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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jan 1, 2009 1:07:12 GMT -5
Here’s a DVD review to ring out 2008 and ring in 2009: Edge: A Decade Of Decadence 3-Disc DVD Throughout the year, I’ve been pondering this question in my mind: Edge, great wrestler or the Greatest Wrestler Of All Time? I mean, sure he is great. But, does Edge deserve the title of the Greatest!? Should he be in the company of Muhammad Ali, Jack Nicklaus, Michael Jordan, Babe Ruth, and others? I mean, he does have an impressive resume: 11 time WWF/E World Tag Team Champion with 4 different partners (Christian (7), Chris Benoit (2), Randy Orton (1), and Hulk Hogan (1)) 1 time WWE Tag Team Champion with Rey Mysterio 5 time WWF/E Intercontinental Champion 1 time WCW United States Champion 3 time World Heavyweight Champion 3 time WWE Champion 2001 King Of The Ring First man to win the Money In The Bank Ladder Match and to win it from another competitor Slammy Award Winner for Couple Of The Year with his wife Vickie Guerrero Edge or Copeland or whatever he last name would be now. 14th Triple Crown Winner The stats don’t lie! The man has done practically done it all! But, is it enough to make him the Greatest. I mean, there’s more to being the Greatest than just stats! You also need charisma, poise, intelligence, ruthlessness, skills, talent, good looks, and a nice smile. He has all this, but to be able to show this in the spotlight, with millions of people watching…does he have it? If only I had someway to judge Edge’s greatness! Oh wait! I do! WWE has released a 3 disc set showing the highlights of Edge’s first decade with the company. Sure, there is no documentary, but that can wait until the end of this career. He’s in his prime. So, we shouldn’t give him a send off but a celebration of who he is and how he got to the top! And, here it is: The DVD begins with Edge introducing himself, even though he doesn’t really need any introduction. If you don’t know who Edge is, then you’re a chumpstain!!!! Then, we get a little vignette on Edge struggles in the business before making it to the WWF. After that comes the first match: 1. Edge VS Owen Hart – Breakdown, September 27, 1998. Ah, Edge’s first gimmick: the silent loner. It was a cool gimmick and made stood out. However, Edge proved that he was too good on the mic to be silent for long. Anyway, the match is fantastic. You can really see that Edge has all the tools to one day become a World Champion. And, Owen Hart is in top form as well. Plus, it has an appearance from Christian!!!! All in all this match was a great start to what is shaping up to be a great DVD for an undoubtedly great man. 10/10. (Though, you non-Edgeheads would probably give it a 7/10.) 2. Terri Invitational Tournament-Ladder Match for $100,000 and the managerial services of Terri Runnels: Edge and Christian vs The New Brood(The Hardy Boyz) – No Mercy, October 17, 1999. Now, we move on to one of the greatest times in Edge’s career: his tag team days with Christian. Those two guys totally reeked of awesomeness! They held the WWF World Tag Team Titles 7 times and beat chumpstains left and right! They beat teams as easily as they drank soda. By the way, SODAS RULE!!!! This also features one of their main rivals: those dastardly Hardy Boyz! Anyway, this match also set a benchmark for other ladder matches to follow it. The Hardys and Edge and Christian did things in this match that hadn't been done before in ladder matches. However, since then, other ladder matches have overshadowed this one, but it is still a very great match. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would have to agree this is a good match, but you all would probably rank it 9/10 simply because you don’t like Edge. I HATE YOU ALL!!!!) Then, we get a little preview for our next match: 3. Triangle Ladder Match For The WWF World Tag Team Titles: Edge And Christian VS The Hardy Boyz VS The Dudley Boyz – WrestleMania 2000, April 2, 2000. This is one of my favorite matches of all time. It was one of the few highlights of an otherwise miserable WrestleMania 2000. I was upset this match didn’t make it onto the Ladder Match DVD from last year, but WWE has made up for it by putting it on this one. This was an incredible match. All six men in the match were making their WrestleMania debuts, and they certainly cemented their legacy by putting their bodies on the line and putting on a classic. It was just a wonderful match with many cool spots. 10/10. (Even you non-Edgeheads would have to give this a 10/10; if not, then you’re just jealous.) Before I go on to the next match, I have one complaint: there’s not enough Edge and Christian! I mean, only two matches! C’mon, WWE! These guys were the greatest tag team of all time! They totally reeked of awesomeness! You could have at least put on one or two more! Anyway, on to the next match: 4. Intercontinental Title Match: Edge VS Lance Storm – SummerSlam, August 19, 2001. Now, this is a contrast of styles: the cool, cockiness of Edge VS the focused, seriousness of Lance Storm. But, these styles were able to come together and put on a great match. Plus, you could see Edge’s skills getting better, doing some things that Owen Hart did to him in the first match. 10/10 (8/10 for you non-Edgeheads.) 5. Intercontinental Title/United States Title Unification Match: Edge VS Test – Survivor Series, November 18, 2001. Edge VS Test!? This must have been a cake walk to Edge! I mean, Test!? That chumpstain! PLEASE!!!! Though, I was amazed that Test was able to get in some offense. I guess being in the presence of greatness made Test step up his game. Though, Edge was still able to pass the Test and unify the Intercontinental and United States Titles. Yes, it wasn’t for long, but he still did it! 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would give this a 7/10, and I hope it was mainly for Test.) Next, Edge returns! He talks about how beating Test ended his “Best Supporting Actor” days, and it’s true because after that Edge went on to face legends like Mr. Perfect, Kurt Angle, and Eddie Guerrero and even partnered with Hulk Hogan. But, don’t take my word for it: 6. Edge VS Mr. Perfect – Sunday Night Heat, March 3, 2002. SUNDAY NIGHT HEAT!!!!? This match took place on HEAT!!!!? WHAT!? No, no, no! This should have been on PPV or RAW or SmackDown! at the very least. To make matters worse, the commentators are Tazz and Coach. UGH! WWE should have brought Gordon Solie back from the dead to commentate this match! I mean, one of the greatest in the game and Mr. Perfect wrestling, and you waste this on Heat with Coach and Tazz on commentary! For shame, WWE! FOR SHAME!!!! Anyway, this was a great short match. In fact, I would say it was the Greatest Match In The History Of Heat!!!! 10/10. (Non-Edgeheads would give it a 6/10.) 7. Hair VS Hair Match: Edge VS Kurt Angle – Judgment Day, May 19, 2002. I admire Edge’s bravery in putting his golden locks on the line against the likes of Kurt Angle. I mean, Kurt won the Olympic Gold Medals in wrestling; and he did it with a BROKEN FREAKIN’ NECK!!!! Truly, Edge knows no fear. It’s not in his vocabulary. He probably doesn’t even know how to pronounce the word. Not only that but also Edge holds his own and beats Kurt Angle, making him the bald man we all know and love today. This was a great match made even greater due to the fact that Edge saved his lovely hair from the barber’s shears and actually shaved Angle bald. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would give it an 8/10, mainly for your precious Kurt Angle. YOU PEOPLE MAKE ME SICK!!!!) 8. Steel Cage Match: Edge VS Kurt Angle – SmackDown!, May 30, 2002. Edge showing no fear again, this time facing Kurt Angle inside of a steel cage! Of course, Angle was wearing that ridiculous wig he wore because of losing the previous match. Edge comes through again, despite being bloodied and Angle escaping the cage when the referee was down. This match also features an appearance from Hulk Hogan and the Hart Family. It’s got it all!!!! 10/10. (8/10 from the non-Edgeheads.) 9. WWE World Tag Team Title Match: Edge and Hulk Hogan VS Billy And Chuck – SmackDown!, July 4, 2002. Now, this is amazing: Edge and Hulk Hogan teaming together. I mean, it must have been an honor to team with one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. I’m sure Hulk Hogan was quite proud to be teaming with Edge. He must have been on cloud nine teaming with Edge, a man who idolized Hogan, in a match for the WWE World Tag Team Titles. Anyway, this was a great tag match. With Billy and Chuck, you might even say that it was FABULOUS!!!! 10/10. (7/10 from the non-Edgeheads.) 10. Edge VS Eddie Guerrero – Unforgiven, September 22, 2002. It’s fitting that the Rated R Superstar would wrestle in L.A. Yeah, I know this match took place before Edge started using that nickname! It’s still fitting! Anyway, Latino Heat and the Rated R Superstar put on a fantastic match. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would probably give it a 7/10.) That’s all the matches on Disc 1, but it does have a special feature: The Totally Awesome Best Of Edge And Christian! It’s 5 minutes of some of Edge and Christian’s best promos and 5 second poses for the benefit of flash photography! I’m amazed they only put 5 minutes when that could easily have been a whole disc! In some way, this does make up for the lack of awesome Edge and Christian matches, though there still could have been more! I mean, you can never get enough of Edge and Christian!!!! Well, that ends Disc 1. Onto Disc 2: I’m gonna start off with the special features on this disc. On Disc 2, it was two special matches with Edge and Matt Striker on commentary: Adam Copeland VS Christian – Cornwall, Ontario, November 10, 1997. This is a dark match in which we see a young Edge, before he even was Edge, wrestling against his future partner Christian. Basically, both of these guys were showing off what they could do. You can easily see that both of these guys going to become huge stars, especially Edge. Hell, they were getting the crowd to cheer for them even though those people didn’t know who they were. Truly, a mark of greatness. Plus, you get to hear Edge doing commentary and giving insight about where he was and what he will eventually become. 10/10. (This would rank a 7/10 from you non-Edgeheads.) Intercontinental Title Match: Edge VS Jeff Jarrett – Toronto, Ontario, July 24, 1999. This is when Edge won his first Intercontinental Title in his hometown of Toronto, the day before Fully Loaded 1999. Edge and Matt Striker do commentary again. Anyway, this match proved that he could be such a great wrestler. Sure, his first Intercontinental Title reign only lasted a day, but this match proved that Edge was special, that he could win titles and beat established guys, that Edge would someday become the Greatest. 10/10. (A 6/10 ranking from you non-Edgeheads.) Now, on to the main features: Disc 2 starts off with a vignette about Edge’s return after his neck injury and his feud with Randy Orton in 2004. Then comes the first match on Disc 2: 11. Intercontinental Title Match: Edge VS Randy Orton – Vengeance, July 11, 2004. Before they were partners as Rated RKO and dominating RAW, Edge and Orton were enemies, fighting over the Intercontinental Title. And, this was a great battle for that title. It was definitely worthy of the prestigious legacy the title has. 10/10. (Which would be a non-Edgehead 8/10 ranking.) 12. Street Fight: Edge VS Shawn Michaels – RAW, February 28, 2005. This was a nice rivalry. Edge, the rising star, up against Shawn Michaels, a veteran still able to go after so many years. And, these weren’t wrestling. Oh, no, no, no. This was a knock-down, drag-out street fight. Something that would be more at home in ECW than in the days of George Hackenschmidt and Frank Gotch. Nevertheless, this was a fantastic brawl. Though Shawn Michaels won, Edge had already beaten him in a regular match at the Royal Rumble of that year. So, Edge is the better wrestler, and Shawn had to use weapons to beat him. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would give it a 9/10.) 13. Gold Rush Tournament Final For A Shot At The World Heavyweight Title: Edge VS Kane – Raw, May 16, 2005. It’s the match that started the torrid love affair between Edge and Lita. Okay, this wasn’t when their affair actually began, but it was the start of it on-screen. This was also the match in which Edge won a shot at the World Heavyweight Title when he already had a shot in the form of the Money In The Bank briefcase. He’s the only man in history to have two shots at World Title at once! And, he beat Kane by using Lita to seduce him and trick. Edge and Lita got into Kane’s head, when it’s usually the other way around! Edge is truly a genius. 10/10. (Though, it would get a 7/10 from you non-Edgeheads.) Then, we move on to the most personal feud in Edge’s career: Matt Hardy. For those of you who don’t know, Edge started seeing Lita while she was still dating Matt Hardy. When he found out about the affair, Matt didn’t take it too kindly. He announced the affair on his website, breaking kayfabe and upsetting WWE. He was fired. However, Matt got another chance and was rehired, beginning the best feud of 2005 and one of the best in a long while. The angle was a worked shoot or a shoot/work or whatever you want to call it. Basically, it blurred the lines between fiction and reality. And, the DVD has the best and most intense match of the feud: 14. Street Fight: Edge VS Matt Hardy – RAW, August 29, 2005. Now, this was an awesome match. I loved it. The only problem I had with it was the finish. Don’t get me wrong: that side effect Matt Hardy gave Edge off the RAW entrance stage was awesome, but I didn’t like that they stopped the match. If the ref had just given Edge some time, he could have easily gotten up and pinned Matt. It was still a great match despite that. Also, those tears in Edge’s eyes at the end were because he was upset that he didn’t get to pin and beat Matt. 10/10. (Even you non-Edgeheads would have to give this a 10/10.) 15. WWE Title Match: Edge VS John Cena – January 8, 2006. First off, it shows the tail end of the Elimination Chamber match that preceded this match. For recollection, that match involved then WWE Champion John Cena, Kane, Shawn Michaels, Kurt Angle, Carlito, and Chris Masters. Basically, we come in when Carlito and Masters were double-teaming Cena. It looked like Cena was finished, but Carlito betrayed Masters. This gave Cena some time to recuperate and sneak a pin onto Carlito, retaining the title. Cena had just won a grueling and hard-fought match. However, his night wasn’t over. Edge cashed in his Money In The Bank World Title shot and beat Cena. Smart man. He waited until the champion was going to be in a match that would be hard to win, so he would be tired and possibly injured. Then, Edge cashed in his shot and won the title. Edge is truly a genius on the level of Albert Einstein, Nicola Tesla, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Gen. George Patton, and Julius Caesar. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would give this like a 5/10 since it’s just a squash on a man who had just wrestled in a dangerous match. Well, if you people can’t appreciate genius, then you all can kiss my ass!!!!) Sadly, that first WWE Title reign wouldn’t last long. Three weeks later at the Royal Rumble, John Cena regain the WWE Title from Edge. Then, in a rematch with Mick Foley as special guest referee, Edge lost again, thanks to Foley. Needless to say, Edge was pissed, and he wanted to not only beat up Mick Foley but also prove that he was overrated. This set up our next match: 16. Hardcore Match: Edge VS Mick Foley – WrestleMania 22, April 2, 2006. This was a great match. I remember on the bonus disc of Mick Foley’s DVD, Foley said that Edge was trying to steal the show in this match and that he felt Edge had done so. He also said that this match helped to make Edge look like a tough guy in WWE fans eyes even though he had been in some brutal matches before this one. Well, I felt Edge was already tough; but this match sure as hell didn't hurt him. 10/10. (I guess it would be an 8/10 from you non-Edgeheads.) 17. 6-Person Extreme Rules Tag Team Match: Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita VS Terry Funk, Tommy Dreamer, and Beulah McGillicutty – ECW One Night Stand, June 11, 2006. Edge not only beat Mick Foley at WrestleMania 22, but he also won Foley respect. After beating the hell out of each other, these two bitter enemies became great friends. And, they were both established as hardcore legends. However, two other hardcore legends were jealous of them: Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer. So, we got this match. At the beginning, Foley cut that infamous promo, saying how he sold out..."MADISON SQUARE GARDEN!" and his classic "LONG LIVE THE ALLIANCE!" line. Then, Edge and Lita came out and cut a classic promo. Then, Dreamer, Funk, and Beulah came; and Beulah challenged Lita to make the match a 6-Person Tag Match. And, that's what happened. Beulah and Lita pretty much stayed out of the match until the end, which was smart for them. This match was violent and bloody. It got gruesome when Edge and Foley brought out a plywood covered in barb wire. And, all four men got a taste of barb wire during the match. Funk had to be taken out of the match due to a cut above his eye. But he came back with a 2-by-4 wrapped in barb wire, set it on fired, and used it to knock Foley through the barb wire plywood. In the end, Edge pinned McGillicutty after a Spear won the match for his team. But, the hardcore ECW fans still appreciated Funk, Dreamer, and Beulah's effort, even though they had been soundly beaten by Edge, Mick Foley, and Lita. Of course, those same fans came to appreciate Edge, Foley, and Lita; and rightfully so. It was a great hardcore match. 10/10. (You non-Edgeheads would definitely have to give this a high ranking, like 9/10, minus one because Edge won.) 18. Triple Threat Match For The WWE Title: Edge VS Rob Van Dam VS John Cena – RAW, July 3, 2006. Oh, Rob Van Dam. You shouldn’t be speeding while you’re weeding. However, RVD’s loss is Edge’s gain. I was very surprised that Edge won the WWE Title. I seriously thought John Cena would win; he was on such a role at that time. However, I shouldn’t have doubted Edge. Though, I’m kind of glad I am; it was a pleasant surprise. The match itself is, of course, great. And, I still like seeing that Cena fan in complete shock. 10/10. (Or, an 8/10 for you non-Edgeheads.) And, thus ends Disc 2. However, the fun is not over. Onto Disc 3: It begins with a little video setting up the stage for the first match on this disc: 19. WWE Title Match: Edge VS John Cena – SummerSlam, August 20, 2006. It’s funny: for two years in a row, Edge is a part of the best feud of the year in WWE. It’s not surprising considering how great Edge is. This time, he’s feuding with John Cena. This was a perfect feud: both men represent the exact opposite of everything that the other represents. I mean, Edge is the Rated R Superstar; and the core of Cena’s fanbase are practically kids! They are polar opposite. It makes sense that these two men would feud. I should point that there was a special stipulation in this match: if Edge got DQed, then he would lose the WWE Title. It is obvious that this stipulation was put into place to hold Edge down. The Man is trying to censor the Rated R Superstar!!!! However, it didn’t work. Edge won, beating Cena in his hometown of Boston! Suck on that, The Man!!!! Sure, Cena beat Edge in his hometown of Toronto a month later and won the WWE Title, but Edge did it first! 10/10. (Which would be a 7/10 from the non-Edgeheads.) Then, Edge shows up again to brag, which he deserves to do. Then, he talks about how he got a cracked jaw in the next match on the DVD but continued to wrestle despite the injury. I’d like Sabu do that! Wait, I think he did. Hey! Edge is as tough as Sabu!!!! 20. Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Edge VS Rob Van Dam – RAW, February 19, 2007. This is interesting. At the time, there had only been two Money In The Bank Ladder Matches, and these were the winners of those matches, Edge in 2005 and Rob Van Dam in 2006. Before this match was shown, Edge said that RVD is one of his favorite people to wrestle because they always put on a great match. And, he wasn’t lying. This was…well, a great match. 10/10. (I believe you non-Edgeheads would give it a 7/10.) Before I go on to the next match, another complaint: no Rated RKO matches!? What the hell!? They feature most of Edge prominent partnerships: with Christian, with Hulk Hogan, with Lita, with Mick Foley, with Vickie Guerrero. But, no Randy Orton!? They were World Tag Team Champions! They couldn’t have put one Rated RKO on this DVD, like their match with D-X at New Year’s Revolution. I mean, they took out Triple H in that match. But, no, the only time you’ll see Orton on this DVD helping Edge is in the previous match. However, WWE was sure to put their break-up match on this DVD: 21. Edge VS Randy Orton – RAW, April 30, 2007. Even though we get not Rated RKO match, we do get this gem. I wasn’t surprised that this would be a great match. Orton and Edge have put on classics before. In fact, one of them is on this DVD! Anyway, this is a great match. Plus, both men were able to get the whole crowd excited about the match even though they were both heels. It just shows you how great their wrestling skills are, especially Edge’s. 10/10. (I’m sure you non-Edgeheads would give it a 9/10.) Next, we get a recap showing how Edge became the only man to win ever win the Money In The Bank briefcase twice. Sure, the second time wasn’t in the MITB Ladder Match, and he attacked Mr. Kennedy before their match. But still, Edge beat him. He won the title shot. It’s in the record books. Of course, Edge cashed it in, in a similar way to the first time he did this: 22. World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge VS The Undertaker – SmackDown!, May 11, 2007. We start off at the end of the Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Title between The Undertaker and Batista. That match ended with Batista and Undertaker exiting the cage and dropping to the floor at the same time. The Undertaker retained his World Heavyweight Title. However, ‘Taker was attacked by Mark Henry after the cage was raised. Then, Edge showed why he is called the Ultimate Opportunist! He came out, cashed in his newly won MITB Title Shot, pinned the Undertaker, and won the World Heavyweight Title. Much like he did with Cena, Edge took on the Undertaker at a time when he was vulnerable. Edge shows his genius by proving that he could do the same thing twice to win a World Title. Besides, he had to do it this way. The Undertaker ain’t human! You got hit him with a Mack truck to beat him! Edge had to take him on when he was weak and beat up. I applaud Edge for his intellect and perfect timing. 10/10. (Though, you non-Edgeheads would give this a 5/10. How can you people be biased against Edge!? What is it: jealousy? It has to be jealousy.) 23. Last Chance World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge VS Batista – Vengeance, June 24, 2007. Ah, Batista. He has this annoying little habit of getting unlimited World Title shots. However, Edge decided to put the kibosh on Batista’s Konami code ways by giving Batista only one last chance to beat him for the World Heavyweight Title. And, Edge nearly had Batista beat by lowblowing Batista and getting himself DQed to retain his title and get Batista out of his hair. Yet, Theodore Long, who has had it out for Edge since he got to SmackDown!, restarted the match and changed the rules, saying that Edge would lose the World Heavyweight Title if he got DQed. However, Batista choked! He got himself counted out by giving Edge a Batista Bomb on the outside; he couldn’t get Edge and himself back into the ring in time. Not only did Edge outsmart Batista and overcome Theodore Long’s biased rule changing but he also got to see Batista humiliate himself. 10/10. (That would be an 8/10 from you non-Edgeheads.) Now, we move on to the latest chapter in Edge’s life: his relationship with Vickie Guerrero. Hmmm…I just realized: Lita, Vickie Guerrero. Edge likes Latinas. If, God forbid, his marriage to Vickie was to come to an end, I predict that Edge will end up with Melina next. Sadly, we don’t see their hook-up or get one of their lovely romantic montages of Edge and Vickie showing their love for each other. But, we do get to see Vickie cheering Edge on and that no good punk Theodore Long get his comeuppance for what he did to Edge in the previous match: 24. World Heavyweight Title Match: Edge VS Rey Mysterio – Royal Rumble, January 27, 2008. New York City is a wonderful town. It is filled with people who cheer for Edge and give him the respect that he deserves. You can definitely see that in this match: the Madison Square Garden crowd is firmly behind Edge and against Rey Mysterio. Sure, you may point out that the marks and kids are cheering for Rey, but I don’t count them. Interesting fact: this is the fifth match on this DVD in which Edge wrestles a partner during his career and the fourth in which said partner held a Tag Team Title with Edge (Foley and Edge never held a Tag Team Title together, though they are co-holders of the Hardcore Title). Anyway, this was a great match, and it showed just how much Vickie loved Edge. I mean, she put her own body on the line to make sure Edge would remain World Heavyweight Champion. Now, that is love! 10/10. (8/10 from the non-Edgeheads.) Next, Edge shows up again to talk about his specialty: the Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match. And, in 2008, he would need it as he faced his toughest challenge to date: 25. TLC Match For The Vacant World Heavyweight Title: Edge VS The Undertaker – One Night Stand, June 1, 2008. Needless to say, the Undertaker was pissed at Edge for taking the World Heavyweight Title from him in 2007. Not only that but Edge also cost him that title twice at the end of the year, keeping the Undertaker from beating Batista in a Hell In A Cell Match at Survivor Series 2007 and beating both men for that title in Armageddon 2007. However, Undertaker won the World Heavyweight Title back from Edge at WrestleMania XXIV. But, he did so using a dangerous maneuver, the Hell’s Gate. In fact, it was so dangerous that Vickie banned him from using it. However, Taker used it on the Great Khali, and Vickie stripped him of the World Heavyweight Title. So, Taker and Edge fought over the title for a few months, culminating in this match. Not only was the World Heavyweight Title on the line, but so was the Undertaker’s career!!!! Edge pulled out all the stops to beat the Undertaker, even bringing in La Familia to help him. And, it worked: Edge won, and the Undertaker’s career was over. 10/10. (Even you non-Edgeheads would have to give this a 10/10.) 26. Hell In A Cell: Edge VS The Undertaker – SummerSlam, August 17, 2008. Okay, so it wasn’t the end of the Undertaker’s career. Dammit, Edge! Why did you have to screw things up!? You were in like sin! Then, you got out like trout! For recollection’s sake, Edge kissed the wedding planner for his and Vickie Guerrero’s wedding. Triple H somehow got it on video tape and showed it to the world. Vickie was pissed, so much so that she re-hired the Undertaker and put him in a Hell In A Cell Match with Edge. Now, Edge would have to face the Undertaker in his specialty match. However, it looked like Edge could pull off the upset and beat the Undertaker. Edge got in touch with his inner psycho and freaked Vickie the snork out in the weeks leading up to SummerSlam. Unfortunately, he wasn’t crazy enough to beat the Undertaker. But, he held his own. Not only that but Edge also got sent to Hell and came back after only three months!!!! 10/10. (This better get a 10/10 from you non-Edgeheads.) Then, the DVD ends with Edge talking about how he is the most important wrestler in WWE, and we get a vignette on Edge’s greatness. All in all, this is a good DVD. I do have some problems with it, like the aforementioned lack of Edge And Christian and Rated RKO matches. Plus, it could use a few more TLC Matches and some more promos, maybe even a few of his Cutting Edge talk show segments. Nevertheless, this is a fine DVD. And, I’m sure there will be more on Edge’s second DVD. I mean, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Eddie Guerrero, and Rey Mysterio got two DVDs. Surely, Edge will get one. He has to. As for my question: Edge, great wrestler or The Greatest Wrestler Of All Time? Well, I have come to the answer after watching this DVD: Edge is THE GREATEST WRESTLER OF ALL TIME!!!! I mean, he’s got it all: charisma, talent, great wrestling skills, the ability to adapt to any type of match, several title reigns, the ability to work with anyone, intelligence, perfect timing, a winning smile, good looks, and great facial hair. Sure, he has lost several key matches over the years, but he learned from losing. He learned from his mistakes and became bigger, faster, stronger, and wiser. He has persevered through physical and emotional injuries. He’s been around for 10 years, and he shows no signs of stopping. Edge is in his prime. He’s at the top of his game. And, if he’s the Greatest Wrestler Of All Time and he’s just in his prime, that means he’s only going to get greater and greater. That truly makes Edge the Greatest. Highlight: the Totally Awesome Best Of Edge And Christian. It totally reeks of awesomeness! Highest Recommendation. GO OUT AND BUY IT NOW, CHUMPSTAINS!!!!
