chosen or why. Supposedly, the majority of them were meant to conform to the OMG category yet at least seventy percent of those chosen for inclusion fall so far short it’s puzzling why WWE even put them on. It’s possible the company literally did run out of OMG moments to include after the basics were covered and slung anything which hadn’t already been released from their video library onto the media outlet. The company would have been much better served holding a poll on WWE. Com and allowing us to choose the moments and running order, at least that way we wouldn’t have had cause to complain about the material. It would have all seemed a lot more genuine had WWE been able to boast at the beginning of the release; ‘This compilation was chosen by the WWE Universe.’

On the subject of was omitted in favour of sheer junk, it doesn’t take a master of wrestling to come up with at least five inclusions which should have replaced crap such as the ‘Piñata on a Pole’ or ‘Chucky Interrupts Rick Steiner’ fiascos. Just sitting down to watch the release I managed to come up with a bucket load including Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan’s WCW debuts, Bret Hart’s career ending concussion at the hands of Goldberg, the Mike Awesome debut whilst still recognized as ECW Champion, DX invading WCW, Mr. Perfect slamming the cage door in the head of Ric Flair and joining the NWO, Chris Benoit defeating Sid for the Championship and then vacating it to join WWE as well as Paul Orndorff and Vader’s real life backstage scuffle which was the source of much discussion and heat at the time, to name just a few. As far as the matches and angles go, none of us would have moaned had WWE taken some of the worst angles from the worst moments of the countdown and replaced them with Sting vs Ric Flair from the final Nitro, Ron Simmons vs Big Van Vader and Terry Funk’s heel turn in full. I’m sure you can all think up twenty more moments which I don’t have room for here.

As is usual with these box set releases, the talking heads vary from interesting to pitiful. The likes of The Miz, John Cena and Brodus Clay add nothing to the set as a whole and have fleeting appearances instead of keeping said moments they do appear confined to those who actually lived through them, whilst people like Summer Rae and Justin Roberts should never be allowed near a release again. Then there are the joyous talking heads which elevate some of these moments from pathetic to lively and rescue certain angles which shouldn’t have been here in the first place. William Regal provides some brilliant laughs whilst Jim Ross is the outright highlight with his wit and humour which will make you cry with laughter. Other talking heads dip in and out of the release, which appears to have been filmed over one year as Daniel Bryan, Booker T and Kevin Nash have at least three different hair cuts. To WWE’s credit, there is a lot of truth surrounding the included segments which the company could have cut completely to rescue kayfabe.

With more volumes planned before the end of 2015, most notably ‘OMG Volume 3! The Top 50 Incidents in ECW History’, the lack of quality surrounding the second volume is worrying. If WWE bigwigs can’t picks and choose what is good and bad here, then what makes them think they can make future volumes a success? If they can get it right next time around then this series of releases can go for as long as the company need it to. You could have the Top 50 Incidents in Raw History, Smackdown History, Nitro History, WWE Pay-Per View History, WCW Pay-Per View History, WrestleMania History, Royal Rumble History, SummerSlam History and Survivor Series history to name just a few. But the balance has to be right otherwise what happened here will happen over and over again.

In the end, WWE have fallen short this time around which is infuriating seeing as they got it so right with ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, My Name is Paul Heyman’. Incidents such as this should be memorable enough so as not to forget them immediately after they happened and have some type of bearing on wrestling history. Not enough of them do and that makes this release appear as if it’s just been thrown together without any real thought, to earn a quick dollar for WWE. The good moments here have largely been seen elsewhere a number of times which makes them unimportant whilst the rest is largely forgettable.

Because of its appeal to different fans ‘WWE OMG Vol 2! The Top 50 Incidents in WCW History’ gets two separate ratings, but honestly, I can’t bring myself to tell you to spend the full asking price out unless you really are desperate to see some of the worst wrestling which ever existed. I understand that Freemantle will have at least some sort of Christmas sale when the holiday season approaches. You’d be well advised to wait until it’s reduced and buy it then, especially with better things to spend your hard earned cash on.

Rating For Long Time Fans: C
Rating For New Fans: B

Next Time in Review Corner: WWE Brothers of Destruction Greatest Matches DVD and Blu-Ray

Onwards and upwards...