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Post by Smokey McTrees on Jan 1, 2009 2:46:14 GMT -5
glad this thread is back!
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jan 5, 2009 19:09:40 GMT -5
What’s this? Another DVD review!? Why yes, it is! Iron Man. Ultimate 2-Disc Edition. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “This DVD came out in September, and you’re now reviewing it!? What the hell, Hulk!?” Well, I’m lazy! EXCUSE ME!!!! Anyway, 2008 was a good year for movies, and I say this because of the summer. Now, usually, good movies come out in the beginning of the year. Then, the summer comes, and we get the mindless blockbuster crap that appeases the masses and keeps them from having to use their brains as explosions go off or the latest cool comedian makes a fart joke. Then, the season changes, and the good movies return, a time for critics to rejoice as they get thought provoking films that will win Golden Globes and Oscars come next February. However, this year was different. That usual mindless crap, this year in the form of “The Happening,” “The Love Guru,” and “Meet Dave” all bombed. Meanwhile, thought-provoking movies all became hits, what with “WALL-E” poking fun at the bloating of super consumerism and giving us an almost depressing (especially considering how it could be a reality) how it will affect our environment; “The Dark Knight” blurring the lines between justice and madness and had audiences rooting for a sociopath in clown make-up; and “Tropic Thunder” using sharp satire to cut dumbass Hollywood at its core. There was also, of course the movie I am reviewing today; don’t worry, I’m going to go into more detail. Anyway, this was a great year for blockbusters. They got smarter, and people actually paid money to see them. Hell, “The Dark Knight” grossed more money in its opening weekend than “Happening,” “Guru,” and “Dave” did in their entire runs. COMBINED!!!! Yes, people still went to see movies like “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan” and “Beverly Hill Chihuahua,” and things are going to get stupid in 2009, what with “Transformers 2” and the mega-disaster flick “2012” coming out. But, still it was great to see people choosing smart movies over dumb ones. And, hopefully, Hollywood will learn that the summer movies don’t have to sacrifice intelligence for explosion but rather they can go together. Of course, there was one movie that came early in the summer that showed that this was going to be a great summer at the box office: “Iron Man.” Now, here’s a synopsis. It will contain spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it then: Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) avoids his own Apogee Awards ceremony to gamble at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father's friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) to collect the award. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by Vanity Fair reporter Christine Everhart (Leslie Bibb), whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. As she awakens the next morning, she is escorted from the house by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark's personal assistant, who tells her Stark is away on a business trip, though Stark is really still in the house, until Potts informs him how late he is. Stark flies off to Afghanistan for a successful demonstration of Stark Industries' new weapon, the "Jericho" cluster missile. On the way back, however, the military convoy is attacked. In the ensuing firefight, Stark is wounded by one of his own company's bombs, which knocks him unconscious and embeds shrapnel in his chest, one fragment dangerously close to his heart. Waking up hours later in an Afghan cave, Stark discovers an electromagnet attached to his chest, powered by a car battery and designed to keep the shrapnel from piercing his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by the terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, who order him to build a Jericho missile for them. Instead, during the three months of his captivity, he and fellow captive Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub) begin building a miniature "arc reactor", a smaller version of a power source previously invented by Tony's father, Howard. With the reactor powering his electromagnet, Stark and Yinsen secretly build a crude but strong power armor as a means of escape. Unfortunately, the process of activating the armor takes more time than expected and Yinsen hurries out to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the exit, he comes across a dying Yinsen, who tells him not to waste his life. Upon leaving Yinsen, Stark burns all the Stark Industries munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then attempts to fly away, only to crash into the desert a few miles away. After being rescued by his friend and company military liaison Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) and returned to the United States, Stark declares at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that this move is being blocked by the members of the board of directors of Stark Industries. Returning home, Stark retreats from the public eye and instead focuses on the design of his power suit, refining its size and improving its flight and fighting capability while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. During his work, Potts gives Stark his first miniature arc reactor as a gift encased in glass and bearing the inscription, "Proof that Tony Stark has a heart." During Stark's first public appearance since his return, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, he spots Potts, who is wearing the dress she bought for herself as a birthday present on his behalf. He is struck by her beauty and briefly dances with her, causing him to realize that he has romantic feelings for his assistant. As they're about to share a kiss, Potts interrupts by asking for a martini, as a ploy to hide her insecurity because of Stark's promiscuity. While ordering the drinks, Stark is accosted by Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons back in the hands of terrorist groups, including Jericho missiles. He realizes that Stane has been supplying both the Americans and their enemies, and that Stane has been attempting to remove Stark from power. Enraged, Stark dons the power suit, flies to Afghanistan and rescues Yinsen's village from the Ten Rings, also destroying the latest Stark weapon shipments in the process. During the operation, Stark inadvertently attracts the attention of the United States Air Force and Lt. Col. Rhodes, who dispatches two F-22 Raptors to intercept and eliminate the unknown target. During the dogfight, one of the planes is accidentally destroyed, but the pilot is rescued by Stark, who during the fight privately calls Rhodes to reveal that he is the unidentified object. Rhodes later classifies the incident as a training accident to the press, at Stark's recommendation. Determined to atone for his mistakes, Stark sends Potts to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system, she discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark and the group reneged on the deal upon discovering Stark was the true target. She also learns Stane has recovered the power suit prototype and reverse-engineered his own version, but his engineers are unable to duplicate the miniature arc reactor to power the new suit. Stane ambushes Stark in his house, using an experimental Stark Industries device to temporarily paralyze him. Stane removes the arc reactor from Stark's chest to power his own suit. The dying Stark manages to re-install his first reactor from Pepper's gift and Rhodes finds Stark in bad shape but alive. Although his first reactor was not designed to power his latest armor, Stark takes it to battle with Stane atop Stark Industries, the surrounding streets and up into the air. Finding himself outmatched by the Iron Monger's potential for brute force, Stark lures Stane atop the full-sized arc reactor at Stark Industries to end the battle. With no more power left for his suit, Stark instructs Potts to overload the arc reactor. Potts overloads the reactor, causing a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious, causing him to fall through the ceiling into the reactor itself, destroying the facility, the armor and Stane. In the next day, the press has dubbed Stark's alter ego "Iron Man." Rhodes informs a press conference that what happened at the company's site was a malfunctioning of a robotic prototype, and one of Stark's security personnel was the Iron Man who bravely donned a prototype exoskeleton he designed to stop it. Before speaking, Stark briefly makes an attempt to establish a romantic relationship with Potts, but is put on hold. During the press conference, Stark tries to tell the cover story given to him by his S.H.I.E.L.D. contact, but after inadvertently revealing hints about his alter-ego, as well as facing a trick question from Everhart, Stark abandons the alibi and announces to the press his identity as Iron Man. In a post-credits scene, Stark is visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) who notes that Stark is not "the only superhero in the world", and states he wants to discuss the "Avenger Initiative". END OF SPOILERS!!!! YOU MAY RESUME READING!!!! You know, it’s funny. Iron Man wasn’t at the top of Hollywood’s list of Marvel heroes to make a movie about, yet the “Iron Man” movie became one of the most-buzzed about movies of the year. It is a great film. It’s a jet-fueled bit of escapism that never pandered to its audience, taking a long-maligned boozer of a hero and transforming him into a cultural icon. Robert Downey, Jr., was perfect for the role, and not just because he’s a former drug addict playing a character who was an alcoholic. He had a swagger and raffish charm that made him really likable, which is hard to do playing a hero who isn’t that heroic. Let’s face it, Tony Stark is smug and self-absorbed. He’s probably one of the least liked heroes in the Marvel Universe, especially after Civil War. But, Downey makes him a joy. He also handles Stark’s personality change very well. He makes Stark’s transformation from being selfish to gaining a conscious so well. And, this transformation is very natural: it makes sense that a man who has lots of money, resources, intelligence, and self-reliance to build a better version of himself. But, this is just Downey’s show. Jon Favreau was a great choice to direct this movie. He brought a nice Indie film touch to it that grounded it. He wisely chose supporting actors that were talented enough to hold their own with Downey. Terrence Howard is great as James Rhodes, easily showing the right amount of envy, frustration, and happiness when needed. It’s a shame that he isn’t going to comeback for the sequel. Gwyneth Paltrow was good as Pepper Potts. She doesn’t play her as a damsel in distress but rather a woman who is weary of Stark who gets scare in dangerous situations like anyone would. And, Jeff Bridges was awesome as Obadiah Stane. By playing a character who isn’t that well known, he was able to really have fun with it. Also, this movie is so great because it’s so plausible. If you get bitten by a radioactive spider, you’re going to die of radiation poisoning. There’s no way you could survive a nuclear explosion or radiation from outer space, let alone gain superpowers from them. And, I doubt people are going to evolve into having such powers like quick-healing and control over weather. But, a man building a weaponized piece of body-armor is not only believable but most likely inevitable in the technology-driven world of today. But, what really makes this movie great is that it doesn’t look like it was made by people who felt they were above making a comic book movie. There are no shallow, insincere attempts to pander to the audience. There’s no drastic, ironic, post-modern interpretation of the character that distances itself from the original material. It’s just a great film. You can really see that Favreau had affection for the material. He said that his goal was to make the movie both fun and thoughtful, “We just treated it as though we were making a regular movie.” In fact, making an action movie let him get away with some substance that would have turned off many audiences if there were no explosions. “It gives you room to comment on what’s going on in the world without being seen as a heavy political film,” he says. “People are just along for the ride.” The special features include deleted and extended scenes; a 7-Part “I Am Iron Man” making-of documentary; a 6-Part “The Invincible Iron Man” featurette on the history of Iron Man; “Wired: The Visual Effects Of Iron Man,” a featurette on, well, the visual effects; Robert Downey, Jr.’s screen test; “The Actor’s Process,” a featurette showing the actors rehearsing a scene; still galleries; and preview of the Iron Man animated series coming to Nicktoons some time this year. All in all these are good special features. The deleted scenes are quite a delight, especially since many show a drastic change between what was filmed and what ended up in the actual movie. I mean, entire scenes were changed. Also, “The Invincible Iron Man” featurette was nice, though it did leave out some of Iron Man’s history, like his alcoholism, Kurt Busiek’s reboot, and the modern era Iron Man. However, the special features are good and really complement the movie. Highlight: the scene at the end of the credits with Samuel L. Jackson’s cameo. It was quite awesome, and he looks exactly like Ultimate Nick Fury. Recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jan 6, 2009 20:20:50 GMT -5
Another DVD review! I’m on a roll! Well, it’s more like that I got nothing to do but watch DVDs and review them. Pineapple Express. 2-disc Unrated Special Edition. See! I’m not that lazy! This movie just came out on DVD today, and I’m reviewing it! So, put that in your pipe and smoke it!!!! SPEAKING OF pipes and smoking, you know, there are not a lot of stoner action comedies. In fact, this is the first one. Hopefully, we’ll get more, and this will become a big genre. Anyway, “Pineapple Express” is the latest Judd Apatow comedy. Well, he didn’t direct it; David Gordon Green directed the movie. But, Apatow produced it. He was involved. Anyway, here is the synopsis. So, if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it spoiled: Dale Denton (Seth Rogen) is a 25 year-old process server who, in delivering a subpoena to a drug lord named Ted Jones (Gary Cole), witnesses Jones and a corrupt female police officer, Carol Brazier (Rosie Perez), commit murder. Dale panics and leaves a roach at the scene containing a rare strain of cannabis called Pineapple Express. Ted and Carol run outside to catch the witness, only to miss him. Ted picks up the roach and identifies it as the rare strain that he has only sold to one dealer. He sends his henchmen, Matheson (Craig Robinson) and Budlofsky (Kevin Corrigan), to the dealer, Red (Danny R. McBride), who discloses that he has only sold this cannabis to Dale's dealer, Saul Silver (James Franco). Dale tells Saul what he saw because he anticipates that the roach will lead Ted to Saul. They flee Saul's apartment. Ted's henchmen persuade Saul's supplier, Red, to arrange a meeting between Red and Saul, but this fails because Dale and Saul spend the night in the woods. Matheson and Budlofsky learn Dale's identity through Red. Dale and Saul sleep 18 hours after getting stoned, so they visit Red after the agreed upon time. They hope that talking with Red in person will help them determine that Ted has not linked them, and is not in pursuit of them. Instead, Dale determines that Red intends to reveal their whereabouts to Ted, and the three fight. Convinced that Ted's men are pursuing them, they decide that they must leave the city. Dale goes to his girlfriend Angie's (Amber Heard) house to warn her and her parents, but Angie's dad doesn't believe him. Instead, he threatens to shoot Dale. Matheson and Budlofsky pursue Dale and Saul to Angie's house, and her family goes into hiding. To leave town Dale and Saul sell some of Saul's Pineapple Express to raise bus fare. A police officer catches Dale torching a joint and arrests him. Handcuffed in the back of a squad car, Dale manages to convince the arresting officer that Officer Brazier is corrupt. Saul 'saves' Dale by gaining control of the squad car, and drives away with Dale handcuffed in the back seat. Officer Braizer hears a police radio call of Dale's arrest for battering a police car, and pursues Dale and Saul in a high speed chase, but Dale and Saul evade her. Dale and Saul argue about the mess they've found themselves in, resulting in Dale telling Saul that they aren't friends and never were, much to Saul's surprise. They then split up and continue on their own, despite how miserable they later become. Saul visits his grandmother in an assisted living home and finds Budlofsky and Matheson looking for him. They kidnap Saul and take him to Ted's lair, a barn and underground pot grow house which used to be an old Army base. Dale enlists Red to help him rescue Saul from Ted, but Red backs out at the last minute and Dale is captured. While Dale and Saul are captive, they make up and Dale admits that Saul really is his friend but was reluctant to admit that earlier. A rival Asian drug gang then attacks the barn in revenge for Ted and Carol killing the fellow gang member that Dale witnessed. Dale and Saul free themselves, and Dale fights with Ted and Saul fights with Carol. Red returns and saves Saul, while killing Matheson with his car. A rival gang member sets off a bomb that destroys the barn, and kills Ted and Carol. Dale carries an unconscious Saul out of the burning barn, and Red crawls from the wreckage. Saul, Dale and Red go to a diner for breakfast, reminisce about the events and bond, before Saul's grandmother takes them home. END OF SPOILERS!!!! CONTINUE READING!!!! This movie is freaking hilarious. It was just so funny. There were several funny moments, with my favorite being the fight between Red against Dale and Saul. I was amazed how it looked like cool fight but at the same time had be laughing so hard my jaw was hurting. Seth Rogen is his usual funny self, and we get some great comedic performances from Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, and Kevin Corrigan. By the way, Robinson and Corrigan have great chemistry together. I would love to see a movie starring these two. I also enjoyed Gary Cole and Rosie Perez; they really held their own in the more serious roles and even had some funny moments. And, there’s a nice cameo from Ed Begley, Jr. However, James Franco pretty much steals the show as Saul Silver. He makes for one hilarious stoner. The things he does and says are just funny as hell. Originally, Rogen was going to play, but Apatow suggested that Franco audition for the role. And, thank God this decision was made. Sure, the movie would have been good if Rogen and Franco’s roles were switched, but I don’t think it would have been as funny. The role really allowed Franco to show some range. And, I like it didn’t play into expectations. Anyone could easily see Franco as a process server and Rogen as a pot dealer. However, with the roles switched, the filmmakers had to make the audience really believe the reverse: Franco as a pot dealer and Rogen as a process server; and they really succeeded. The movie is also well written. Yeah, I know there was a lot of improving, but I liked how it was plotted. Rogen and Evan Goldberg did a wonderful job making the film as realistic as possible. And, I love the plot of the movie in general: a couple of stoners trying to keep from getting killed. That’s original and funny, and haven’t you wonder what Cheech and Chong would do if people were shooting at them? Well, probably not, but you are now! And, I bet it’s funny! There are plenty of special features. There are a few on the first disc. It comes with the original theatrical version and the extended unrated version of the film, commentary from the filmmakers and cast, extended and alternate scenes, a gag reel, and making of featurette. On disc 2, we get more extended and alternate scenes; deleted scenes; Line-o-rama, a series of different improvised lines from several of the actors; Direct-o-rama, director David Gordon Green giving different directions to the actors; Phone Booth, two alternate version of the phone booth scene with Judd Apatow reading the girl’s part; Item 9, a fake 1930s PSA telling people to not smoke pot by showing three men on pot hilariously describing the experience; Saul’s Apartment, basically it’s different characters from the movie coming to Saul’s apartment and talking with Saul and Red; raw footage of four scenes (Dale and Saul smoking the cross-joint, Dale and Saul meeting up with Red, Dale trying to get Red help him, and the big fight scene at the end); rehearsal footage; the first table read; the Comic-Con Panel; a making of featurette on the action sequences; a featurette on a cleaning product from Ed Begley, Jr., Begley’s Best; Red And Jessica’s Guide To Marriage, it’s Red and his wife Jessica giving marriage advice; a featurette on all the injuries the actors received; a featurette on the “stunt coordinator” Ken Jeong; the red band trailer; and a digital copy of the film. The special features are great. Some are hilarious, and they all really add to the movie. As for the DVD as a whole, it’s fantastic. The movie is great, and the special features really complement it. Highlight: A tie between the fight Saul and Dale against Red and the Item 9 PSA. Highly recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jan 19, 2009 2:38:26 GMT -5
It’s DVD Review Time: Starrcade: The Essential Collection 3 Disc DVD Set. I miss WCW. Why? It was a good alternative to the WWF. The WWF was about sports entertainment; WCW was about wrestling. During WCW’s big boom period, 1996-1997, it had some of the best wrestling on TV. You had a lot of great talented wrestlers in the undercard with an amazing storyline in the main event: WCW VS The nWo. However, it didn’t last. WCW almost seemed destined to fail, from the days of being ran by old bookers who couldn’t adapt to the new times (Bill Watts, Ole Anderson) and people who didn’t know a thing about wrestling (Jim Herd) to the days of crappy shows that didn’t make a lot of sense (under the control of Kevin Nash and Vince Russo). Nevertheless, WCW always had great wrestling, and there was a time when it could do no wrong. Now, it’s gone, with its memory living on in WWE DVDs. We’ll probably never get a full-fledge WCW DVD (and I’m a little glad, because I just imagine one big piece of revisionist history crap). The closest we’ll ever get to that are The Monday Night War DVD and DVDs on former WCW wrestlers, like Ric Flair, the Four Horsemen, Dusty Rhodes, etc. Oh, and this one: Starrcade: The Essential Collection. Starrcade was to WCW what WrestleMania is to WWE. Now, I know Starrcade originally started as an NWA event. However, I didn’t mention the NWA earlier, because I didn’t really see much of the NWA. I was born in 1985 and grew up after Jim Crockett Promotions were bought by Ted Turner and became WCW. However, I do enjoy seeing anything NWA related just to see what I missed. Plus, that whole alternative to the WWF that was prominent in WCW started with the NWA. Starrcade was the premier event for the NWA and later WCW. In fact, it was pretty much the precursor to WrestleMania. It came before WrestleMania and started the idea of booking to a big special show. And, it had a better calendar position than WrestleMania; to me it makes more to book to a show in November or December than to a show in March or April. Anyway, WWE has given us this DVD to be enjoyed by any NWA or WCW mark or anyway who just wanted to see what they missed. It contains a 1 hour documentary on the event. Many NWA stars are featured on it: Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard, Dusty Rhodes, David Crockett, Magnum T.A., Jim Cornette (though this obviously came from the Road Warriors DVD), Road Warrior Hawk, Paul Elring (also clips from the Road Warriors DVD), Harley Race, Arn Anderson, Greg Valentine, Jerry and Jack Brisco, etc. It starts off chronicling the origins of the event with Dusty Rhodes talking about how he came up with the name and the idea to have a PPV on Thanksgiving and mentioning a little of the history of Jim Crockett Promotions. And, the first Starrcade is heavily featured, chapters on the infamous Dog Collar Match between Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine and, of course, the main event: Ric Flair VS Harley Race in a steel cage for the NWA Title. Then, it shows how the event got built up into the premier event for the NWA, how it branched out to close-circuit TV and the simulcast between the Greensboro Coliseum and the Omni in Atlanta. The documentary also mentions the rise of Magnum T.A. They were really building him up to be the NWA’s Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately, a car crash ended his career and those plans. Then, it moves on to 1987. As you may remember, that was the year the Survivor Series debut. At the time, Starrcade was branching out. It was going to be in Chicago and going to be up onto PPV for the first time. However, Vince McMahon decided to air his new PPV on Thanksgiving Night, the same night as Starrcade. Vince basically gave the PPV companies an ultimatum: either air the Survivor Series and WrestleMania or air Starrcade and don’t get WrestleMania. The NWA decided to air Starrcade at an earlier time, allowing for both PPVs to be aired by all the PPV companies. But, Vince was still adamant about his ultimatum. So, many of the PPV companies went with Vince. And, that began the end of Jim Crockett Promotions. He would later sell his company to Ted Turner, who changed it to WCW. Then, the documentary talks about pros and cons of the early WCW Starrcade years. The pros: Ted Turner had a lot of money and that money was used for the production values. Now, Starrcade’s look could match its card and the build to it. The cons: WCW basically turned Starrcade into a gimmick PPV. The WWF’s Royal Rumble and Survivor Series matches were successful, and WCW wanted to capture some of that. So, they came up with some gimmicks of their own. One was the Iron Man Singles and Tag Team Tournaments, which was an elaborate points system that a little confusing. The other was the infamous Lethal Lottery Tag Team Matches, in which teams would be made randomly and the winning teams would wrestle in a two-ring battle royal called The BattleBowl. These weren’t successful because they were done at the wrong PPV and were only a few times. Then, we get Eric Bischoff. They talked about how he brought prominence back to Starrcade but didn’t really mention how he did. Sure, they praised him for bringing in top guys like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall as well as great wrestlers from around the globe. But, they didn’t a thing about the storyline for Starrcade 1997. That was one of the best things going for WCW: they were building to Sting VS Hollywood Hogan. You had Hogan leading the nWo and basically destroying WCW week in and week out. And, you had Sting being booked by doing nothing but looking down from the rafters, dressed up as the Crow, and only coming down the beat the crap out of the nWo with a baseball bat. This was a storyline that had been booked for over a year, with the payoff going to take place at Starrcade 1997. Yet, no mention of it. I figured there would have been some talk about, even to just rip WCW a new one because of the controversial finish. However, they did mention Goldberg and his undefeated streak. There were some conflicting viewpoints on whether or not Goldberg’s streak should have been ended at Starrcade 1998: Arn Anderson said “Yes”; Jim Ross said “No.” Jim Ross also gave an accurate description of WCW at the time: they had the right tools to be the best wrestling company in the world, but just didn’t use them. It does sound like a WWE guy just ripping on WCW, but it is true. WCW just kept on relying on guys who had made a name somewhere else, like Hogan, Savage, Nash, and Hall; but they never created new stars out of Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, etc. Then, the documentary just moves on to the legacy of Starrcade, not mentioning 1999 or 2000, though I don’t really blame them. Now for the matches: Usually on a WWE DVD with a documentary, I don’t dwell on the matches individually and rank them. I reserved that for the matches only DVDs because, well, it just the matches; and because the main feature of the others is the documentary; the matches are basically special features. However, since this documentary is short (only 45 minutes compared to the others that are 90 minutes or 2 hours) and since they are introduced by presenters (Gene Okerlund, Jim Ross, Tully Blanchard, Ric Flair, Road Warrior Animal, David Crockett, Dusty Rhodes on this DVD) like in the match only DVDs, I will go in depth with all the matches. Now, the matches were voted on by the fans and appear in the ascending order of their rankings: 25. Rowdy Roddy Piper VS Hollywood Hogan—Starrcade, December 29, 1996 This match had a lot of good drama to it. You had Piper and Hogan, long life enemies going at it again, this time with Piper as the face and Hogan as the heel. However, it was somewhat of a disappointment. It was booked like a title match with Hogan’s WCW World Heavyweight Title on the line, but the title wasn’t on the line. To me it doesn’t make much sense to have such a high profile match with no World Title on the line. Even if they wanted to keep the title on Hogan, they could have put it back on him at the next PPV. Also, Piper and Hogan were past their prime. In fact, Piper had had surgery on his hip before this match. So, it wasn’t like they could put on a 5 star classic. However, they did put on the best match that they could have. And, the hype and drama surrounding the match really added to. Also, I was amazed that a match in 1996 ended in a sleeper hold! 7/10. 24. Iron Man Singles Tournament Match: Sting VS The Great Muta—Starrcade, December 13, 1989 Next, we get a match from the Starrcade considered to be the best one ever! Or, at least, that’s what Jim Ross says in the intro of it. It’s Starrcade 1989, the year with the Iron Man and Iron Team Tournaments. They were round-robin tournaments featuring four competing individuals and tag teams respectively. The point system went as followed: 20 points for a pinfall or submission victory, 15 for a countout victory, 10 for a disqualification victory, 5 for a time-limit draw to each competitor or team, and 0 for a loss. And, every match had a 15-minute time limit. Well, this one was a pretty good match, and a good inclusion of the DVD. Though, I can see why it was ranked so low. 8/10. 23. Unified NWA/WCW World Tag Team Titles Match: Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas VS Barry Windham and Brian Pillman—Starrcade, December 28, 1992 A note: It’s nice to see that Jesse Ventura’s commentary is in tact. Usually, WCW matches with Ventura’s commentary are shown sans Ventura. Anyway, this is a great match. Pillman and Douglas were young wrestlers who would only get better, and Windham and Steamboat were in top form. It’s a shame Steamboat had to retire in 1994 because if he hadn’t had gotten that back injury who knows how long he would have gone. 9/10. 22. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Goldberg VS Kevin Nash—Starrcade, December 27, 1998 This is the infamous match in which Goldberg’s streak was ended. This was a bad move. Goldberg was hot as hell at the time, and the fans weren’t tired of him or the streak. But, egos got in the way, namely Hogan and Nash’s. Though, the finish was okay, with Scott Hall shocking Goldberg with a stun gun. A dirty finish allows for Goldberg to lose but keep some of his credibility. As for the match, it was pretty good. And, I was impressed with cross armbar Nash pulled out of nowhere. I mean, Kevin Nash WRESTLING!!!! 7/10. 21. BattleBowl Match—Starrcade, December 29, 1991 Our next match is the BattleBowl, the two ring battle royal featuring the winners of the Lethal Lottery Tag Team matches that took place earlier in the PPV. There were 20 participants: Marcus Bagwell, Jimmy Garvin, Steve Austin, Rick Rude, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Morton, Bill Kazmaier, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Todd Champion, Sting, Abdullah The Butcher, Vader, Mr. Hughes, Scott Steiner, Firebreaker Chip, Ron Simmons, and Thomas Rich. All twenty wrestlers started in the first ring. Elimination from the first ring occurs when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope and into the second ring. Elimination from the second ring occurs when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope to the floor. This continues until one wrestler remained in the first ring, and one in the second ring. Elimination then occurs when a wrestler is thrown over the top rope to the floor. The remaining wrestler will be the winner. I don’t understand why they didn’t just put 10 guys in one ring and 10 in the other. Then again, this was WCW. Plus, if I was confused was confused watching it, imagine how confused the wrestlers were wrestling in it. The match itself was okay. And, it was smart booking to end it with Sting and Luger, since they had the major storyline at the time. 7/10 20. 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match For The WCW United States Title: Dustin Rhodes VS Stunning Steve Austin—Starrcade, December 27, 1993 After two years of the BattleBowl, Starrcade return to what it was suppose to be: the biggest show of the year with Flair and Vader as the main attraction. However, the undercard was just as good, with this match as proof. Austin was a very good wrestler before the neck injury; he was still a good wrestler after it, but not as good as he once was. And, Dustin is a very underrated as a wrestler. He was fine in this match. Though, I did find it funny that Tully Blanchard called Goldust an icon in the intro to the match. Also, the lights go out during this match. 8/10. And, that’s the end of Disc 1. Onto Disc 2: 19. NWA World Tag Team Title Match: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard VS The Road Warriors—Starrcade, November 26, 1987 Now, we get a match from Starrcade’s heyday, back when it really meant something. And, we have two of the best teams of all time: Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard taking on the Road Warriors. This was a good match, but I didn’t like the finish. I mean, to do a Dusty finish to the Road Warriors in their hometown of Chicago, that’s not cool. Also, this match has alternate commentary from Todd Grisham and Road Warrior Animal. 7/10. 18. Rey Mysterio, Jr. VS Jushin “Thunder” Liger—Starrcade, December 29, 1996 Piper and Hogan may have been the main event, but Liger and Mysterio stole the show. Now, this is a fine example of WCW’s winning formula at the time: an undercard filled with great wrestlers putting on great matches and a main event with a lot of hype and drama to get people to tune in. Now, this was a good match. Liger always puts on a good show, and Rey Mysterio was great back then. Let’s face it: WCW Rey Mysterio > WWE Rey Mysterio. Now, Rey Mysterio is still a good wrestler, but he’s just gotten so formulaic and repetitive. In WWE, you see the same old same old, but in WCW, you can tell he was encouraged to improvise and shake things up. This is one of the main reasons I miss WCW: great wrestling that didn’t repeat itself much. 8/10. 17. Scaffold Match: The Rock ‘N’ Roll Express VS The Midnight Express—Starrcade, November 26, 1987 One of the greatest feuds of all time was the Midnight Express (the Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane duo) VS the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express. Now, I’m not a big fan of scaffold matches. There usually not very good. It’s mainly just a lot of punching and kicking on top of a scaffold. I understand why: the participants aren’t really concerned with putting on a good match; they’re more concerned with trying not to fall and break their necks. There’s a reason they’re not done much anymore. But still, they’re usually not good. But, this one was okay. Though this match doesn’t really showcase what great wrestlers all for men were, it does have a lot of drama and made sense as a feud ending match since these two teams hated each other. 6/10. 16. NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair VS Lex Luger—Starrcade, December 26, 1988 You know, I haven’t really missed Ric Flair since he left, until I saw the intro he gives for this match. It’s just a 30 second intro, but he makes it spectacular. Flair’s amazing. SPEAKING OF Flair being amazing, he’s in top form in this match. Luger is also good; he’s another underrated wrestler I feels doesn’t get the praise he deserves. 8/10. 15. Eddie Guerrero VS Shinjiro Otani—Starrcade, December 27, 1995 In 1995, they had WCW stars wrestle guys from New Japan Pro Wrestling in the World Cup Of Wrestling. Now, this was a good idea, but not one they should have done for their biggest PPV of the year. Then again, this was 1995 WCW. The biggest storyline of the year was Hulk Hogan VS the Dungeon Of Doom. So, I don’t blame Eric Bischoff for doing a WCW VS NJPW show at Starrcade. Anyway, this is a very good technical bout. This was another reason WCW usually had the WWF beat when it came to wrestling action: Bischoff was smart to bring talented wrestlers from around world, like Japan and Mexico, to have great wrestling matches that American fans had never really seen before. 8/10. 14. NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Road Warriors VS Sting and Dusty Rhodes—Starrcade, December 26, 1988 Road Warrior Animal shows up to introduce this match. This match also took place in the first Starrcade to take place in December. Anyway, this was a pretty good bout. Sting and Dusty Rhodes worked well as a team, and the Road Warriors are just awesome. 8/10. 13. King Of Cable Tournament Final Match: Sting VS Vader—Starrcade, December 28, 1992 Ah, Sting and Vader. They had a great feud. I mean, Sting is one of the best babyfaces in the business, and Vader was an awesome heel. It seemed like whenever these got into the ring together, it was magic. They had an awesome feud in 1992, and this was one of their best matches. Now, it wasn’t their best bout (in my opinion that was their match at The Great American Bash 1992 for the WCW World Heavyweight Title); but it was still very good. 9/10. 12. NWA World Tag Team Title Match: The Brisco Brothers VS Jay Youngblood and Ricky Steamboat—Starrcade, November 14, 1983 This is the first match of the DVD from the first Starrcade, but it sure won’t be the last. This is a pretty good match. The Briscos were great technical wrestlers, and it was a real treat to see the team of Steamboat and Youngblood. Plus, I just love hearing Gordon Solie pronounce the word “suplex” as “su-play.” 8/10. 11. NWA World Heavyweight Title Match: Ric Flair VS Dusty Rhodes—Starrcade, November 28, 1985 Again, Ric Flair gives an awesome intro. And, he’s great in this match, too. As for Dusty, well, he’s not the best wrestler in the world; but he is very charismatic and can still put on an entertaining bout. And, this was an entertaining bout. Though, what I really like was the end, in which a bunch of wrestlers came out and tried to life Dusty after he won the match. 8/10. 10. WCW Cruiserweight Title Match: Eddie Guerrero VS Dean Malenko—Starrcade, December 28, 1997 One of the things WCW really had going for them was their Cruiserweight Division. Week end and week out, it was usually the smallest wrestlers on the roster that were putting on the best matches. And, Malenko and Guerrero were two of the best. So, it should be no surprise that this was an excellent match, almost stealing the show at Starrcade 1997. Plus, during the cruiserweight matches, Mike Tenay would come out and give some great insight on the wrestlers, their backgrounds, and the moves they used. Much like WCW Rey Mysterio, WCW Mike Tenay is 100 times better than TNA Mike Tenay. He is so much better as an analyst, and TNA has just made him so freaking annoying. 9/10. And, that ends Disc 2. Onto Disc 3: 9. Iron Man Tag Team Tournament Match: The Road Warriors VS The Steiner Brothers—Starrcade, December 13, 1989 Long before he was the Big Bad Booty Daddy, became jacked up with steroids, and impressed us with all that math and debating skills he learned from a higher educated university, Scott Steiner was a great technical wrestler and was one half of one of the best tag teams of all the time: The Steiner Brothers. And, his brother Rick was just as good in the ring as Scott. Man, it is still weird seeing Scott back then and knowing what he will become. Anyway, this match took place at the 1989 Starrcade with the Iron Man and Iron Team tournaments. Now, the idea for the tournaments may have been confusing and used at the wrong PPV, but there were some good matches at this Starrcade. As for this match, it’s an okay match. But, I don’t think it should have gotten as it did. Oh well. 6/10. 8. Ladder Match For A Contract For A WCW World Cruiserweight Title Match: 3 Count VS The Jung Dragons VS Jamie Noble and Evan Karagias—Starrcade, December 17, 2000 This one is from the last Starrcade. Even though WCW wasn’t very good in 2000, things were getting better around the end. Starrcade was one of the better PPVs that year, and this was one of the best matches on the show. Plus, one of the best things about WCW in 2000 was the Jung Dragons (Yun Yang, who would become Jimmy Wayne Yang; Kaz Hayashi, and Jamie-San, AKA Jamie Noble) and 3 Count (Shannon Moore; Shane Helms, who later became The Hurricane and then Gregory Helms; and Evan Karagias). Now, these guys put great matches throughout the year, and the feud between them was very interesting, especially after Noble and Karagias left their respective groups and formed their own team. Plus, 3 Count was one of the best gimmicks ever! I mean, a wrestling boy band! That is just filled with comedy gold, and it was, with Tank Abbott as their number 1 fan and their debut album that went platinum, which would be followed by an album the group said was going to be even bigger and go gold! Just classic stuff. And, it was smart to have a boy band gimmick at a time when boy bands were really popular. It was weird to see how much Helms, Shannon Moore, and Jimmy Yang have changed over the years. Amazingly, Jamie Noble looks pretty much the same. Anyway, this match didn't start off promising with all three teams beginning the match like a tag; but it quickly developed into ladder match goodness. All three teams really showed off their skills, and there were some good spots in the match. The only bad thing about this match: Mark Madden on commentary. God, he sucks!!!! 9/10. 7. Iron Man Singles Tournament Match: Sting VS Ric Flair—Starrcade, December 13, 1989 This is another pairing that always seems to put on a great match no matter what. Though, it’s not that shocking. Ric Flair pretty much made Sting a star in a 45 minute classic, and Sting just got better and better as time went on. Though this isn’t their best match, it is a good one. Plus, this began the storyline in which Sting became a member of the Four Horsemen. 8/10. 6. Dog Collar Match: Greg Valentine VS Rowdy Roddy Piper—Starrcade, November 24, 1983 Now, this is a classic. I’m surprised it’s at number 6. I would have put it in the top 3. It is a great match, very violent and very bloody. And, it still holds up today, even after there have been much more extreme matches. Though, I was confused about whether or not the United States Title that Valentine held at the time was on the line or not. The announcers said that it was and then said that it wasn’t. Regardless, this was a great match. 10/10. 5. Scaffold Match: The Road Warriors VS The Midnight Express—Starrcade, November 27, 1986 Like I said earlier, scaffold matches aren’t that good. But, this one was. It helped that the Road Warriors were brawlers, so it didn’t really matter if there weren’t a lot of great wrestling holds done in the match. Plus, there was a lot of hype surrounding this match. The Road Warriors were in a big feud with the Midnight Express (Eaton and Dennis Condrey). In fact, the 1986 Starrcade event was subtitled “The Night Of The Skywalkers” after this match. And, it really lived up to its height. Also, Jim Cornette took a nasty bump off the scaffold, which blew out his knee; he still has knee problems to this day. I admire him for taking the bump. He’s not a wrestler, and he’s afraid of heights; but he showed a lot of guts for doing it. 8/10. 4. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match: Hollywood Hogan VS Sting—Starrcade, December 28, 1997 After the gimmick years of Starrcade, Eric Bischoff brought the PPV back to prominence with the Sting and Hogan. It was brilliant booking. He had Sting become a silent loner who did nothing but look down from the rafters and every once in a while come down to beat up the nWo. He went from an energetic face to the Crow. He didn’t speak. He didn’t wrestle. He just watched the event from the rafters and occasionally hit someone with a baseball bat. And, he had the WCW audience captivated. Also, Bischoff had the nWo built as an unstoppable force, with Sting basically being the only one who had gotten the best of them. It worked as Starrcade 1997 was WCW’s most successful PPV, getting a 1.9 buy rate. However, the match was anti-climatic. Hogan and Bischoff disagreed over the finish, which led to the fast count pin and Bret Hart as special enforcer restarting the match and Sting winning the WCW Title. However, the fast count wasn’t fast, with it rumored that Hogan paid referee Nick Patrick to not give a fast count. This pretty much marked the beginning of the end for WCW, as it would become consumed by egos and crappy booking that would eventually lead to its demise. Nevertheless, this is a pretty good match despite the crappy finish. 8/10. 3. Steel Cage Match For The NWA World Heavyweight Title: Harley Race VS Ric Flair—Starrcade, November 24, 1983 Now, we get to the first main event in Starrcade history. This was a changing of the guard: Race would lose the title to Flair. Then, Race’s star would dwindle while Flair would go on to become a big star. The match itself is pretty good. It’s not the best in the world, but it is a historic bout, and it really help to make Starrcade into such a big event. Plus, it had a great build, with the storyline of Race putting a $25,000 bounty on Flair’s head. 8/10. 2. Steel Cage I Quit Match For The NWA United States Title: Tully Blanchard VS Magnum T.A.—Starrcade, November 28, 1985 Talk about a show stealer. Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard beat the holy hell out of each other in this match. This was an intense and bloody battle, and much like the Dog Collar Match, it still holds up today, despite such intense I Quit matches of recent memory. And, the finish, with Magnum sticking that piece of chair into Tully’s forehead, is painful to watch. 10/10. 1. WCW World Heavyweight Title Match With Ric Flair’s Career On The Line: Vader VS Ric Flair—Starrcade, December 27, 1993 It’s not surprising that Ric Flair would be in the match chosen as the Best Starrcade Match EVER! Though, I’m pleasantly surprised that his match with Vader was the one chosen. The fans could have easily gone with another match, like the one with Harley Race. But, I feel the right one was chosen as number 1. And, the storyline of Flair putting his career on the line for the belt was a good one. I mean, Flair was going to put his career on the line in a match against Vader! It really looked like he could lose. But, he didn’t. Anyway, this is a great match. I got excited watching, and I knew the outcome! I can see why it was voted as number 1. 10/10. I do have some complaints about the DVD. I don’t completely agree with the rankings, and I would have loved to hear all the entrance music that was missing from it. So, WWE owns WCW but not all their music!? What the hell!? However, this is a good DVD for a nostalgic trip, but it’s also sad. I mean, WCW is gone. And, I’m really bummed about it because I missed a lot of it. Sure, I watch it a bit in the early 1990s and watched a lot of the heyday of the nWo VS WCW era. But, then the WWF started the Attitude Era. I had always been a WWF fan, and things just more interesting at the time. Soon, I was watching RAW and Nitro less. Then, by the time Benoit, Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn showed up on RAW, I just gave up on WCW because they were the only reason for me to even bother to tune in at the time. Now that they were in the WWF, there was no reason for me to even change the channel. I would tune in occasionally and keep up with things, but I was pretty much sticking with the WWF. And, I regret that. I really wish I had seen more of WCW when it was on the air. I mean, I knew things were bad for WCW, but I never thought it would go out of business. I just figured that Bischoff or someone would eventually relight the spark in WCW to make it a hot property again, which looked to be coming true as WCW was improving quality wise in late 2000 and early 2001. But, it didn’t happen. Now, WCW is gone the way of the dodo, and I miss it. I miss the blue, black, and yellow ropes. I miss the great matches. I miss the Cruiserweight Division. I miss Ric Flair in his prime. I miss the Four Horsemen. I miss the WarGames match. I miss early 1990s Sting. I miss the nWo. I miss Nitro. I miss Dusty Rhodes on commentary. I miss monster heel Vader. I just miss WCW. However, there are the DVDs. Highlight: “I know one thing—they can’t call that hooter girl a natural.”—Jesse Ventura, describing the ring girl taking “The Natural” Dustin Rhodes’s jacket before his match with “Stunning” Steve Austin at Starrcade 1993. Highly Recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Mar 15, 2009 16:56:35 GMT -5
It’s been a while, so here’s another DVD review: Futurama: Into The Green Wild Yonder Well, since I did the other three Futurama movies, I might as well do a review for the final one. And, this is it. This is the end. With no new Futurama movies or episodes in production, this is pretty much the series finale of Futurama. So, let’s get to it. First: THIS IS ANOTHER LONG DETAIL SYNOPSIS OF THE PLOT OF THE MOVIE!!!! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE AND DON’T WANT THE MOVIE SPOILED FOR YOU, THEN: The movie begins with a shot of the deepest regions of outer space. A mysterious green radiation emerges from a black dwarf star, causing DNA molecules to form on an asteroid in a nearby violet dwarf star system. The scene then cuts to Mars Vegas, launching the opening musical number with the title screen saying "The Humans Shall Not Defeat Us" in Alien Language 1. The Planet Express crew visit Amy's wealthy parents Leo and Inez, who are busy destroying the "old" Mars Vegas and constructing a newer, more extravagant one. A group of eco-feminists led by Frida Waterfall protest the resulting destruction of the environment, leading to an accident where a piece of Frida's jewelry lodges inside Fry's brain. The destruction upsets Leela also, but Leo attempts to assure her that he has received proper clearance -- by bribing Professor Farnsworth. Unimpressed, Leela saves a Martian muck leech, the last of its species, from the construction site. To compensate Fry, Leo offers him a free entry to a poker tournament and the rest of the crew a free vacation. At the new Vegas, Fry begins to hear voices in his head. He meets a transient named Hutch, who explains that they are both telepaths and advises him to wear a tinfoil hat to stop the constant flow of voices. The encounter ends with Hutch admonishing Fry never to reveal his powers to anyone and to beware of the "Dark Ones". Meanwhile, Bender begins an affair with a performing bot named Fanny and arouses the suspicions of her husband, the Donbot. After defeating Fry to win the poker tournament, Bender attempts to elope with Fanny, but a stern warning from the Donbot (being machine-gunned at close range and buried a few times) forces him to quit the affair. During a round of miniature golf with the crew, Leo reveals his plan to destroy a chunk of the galaxy and build the universe's largest miniature golf course. Farnsworth and the crew survey the proposed site and discover the asteroid from the opening sequence, now teeming with primordial life forms. Over Leela and Fry's objections, Farnsworth approves the project. After a botched protest leads to the accidental death of Vice-President Spiro Agnew, Leela and the eco-feminists go into hiding. Leela convinces the eco-feminists to take radical action and leads them on a string of crimes against Leo's projects. Leela returns to Planet Express one last time to retrieve her leech and runs into Fry, who unexpectedly offers his blessing; the two of them share a tearful goodbye. Hutch takes Fry to the hideout of the "Legion of Mad Fellows", led by the No. 9 man. No. 9 explains that the Legion are a secret society of tinfoil-wearing telepaths who have been tracking a resurgence in the life-giving force known as the "Chi", the mysterious green radiation shown at the beginning of the film. They believe that the violet dwarf star holds the key to the revival of extinct species and the dawn of a new Green Age; because Fry's mind is immune from the psionic powers of the Dark Ones, he alone can save the star. To conceal their existence and knowledge from the Dark Ones, the Legion swears Fry to secrecy. Fry then infiltrates Leo's empire as a new security guard. Leo enlists Zapp Brannigan and Kif Kroker to apprehend the eco-feminists; jealous of Leela's growing criminal record, Bender joins in. At the golf course, Bender bugs Fry's cell phone, while an argument leads to Amy denouncing Fry as a traitor and disowning her father. Fry later runs into Frida and asks her to take a discreet message of support to Leela, but an unseen Dark One learns of the message at the eco-feminists' new hideout on Mars and psionically murders Frida. The remaining Planet Express employees (Farnsworth, Zoidberg and Hermes) attempt to deliver a fence to Leo, but are intercepted by the eco-feminists (now joined by Amy, LaBarbara Conrad and others) and imprisoned while the feminists commandeer the Planet Express ship. At the hideout, the eco-feminists discover Frida's corpse. Amy suspects foul play by Fry, and Leela calls Fry to clarify things. At a Legion meeting on Mars, No. 9 explains to Fry the evolutionary origins of the Dark Ones, a malevolent species devoted to the destruction of all life, and the Encyclopods, a now-extinct species devoted to the preservation of the DNA of all endangered life forms and the recreation of species from its collection. No. 9 then explains that the violet dwarf is the only remaining Encyclopod egg. The lecture is interrupted by Leela's call, whereupon Fry realizes that the Dark Ones have murdered Frida. Fry and Leela arrange a rendezvous which is ambushed by Brannigan in the Nimbus; Leela escapes in the Planet Express ship and abducts Fry, convinced that he is a traitor. Brannigan pursues them, and after a chase through Leo's golf course and past the now-vibrant violet dwarf system, the eco-feminists are caught, convicted and sentenced. Fry arranges a third meeting with the Legion, who explain that Fry needs not only to stop the imminent implosion of the violet dwarf but also to identify and thwart the Dark One who is sure to be present. Though no one knows the current physical form of the Dark One, the Dark One's mind cannot be read, allowing Fry a means of search. No. 9 gives Fry the mysterious Omega device, able to disable the Dark One at close range. In prison, the unseen voice of a Dark One urges Leela to escape. Shortly thereafter, Bender shows up to free the eco-feminists, happy to overtake Leela's criminal record. Hermes, Zoidberg, Scruffy and a repentant Farnsworth arrive in the Planet Express ship and whisk Bender, Leela, Amy and LaBarbara off to stop the implosion ceremony. At the ceremony, Leo gives Fry the honor of imploding the violet dwarf. Unable to locate an unreadable mind in the massive audience, Fry concludes that he must be the Dark One. Before Fry can press the plunger, the Planet Express crew disrupts the ceremony. Still unable to explain his intentions, Fry implores Leela to return the detonator; after a moment of reflection, Leela does so. Having covertly wired the detonator to the Omega device, Fry presses the plunger and attempts to destroy himself. The Omega device activates, enveloping Leela and Fry in a flash but leaving them unharmed; Leela's leech reveals itself to be the lone surviving Dark One before collapsing. The violet dwarf system configures itself into a giant sperm and flies into the star, creating an Encyclopod embryo which quickly reaches adult form. The Encyclopod approaches the astonished audience, revealing an ecosystem full of formerly extinct species in its pouch. As Hutch is about to explain the events, the Dark One recovers and murders him. The Encyclopod then incinerates the Dark One; a debate about whether to preserve its DNA is quashed when Zoidberg consumes the Dark One's remains. After harvesting a sample of Hutch's DNA, the Encyclopod flies off. Unmoved by these events, Brannigan attempts to arrest the Planet Express fugitives, but they and Kif escape. As the Nimbus chases the Planet Express ship, Kif and Amy reconcile, and Fry and Leela confess their love for one another. The crew discovers a wormhole which the Professor notes could take them trillions of lightyears away. Fry and Leela kiss as the ship flies into it. CONTINUE READING!!!! Okay, this was a good movie. It heavily feature secondary characters that weren’t featured as much in the other films. In this one, those characters are the Robot Mafia and Leo Wong. However, they still could have had more of the Robot Mafia. They are featured a lot in the first 30 minutes or so. Then after that, they just sort of disappear. I was a little upset by this. I WANTED CLAMPS!!!! WITH CLAMPING AND CLAMP-LIKE DEVICES!!!! CLAMPS!!!! Ahem, anyway, the filmmakers made up for it by having my favorite character in the movie: Zapp Brannigan! And, there were guest stars: Snoop Dogg as the Supreme Court Justizzle, Penn Jillette as Penn now doing announcing for TV poker (Teller got credited, but he wasn’t there at the voiceover recording; or he was and just didn’t say anything, which shouldn’t be that hard for him), Seth MacFarlane singing the opening song (I was surprised that he got onto the movie considering that there is supposedly some bad blood between Matt Groening and MacFarlane, and by bad blood, I mean basically everyone in animation doesn’t like MacFarlane for some reason), and Phil Hendrie (I had no idea who he was, so here’s his Wikipedia page: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Hendrie.) Anyway, it was very funny and made for a good adventure story. However, it does have a disjointed plot and a haphazard pacing; though the jokes make up for it. My main problem with the film was that when it ended, it didn’t really have that finale feeling. I mean, it didn’t feel like this was the last time we’ll see the Planet Express crew. It appears that the filmmakers left it open-ended in case the show got picked up again. However, it appears that’s not going to be the case. They could have given the movie more of a finale feeling while still leaving the ending open. But, that doesn’t change the fact that this film was very funny. To me, it’s the third best. In fact, here are my rankings: 1. Bender’s Game (It was just so good!) 2. The Beast With A Billion Backs (My personal favorite, but not a lot of people liked it; and I can see why; it was a little creepy.) 3. Into The Green Wild Yonder 4. Bender’s Big Score (I thought it was funny, but looking back, all that retconning seems pointless and hurts some of the show’s best episodes a little.) The special features include audio commentary by Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Patric M. Verrone, Michael Rowe, Lee Supercinski, and Peter Avanzino; the storyboard animatic of the first 20 or 30 minutes of the film; Docudramarama, the making of Futurama, basically Lauren Tom does a lot more on that show than we previously thought; “Louder, Louder!”, the Acting Technique of Penn Jillette, which involves Penn telling us his secret to acting: it’s just yelling really loud; deleted scenes: Leo Wong destroying Dolemite Hill, the Hyperchicken, finally given a name—Matcluck, questioning Zapp Brannigan at the Feministas’ trial, an extended version of Scruffy and Dr. Zoidberg repainting the Planet Express Ship, an extended version of Morbo reading the newscast alone, and an extended version of Fry searching for the dark one; Matt Groening and David X. Cohen in Space!, well, actually they go up into an airplane that allows people to experience zero gravity; How To Draw Futurama In 10 Easy Steps, in which the animators show you how to draw some more Futurama characters; 3-D models of the asteroid that starts creating life, the Feministas Eco-van, the Gorilla obstacle in Leo Wong’s Gigantic Miniature Golf Course, the Nimbus, and the wormhole; Bender’s Movie Theater Etiquette, which basically means that he doesn’t have any (FYI, they recycled a few clips from the episode in which Bender becomes the Robot Fighting Champion); Zapp Brannigan’s Guide To Making Love At A Woman, which features recycled clips of some of Zapp’s funniest moments; and mysterious feature not mentioned on the DVD box! If you wish to remain surprised then: Basically, it is a small animation of Bender drinking a beer drawn on a roll of toilet paper. The special features aren’t anything to sneeze at. They aren’t as good as the ones for “Bender’s Big Score” and “Bender’s Game,” but they are better than the ones for “The Beast With A Billion Backs.” All in all, this was a good DVD. It was funny, but it just didn’t feel like it completed the Futurama saga. Now, I understand the reason why: the people who made don’t know if it will be picked. There seems to be a lot of optimism that it will get picked up. However, I just have this feeling that it won’t. I will be happy if it does, but I’m not going to get my hopes up. It looks like this is the end. Man, now I’m bummed out! If only I had something to take away the pain. Hey! Now, I feel better! I no longer care about whether or not Futurama will come back! I now only care about one thing! ALL HAIL THE HYPNOTOAD!!!! Highlights: I thought Zapp Brannigan’s Guide To Making Love At A Woman would be it, but I was a little disappointed by it. So, I’m giving the highlight nod to the Docudramarama. That Lauren Tom sure is a hard worker! Recommended, mainly for Futurama fans who want to complete their collections or whatnot.
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Post by Rorschach on Mar 15, 2009 17:16:28 GMT -5
These reviews are so damn great...I always look forward to the next installment!
Keep up the great work, Hulk.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Mar 22, 2009 0:09:27 GMT -5
It’s DVD review time!!!! The Best Of Saturday Night’s Main Event 3 disc DVD I first started watching wrestling in 1990. And, boy, was the scene a lot different then than it is today! Hulk Hogan passed the torch to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI. Sting was facing the Black Scorpion in WCW. Shawn Michaels was just one half of the Rockers. The Undertaker was just that mystery partner for Ted DiBiase’s team at the Survivor Series! They still had squash matches with jobbers on TV! WWE was the WWF! WCW was still around! The times sure have changed! However, the most important change, and by “most important” I mean “the one that pertains to this DVD review,” would have to be the number of PPVs. Today, we get one PPV a month, sometimes two thanks to WWE. But, back then, this was not the case. Sure, WCW had a lot of PPVs, but the WWF only had the four: the Royal Rumble (in January), WrestleMania (in March/April), SummerSlam (in August), and the Survivor Series (in November). So, that left some time in between PPVs. Also, the WWF’s TV shows, Prime Time and Superstars, usually featured squash matches. Sure, there would be the occasional big superstar VS superstar match, but it would mainly be mid-card guys. You rarely saw the big names, like Hogan, Warrior, or “Macho Man” Randy Savage, on those shows. And, those two shows were on USA, a cable channel; and not everyone had cable back then like they do today! Sure, there were the Coliseum Home Video releases, but a lot of them weren’t that great. Plus, there was the money issue; not everyone could afford to buy the PPVs and home videos. Now, most people wanted to see the WWF, but if you couldn’t afford the PPV or home videos, had no cable, and/or it was on of the months with no PPV, you weren’t excretory matter out of luck. There was a saving grace: Saturday Night’s Main Event. It was basically a mini PPV on free TV! And not cable but network TV! Yes! It was on NBC! So, practically everyone could see it! Every once in a while from 1985 to 1992, the WWF would preempt Saturday Night Live and have a two hour show of wrestling with all the top stars. Though, in 1992, SNME moved to Fox. Then, it just disappeared all together. Why? Well, the show debuted during the wrestling boom of the 1980s. However, the boom ended in 1990. Then, the show just disappeared until 2006, when WWE brought it back after moving back to USA. Sure, it wasn’t the same as when SNME was first on the air because it no longer served its purpose: to hold people over until the next PPV with star VS star matches. However, we now get PPVs every month, and we get star VS star matches on every show. WWE still airs it, though; the latest one was in August of 2008. But, enough about that! You see, SNME was one of the WWF’s flagship shows. It was a very big deal back in the day, and it produced some of the most memorable moments in WWE history. In fact, it had so many good moments that WWE decided to put all these moments together on a 3-disc DVD. Let’s get started: We start with our host “Mean” Gene Okerlund giving us a little description of SNME, reminding us what was going down in 1985, and mentioning the 1980s wrestling boom. You see, wrestling so popular back then. You had wrestling on MTV. Mr. T and Cyndi Lauper were involved with the WWF. Hulk Hogan and Mr. T hosted Saturday Night Live! The WWF was a hot thing back then. And, this led to a network show on NBC: Saturday Night’s Main Event. It debuted on May 11, 1985, a few months after the first WrestleMania. So, naturally, the first main event of SNME would be the first match on the DVD: Match 1. WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan VS “Cowboy” Bob Orton—SNME, May 11, 1985. I should mention that Orton has his pal “Rowdy” Roddy Piper in his corner, and Hogan had Mr. T in his corner for the match. And, yes, Orton had that legendary cast on his left arm. Also, Jesse Ventura’s commentary is in tact. Though, I figured it would. Ventura was pretty much on all of those SNME broadcasts. You couldn’t really do this disc without his commentary. Plus, I really miss heel announcers. We haven’t really heard many heel announcers in this decade, especially in WWE. Yeah, we had JBL, but he went back to wrestling. Though, he should go back to announcing. As for the match, it’s not the best in the world; but it’s okay. It has a bit of drama to it with Piper, Mr. T, and Paul Orndorff getting involved. All in all, it served it’s purpose. 6/10. Next, we get our first WrestleCrap induction that appears on the dist: Uncle Elmer’s wedding. Okay, here’s the thing. When I type that SNME produce a lot of memorable moments, I didn’t say that all those moments were good. In fact, some were so awesomely bad that they were entertaining. Uncle Elmer’s wedding definitely fits that category. Now, we don’t get the whole wedding. It’s mainly clips of the wedding with current WWE employees, like CM Punk, Santino Marella, and Joey Styles talking about it. Match 2. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper VS “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff—SNME, October 5, 1985. On the same night they had Uncle Elmer’s wedding, they had this match. Though, it wasn’t really a match. It was mainly just all out fight between the two. In fact, the match ended in a double countout. Though, it was pretty entertaining. 7/10. Also on that October 5 broadcast, we got a vignette for Gene Okerlund going to the zoo looking for George “The Animal” Steele. I don’t know if this has been inducted into WrestleCrap, but it should be. Or not. I don’t really care. Anyway, Okerlund shows up after that to introduce the next segment. In 1985, there was a special Halloween edition of SNME, which aired two days after Halloween. Oh well, it was closer to Halloween than the last several Simpsons Treehouse Of Horrors specials. And, it’s the second WrestleCrap induction to appear on this disc. On this Halloween special, we had some contest pitting the faces of the WWF at the time against the heels. In the first contest, Capt. Lou Albano beat King Kong Bundy in a pie eating contest. Then, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan beat one of the Hillbillies (I don’t know which one; there were like 50,000 running around the WWF at the time) in the bobbing for pumpkins contest. By the way, they really should have used water instead of chocolate for that part. Heenan looked like he got diarrhea thrown into his face afterwards. Then, finally, came the pumpkin pass, where you place a pumpkin under your chin and pass it to the next without using your hands. Here’s the thing about the pumpkin pass, two people trying to pass a pumpkin using only your chin…well…it looks like they’re making out. Anyway, the faces won when Piper freaked out trying to pass him pumpkin to Miss Elizabeth. Though, Elizabeth was in a skimpy jungle outfit. So, I can’t really blame Piper for doing so. SPEAKING OF freaking out, we then get to see Piper at his home in a cocaine induced madness giving out bricks and bowling balls to trick-or-treaters. I wish they had shown the whole vignette; that looked like comedy gold. Match 3. WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan VS Terry Funk—SNME, January 4, 1986. Interesting note: Hogan wears blue trunks and boots in this match instead of his usual yellow. Also, the ring looks small as hell. It’s like one of those CHIKARA rings that aren’t as high as usual rings. But, that’s because they usually host in venues with a low ceiling. This SNME was held in an arena. I don’t what the deal was with the small ring. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, the match is pretty good. Funk really makes Hogan look good. This match really shows that he wasn’t just the hardcore wrestler he became in the 1990s; he was a very good technical wrestler who could work well with anyone. Though, he does show some of that hardcore spirit by choking Hogan with a piece of tape. 8/10. Next, we get Randy Orton talking about his dad, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, which sets up for our next match: Match 4. Boxing Match: Mr. T VS “Cowboy” Bob Orton—SNME, March 1, 1986. One of the reasons wrestling was big in the 1980s was that Vince McMahon was able to get celebrities involved with the WWF. And, the main one was Mr. T. He was very popular, rising to fame thanks to “Rocky III.” So, it would make sense to have Mr. T come in and have a boxing match since he became famous for playing a boxer. Now, I’m gonna be honest: I find boxing to be boring. To me, it’s just punching. However, this was entertaining, mainly because Orton pretty much cheated throughout the match. This also set up the Boxing Match between Piper and Mr. T at WrestleMania 2 with Piper and Orton attacking Mr. T after the match. 7/10. “Mean” Gene returns to show how SNME was a big deal, mentioning that it feature big name stars taking on each other in a time when most televised wrestling matches showed squash matches with jobbers. He also talks about how SNME was a show used to end feuds. This leads to our next match: Match 5. Jake “The Snake” Roberts VS Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat—SNME, October 4, 1986. Here’s a little warning: before the match, Okerlund interviews Roberts in the shower. Now, why the WWF chose to hold this interview with a naked Jake Roberts in the shower is beyond me. I’m still trying to figure out why Roberts had Damien in the shower with him. Anyway, this feud actually began at the last SNME, when Roberts DDTed Steamboat onto the concrete floor outside of the ring and then draped his snake Damien over Steamboat. (That moment isn’t on the DVD, but we do see clips of it.) So, Steamboat decided to get even by bringing in his own animal: a dragon! Actually, it was an alligator, but they just called it a dragon. Anyway, it was a good match with some good drama and psychology. 8/10. Next, we get Jake Roberts talking about SNME, which leads to our next match: Match 6. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Jake “The Snake” Roberts—SNME, November 29, 1986. OH YEAH! One of the reasons I was interested in getting this DVD set was the Macho Man as he is all over this DVD set. Randy Savage is one of my all time favorite. The man was amazing: a great wrestler with this crazy charisma and gave some of the weirdest promos of all time. I mean, he was so bad ass when he first showed up, especially when he crushed Steamboat’s throat with that ring bell. And, those robes he had were out of sight! Plus, he had Miss Elizabeth. It’s quite hilarious to hear Vince McMahon cream his shorts when Elizabeth comes out. Interesting note: both men were heels at the time. It’s nice to see a rare heel VS heel match. Though, the crowd seemed to be more behind Roberts. I heard a “DDT” chant from the Los Angeles crowd. Ya know, there are a lot of snakes in L.A.; maybe that’s why they were behind Roberts.[/comment on the entertainment industry]. Anyway, this is a very good match. I’m not surprised, though. Savage is an amazing worker, and Roberts is a master of in-ring psychology. I’d be surprised if these two didn’t have a good match. 8/10. Gene Okerlund returns to introduce one of the most memorable matches in WWE history: Match 7. Steel Cage Match for the WWF Title: Hulk Hogan VS “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff—SNME, January 3, 1987. In 1986, Orndorff and Hogan had one of the best feuds of the time. Now, Orndorff and Hogan had become friends after Orndorff’s friends Piper and Orton turned their backs on him, blaming him for the lost at the first WrestleMania. So, Orndorff decided to lend a hand to their main enemy, Hulk Hogan. The two men became friends, and Orndorff fully turned face when he fired his manager, Bobby Heenan. However, it didn’t last. People began saying that Orndorff had gone soft since teaming up with Hogan, most notably Adrian Adonis who dared Orndorff to show that he and Hogan had a close friendship. So, Orndorff famously called Hogan on TV but was told that Hogan was too busy to answer the call, annoying Orndorff to no end. When Hogan and Orndorff teamed together against the Moondogs, Orndorff wrestled most of the match himself, even scoring the pin just to show up Hogan. The next tag match they were in, against Big John Studd and King Kong Bundy, Hogan accidentally knocked Orndorff of the apron. Studd and Bundy double teamed Hogan as Orndorff stood on the outside claiming to have an eye injury. However, Orndorff eventually came to Hogan’s aid, fending off Bundy and Studd. Then, Orndorff helped Hogan up, only to clothesline back to the mat and then gave Hogan a piledriver. Orndorff rehired Heenan as his manager and became the number 1 challenger to Hogan’s WWF Title, which led to this match. This match is infamously known for the finish, in which both men hit the floor at the same time and two referees claiming a different man to be the winner: Joey Marella saying that Hogan won while heel referee Danny Davis claiming that Orndorff was the new WWF Champion. (That’s another thing I miss: heel referees. I would love to see one of those running around WWE today.) Anyway, this match is just spectacular. Sure, it doesn’t have a lot of pure technical holds and scientific wrestling; but it had a lot of drama and exciting brawling in the match. Plus, it was great way to end such a good feud. Also, was it just me, or was Orndorff in the right on this feud? I mean, if I called a good friend of mines on TV, then that guy better answer the phone and not embarrass me. 9/10. “Mean” Gene returns and talks about another big wrestling star: Andre The Giant. He mentions the feud between Hulk Hogan and their match at WrestleMania III. The reason for the mention is that our next match is one of the things that set up their epic match at WrestleMania III: Match 8. Battle Royal—SNME, March 14, 1987. Well, obviously both Hogan and Andre were in this match. The battle royal also featured Hercules, Ron Bass, Demolition (Ax and Smash), Billy Jack Haynes, Hillbilly Jim, The Honky Tonk Man, The Islanders (Haku and Tama), The Killer Bees (B. Brian Blair and Jim Brunzell), Blackjack Mulligan, Paul Orndorff, Lanny Poffo, Butch Reed, Sika, Nikolai Volkoff, and Koko B. Ware. Also, this match took place in the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, the same city that hosted WrestleMania III. Interesting note, the match starts off with Hogan and Andre staring each other down, and then when the bell rings, all the heels gang up on Hogan while all the faces go after Andre. I liked that. I thought it was good way to start this match, especially with so much drama between Hogan and Andre. Another thing I liked in this match: Honky Tonk Man’s tights; they were neon blue with pink suspenders attached to them. Now that is fashion! Also, Andre headbutted Lanny Poffo so hard that he busted him open! Hell, Poffo had to be taken out in a stretcher. It may have been a work to make Andre look good, but it sure as hell worked! Anyway, this whole battle royal is worked to have Hogan and Andre confront each other before their big WrestleMania III match. Sure enough, it happens when Andre eliminates Hogan, and Hogan has to be held back to keep him from reentering the match. However, Andre doesn’t win; all the remaining wrestlers gang up and throw him over the top rope. The final four is Smash, Billy Jack Haynes, Koko B. Ware, and Hercules. Hercules throws Koko out with ease, and then he teams up with Smash to take out Haynes. However, Haynes is able to eliminate Smash, leaving it between him and Hercules. But, distraction from Bobby Heenan allows Hercules to eliminate Haynes. 8/10. Next, Natalie Neidhart shows up to talk about her dad, setting up for the next match: Match 9. 2 Out Of 3 Falls for the WWF Tag Team Titles: The Hart Foundation VS The British Bulldogs—SNME, May 2, 1987. One of the best things the WWF had going in the 1980s was their tag division, and these were two of their best teams. The Bulldogs were technical powerhouses, and the Hart Foundation had a great combo of technical wrestling from Bret Hart with the power and speed of Jim Neidhart. Also, it’s great to see just how good Davey Boy Smith was before he got really big in the 1990s. He was faster and more agile. Also, Danny Davis is out at ringside for the Hart Foundation, while Tito Santana is in the Bulldogs’ corner. Anyway, this is a very good, very exciting match. I thoroughly enjoyed it. 9/10. “Mean” Gene returns to set up the next match by mentioning the two big guys in the WWF in the late 1980s: “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan. This is actually the beginning of one of the longest and best feuds in WWF/E history: Match 10. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Honky Tonk Man VS “Macho Man” Randy Savage—SNME, October 3, 1987. This match had to be on the DVD. Not only is it good, it’s also one of the most important matches it WWF/E history: the beginning of the Mega Powers, the super duo of Savage and Hogan that lasted for almost two years before exploding in one of the best WrestleMania main events at WrestleMania V. Anyway, the way they set up the pairing was great, with Elizabeth simply going to the back and dragging Hogan out help Savage from the Honky Tonk Man and the Hart Foundation. So simple yet so perfect. There was just so much drama and excitement. Plus, the crowd was so into it. They were loud throughout the whole match, and they just went nuts when Hogan came out. You just don’t hear crowds like that anymore. I know I’ve said that before, but it’s true! 10/10. Next, we get a promo from Hogan and Savage that took place after the match in which the team’s name is coined. After that, we have current WWE superstars talking about the formation of the Mega Powers. WrestleCrap Induction #3! Well, technically it’s only a part of an induction, the Piledriver album. Anyway, we get the video to the title track of that album, “Piledriver,” in all its glory! Man, Vince’s face when those women show up is still funny as hell. But, don’t take my word for it: Match 11. “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Bret “The Hitman” Hart—SNME, November 28, 1987. I’m guessing this match happened because of what happened in the previous match, what with the Hart Foundation helping Honky Tonk Man to attack Savage. Anyway, this is a very good match: a lot of good wrestling with some great drama in Savage getting an ankle injury during the match and having to wrestle on one foot. It was a good and exciting bout. 8/10. Now, Disc 1 has ended, and before we move on to Disc 2, let’s take a look at the special features on this disc: Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat and the U.S. Express VS The Iron Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff, and George “The Animal” Steele—SNME, May 11, 1985. This is the first match that took place on the first Saturday Night’s Main Event. It was an okay match. Nothing memorable happened during the match, but it had some solid wrestling. However, after the match, the Iron Sheik and Volkoff attacked Steele; I think this marked his face turn. 7/10. The next special feature is the “Real American” music video. I don’t know what it is about this song, but every time I hear it, I just get so pumped up! As for the video, it’s cheesy as hell, with lots of patriotic images and Hogan playing guitar over various American locations. But, it is just good clean fun. Finally, the last special feature on this disc is a promo featuring the Junkyard Dog and his mother and highlights of his match with Pete Dougherty as the Dog’s mom looks on. Now, let’s move on to disc 2. Gene Okerlund returns to introduce our next match: Match 12. WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan VS King Kong Bundy—SNME, January 2, 1988. This match is important because Bundy had Andre the Giant in his corner instead of his manager Bobby “The Brain” Heenan because he was selling his (kayfabe) neck injury. Before the match, we get a cool promo from Hogan in which he talks about a summit meeting with Ronald Reagan. Just the thought of Hogan and Reagan in the same room makes me smile. I don’t know why it just does. Sadly, Hogan didn’t end the promo with “What’cha gonna do when Hulkamania and Reaganomics run wild on you!!!!?” Anyway, this is an okay man. Nothing spectacular offense wise (Bundy and Hogan aren’t the most technical wrestlers), there were some good moments, especially when referee Jack Kruger was caught in an avalanche splash and got squashed between Bundy and Hogan. He was legitimately injured and had to be wheeled away on a stretcher; Dave Hebner took over as the official. 7/10. However, what took place after the match was more memorable and dramatic than what took place during it. After Hogan won, he challenged Andre to enter the ring. It appeared that Andre chickened out, but he entered the ring when Hogan wasn’t looking and started choking Hogan. Andre held on for a long time and several WWF had to pull Andre off of Hogan. This was an amazing moment as it perfectly set up for the next match on the DVD: Match 13. WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan VS Andre The Giant—The Main Event, February 5, 1988. Okay, this match technically didn’t take place on SNME. It took place on the Main Event, which is still the highest rated wrestling special, with a 15.2 rating and about 30 million people tuning in to see the WrestleMania III rematch. Though, the history and importance surrounding this match definitely proves that it deserves to be included on this DVD set. Before the match, they showed footage from that epic encounter at WrestleMania III and footage of the contract signing for this match. Also, “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Virgil were at ringside with Andre; if you don’t remember, one of the storylines surrounding this match was DiBiase trying to buy the WWF Title. Now, this was a good match. In fact, I thought it was better than the WrestleMania III match, mainly because of Hogan’s offense in the beginning of the match. He was so fast and furious, and I was impressed to see Hogan go to the top rope. However, it was all for naught as Andre won and ended Hogan’s 4 year reign as WWF Champion. Though, controversy surrounding the finish (Hogan getting a shoulder up before 3 yet Andre being awarded the match and then Andre selling the WWF Title to Ted DiBiase) cause the WWF Title to be stripped, setting up the tournament at WrestleMania IV. This was the first time we learned that Dave Hebner had a twin brother named Earl. Also, when Hogan picked up Earl and threw him out of the ring, he nearly missed DiBiase and Virgil. Anyway, with so much drama and some pretty good brawling, it made for a good match. 8/10. Next, we get Ted DiBiase, Jr., talking about his dad and the Million Dollar Belt. This leads to our next match: Match 14: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase—SNME, March 12, 1988. Now, this is a pretty good match. Once again, I’m not surprised. Not only was Savage a very good wrestler, so was Ted DiBiase. So, we have two very good mat technicians in the ring putting on a great bout. Though, it wasn’t just the wrestlers who made this match entertaining. It was hilarious to hear McMahon fawn over Elizabeth. You’d think the guy was in love with the girl. I should also point out that Andre the Giant was in DiBiase’s corner and Elizabeth brought out Hulk Hogan to help Savage again. 8/10. Our next moment features Jake “The Snake” Roberts freaking Andre The Giant out with his snake Damien, causing Andre to pass out. Now again, we don’t get the whole moment, just clips and WWE superstars talking about it; but still it was nice they mentioned it. Match 15: Hulk Hogan VS “King” Harley Race—SNME, March 12, 1988. WrestleCrap Induction #4 appears. Well, technically, Race’s sting as King Of The Ring was just a part of a larger induction on the ridiculous attempt by the WWF to give the wrestlers makeshift feuds over a stupid king title that didn’t really mean anything. Now, this is a pretty big match. Well, it would have been a few years earlier, like in 1985. But still, we got one of the WWF’s biggest stars, Hogan, taking on one of the legends of the NWA, Race. Now, there aren’t a lot of technical holds in this one, but it was a pretty entertain brawl. Also, it’s amazing how heelish Hogan acts in this match. I mean, I found it hard to believe he was a face. Another noteworthy moment in this match was that this was one of the first times a wrestler went through a table in a match. Late in the match, Race laid Hogan out across a table outside the ring and attempted to hit a diving headbutt from the ring apron. However, Hogan moved out of the way and Race crashed through the table, suffering a legitimate injury that would eventually force him into retirement. Yet, Race finished the match regardless of the injury. Though, it did take him out of action for a while, which led to some hilarious vignettes in which the WWF wanted us to believe that Race was practically dead by showing Race floating up to the clouds. 7/10. “Mean” Gene returns, informing us viewers of Savage’s WWF Title win at WrestleMania IV and introducing the next match: Match 16. WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Andre The Giant—SNME, November 26, 1988. First, we get an excellent promo from Savage, which pretty much plants some seeds for the Mega Powers exploding by saying that he wants to beat Andre because Hogan did it. As for the match, it’s okay. Nothing special, except for Jake “The Snake” Roberts coming down to the Macho Man’s aid and to freak out Andre with Damien. Next, we get “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan talking about SNME and his flag match with Boris Zuhkov on the same SNME as the previous match. Match 17. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The Ultimate Warrior VS The Honky Tonk Man—SNME, January 7, 1989. Before the match, we get a typical Ultimate Warrior promo: weird and hard as hell to understand. The match itself it okay, nothing special. I wish it had gone on a little longer. You see, most matches on SNME didn’t last long. Hell, it was rare that a match on SNME lasted over 10 minutes. Luckily, we get several of them on this DVD. Anyway, it was a nice short match. 6/10. Next, we get Hulk Hogan’s best friend, Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake shaving Ron Bass’s head. They pretty much show clips of the rivalry between these two, some highlights of the match they had on the same SNME as the previous match, and then Bass’s haircut. After this, Gene Okerlund shows up to talk about the Mega Powers and their feud with the Twin Tower, the Big Boss Man and Akeem, WrestleCrap Induction #5 on this DVD, which leads to our next match: Match 18. The Twin Towers VS The Mega Powers—The Main Event, February 3, 1989. Once again, we have a match that took place on the Main Event rather than SNME. Though, this match is on the disc for historic purposes: this is when the Mega Powers exploded. Now, problems between Savage and Hogan had begun when Hogan took on Elizabeth as his manager, and Savage started to get jealous. Both men nearly came to blows in the 1989 Royal Rumble when Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage as he was trying to help Savage eliminate Bad News Brown. But, Elizabeth stopped it. However, the bad blood between the two came to a boil in this match. During the match, Savage got knocked to the outside by Akeem, taking out Elizabeth as well. Hogan went over to check on Elizabeth and then took her backstage to get some medical attention, giving a rousing performance similar to the one he gave in “No Holds Barred.” However, he left the Macho Man all alone against the Twin Towers. Savage didn’t take this too kindly as he abandoned Hogan when he returned to the match. Luckily, Hogan was able to win the match on his own. Then, when Hogan went back to check on Elizabeth and confront Savage, they got into an argument; and Savage attacked Hogan from behind, thus setting the stage for WrestleMania V. The match itself it pretty good, though the drama behind the Mega Powers storyline really adds to it. I feel it wouldn’t have been as good without it. Also, there is a hilarious moment in the match when Akeem falls out of the ring as backs into the ropes. I don’t know if it was on purpose or a botch, but it was hilarious! 9/10. Of course, Hogan ended Savage’s year long WWF Title reign at WrestleMania V, as “Mean” Gene tells us. However, Hogan’s feud with the Big Boss Man wasn’t over. In fact: Match 19. Steel Cage Match for the WWF Title Match: Hulk Hogan VS The Big Boss Man—SNME, May 27, 1989. Before the match begins, we get WrestleCrap Induction #6 as Zeus, the villain from Hogan’s movie “No Holds Barred,” appears and attacks Hogan before the match. Other than that, this is a pretty entertaining bout, especially with the superplex Hogan gave Boss Man from the top of the cage. That was a pretty big spot for 1989. 8/10. Match 20. 2 Out Of 3 Falls: The Rockers VS The Brain Busters—SNME, November 25, 1989. Talk about a dream match. A young Shawn Michaels and Marty Jannetty taking on Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard in their prime. This was also one of the Brain Busters last matches in the WWF as their manager Bobby Heenan deserts them after they lose the first fall and then Tully would later fail a drug test some time before the 1989 Survivor Series, getting him fired. Anderson would also leave the WWF, and they both tried to return to the NWA. But, Tully’s failed drug test kept him from getting the job. As for the match, it’s a pretty good little bout. 8/10. Now, lets look at the Special Features on Disc 2 before we go to Disc 3: Our first one features a special episode of the Brother Love show featuring Hulk Hogan. First, we get clips of the Big Boss Man attacking Hogan the last time he was on Brother Love’s show. Then, Brother Love shows up to introduce his guest: the Jive Soul Bro, Slick! Wait…I thought Hogan was suppose to be the guest! Hell, Hogan thought that, too, as we saw him reacting angrily to the announcement of Slick being on the show. However, Brother Love did introduce Hogan, who promptly came out. And, I love the look on Hogan’s face each time Brother Love asks him a question and pulls the microphone away before he can answer. He looks shocked each time! Eventually, Hogan tires of this and grabs the microphone to give Brother Love and Slick a piece of his mind and pulls the mic from them just as it was done to him. Then, Hogan throws Slick out of the ring. Brother Love tries to take out Hogan with his microphone, but Hogan just bodyslams him to the mat, handcuffs Brother Love to the ropes, and then clotheslines him out of the ring. Dusty Rhodes VS The Big Boss Man—SNME, October 31, 1989. This bonus match features the debut of the American Dream’s sidekick, Sapphire. It also features WrestleCrap Induction #7: Dusty Rhodes’s WWF stint. I’m glad they put this match on the DVD, mainly for Dusty’s theme song. Man, that song rocks! Anyway, the match is okay, nothing special other than Sapphire’s debut. Also, if you look behind Sapphire, you’ll see former WrestleCrap Radio TNA Correspondent Peter Gazer; he’s in the blue blazer with the stars on it. 6/10. Now, we move on to Disc 3, and “Mean” Gene shows up again, talking about Hulk Hogan’s feud with the Genius and Mr. Perfect, which leads to our next moment on the DVD: the Genius and Mr. Perfect smashing the WWF Title belt, which would later become the Hardcore Title belt in 1998. Unlike the other moments, which were just clips, here we get the whole segment. I was pleasantly surprised. Then, we get Hogan’s reaction to Perfect and Genius’s act. This leads us to our next match: Match 21. Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior VS Mr. Perfect and the Genius—SNME, January 27, 1990. First, we get a promo from Perfect and the Genius, AKA Lanny Poffo, AKA Randy Savage’s brother. Now, I’ve talked about Savage’s charisma; but Lanny is just as charismatic as his brother. They way he moves and says his poetry is just fantastic. Anyway, this match was pretty much used to build to the main event of WrestleMania VI, Hogan VS Warrior. We get a clip of Hogan and Warrior fighting in the Royal Rumble of 1990, followed by a promo from Warrior and Hogan. Then, the match begins, with Warrior and Hogan actually working well as a team. Also during the match, the Genius actually began writing a poem as Perfect was getting beat up by Hogan. Though, this is just a ploy to bring that metal scroll of his into the match. The match itself it pretty good, mainly for Perfect and the Genius’s selling; those two are just so good at it. After the match, Perfect and Genius attack Hogan and Warrior as they celebrate their victory. During this attack, Warrior accidentally hits Hogan; but Hogan thought it was intentional, leading to a stare down/shove off between the two. 7/10. Next, we get clips of Vince McMahon and Jesse Ventura riding into SNME on horseback, with WWE superstars talking about the moment. Then, we go on to our next match: Match 22. Hulk Hogan VS Mr. Perfect—SNME, April 28, 1990. This was a very good match. Quite entertaining, and it really showed Mr. Perfect’s skills, as he made Hogan look like a million bucks. 8/10. Next, we get WrestleCrap Induction #8: “The Model” Rick Martel, as he does an ad for his own cologne, Arrogance. You know, that crap he would spray into people’s eyes during matches. Anyway, we quickly move on to the next match. Match 23. The Rockers VS The Hart Foundation—SNME, April 28, 1990. Now, we get some classic tag team wrestling in this bout as two of the greatest tag teams of all time square off in a very good match. Things get a little more interesting when the WWF Tag Team Champions at the time, Demolition strolled on down to the ring to watch the match. However, things quickly dissolve into an all out brawl between all three teams. 8/10. “Mean” Gene returns to introduce our next match: Match 24. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: Mr. Perfect VS Tito Santana—SNME, June 28, 1990. First, we get a promo from Perfect and his manager Bobby Heenan. The match itself was pretty good, exciting, fast-paced, a lot of good back and forth action, some good heel tactics from Perfect and Heenan, and some good drama when the referee gets taken out with a leg injury that keeps him from counting two pinfalls for Santana. 9/10. Then, we get WrestleCrap Induction #9 as we get clips of the Oktoberfest special edition of Saturday Night’s Main Event. It was a classic episode, featuring such wonderful moments as Jim Neidhart dancing in lederhosen, the Genius wearing a blonde wig, Lord Alfred Hayes getting drunk, and a huge food fight between all the WWF wrestlers. Match 25. Battle Royal—SNME, April 27, 1991. Yes, we get another battle royal. This one featured Mr. Perfect, The Barbarian, The Big Boss Man, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, Earthquake, Haku, Power And Glory (Hercules and Paul Roma), Hulk Hogan, The Orient Express (Kato and Tanaka), Jake “The Snake” Roberts, The Rockers (Shawn Michaels and Mary Jannetty), The British Bulldog, “Superfly” Jimmy Snuka, Tugboat (WrestleCrap Induction #10), Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, The Texas Tornado, and The Warlord. There were a few feuds going on in this match, most notably the Jake Roberts and Earthquake feud, which revolved around Earthquake squashing Damien and cooking him up into hamburgers, and the dissolution of the friendship between Tugboat and Hulk Hogan. Though, would you really want to be friends with a man who wears a candy-cane striped shirt? I know I wouldn’t. Anyway, the final four contains Shawn Michaels, Mr. Perfect, the Barbarian, and Greg Valentine. After a flip over the top turnbuckle in a corner, Michaels gets knocked off the apron by Perfect. Then, Valentine held his own against the Barbarian and Perfect; but they eventually overpowered him. However, as the Barbarian held Valentine and Perfect went for a dropkick, Valentine ducked; Perfect dropkicked Barbarian instead, sending flying onto the top rope; and Valentine eliminated the Barbarian. After some fighting between the two, Valentine picked up Perfect and tried to throw him over the top rope, but Perfect pulled Valentine with him, causing Valentine to fall to the floor; and Perfect quickly snuck back into the ring to claim victory. 8/10. Match 26. Bret “The Hitman” Hart VS “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase—SNME, April 27, 1991. Now, here are two guys who can constantly put on a good match with one another. I mean, you got two great mat technicians going in a very good match. And, you Sensational Sherri on the outside to add some good heel tactics to the match. We also get some hilarity when “Rowdy” Roddy Piper comes down to the ring and chases Sherri away with a broom. 8/10. By the way, those last two matches were on the last Saturday Night’s Main Event broadcast on NBC. FOX would then air the last two SNME broadcasts until 2006. This, of course, leads us to the next match: Match 27. Hulk Hogan and Sid Justice VS The Undertaker and Ric Flair—SNME, February 8, 1992. Another interesting fact, this was the first and so far only time Sid, Flair, and Undertaker wrestled on SNME. Also, this match set up the Sid/Hogan match at WrestleMania VIII, which had begun at the 1992 Royal Rumble when Sid eliminated Hogan and then Hogan grabbed Sid’s arm, allowing Ric Flair to eliminate him and become the WWF Champion. The match itself is okay, but the drama between Hogan and Sid really added to it. I also like how Sid turned on Hogan without any real provocation in the match. Hogan didn’t hit him on accident and leave him for any reason. Sid just decided to quit helping Hogan and eventually left despite Brutus Beefcake’s pleads to help Hogan. However, Hogan and Sid still won the match, mainly because of a disqualification. 8/10. Next, we get clips of the Intercontinental Title Match between “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and the Mountie from the same broadcast, in which Piper wore a shock proof vest and then shocked the Mountie with his own electric shocker. Then, we move on to the next match: Match 28. WWF Intercontinental Title Match: The British Bulldog VS Shawn Michaels—SNME, November 14, 1992. Now, this is a good match. Such a good outing from both men. I mean, you got such a good technical and power wrestler in the British Bulldog, and Shawn Michaels pretty much always delivers in the ring. 9/10. Of course, this match took place on the last Saturday Night’s Main Event. At least, that’s what everyone thought. Then, in 2005, WWE moved from Spike TV to USA. Now, USA is owned by NBC-Universal, and WWE was able to get a deal with them that allowed them to bring back SNME on NBC on March 18, 2006. Now, as I’ve pointed out earlier, there was no real reason or need for SNME anymore. But, its return was a big deal. It also helped to build to WrestleMania 22. And, you’ve have to agree that those white ring ropes and red steel posts and that entrance set look cool as hell. Plus, we’ve gotten some good matches from its return. Such as: Match 29. Street Fight: Shawn Michaels VS Shane McMahon—SNME, March 18, 2006. At the time, Michaels was feuding with Vince McMahon, which was leading to a match between the two at WrestleMania 22. But, before that match, we got this excellent street fight between HBK and Shane-O-Mac. I knew it would be good. As I’ve said, Michaels always delivers in the ring; and Shane is pretty entertaining in the ring himself, always willing to put his body on the line to do a crazy spot that will have the crowd going wild, like that superplex Shawn gave to Shane from the ladder onto those two tables. 8/10. Next, we get some clips of when Randy Orton hit the RKO on Hulk Hogan on the car, as well as Randy Orton talking about it. Then, we quickly move on to our next match: Match 30. 5-On-2 Handicap Elimination Match: D-Generation X VS The Spirit Squad—SNME, July 15, 2006. You know, I liked D-Generation X…back in 1997, when they were cool and could really be annoying assholes. However, the 2006 D-Generation X SUCKED!!!! I mean, Shawn’s a born-again Christian, and Triple H had a kid at the time. How are we supposed to take them seriously as rebels? Plus, they had the worst feud of 2006, with the McMahons. And, here they are, taking on their personal whipping boys: the Spirit Squad. I mean, you had 5 guys taking on 2, and the 5 guys got their asses kicked! And, it didn’t just happen on this! It happened week after week! And, that’s a shame. I mean, these five guys were pretty good in the ring and somehow made a male cheerleading squad gimmick work. I don’t even know why this match made on the DVD! Wait…nevermind…I just remembered, it involved the boss’s son-in-law and had an appearance from the boss himself, Vince McMahon. 4/10. Gene Okerlund shows up again to set up the next match: Match 31: WWE Title Match: Edge VS John Cena—SNME, July 15, 2006. I liked this match, mainly because my brother went to see this SNME live at the arena. I’m a little jealous of him, because he got to see Edge retain his WWE Title live! I mean, I would have given my left lung to have seen that! Plus, he hates Edge! Oh, it just brings me so much joy to think about him being pissed off that he didn’t get to see Edge lose the WWE Title. Also, Lita is there, in all of her Doctor Of Juganomics glory. God, I miss that woman. And, yeah, that beatdown Cena gave to Edge was cool, I guess. 10/10. Then, “Mean” Gene shows up again to talk about the importance of Saturday Night’s Main Event and closes out the DVD. The special features on this disc include Lord Alfred Hayes and “Mean” Gene going on a safari, with appearances from Koko B. Ware, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and the Bushwhackers; I don’t know if this has been inducted, but it should be. A lot of comedy gold there. Then, we get Shawn Michaels talking about winning the Intercontinental Title the first time, which is basically recycled from his own DVD. And, finally, we had Matt Hardy talking about his boxing match with Evander Holyfield. All in all, this is a great DVD. It has a lot of good matches, and I wasn’t really disappointed with it. I do have some complaints on the newer material. They could have left off the D-X/Spirit Squad match. And, I know there weren’t a lot of memorable moments from the newer episodes; but they could have put some better matches, like an excellent Edge and Jeff Hardy from a recent one and that Matt Hardy/Evander Holyfield boxing match. I mean, they got one of the best boxers of all time to appear on the show! Why not show it instead of just showing some clips! Also, they could have shown more of the non-wrestling moments. I mean, most of them were just clips. I was kind of hoping this DVD set would be put together like the RAW 15 Anniversary DVD, which did show whole moments that weren’t wrestling matches. However, there is plenty of good material on this DVD. They were able to get a lot of good match on the DVD as well as some of the most memorable moments in WWF/E history. And, it was so much fun to see so many great moments. It really brought me back to when I was a young, innocent, wild-eyed mark. It’s just a fun DVD to watch and reminisce about. Though, they could have done a little bit better job. Highlight: The Mega Powers EXPLODE! That was just so dramatic and put together well. Plus, it had Randy Savage. That’s always a plus. Recommended.
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Post by Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action on Mar 22, 2009 0:25:29 GMT -5
Phew. Dude I can honestly say, you put a lot of time and effort into these!
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Apr 4, 2009 18:56:27 GMT -5
You guys want a new DVD review!? Well, I’m gonna give you one regardless of whether you want one or not because I can’t hear you: The Venture Bros. Season 3. 2-Disc DVD. Team Venture returns for another season of…I don’t want to call what they do high-jinks because it’s a little more adult than that…but… Um, let’s just move on. For my money, The Venture Bros. is the best show currently on Adult Swim. It’s smart, funny, and way more coherent than the usual trash they air on Adult Swim nowadays, like Tim And Eric: Awesome Show and Xavier: Renegade Angel. God, those shows SUCK!!!! Anyway, when we last left the Ventures and their companions, the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend were getting married when Phantom Limb interrupted the party to steal Dr. Girlfriend and become the new Sovereign at the same time. However, his plans were spoiled because David Bowie ain’t a little bitch who’s gonna let some dude with invisible limbs take his power away! So, Phantom Limb is defeated and missing; and the Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are on their honeymoon when Dr. Girlfriend drops a bombshell on the Monarch. So, without further adieu… 27. "Shadowman 9: In The Cradle Of Destiny"—June 1, 2008 3-32 The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are fighting for their lives as the Guild Of Calamitous Intent puts them through the Guild’s Tribunal as the Monarch has been breaking Guild rules for years: from being a villain while he was a henchmen for other villains to arching Dr. Venture without establishing credentials with the Guild. Throughout the tribunal, we learn of The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend’s pasts. By the way, we never find out the secret But, in this episode we learn that they first met when the Monarch was one of Limb’s henchmen, Shadowman 9, and tried to steal Dr. Girlfriend, then known as Lady Au Pair. We also learn that the Monarch is responsible for the accident that took Baron Ünderbheit’s jaw. Other notes: there’s a subplot with the Moppets and Henchmen 21 and 24 in a power struggle, and the main characters: Hank, Dean, Dr. Venture, and Brock Samson, aren’t in this episode; Dr. Venture and Brock make an appearance, but they have no dialogue. This is a good episode. I love that they didn’t reveal the secret. Some things just need to be left unrevealed. I also love the satire on certain villainous activities, like how female villains’ costumes usually play up their sexuality rather than their skills and how secret groups seem to have footage of things that they really shouldn’t have had: how and why would the Guild have footage of The Monarch in college when they didn’t even know who he was. I also like the Moppets. Also, there is a big continuity goof: in "Tag Sale – You're It!", the Monarch had no idea that Dr. Girlfriend once dated Phantom Limb. However, they do make fun of certain continuity, like Limb not being able to recognize the Monarch when they first met. All in all, it was a good episode despite the continuity error. 8/10. 28. "The Doctor Is Sin"—June 8, 2008 3-28 Now, we go back to the stars of the shows: Team Venture!!!! In this episode, Dr. Henry Killinger returns. This time he lends his excellent skills of analysis and advice to completely revamp Venture Compounds. Unfortunately, by doing this, he nearly turns Dr. Venture into a supervillain bent on destroying his own brother, Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr. Hilarious episode. It’s a great example of what this show is about: failure. You have Dr. Venture trying to prove his self-worth in the scientific world and failing miserably. And, then he gets the opportunity to not be the failure anymore, but it comes at the price of his own morals. It’s not only funny, but it’s also thought provoking. Also, I should point out that this DVD is uncensored. That’s means you hear all the cussing without the beeps. I point this out now, because in this episode, we get a full shot of Dr. Jonas Venture, Sr.’s penis. Still a good episode though. 9/10. 29. "Home Is Where The Hate Is"—June 22, 2008 3-37 It’s the dinner party…FROM HELL!!!! Sgt. Hatred throws a Supervillains Party to welcome The Monarch and Dr. Mrs. The Monarch, formerly Dr. Girlfriend, to their new home, Malice, a gated community for supervillains (“It's like Boca Raton on Halloween!”), and to celebrate his new arch-enemy: Dr. Thaddeus Venture. The party is a bore, but things heat up with some attempted murder as The Monarch can’t stand that Dr. Venture has a new arch-villain and plans to finish him off once and for all. I liked this episode, mainly for one character: Sgt. Hatred. Despite his name, he’s surprisingly civil, even going so far as to work out an arching schedule with Dr. Venture so that he doesn’t disturb him during the night or a business meeting. I also loved the dinner party sequence, especially the game where people have a name tag with a famous person on it and they have to guess it. The fact that Dr. Mrs. The Monarch has no idea who Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis is hilariously; her look is based on the former first lady. And, the feud between the Moppets and Henchmen 21 and 24 just keeps getting better. Also, Nudity Warning #2: we get a shot of The Monarch’s balls and Dr. Venture’s genitals from behind. 8/10. 30. "The Invisible Hand Of Fate"—June 15, 2008 3-27 Billy Quizboy: the 35-year-old man with a giant head and a boy’s body. Why do I mention him? Because, this episode is about him. We learn that Billy was a contestant on a game show called “Quizboys,” which was hosted by Pete White in a bunch of make-up to hide albinism. Billy is the Ken Jennings of the show…well, on the surface. In actuality, he’s Charles Van Doren, a famous contestant on Twenty-One who was given the answers in advance back in the 1950s: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiz_show_scandals. After he’s exposed, Billy ends up doing underground quiz shows, which leads to Billy losing his eye and hand to in a pitbull fight when White accidentally enters him into a dog fight. However, he’s being tracked by two OSI agents: Brock Samson and Col. Hunter Gathers. They make contact Billy and set him up as an assistant to Prof. Fantamos, whom they believe is a recruiter for the Guild Of Calamitous Intent, which at this time is thought to be no more. Unfortunately, the mission ends in a disaster as Fantamos puts too much trust into Billy, who thanks to all his cheating, doesn’t really know a lot. This is a great episode. So many great moments, like the G.I. Joe-like intro for OSI, imagine if the Joes were gay and stopped being pussies and actually took out Cobra with deadly force, and the Nozzle. It was also great to learn how Pete and Billy met, how Dr. Venture ended up with Brock as his bodyguard, and how Prof. Fantamos became Phantom Limb. Plus, it has the return of Hunter Gathers. He’s an awesome character. Imagine Hunter S. Thompson if he was a government agent and had a sex change operation because he felt like a woman trapped in a man’s body. Now, it’s a funny episode, but it’s a little seeing what happens to Billy. He was just a brilliant young boy who had so much potential and wanted to go to MIT. However, a series of bad decisions and a lot of cheating kills all his dreams, leaving him to life in a trailer with an albino. It has a nice mix of comedy and sympathy. 10/10. 31. "The Buddy System"—June 29, 2008 3-30 In this episode, we spend a day at Rusty’s Day Camp For Boy Adventurers!!!! Rusty’s Day Camp For Boy Adventurers has a wide variety of activities for all you boy adventurers to enjoy! Wanna go on TV!? Well, Master Billy Quizboy will show you how to be a quizboy! Got any questions? Well, Johnny Quest will answer them in a Q and A! Do you have trouble with danger? Well, The Order Of The Triad will teach you how to be safe! Wanna be a pirate!? The Pirate Captain will show you how! Wanna learn how to fight!? Brock Samson will show you how! Are you experiences the beginnings of puberty!? Well, then, you won’t be able to stop staring at Dr. Mrs. The Monarch’s new costume. Good God almighty! *drools* Um…anyway, Rusty’s Day Camp For Boy Adventurers provides all the knowledge you need to be a boy adventurer. So, stop on by TODAY!!!! Good episode. You got Brock wanting to beat up Dermott, a teenage boy who may or may not be his son’ the Moppets spying on Dr. Venture WITH A KNIFE!!!!’ an ape disemboweling a little kid’ Hank growing some balls and wailing on Dermott; Sgt. Hatred ruining the whole thing; and a great guest appearance from Brandon Small as Action Johnny. The best part is Dr. Venture giving the parents of the disemboweled boy a clone. It’s horrifying and hilarious. 9/10. 32. "Dr. Quymn, Medicine Woman."—July 6, 2008 3-31 Dr. Venture gets a blast from his past as he reunites with Dr. Tara Quymn, the stepdaughter of Col. Horace Gentlemen, who married Dr. Quymn’s mother. They meet in the jungles of the Amazon. Dr. Quymn is trying to find a cure for cancer; Dr. Venture is trying to find a cure for impotence (Viagra gives him headaches and nausea). Basically, Dr. Quymn is a female version of Dr. Venture, complete with a female Brock, Virginia, and a female Hank and Dean, Dr. Quymn’s twin daughters Nancy and Drew. Hilarity ensues as Dr. Venture tries to have sex with Dr. Quymn, Virginia tries to have sex with Brock, Hank tries to have sex with Nancy and Drew, and Nancy and Drew try to have sex with Dean, all the while the infamous Wereodile stalks the jungles. Also in this episode, we get flashbacks of Dr. Venture and Dr. Quymn as kids and learn that Venture’s dad and Quymn’s mom had an affair. This is a great episode. I love the whole dynamic between Team Venture and their female counterparts, and I’m just a sucker for the “people trying to seduce different people” plotline. The best seduction scene is when Nancy and Drew try to seduce Dean. The boy’s first time was nearly a three-way with twins! What a lucky guy! 10/10. 33. "What Goes Down, Must Come Up"—July 13, 2008 3-33 While bringing a large drill vehicle out of storage, Brock and Dr. Venture get lost. Dr. Venture ends up meeting an underground society of people dressed up like a VH1 Classic convention mainly because their only contact with the outside world is VH1 Classic due to a crossed wire (how they got their clothing I have no idea), and Brock ends up trapped in a room with a six-inch man, Dr. Entman, while looking for him. So, it’s up to Dean, Hank, Pete White, and the Order Of The Triad. However, things go horribly awry as M.U.T.H.E.R., a female version of Hal 9000 comes online and nearly unleashes a nuclear missile. Now, this is my favorite episode of the season. I love all the references to classic music videos, the Ant Man reference, and the female Hal 9000. That whole scene in which we learn how the underground society ended up under the Venture Compound…JESUS f***ING CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!! 10/10. 34. "Tears Of A Sea Cow"—July 20, 2008 3-34 We move on to disc 2 with an episode that has an awesome name. The episode begins with The Monarch storming the compound of his new arch-enemy, Dr. Dugong, who looks a lot like a manatee. The Monarch kills him because he considers the man to be an unworthy enemy for him. I actually felt bad for Dr. Dugong. Anyway, The Monarch has gone through a lot of adversaries because he can’t stop thinking about fighting Dr. Venture. This leads to a fight with Dr. Mrs. The Monarch and to The Monarch and Henchmen 21 and 24 storming the Venture Compound. However. Dr. Venture and Brock aren’t home, but Hank and Dean are, as is Dermott, over for a sleepover with Hank, and H.E.L.P.eR. Yeah, there is no Brock, but there is still a lot of good stuff. I loved the part with The Monarch reading Dean’s homemade newspaper. And, the part where The Monarch and Henchman 21 slide down a chute to the Monarchmobile and land on it with the top down. Also, the creepy way the Moppets fawn over Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. The best part is when Dean catches The Monarch having sex with G.U.A.R.D.O. and The Monarch tricks Dean into not tattling on him by saying that telling his father what The Monarch did will cause him to become a supervillain. 8/10. 35. "Now Museum, Now You Don’t"—July 27, 2008 3-35 Dr. Jonas Venture, Jr. decides to turn Spider Skull Island into a museum for his father and holds a party to commemorate the occasion, inviting Dr. Venture, Brock, Hank, Dean, the Action Man, Kano, Otto Aquarius, Dr. Entmann, Col. Gentlemen (turns out he isn’t dead from “Twenty Years To Midnight), Pete White, Billy Quizboy, Professor Impossible (who’s become a drunken loser since Sally left him for Jonas, Jr.), Scaramantula (who use to own Spider Skull Island until the Original Team Venture took it over), and Brainulo. However, the night turns into a disaster as the Pirates mutiny against Jonas, Jr. and Dr. Venture gets pissed as Jonas, Jr.’s painfully obvious attempts to rewrite himself into his brother’s place in Venture history. First off, three nudity warnings here: first, we get Sally naked when the Pirate Captain barges in on her accidentally, but her skin quickly turns invisible. Then, we get Ned’s callused penis dangling around as the Pirate Captain tries to get him to put his pants on. And finally, we see Col. Gentlemen’s old penis in the flashback explaining why he appeared dead to Dean and Hank; he had a fight with his loverboy Kiki and fell into a diabetic coma eating comfort junk food. Now, this is a good episode, but it’s not the best one in the season. That doesn’t mean it isn’t bad; it’s just that the other episodes are very good. This one just looks bad by comparison. 7/10. 36. "The Lepidopterists"—August 3, 2008 3-36 This episode takes place immediately after “Tears Of A Sea Cow,” took place after “Now Museum, Now You Don’t.” Why they didn’t put these in order (“Tears,” “Now Museum,” and “The Lepidopterists.”) is beyond me. In this one, since The Monarch can’t arch Dr. Thaddeus Venture, he’s decided to settle for the other Dr. Venture, Jonas, Jr. However, Jonas, Jr. has never fought a supervillain before and nearly kills The Monarch, endangering the truce between The Guild Of Calamitous Intent and OSI. Luckily, two Lepidopterists and Brock Samson come to set him straight. Plus, there’s a subplot with Henchmen # 1, 21, and 24 trying to sabotage Jonas, Jr.’s compound. I liked this episode, especially how they explain the whole nature between the heroes and villains in the world of the Venture Bros.’s world: basically, the good guys play along with the villains so that they don’t go all crazy and completely f*** up the world. I also loved Henchmen #1, especially his name: Scott Hall. He’s the perfect henchmen, yet you just know he’s gonna die; he’s just a great way to poke fun at all those henchmen clichés. I also like the name of the episode; lepidopterists are people who collect butterflies and moths. 8/10. 37. "ORB"—August 10, 2008 3-29 Dr. Venture and Billy Quizboy go on a Da Vinci Code-like quest to find a mysterious orb that dates back to the late great Col. Lloyd Venture, Dr. Venture’s grandfather or great-grandfather; they didn’t say which. However, this orb has a dark past, one that must be protected at all costs. And, the man who will protect that past? Brock Samson. How will he protect it? By killing Dr. Venture!!!! Again, this is a weak episode. In fact, I find it to be the weakest. Like “Now Museum, Now You Don’t,” this isn’t a bad episode, it just looks bad by comparison to the other ones. And, it might have a little to do with my dislike of anything related to the Da Vinci Code. However, I did enjoy the flashback to the Guild’s early days, before they became the Guild Of Calamitous Intent. I also enjoyed the cameos from Mark Twain, Oscar Wilde, and Aleister Crowly; I would have liked to seen Nicola Telsa, who was attacking the zeppelin they were in. It was also nice to see the ancestors of Dr. Venture, Phantom Limb (Fantômas), and Dr. Orpheus. I also liked the “Rusty Venture” show intro popping up randomly, and Hunter Gathers first appearance in his new female body. 7/10. 38. "The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part I)"—August 17, 2008 3-38 In the previous episode, Brock accidentally terminates his contract with OSI, leading to a trio of assassins to come after him: Heinrich "Herr Trigger" Triggermensch, an East German bi-athlete who gets sexual pleasure from finishing off his victims; Russell "Go Fish" Sturgeon, a specialist in maritime assassinations; Jean-Claude Le Tueur, a big-game hunter who enjoys Silver-Age comics and exotic weapons. Now, Brock and the rest of Team Venture go on the lam. Luckily, for him, he gets help form Hunter Gathers and Molotov Cocktease. Also, because of Jonas, Jr.’s excessive attack, The Monarch now has permission to arch Dr. Venture due to a loophole saying that excessive attacks can be avenged by goin after the attacker’s family. So, the Monarch storms the Venture Compound, only to find Sgt. Hatred, distraught from his breakup with his wife. Great episode. It has a lot of action and laughs. Brock’s fights with the assassins are amazing, a great mix of action and comedy. I also liked the cameos from two characters who first appeared in “The Invisible Hand Of Fate”: Shore Leave and Mile High, now born-again Christians known as Holy Diver and Sky Pilot. They have a hilarious moment in which they take their time to help Brock and when they finally help him, all they do is pray. And, there are some very funny moments with The Monarch and his team storming the compound only to find the Ventures gone. Also, we get a little nipple action from Dr. Mrs. The Monarch. Sadly, the exclusive online intro from AdultSwim.com isn’t on this disc. It wasn’t even in the special features! What gives!? 10/10. 39. " The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II)"—August 24, 2008 3-39 Things don’t look good for Team Venture. They’ve been arrested by the LAPD, and now OSI leader Gen. Treister decides to handle the Brock Samson problem himself. However, the Cleaner comes through and frees them. Meanwhile, The Monarch brings the Cocoon to the Venture Compound. Eventually, Brock and the Ventures return to the compound, as Brock masterminds an entire battle between OSI and The Monarch’s men, which leads to Henchman 24’s death and Brock quitting. This is an awesome episode. The interrogation scenes are hilarious. I love the Cleaner; think of Mr. Clean as a superhero. The Monarch and Henchmen 21 and 24’s interrogation of H.E.L.P.eR. is funny. And, the epic battle at the end is great. Though, I thought the one at the end of “Showdown At Cremation Creek” was better. I also enjoyed Toby Huss as Gen. Treister; he’s like a taller but a little more mellow Cotton Hill. And, I was glad they brought the Lepidopterists back. Plus, The Monarch’s supersuit is awesome!!!! But, the best thing about this episode is the questions it leaves unanswered for Season 4. What will the Ventures do without Brock as their bodyguard, especially with Hank and Dean’s clones now gone? Are the clones gone? Will Dr. Venture make more? And, what is Henchmen 21 going to do without 24? Why would he do that!? Why would 24 buckle up!!!!? 10/10. The only special features are commentary from the creators and deleted scenes. It’s a little sparse; they could have at least made an effort with at least one more special feature. All in all, this was the best season yet. The only problem I had with the show is the voices. They don’t have enough diversity in the voiceover cast, and a lot of the characters sound like. It’s kind of hard to get into a new character if he or she sounds a little like another one. And, it probably didn’t need to be uncensored, but that was nice. Other than that, Season 3 was great. The show was just on fire with the action, comedy, and satire. Plus, they had several touching moments throughout. Sure the comedy and action maybe the selling points, but it’s the heart that makes the show work. It’s not just an action/comedy parody of sci-fi and superheroes; it’s about people just trying to do their best in the world despite the fact that there are people out there who are better at certain things then they are. Hell, the whole point of the show is that you just can’t give up if you fail; then you’ll be proven to be a failure. Just like the first two seasons, it looks like The Venture Bros. is just going to get better and better. Highlight: The OSI Intro. Those two planes batting around that severed head is just hilarious! And, who doesn’t love amalgams of G.I. Joe and the Village People!? Recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 17, 2009 20:23:03 GMT -5
Ladies and gentlemen, another DVD review from Hulk: The Greatest Stars Of The 90s 3-disc DVD. Ah, the 1990s. People were watching very special episodes of Blossom. “The Matrix” was wowing audiences in movie theaters. Superman was dying in the comic books, and comic books almost died with him. And, Bill Clinton was having sexual relations with that intern Monica Lewinsky. It was a wonderful decade filled pogs, light-up sneakers, and Rachael haircuts. It was also a good time for wrestling. By the end of the decade, pro wrestling would be in its biggest boom since the previous decade as the WWF and WCW were viciously waging their Monday Night War and ECW was sneaking into popularity and into the hearts of hardcore wrestling fans. And, it was mostly due to wrestling dropping the kid-friendly act and embracing the raunchy and racy aspects of entertainment, i.e. lots of sex and plenty of violence. It was fun time to be a wrestling fan, as the likes of Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, Sting, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and Mick Foley tore down the house with great matches. Though, sadly, those days are gone as the new millennium took over. The 1990s went the way of the dodo, taking ECW and WCW with it. But, don’t cry! WWE will let you relive those memories with The Greatest Stars Of The 90s, a 3-disc DVD set that features the greatest wrestlers of the last decade of the 20th Century! Okay, so it’s not a complete retrospective of the 1990s. There are some guys who are left out. The big omission is Goldberg. That man became just as popular as the Rock and Stone Cold. Amazingly, he did it in WCW, when Eric Bischoff was in charge. As we all know, Bischoff wasn’t really good with making new stars. Yet, Goldberg became widely popular at the time, thanks to his undefeated streak. I mean, the guy was palling around with Mark McGwire and starring in a movie Jean Claude Van Damme! Okay, that doesn’t really sound impressive today, but back then it was a huge deal! Another omission I’m surprised to see it Vader. Sure, he wasn’t the biggest (in terms of stardom) wrestlers of the decade, but he was an incredible talent. And, the guy is in two matches featured on the DVD. Hell, he’s on the freaking box! Flip to the inside, and you’ll see Vader giving Shawn Michaels a piggy back ride. Why they chose to leave him off the documentary is beyond me? SPEAKING OF the documentary, it starts off with your friend and mine, Tazz. He’s our host for the evening, but he isn’t featured in the documentary. There’s another glaring omission: no ECW wrestlers. Hell, Paul Heyman and Mick Foley are the only ECW guy in the doc. What’s the reason for this? The fact that ECW has had several DVDs? That shouldn’t be a factor! ECW was a major player in the 1990s. Couldn’t they have at least done a feature on the whole company, mentioning some of their top talents? But, I digress. We start off with Shawn Michaels. Now, some of this footage is just recycled from his own DVD, but it is a nice chapter. It really shows why Shawn was one of the best WWF Champions of all time: the guy could wrestle his ass off! Shawn was in his prime in the 1990s, and there was hardly anyone better. Pretty much Bret and Owen Hart were the only guys who could give him a run for his money. Just look at the WWF Title Match at WrestleMania XIV. Shawn wrestled with a bad back, yet he was able to do things most guys can’t do with a healthy back. HBK is second to none. Then, we transition from the smallest WWF Champion of the 1990s to the biggest: Yokozuna. For those of you who don’t remember 1993, Yokozuna was a Japanese sumo wrestler who came to the WWF. In real life, he was a Samoan wrestler named Rodney Anoa’i, nephew of the Wild Somoans, who played the gimmick of a sumo wrestler even though he never actually competed as one. FYI, “Yokozuna” is actually the highest ranking in Japanese sumo wrestling. When he showed up, the guy weighed 505 lbs; but he could move with the speed and agility of a cruiserweight. Sadly, his weight got the better of him, as Yoko ballooned up to 600 pounds. Jim Ross talks about how Rodney had to be sent to the Duke University Weight Loss Center in order for him to lose, but it didn’t work as he snuck out at night to eat fast food. He was also unable to pass a physical required for professional wrestlers by the New York State Athletic Commission. And, there was the embarrassing incident on an episode of RAW in which he broke his leg and had to be carried out on a forklift. Another embarrassing moment featured on Yoko’s chapter is Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Title off of Yoko after he defeated Bret Hart at WrestleMania IX. Though, that’s embarrassing for all us wrestling fans. Oh, I’m bad! Also, amazing, WWE was able to get Randy Savage to do a little commentary on the 1993 Royal Rumble even though HE WAS IN THE MATCH!!!! Those WWE DVD editors are wizards!!!! Next, we go from one Samoan wrestler to another. And, not just any wrestler, but THE MOST ELECTRIFYING MAN IN SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT!!!! Yes, the Rock! Though, he wasn’t always the Rock. He started off as Rocky Maivia, and he sucked. As the ultimate babyface, the audience was quickly annoyed by him as the WWF shoved him down the fans throats. Soon came the “Rocky Sucks!” chants. So, Rocky took a little time off, improved his skills, and turned heel by joining the Nation Of Domination. He became the Rock, and he insulted the hell out of the fans. And, the fans loved him! His charisma and sense of humor was allowed to shine, and it won the audience over. As the catchphrases came and the eyebrow was raised, the Rock became one of the most popular wrestlers in WWF/E history. The man was amazing. He got people to pop like hell for an eyebrow! He got an elbow drop to be called the Most Electrifying Move In Sports Entertainment! It’s not really surprising that Hollywood came knocking and made him a movie star. Then, we go from The Rock to the ladies. This chapter focuses on the females of the 1990s: Sunny, Sable, Alundra Blayze, Chyna, Debra McMichael, etc. You see, in the 1990s, more and more casual fans were watching wrestlers, and one of the things the WWF did to get the casual fans in was to have a lot of sexy woman come out in skimpy clothing. It was the FOX approach, and it worked. I mean, I could watch Sunny circa 1996 in tiny bikini all day. That woman brought into puberty after all. But, not all of the ladies were just eye candy. In the mid-1990s, the WWF had a good women’s division with some great competitors like Blayze and Bull Nakano. However, when Blayze left the WWF for WCW and took the Women’s Title with her and promptly threw it in a trash can on WCW Nitro, it killed the WWF’s Women’s division. However, the popularity of Sable was big enough to bring it back. And, there was Chyna. She became a big star in the late 1990s, mainly because she could wrestler well with men. The woman was in the Royal Rumble and won the Intercontinental Title. Sadly, this chapter just glosses over the ladies. They basically just show clips, and don’t have anyone talking about the importance of the ladies played in the 1990s. I was a little disappointed by this. Next, we go from sexy ladies to a sexy man. Or, so the documentary says. Anyway, the next wrestler featured is “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash. Now, Nash is an interesting choice. Sure, he had one of the worst drawing WWF Title reigns in history, but when he went over to WCW with Scott Hall, he ended up bringing that company it’s biggest success ever! Sure, it was Bischoff’s brilliant booking of the nWo Invasion that led to that success, but Nash played his role well. Though, he had rocky road to stardom. Nash had been in WCW before 1996, and I’m sure he would like to forget about that. He had to horrible gimmicks: one was Oz, a character based on the movie “The Wizard Of Oz,” because Ted Turner had bough the MGM movie library and needed a way to get people to watch the movie on TBS. So, WCW made Nash a walking-talking ad for Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion. Luckily for Nash, the gimmick didn’t last. Unluckily for Nash, his next gimmick wasn’t much better. He then became Vinnie Vegas, a gambler/mobster who liked to bet on things or something. I don’t really know. I didn’t really see the gimmick, but from what I saw on the documentary, I’m glad I didn’t. Then, Nash went to the WWF and became Shawn Michaels’s bodyguard Diesel. FYI, Shane McMahon is responsible for the “Diesel” name. Eventually, he broke away from Shawn and became the WWF Champion for a year. Also, the KLIQ is mentioned briefly. But, it quickly moves on to Nash going to WCW. Strangely, they didn’t mentioned how much of a bomb Diesel’s WWF Title run was. Nevertheless, we get quite a bit detail on how WCW and the nWo storyline was kicking the WWF’s butt in the ratings. And, even though Goldberg isn’t on the documentary, the ending of his streak is mentioned, mainly because Nash ended it. Also, the Fingerpoke of Doom is shown. Not mentioned but shown. Now, we go to one of my favorites of the 1990s: Owen Hart. Owen was amazing. He was the best wrestler in the Hart family. Yes, he was even better than Bret!!!! Yeah, I said it! Why!? Because, Owen could do things that Bret couldn’t! And, he was a little more charismatic and better on the mic. God, he was so good at playing such an annoying little heel. That’s one of the reasons his feud with Bret was so great. Now, they do recycle some material from Bret’s DVD, but they still give Owen a good chapter. They mention his 1994 King Of The Ring win and his 2 Slammys. They even show a little of my favorite Owen Hart moment: when he claimed to have won the Best Bow Time Slammy that he was just suppose to present at the 1997 Slammy Awards. Oh, that was fantastic! They also mention the numerous tag teams he formed with the likes of Yokozuna, the British Bulldog, and Jeff Jarrett. I really liked when he teamed with Bulldog mainly for the simmering animosity between the two. They even wrestled a few times while they were tag team champions. And, they talk about Owen’s time in the WWF after Bret left and his time with the Nation Of Domination. I never got why they put him in the Nation; that just seemed a little out of place and unnecessary to me. Anyway, the chapter does end on a down note. Pretty much everyone knows about Owen’s tragic death in 1999. It’s such a shame he died young. He could have wrestled for several more years and gone on to bigger heights, like the WWF Title. Also, this chapter makes me wish WWE would make a DVD just for Owen. I doubt we’ll get it because of his wife’s animosity towards WWE, but it would be great to see one. Next, we got to the Nature Boy, Ric Flair! Now this inclusion confused me. Don’t get me wrong! Ric Flair is a legend in pro wrestling. And, he had some good matches in the 1990s. But, he’s more associated and was more successful in the 1980s. In fact, the 1990s wasn’t really kind to him as his relationship with WCW dwindled to the point where he and the company were in a lawsuit by 1998. Plus, in the early 1990s, he clashed with the bookers of WCW at the time, which led to him leaving WCW for the WWF and taking the NWA World Title with him. And, he got buried on a weekly basis as the company was dying. Now, some of the material is recycled from the Ric Flair Definitive Collection DVD, but it is a good chapter. They actually admit that it was a mistake for the WWF to not have Flair VS Hulk Hogan at a big PPV, like WrestleMania. Though, it is Triple H who is saying it. All in all, I think they could have done without this chapter, but it doesn’t take away from the documentary. Now, we go one of the great in ring technicians to one of the great hardcore wrestlers: Mick Foley. Foley is one of the toughest guys I’ve ever seen. His willingness to put his body through hell is what made him so great. Ironically, one of his best gimmicks was when he was anti-hardcore in ECW. He was so great at getting that Philadelphia crowd to hate him for choosing to use technical skills and psychology over steel chairs and barb wire. Of course, the chapter mentions all three of his wrestling gimmicks: Cactus Jack, the badass hardcore wrestler; Mankind, the deranged but loveable freak; and Dude Love, the coolest cat in all the land. And, his fall from the Hell In The Cell is shown. C’mon! It’s the moment that defines his career! It had to be mentioned. His first WWF Title win is also shown. And, they talk about how funny he is. One of the best things for Foley was when the Mankind gimmick changed from serious to comical. It gave us some great moments, like Mr. Socko’s introduction and Mankind teaming up with the Rock. Ironically, Foley’s chapter ends with a match in 2000: the Hell In A Cell Match at No Way Out with Triple H. Our next chapter is the WrestleCrap portion of the documentary. The worst gimmicks of the decade are shown in the Not So Great Stars of the 1990s chapter. These include: Man Mountain Rock, Bastion Booger, T.L. Hopper, Mantaur, Damien Demento, Oz (yes, this Nash gimmick was so bad that they mentioned it twice), the Yeti, Waylon Mercy (though I disagree with this inclusion), Glacier, the Shockmaster, the Berserker, the Goon, Aldo Montoya, the Oddities, the Repo Man, Duke “The Dumpster” Drosse, Max Moon, Arachniman, and Jean Pierre Lafitte. Again, like with the women, we just get clips and no elaboration. This time, I’m not complaining. We don’t really need Beth Phoenix or CM Punk to tell us why these gimmicks sucked. It’s pretty obvious to tell that just from the clips. Next, we go from the worst gimmicks in wresting to one of the biggest wrestling stars of all time. The man who is pretty much synonymous with wrestling: Hulk Hogan. Now, just like Flair, Hogan was really bigger in the 1980s. But, I feel he deserves to be included on this documentary since his heel turn in 1996 was one of the reasons that the nWo storyline was so successful. I mean, Hogan had been the biggest babyface in wrestling for over a decade. His heel turn was shocking, and it worked wonderfully. Plus, it made since for the biggest WWF star who happened to be in WCW to join up with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, two former WWF stars who had invaded WCW. Plus, Hogan was awesome as the Hollywood Hogan character. I actually prefer that character to Hulk Hogan. Besides, Hogan needed to turn heel if he wanted to keep going in wrestling. People were tired of Hulkamania. No one wanted to say their prayers and take their vitamins. His heel turn breathed new life into Hogan’s career. Though, the chapter starts with Hogan’s loss to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI and his volatile relationship with Vince McMahon. They even mention Thunder In Paradise. Why? Well, that is how Hogan got into WCW. The show was airing on TNT, a Turner Broadcast channel. Then, we go into Hogan coming to WCW with the tickertape parade at Disney/MGM Studios. Also, WCW didn’t drop the ball that the WWF did: they immediately had Hogan face off with Ric Flair. And, they had some good matches for the WCW Title, thanks mainly to Flair. Though, things cooled off thanks to Hogan taking creative control and basically turning WCW into the WWF. That of course leads to Hogan turning heel. Funny thing: on the DVD, Hogan basically says that he was all for the heel turn. In reality, Hogan had some reservations about turning heel since he was a proven commodity as a face. But, he relented and went along with the heel turn, which did payoff as WCW kicked the WWF’s ass in the ratings for 84 weeks. nWo shirts sold like hot cakes, and Hogan was the talk of the wrestling world again. Now, we go from the nWo to the WWF’s equivalent, or in some people’s minds rip-off: D-X. Namely, the guy who led them after Shawn left in 1998: Triple H. However, Triple H wasn’t always a degenerate. He first came to the WWF as a blueblood: Hunter Hearst Helmsley, a rich snob gimmick. He won the Intercontinental Title and the 1997 King Of The Ring and brought in Chyna under the gimmick, but he would soon break out from that role. Soon, Hunter began teaming with Shawn Michaels and D-Generation-X was born. Now, Hunter and Shawn were so great at playing obnoxious immature heels. They had such a great goof chemistry with each other. They were some of the first to bring in the raunchy racy stuff that would come to dominate the WWF during the Attitude Era. However, Shawn’s back injury took him out of the business. Triple H kept D-X going with X-Pac, Road Dogg, and Billy Gunn. The second incarnation of D-X gained a lot fo popularity with their “invasion” of WCW and their racy attitude. However, Triple H soon broke out of the immature D-X gimmick by becoming The Game, a serious wrestler who studied pro wrestling, much like the real Paul Lévesque. Now, Triple H gets a pretty good chapter, but a lot of the interviews are recycled from various other DVDs or specials. I can’t even name all the sources they recycled from. Anyway, we move on to the next chapter: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, And The Best There Ever Will Be! Bret “The Hitman” Hart. Now, Bret is pretty much synonymous with the term technical wrestling. In the 1990s, he definitely proved that. Again, we get recycled interviews from Bret’s DVD, but that doesn’t really matter. They do a good job showing how good Bret was. They show his Intercontinental Title reigns, his WWF Title reigns, his 1993 King Of The Ring win, his international popularity, his feud with Shawn Michaels and Stone Cold Steve Austin, etc. The U.S./Canada feud is also mentioned. It was such a weird time in wrestling. Bret would get booed like he raped a baby in America, but in Canada, he would be cheered like he’s Superman. And, of course, the Montreal Screwjob is mentioned. And, it ends with Bret’s time in WCW, which isn’t really all that memorable. Next, we go to the promoters: Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, and Paul Heymen. You see, in the 1990s, things were changing. One of the things that changed was the role of the onscreen boss. Usually, this guy was rarely seen, only when there was some kind of controversy with a match. However, that changed in the 1990s. In WCW, Bischoff acknowledged that he was running the show and was working with the nWo. This made sense in kayfabe as it explained how the nWo was able to get so powerful. In the WWF, Vince McMahon became an onscreen talent because of the Montreal Screwjob. That moment made him the biggest heel in his own company. So, McMahon decided to change his position about his onscreen role. He mainly wanted to be seen as the announcer and run things behind the scenes. But, after the Screwjob, the fans wanted to boo him. So, Vince gave the fans what they wanted, becoming Mr. McMahon. It was acknowledged that he own the company, and he became egomaniacal power hungry who abused his power to keep wrestlers he didn’t like, such as Stone Cold and Mankind, down while helping out those he did like, such as the Rock and Triple H. As for ECW, Paul Heyman was pretty much acknowledged as the guy running the show. He was just as much the face of ECW as Taz or Sabu was. Like the chapters on the women and the crappy gimmicks, this one is just glossed over. We get a few interviews about McMahon, which are recycled from his DVD, and just some clips of Bischoff and Heyman. Next, we go to Lex Luger. I was surprised to see a chapter dedicated to Luger. He’s not exactly one of McMahon’s favorite people. Though, he does deserve some mention. I mean, this guy shocked the world by showing up on the first WCW Monday Nitro when he was supposed to be contracted to the WWF. Now, they do mention all of Luger’s strengths: his good looks, his chisled body, his decent skills in the ring, etc. Though, Luger is buried a little. The chapter starts out talking about how his time with the NWA/WCW, which led to him winning the U.S. Title four times, with one reign lasting 523 days, the longest U.S. Title reign to date, and winning the NWA Title at the infamous Great American Bash 1991 PPV. Then, we move to him leaving WCW for to join Vince McMahon’s World Bodybuilding Federation. Remember that? If not, lucky you. However, the WBF soon folded, and Luger went on to wrestle for the WWF, first as “The Narcissist” Lex Luger, a typical egotistical gimmick; and then as “The Total Package” Lex Luger, a patriotic gimmick created to counter Yokozuna, who was the WWF Champion at the time. Luger was hyped as the Great American Hope to the threat of Yoko and his Japanese ways. They even gave him a bus: The Lex Express, which Luger traveled the country in, in hopes of turning him into the next Hulk Hogan, which WWE claimed to be a huge success. This all led to a WWF Title Match at SummerSlam 1993. Sure enough, Luger’s all-American ways prevailed. However, he won by a countout. Yet, that didn’t stop Luger from celebrating like he had won the WWF Title. Then, we quickly go to Luger jumping ship to WCW. Luger had promised to stay with the WWF, but Bischoff was able to get Luger to jump ship. This led to a trend of WWF guys jumping ship to WCW. Remember, Hall, Nash, Sean Waltman. They all left the WWF after Luger did. Though, I’m sure Hogan and Randy Savage going to WCW also played a big role in those guys leaving. Anyway, this chapter pretty much makes it look like Lex Luger had all the makings to be a big star; but he just didn’t make it. And, I get the impression that WWE is saying this would have happened if Lex had stayed with the WWF. They don’t really bury Luger; they just say that he could have been bigger if he had chosen Vince over Bischoff. Next, we go from one WCW star to another: Sting. However, unlike Luger, Sting is really put over. I really respect Vince for putting Sting over as the great wrestler he is even though Sting never worked for him and chose not to come to WWF/E after WCW went bye-bye. I think McMahon respects Sting’s willingness to stand up to Vince and not suck up to him. And, that’s a good thing for us as there has never been a bad thing said about Sting in WWE DVDs. They always put over Sting as the great charismatic baby face that he is. Hell, I’ll go out and say it: Sting is the greatest babyface in wrestling. Even better than Hulk Hogan, mainly because he had a better look and had better wrestling skills. He was so energetic and could really get a crowd behind him. Plus, he had some legendary matches with the likes of Ric Flair, Vader, Ric Rude, etc. And, he was very popular in the early 1990s with his blonde hair and face paint. You couldn’t go to a WCW event in the early 1990s and not see kids with Sting paint on their faces. The one thing that really cemented Sting’s greatness was when he changed gimmicks. In 1996, the energetic surfer dude disappeared after his loyalty to WCW was questioned thanks to a fake Sting working for the nWo. Sting completely reinvented himself as a dark and mysterious figure. Dressed up like the Crow, Sting would just stare down at WCW events from the rafters. For over a year, he didn’t wrestle or say a word to anybody; and he had the fans absolutely mesmerized. This led to a match at Starrcade 1997 between Sting and Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Title. The build to that PPV gave WCW it’s biggest PPV buyrate: 1.9. We continue with another WCW star: Scott Hall. Though, he wasn’t always a WCW wrestler. Scott Hall was a journeyman wrestler. He wrestled in the AWA under his real name and looking a little like Tom Selleck. He also wrestled in WCW for a little while as the Diamond Studd. Then, he came to the WWF and became Razor Ramon. His gimmick was that of a sleazy Cubano who acted all suave and macho, and he really made it work, which is amazing considering he’s from Minnesota. Hall pretty much created the character, basing it off of Tony Montana from “Scarface.” Razor Ramon was originally a heel, but Hall was so good in the role that the fans started liking him; and the character became a face. Eventually, he won the Intercontinental Title and took part in one of the most famous matches off all time: the Ladder Match at WrestleMania X between him and Shawn Michaels. Even though Michaels stole the show and became associated with the match, it was Ramon who won it. However, Hall’s time in the WWF wouldn’t last long. In 1996, he went to WCW. In fact, it was Hall who started the storyline that created WCW’s biggest success. When he first showed up in WCW, there were no debut vignettes or any warning. On May 27, 1996, he just showed up during a match through the audience, jumped the guardrail, and declared war on WCW. Many people saw this as the WWF invading WCW, and that’s how Bischoff booked in the ensuing weeks, with Nash showing up soon after and having them act like their WWF characters. It was so believable that the WWF sued WCW for trademark infringement, which led to the huge debacle that was Fake Razor Ramon and Fake Diesel. In WCW, however, they enjoyed a lot of success, and Scott Hall became a pretty big star. He was a very charismatic guy and stood out among the nWo. Next, we go to a wrestler who debuted in the WWF in 1990 and is still going strong today: the Undertaker. He is one of the most original gimmicks out there and has amazingly been able to last for almost two decades. How is this possible? Well, it has to do with Mark Calloway. The man has played the Undertaker perfectly. And, he’s pretty talented in the ring. Not only is he a good power wrestler, but he can also move with great speed and fly over the top rope like a guy half his size. There is also the fact that the gimmick gets tweaked every few years or so. He started out as this Western undertaker. Then, the character was given more supernatural elements to it. By 1997, they full out with the supernatural by putting him in all black and calling him a creature of the night. Then, the character morphed into the Devil worshipping cult leader. Then came the most dramatic change of the character: the supernatural element was dropped, and the Undertaker became a badass biker. First, he was face. Then, he became an even badder heel. And, by 2004, the supernatural element return and has remained ever since. The Undertaker has always had a cool presence about him. He just looks like he can’t be beat. That’s one of the reasons he won the WWF Title a year after he debuted. He’s also never been defeated at WrestleMania. As of this moment, he is 17-0 at WWE’s premiere event. Finally, the documentary ends with Stone Cold Steve Austin. A lot of WWE’s success has to do with Stone Cold. He was so different from other wrestlers. He wasn’t flashy. He had a bald head and wore black tights. He acted like a heel but was able to become one of the most popular wrestlers with the fans. He pretty much kicked everyone’s ass, whether they were faces or heels. But, Austin wasn’t always Stone Cold. He started out in WCCW and eventually made his way to WCW. There, he formed a successful team with Bryan Pillman, the Hollywood Blondes. There were a great influential team, even though there were only together for a year. After the Blondes, Austin went on to win the U.S. Title on a few occasions. However, by 1994, Bischoff took over and didn’t see Austin as a star. So, he fired Austin over the phone. Luckily for Austin, a former associate from WCW gave him a call: Paul Heyman. Austin went to ECW and began to create the template for Stone Cold by basically cutting vicious promos and skits against WCW. Soon, the WWF came knocking, and there Austin became the Ringmaster and was given Ted DiBiase as a manager. However, that didn’t last. But, soon history would be made. Austin won the 1996 King Of The Ring and cut the infamous Austin 3:16 promo that basically created the Stone Cold gimmick and launched him on the path the stardom. And, he was great in the role of Stone Cold. In my opinion, his best time as Stone Cold was when he was a heel after that promo. I’ve never seen a better heel. He was just so badass, and the crowd despised him. At first. Soon, Austin 3:16 signs began popping up throughout arenas, and his popularity grew. Then, he became a full fledge anti-hero face after WrestleMania 13. Austin was soaring up to the main event, but a neck injury nearly stopped his momentum. During an Intercontinental Title match with Owen Hart at SummerSlam 1997, Austin broke his neck. However, he still showed up on TV despite the neck injury, looking like he wasn’t hurt at all. But, that neck injury would eventually end his career. It caused him to change up his wrestling style, becoming more of a brawler and dropping some of his technical moves. Nevertheless, Austin won the WWF Title and began a revolutionary feud with Vince McMahon. Here you had a wrester feuding with the boss, and no matter what Vince threw at Austin, Austin would come back and flip Vince off. Austin became widely popular, selling out arenas, selling merchandise like nobody’s business, and becoming one of the WWE’s biggest superstars. All in all, the documentary is good. There is a little revisionist history, and some people are left out. But, it is a good documentary nonetheless. However, the real treats are the special features. On Disc 1, we have several vignettes and promos. These include: Razor Ramon at a restaurant, the Undertaker building a coffin for Yokozuna, the Bret “The Hitman” Hart New Generation vignette, Owen Hart giving a promo inside the steel cage, Shawn Michaels at the WrestleMania XI press conference, a promo from Hunter Hearst Helmsley, a promo from Mankind, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash in “Rome” (actually Denver), the Hart Foundation reunion, D-X reenacting the Montreal Screwjob, the Rock delivering Stone Cold’s eulogy, and Steve Austin talking about the Shockmaster. There are some good promos here. Though, I think they should have put some more famous ones on this disc, like the Austin 3:16 promo and the Four Horsemen Reunion in 1998. Anyway, Discs 2 and 3 have the matches. These include: Hulk Hogan VS Ric Flair at Madison Square Garden in 1991, Bret Hart VS Shawn Michaels for the WWF Title at Survivor Series 1992, Hogan VS Yokozuna for the WWF Title at King Of The Ring 1993, Bret VS Owen at WrestleMania X, Diesel VS Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Title on an episode of Superstars, Sting VS Vader for the WCW International World Heavyweight Title at Slamboree 1994, Bret VS Diesel for the WWF Title at the Royal Rumble 1995, Alundra Blayze VS Bull Nakano for the WWF Women’s Title on an episode of RAW, Diesel and Shawn VS Yokozuna and the British Bulldog with the WWF, Intercontinental, and Tag Team Titles on the line at the September 1994 In Your House, Owen VS Shawn at the February 1996 In Your House, Shawn VS Vader for the WWF Title at SummerSlam 1996, Mankind VS Hunter Hearst Helmsley in a Steel Cage Match at SummerSlam 1997, Hogan VS Lex Luger for the WCW Title on an episode of Nitro, Stone Cold Steve Austin VS The Undertaker for the WWF Title at SummerSlam 1998, Sting VS Bret for the U.S. Title at Halloween Havoc 1998, and Triple H VS The Rock in a Strap Match at Fully Loaded 1999. There are a lot of good matches on this DVD, Bret VS Shawn, Bret VS Owen, Owen VS Shawn, Shawn VS Vader, Sting VS Vader, etc. Though, they could have left a few off, like the Hogan/Yokozuna match (by the way, I feel sorry for the fan in the front row who showed up dressed as Hogan only to see him lose) and the Flair/Hogan match. I would have put one of their WCW matches on the DVD, like the Bash At The Beach match. In fact, there were a few historic matches from the 1990s that should have been on this DVD, like the Six Man Tag at Bash At The Beach 1996 that featured Hogan’s heel turn, the Stone Cold/Shawn Michaels match at WrestleMania XV, and the Hell In The Cell match with Undertaker and Mankind. Sure they’ve been on other DVDs, but I feel history should take precedence in this case. Also, they could have shown a little more of Yokozuna, Foley, Scott Hall, and The Rock. I was surprised by the inclusion of the Women’s Title Match. I’m not complaining though. I’m glad that WWE thought highly enough of Alundra Blayze and Bull Nakano to put one of their matches on the DVD. All in all, this is a good DVD. I really enjoyed it, mainly for the nostalgia factor. I was born in 1985, but I don’t really remember the 1980s. And, I started watching wrestling in 1990. I grew up on the New Generation. I matured with the Attitude Era. And, even though I mostly watched the WWF, I caught WCW whenever I could and started paying more attention to WCW when the nWo was getting started. Basically, this DVD is just filled with my wrestling memories; and it was fantastic to relive. Highlight: The Undertaker saying “Ho, ho, ho!” during the vignette of him making Yokozuna’s casket. He says in such a stoic serious way that it just ridiculous. Recommended.
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Post by Maidpool w/ Cleaning Action on May 17, 2009 20:24:04 GMT -5
Hey, when did that Greatest Stars of the 90's DVD come out?
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on May 17, 2009 20:38:55 GMT -5
Hey, when did that Greatest Stars of the 90's DVD come out? A few weeks ago.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jun 15, 2009 13:10:18 GMT -5
Hey you! Get out my dreams and into this DVD review thread! WHAT!!!!? I had a long night, yesterday! Lay off me!!!! Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection. 3-disc DVD There’s a deleted scene in “Pulp Fiction” (well, not in the movie, but on the DVD) in which Mia Wallace’s first meeting with Vincent Vega involves her filming him with a camera and asking him some questions. Now, all these questions have a common theme: Elvis or The Beatles. Basically, when it comes to important subjects, usually a person has two choices. And, which ever one a person chooses tells you something about that person. For example, there are only two kinds of music fans: Elvis fans and Beatles fans. You can like both, but you prefer one over the other. No one likes them equally, and in some point in your life you have to make a choice between the two. It doesn’t have to be Elvis or the Beatles. It could be anything: Brittany or Christina. Prince or Michael Jackson. The Brady Bunch or The Partridge Family. Betty or Veronica. Star Wars or Star Trek. Or, for the sake of this review, Hulk Hogan or “Macho Man” Randy Savage. Me, I prefer the Macho Man. Now, today I would say that it’s because Savage was a better wrestler than Hogan. Though way back when I first started watching wrestling, he was just cooler. Savage had this weird charisma to him. Sure, his promos didn’t make any sense, but he had a lot of that charisma to pull them off. Plus, Hogan came off more as a good-two-shoes. Savage was a tough guy who wasn’t afraid to do what it took win. Sure, he was a heel, but I could still sense that attitude when he was a face. And, he had one thing Hogan didn’t: Miss Elizabeth. Yeah, I know that comes off as a little horny fanboy-ish. But, Elizabeth was important to Savage. She brought him down to Earth and helped to get him over as a face. All in all, Savage was just cooler and cockier than Hogan; and that’s what appealed to me. So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I picked up this DVD when it came out. Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection is 3-disc of Savage matches and promos. Now, I will admit that I was a little disappointed that there is no documentary for the Macho Man. But, I understand why that is: Savage and Vince McMahon still aren’t buddies. I doubt that WWE would have been able to even get Savage to agree to do the documentary. Now, I know Vince was able to patch things up with Bret Hart, the guy he screwed out of the WWF Title; but Bret is a little more level-headed and well saner than Savage. So, no documentary. Though, on the upside, at WWE has decided to be kind to Savage and praise him for the great wrestler that he is. I mean, we could have gotten another “Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior” DVD; and nobody wants that. So, without further adieu, let’s go on Disc 1: The DVD begins with our hosts: Matt Striker and Maria. Did they pull these names out of a hat? Now, I can see putting Striker in the hosting position. He’s pretty knowledgeable about wrestling. And, he does a pretty good Savage impression. But, Maria!? Why? I don’t get it. Anyway, we get a little background info on Savage’s father, Angelo Poffo, thanks to Maria reading it off the cue cards. I’m kidding! They probably used a teleprompter. Anyway, Angelo Poffo was a wrestler in the 1950s. He also held the world sit up record for several years, his total being 6,033 in one sitting. But, Poffo did more than just wrestler and do sit up. He was a promoter, running the International Championship Wrestling promotion, which held cards in Tennessee, Kentucky, and my home state of Arkansas. ICW was founded by Poffo because he felt his sons weren’t getting the pushes he felt they deserved. And, yes, I said sons. Poffo had another kid: Lanny Poffo, AKA “The Genius.” Savage was originally a baseball player, playing as a catcher in the St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, and Chicago White Sox farm systems. He started wrestling in the off-seasons, eventually becoming a full-time wrestler. He got the name “Savage” from Ole Anderson, who said that the name Poffo didn't fit someone who "wrestled like a savage." Savage and his brother stayed with his father’s promotion until it disbanded. They then joined Jerry Lawler’s CWA promotion in Memphis. Then, in 1985, Savage headed up north to the WWF. Now, there isn’t any footage of Savage’s pre-WWF days, which is most likely due to WWE not owning any of it. But, we do get Savage first WWF match: Match 1. “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Rick McGraw—Prime Time Wrestling, July 9, 1985. By the way, even though the DVD case and several people on the DVD say Randy “Macho Man” Savage, I’m gonna type “Macho Man” Randy Savage because that’s how I say and because it’s just easier for me. Anyway, this is a real trip. Savage comes out billed as “Professional Wrestling’s Number 1” free agent. That was his gimmick when he first came into the WWF: every manager in the WWF at the time was trying to get the Macho Man to sign them as his manager. And, Savage really plays it up, demanding that Howard Finkel give him a proper introduction and that the cameras be cleaned before he’s to be filmed. And, of course, there is the sequined robes. I especially liked this first one he wore. It’s just purple sequins, but I like it. It’s simple yet elegant. And, I really like the classic Macho Man attire: the trunks with three stars and “Macho Man” on the back and the yellow knee pads and boots. Why he every went to those weird multi-colored body suits I’ll never know. Anywho, this is a pretty good match. It’s a lot different from the preliminary I’ve seen. For one, McGraw gets in a bit of offense. Hell, he looks just as good as Savage does in this match. I also liked how Gorilla Monsoon and Gene Okerlund make a big deal out of Savage going to the top turnbuckle. You gotta remember, this was 1985. There weren’t a lot of high flyers back then. Savage was a pioneer in the high flying style. Sure, he doesn’t have a lot of fancy moves like Jeff Hardy or Rey Mysterio, but he did helped to make that style of wrestling popular in America. 7/10. Before we go to Match 2, we get some clips of Savage introducing Miss Elizabeth as his manager. Now, this made for some interesting storylines. You see, Savage was a huge heel back then, so much so he earned the moniker of “one of the most hated men in wrestling.” Yet, he was managed by one of the most innocent people you’ve ever seen in your life. Miss Elizabeth was such a classy and beautiful lady and was basically the total opposite of Savage’s brutish ways. But, it worked. In fact, Elizabeth as his manager made Savage more of a heel because he would always treat her badly and would use her as a shield whenever an opponent came charging at him. This odd pairing led to some great storylines, such as his feud with George “The Animal” Steele. They had a great rivalry with Steele becoming enamored with Miss Elizabeth. Sadly, we don’t get any matches between the two. But, it ain’t that sad: the matches between Savage and Steele weren’t the best in the world. They’re more like at the opposite end of the spectrum. And, Savage had rivalries with other wrestlers that produced many great matches, such as this one: Match 2. “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat—Boston Garden, December 7, 1985. Yes, these two had several matches with each other. It wasn’t just at WrestleMania III. This was one of their first encounters together. And, it’s a good one. Like their WrestleMania, it’s quick; but they do a lot in it. Plus, it had a flying hammerlock from Steamboat. How many times have you seen that move!? Hell, this was the first time I’ve ever seen it. And, it’s nice to hear that Jesse Ventura’s commentary is intact. 8/10. Match 3. WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Hulk Hogan—Madison Square Garden, December 30, 1985. Another early encounter between two guys who would go on to have a great match at a WrestleMania. This one is a little bigger though. I mean, it is for the WWF Title, which is surprising considering that Savage had only been in the WWF for 5 months at the time. Yet, here he is challenging Hogan for the WWF Title. Also, it’s the first time we hear “Pomp And Circumstance” as Savage’s entrance music (well, on this DVD anyway). The match itself is okay. It’s not bad, but they’ve been had better, like the one at WrestleMania V. And, I didn’t like the countout ending. Though, it does have a nice ref bump. And, I liked Savage wearing the WWF Title belt as if he won it. 6/10. Though, he didn’t win the WWF Title, Savage would soon become champion. Intercontinental Champion: Match 4. Intercontinental Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Tito Santana—Boston Garden, February 8, 1986. Now, this match is already on the History Of The Intercontinental Title DVD, but it is a good one that deserves to be on both. And, it features the greatest heel referee of all time: Danny Davis! Though, he’s wearing khakis instead of the usually black pants refs back then. I don’t why. Maybe he didn’t do his laundry that day. Anyway, I really enjoyed this match. Savage is on top form, and I never really realized how good a wrestler Tito Santana was. I was younger and couldn’t really appreciate well guys performed in the ring. It was a nice little education I got watching this match. 8/10. Match 5. Intercontinental Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Bruno Sammartino—Boston Garden, January 3, 1987. Talk about surreal. Not only is this a DVD dedicated to a guy who isn’t in Vince’s good graces, but it also features a match with another guy who’s got a beef with WWE: Bruno Sammartino. Though, to be fair, WWE has never really had a problem with Sammartino. He’s always been praised as one of the WWF/E’s greatest wrestlers, and they usually mention that he is the longest reigning WWF/E Champion whenever they get the chance. It’s mainly Sammartino who has the problem with Vince and his company; he never did like the gimmicks and wanted to play up wrestling as more sports than entertainment. Though, that doesn’t really matter in this match. It’s an okay match. Sammartino looks good, considering he’s past his prime in this match. And, there is a lot more brawling in this match than I thought there would be. However, the ending is confusing. While they’re on the outside, Savage hits Sammartino in the back with a chair as he’s trying to reenter the ring, doing this right in front of referee Joey Marella. Yet, Marella awards the match to Savage on a countout. Sammartino should be the winner on a DQ. Oh well. Though, I do like that after the match Sammartino locked Savage in a bear hug; and they had to bring out referees and wrestlers to pry Sammartino off of Savage. How long has it been since the bear hug was seen as a dangerous move? It’s also nice to see a few Boston Garden matches on this DVD. Sure, Madison Square Garden gets all the praise and prestige; but the WWF did just as well in Boston as they did in New York. And, I like the look of the arena. 6/10. Next, we move on to one of the most memorable matches in not just WWF/E history but in wrestling history: Match 6. Intercontinental Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat—WrestleMania III, March 29, 1987. Yeah, this match has been on a lot of DVDs. But, it’s one of the greatest of all time. So, it gets a little leeway on the overexposure wrap. I liked that they showed the pre-match promos before the match. They are pretty good, especially Steamboat’s. Plus, I like that cheesy 1980s background they had for the interview area. And, I really like Jesse Ventura’s commentary in this match, mainly because I miss heel announcing. Dammit! I sick of the lack of heel announcers in WWE! I wanna hear someone praise Edge and Chris Jericho for a change! As for the match…well…what more can be said? It’s one of the best matches of all time. These two guys put on a wrestling clinic in just 15 minutes and pretty much stole the show at WrestleMania III. I could go through the entire Oxford English Dictionary to find numerous adjectives to describe this match, but they’ve all been used to describe it several times over. All I can do is just give my ranking: 10/10. Striker and Maria appear again. Well, they’ve been appearing the whole; this is the just the first time I’ve mentioned them since saying that they’re the hosts. Anyway, they mention how the Macho Man was becoming popular with the fans due to his charisma, in-ring abilities, and Miss Elizabeth. He eventually became a face and went on to feud with another famous Intercontinental Champion: Match 7. Intercontinental Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS The Honky Tonk Man—The Main Event, February 5, 1988. Ah, The Honky Tonk Man. He’s the longest reigning Intercontinental Champion of all time. And, he was a great heel. Though he originally came into the WWF as a face, he never really connected with the fans. So, they made him a heel, and the rest is history. SPEAKING OF history, this match took place on The Main Event, the highest rated wrestling program of all time, the one that had Hogan losing the WWF Title to Andre The Giant and Andre selling the title to the Million Dollar Man. But, enough about that! We get some more pre-match promos for this match. That’s another thing that wrestling really needs to bring back. Enough with the freaking recaps! They’re boring and played too damn much! Just let the wrestlers speak for themselves! Also, I learned something on this part of the DVD: apparently the Honky Tonk Man had a girlfriend, Peggy Sue (who fictional girlfriend, sometimes played by Sherri Martel but more often than not played by Jimmy Hart dressed in drag; on this occasion, it’s Martel in the role, thank God!). I never knew about this angle. Now, I know, and knowing is half the battle. G.I. JOE!!!! The match itself is okay. Though I prefer their match on Saturday Night’s Main Event that featured the birth of the Mega Powers. 6/10. Like I said, on that same night, Hogan lost the WWF Title to Andre The Giant. And, of course, Andre sold the belt to “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. However, then WWF President Jack Tunney didn’t allow the sale to go final. The WWF Title was declared vacant for the first time in its history and a 14-man tournament (two wrestlers, Hogan and Andre, were given byes) was set up for WrestleMania IV. Now, WrestleMania IV isn’t one of the better WrestleManias. It was long (almost 4 hours) and just had way too much going on. But, it is one of the most remembered WrestleManias, and that is mainly because of Savage. You see, in order to keep the PPV from going on too long, some of the matches ended in draws, which gave Ted DiBiase and the One Man Gang byes in the tournament (that’s also why they made it a 14 man tournament instead of 16). However, only one guy in the tournament had to wrestle through each round: Savage. He first defeated “The Natural” Butch Reed. Then, the Macho Man went on to score a victory over Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. After that, Savage got a DQ victory over the One Man Gang when he was caught using his manager Slick’s cane. So, it came down to the finals: Match 8. 14-Man Tournament Finals For The WWF Title: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase. Now, remember: Savage had to wrestle three guys to get into this match. Granted DiBiase had wrestled two guys, he still got a bye into the Finals. Also, DiBiase brought out Andre The Giant to be in his corner; Virgil had been taken out earlier in the night. So the whole “overcoming the odds” angle has been built up nicely throughout the nice. However, luckily for Savage, Hulk Hogan came to his aide. Before the match, we get a cameo from Bob Uecker and Vanna White! Gotta love Vince! If they’re remotely famous, he’ll put them on TV to bring in just a few more viewers! Anyway, Uecker does the announcing for the final match. I don’t know why they had Vanna White out there. I don’t remember this match being contested under hangman rules. You can also catch a glimpse of Robin Leach, who was sitting at the timekeeper’s area; he introduced the tournament earlier on. And, of course, you can see Donald Trump at ringside, as the event was held at Trump Plaza. Strangely, DiBiase comes out to no music. I can’t remember if it’s because they hadn’t made him an entrance theme yet or what. The match is pretty good, especially with the odds stacked against Savage. Though, it is the history that surrounds the match and WrestleMania IV that really makes the match. 7/10. Match 9. Steel Cage Match for the WWF Title: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase—Madison Square Garden, June 25, 1988. After WrestleMania IV, DiBiase continued to chase the WWF Title, which led to this match. Still no entrance music for DiBiase, so I guess they hadn’t made it yet. Anyway, the match is good, but the announcing is not. Lord Alfred Hayes calls the steel cage “iron bars.” “Superstar” Billy Graham goes on and on about trying to talk Elizabeth into doing some power lifting to give her some muscle mass. And, I have no idea who the lead announcer is, but he’s just bad. I mean, just terrible. But, they don’t take away from the match. Like I said, it’s pretty good. Plus, a fan gets involved, jumping over the guardrail and helping the Macho Man out as he tries to escape and fight out Virgil who’s preventing him from doing so. 8/10. And, that marks the end of Disc 1. Well, not entirely the end, there is a special feature on this disc: the wedding of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth at SummerSlam 1991. Now, I was confused as to why it was on this disc. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that it shouldn’t be on the DVD. I think it’s inclusion on the set is a wise choice. I just don’t understand why it’s on Disc 1. The first disc goes from 1985 to 1988, and the wedding took place in 1991. I just think they should have put it on Disc 2. Hell, the match that featured Savage and Elizabeth’s reunion is on Disc 2. So, why not the wedding? Anyway, the feature starts off with Savage’s proposal to Elizabeth. Then, it moves onto the wedding. Before the ceremony, there is a musical tribute to Savage and Elizabeth. And, let me tell you: the song they play SUCKS!!!! It sounds like every bad 1980s romantic duet rolled into one!!!! After that, the ceremony begins. The best part of the whole ceremony is Bobby “The Brain” Heenan making fun of the whole ceremony and Gorilla Monsoon “Rowdy” Roddy Piper threatening to punch him after each remark. Sadly, we don’t get any footage from the Macho Man’s bachelor party or from the wedding reception, which had the infamous moment of Elizabeth opening a gift containing a cobra inside Jake “The Snake” Roberts. Oh well. Onto Disc 2: Match 10. The Mega Powers (“Macho Man” Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan) VS The Mega Bucks (“The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase and Andre The Giant)—SummerSlam, August 29, 1988. Now, this was the main event for the first SummerSlam, and it’s fondly remembered around these parts for that infamous moment in which Elizabeth takes off her skirt to distract Andre and DiBiase. Other than that, the match isn’t all that memorable. It’s not the worst match in the world, but I’ve seen better. 5/10. Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention one of the greatest storylines of all time: The Mega Powers Explode. It was a great angle, with Hogan and Savage forming a partnership that lasted for a good part of two years. However, it all came crashing down. Hogan began insisting that Elizabeth accompany him for his matches, which Savage had some problem with. Savage soon became paranoid, fearing that Hogan was out to steal his woman and his WWF Title. However, Hogan denied it. During a 1989 tag team match that pitted the Mega Powers against The Twin Towers (Akeem and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Savage was upset that Hogan left him alone to battle Bossman and Akeem. Upon his return to the ring, Savage greeted Hogan with some anger and a slap to the face of his partner. Then, he left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning single-handedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, where Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel. The whole storyline all came to a head at WrestleMania V: Match 11. WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Hulk Hogan—WrestleMania V, April 2, 1989. What a difference a year makes. Just a year earlier, Savage had won the WWF Title, and Hogan was there to congratulate him. Now, they were both fighting for the title, and some would say the affections of Miss Elizabeth. And, in the very place where Savage had won the WWF Title. There was a lot of good drama and excitement surrounding the match. But, that isn’t to say that there ain’t a lot of good in ring action in this match. On the contrary, I find this to be one of Savage’s best matches ever. He is in top form, and he really makes Hogan look better than he is. Though, I’m not saying that Hogan is a slouch in this match. He pulled out some good moves. I especially like it when he bodyslammed Savage to the outside. Plus, Hogan sells real well in this match. Well, at least until the end. 10/10. Match 12. WWF Title Match: “Macho King” Randy Savage VS Hulk Hogan—The Main Event, February 23, 1990. We skip ahead to a year, thankfully. The rest of 1989 had Savage becoming the “Macho King” after winning the King Of The Ring title from “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, making Sherri Martel his new manager and Queen, and teaming up with Zeus from the movie “No Holds Barred” to take on Hulk Hogan and Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. The DVD doesn’t mention the Zeus part, but we do get plenty of footage of the Macho King and Queen Sherri being carried to the ring on the shoulders of several men. Nevertheless, Hogan and Savage were still feuding, but the WWF was building to a big match between Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior for WrestleMania VI. So, the feud had to be blown off. That’s where this match came in. It was a pretty big match, having then World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Buster Douglas filling in a special guest referee. We even get an interview from Douglas before the match. I should note that Mike Tyson was originally suppose to be the special guest referee for this match, but Douglas’s upset victory led to the change of referees. Though, as we all know, Tyson would eventually appear in the WWF at WrestleMania XIV. Anyway, the match itself is pretty good. It’s not as good as the previous one, but I enjoyed it. I tell you want I didn’t enjoy: Savage’s attire at the time. I was never a big fan of the multi-colored long tights he wore in the early 1990s. I just always preferred those trunks with the 3 stars on them. Also, the match ends with Douglas making the 3 count for Hogan. Savage objects and goads Douglas into hitting him. Sure enough, Douglas punches him and knocks Savage out. 8/10. Match 13. Mixed Tag Team Match: “Macho King” Randy Savage and Queen Sherri VS Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire—WrestleMania VI, April 1, 1990. I should point out that Rhodes and Sapphire came out with Miss Elizabeth. And, there is a huge travesty on this match: The greatest entrance theme of all-time, Dusty Rhodes “Common Man,” is replaced with some generic techno crap!!!! WHAT THE f***!!!! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!!!!? I don’t understand why WWE would do this, and I hope someone got fired because of it. Anyway, this match isn’t all that great. Again, there are worst matches out there, but you can’t really expect a match with Sapphire in it to be a 5 star classic. Honestly, I don’t even know why this match is on the DVD. I would have left it off in favor of a better match, especially if they aren’t going to put “Common Man” on this disc. 5/10. I should point out that throughout the DVD, Striker keeps chastising Elizabeth for constantly interfering in the matched. I was a little taken back by this. Usually, on these DVDs, the subject is praised by the hosts. You hardly hear a bad word or criticism. So, I was surprised to see Striker to actually say it was wrong for Elizabeth to interfere in numerous. Also, I don’t really know why he’s complaining. I mean, she is a manager. Isn’t that what a good one is suppose to do: help his or her client win by any means? I don’t really get it. So, let’s just move on. Match 14. Retirement Match: “Macho King” Randy Savage VS The Ultimate Warrior—WrestleMania VII, March 24, 1991. I’ve just noticed: there are a lot of WrestleMania matches on this set. And, they’re all very good. I guess that would make the Macho Man the first Mr. WrestleMania. Well, this match shows that he deserves the moniker. It’s a very exciting, fast-paced, back-and-forth affair. And, Savage really makes the Warrior look like a million bucks. Plus, that ending with Elizabeth saving Savage from Sherri is just electric. 8/10. After that match, Savage turned face and “retired.” As stated, it was retirement match, and Savage lost. So, he “retired,” even though he stayed on TV in a non-wrestling capacity and Warrior got fired in August. Though, Savage wouldn’t stay out of the ring for long. By the end of the year, Savage would get reinstated, due to a legendary feud: Match 15. “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Jake “The Snake” Roberts—This Tuesday In Texas, December 3, 1991. As I stated earlier, Roberts had ambushed the wedding reception of Savage and Elizabeth with a cobra. Then, Roberts tied up Savage in the ring ropes and forced a cobra to bite his arm. This led to Savage being reinstated and this match. Now, the feud between Savage and Roberts was just excellent, mainly because it was very violent and intense for its time. Remember this is 1991 WWF. It was cartoonish, kid-friendly time. Yet, this feud seemed like something that would happen in the Attitude Era. As for the match, it’s short but sweet. Not a lot of action goes on, but the drama surrounding the feud and Roberts mercilessly DDTing Savage over and over again brought it up to a special level. Though, I didn’t like that they left the part where Roberts slapped Elizabeth. That was an important part of the feud. I have no idea why they would leave it out. And, I don’t buy that PG, kid-friendly tone they’re going for these days. Because, we’ve seen some women get attacked by men in the last few months. 8/10 Match 16. WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Ric Flair—WrestleMania VIII, April 5, 1992. Another classic match from the Macho Man at WrestleMania. Hell, I dare say that Savage deserves the title of Mr. WrestleMania more so than Shawn Michaels. Anyway, this match had a pretty good feud surrounding it as well. The story went like this: Flair claimed that he and Miss Elizabeth had dated before she had married Savage. He even had photos of their relationship, which were published in WWF Magazine. Of course, the photos turned out to be fake. Anyway, like I said, this match is great. Savage is always at top form at WrestleMania, and Ric Flair is…well, Ric Flair. I don’t think the guy can have a bad match. By the way, I like the Shane McMahon cameo in this match. And, here’s a conundrum: when Miss Elizabeth runs down to be in Savage’s corner during the match, a whole slew of backstage officials come out and freak the f*** out because she’s there. Yet, it was a-okay for Mr. Perfect to be allowed a ringside when everyone knew damn well that he was going to help Ric Flair. As The Hurricane would say: Whassupwitdat!? 10/10. And, that brings us to an end of Disc 2. But, before we go onto Disc 3, we have some special features to look over on this disc. Remember when I said that I was confused as to why the Savage/Elizabeth wedding was on Disc 1 and not Disc 2? Well, this is another reason why: one of the Special Features on this disc is Miss Elizabeth’s debut. I don’t understand. They showed clips of her debut on Disc 1. So why not put the whole thing on the first disc? I don’t get why WWE can’t put things in order on their DVDs. I mean, all the matches are in order! Why not the special features? It just baffles me. Anyway, this is a good moment, mainly for Vince McMahon creaming his shorts when Miss Elizabeth comes out. He literally sounds like he’s trying to hide the fact that he’s having an orgasm. The other special feature on Disc 2 is the Coronation of the Macho King. His coronation is attended by all the heels in the WWF at the time, featuring a nice little speech from The Genius! Yes! This is the first, and well only, appearance of Savage’s brother on this DVD. Though, there is a reason for this: Savage and The Genius never really appeared together on TV a lot when they were in the WWF. Hell, I didn’t even know they were brothers until I read it in a WWF Magazine article a few years back. But, I digress. Let’s go to Disc 3: Match 17: WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Shawn Michaels—Sheffield, England, April 19, 1992. Talk about a rarity! I never even knew these two had a one-on-one match, let alone one for the WWF Title! And, what a gem it is. You got a young Shawn Michaels taking on Savage in his prime. Yeah, this is a good one alright. 8/10. Match 18: “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Bret “The Hitman” Hart VS Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels—Worcester, MA, July 20, 1992. Here’s another rare match I doubt most fans knew happen. Hell, I didn’t even know this match happened until a few years ago. And, this is a goodie. I mean, you got for of the best wrestlers of all time in one match! It doesn’t get any better than this. Also, I thought this was strange: during the WrestleMania VIII match, they dubbed over Ric Flair’s early 1990s WWF theme with his current. Yet, on this match, they don’t. I think somebody forgot do their job. Though, they don’t have worry about making that mistake anymore. Because, Vince fired that somebody. 8/10. Now, during his “retirement” in 1991, Savage started doing commentary on WWF TV. And, he returned to commentary around 1993. But, this created some problems. You see, Savage still wanted to wrestler. However, McMahon felt that he would be better suited in a commentator role and wrestling on special occasions against the likes of the Repo Man, Doink The Clown, and Crush. In fact, our next match is one of those special occasions: Match 19: WWF Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Yokozuna—Monday Night Raw, February 28, 1994. I’ve noticed that Yokozuna has been getting a lot more love on WWE DVDs as of late. For example, he was featured in the Greatest Superstars Of The 1990s DVD. Though I can see why. The guy was 500 pounds, but he could fly around the ring like a lightweight. So, it’s not surprising that they have a pretty good match here. 7/10. Now, in the mid 1990s, there was a trend of WWF wrestlers going over to WCW. And, Savage was one of the guys to jump on this bandwagon. Like I said, Savage want to continue wrestling, while McMahon wanted to keep him on commentary. This is pretty much the reason why Savage went to WCW. I don’t really blame Savage for doing this. He cold still go in the ring, as proved in our next match: Match 20: Lifeguard Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Ric Flair—Bash At The Beach, July 16, 1995. Since I know you’re asking it, a lifeguard match is basically the same damn thing as a lumberjack match: two guys wrestle in the ring with a bunch of wrestlers on the outside to keep the participants in the ring. The reason they called it a lifeguard match was because this match took place at Bash At The Beach. And, not just any Bash At The Beach! This was the infamous one that took place on an actual beach. By the way, Savage and Flair were feuding at the time because at Slamboree 1995, Flair attacked Savage’s father Angelo Poffo when he came to save his son from being double teamed by Flair and Arn Anderson, going so far as to put him into the Figure Four. This led to another match between Flair and Savage at The Great American Bash. At that match, Poffo was at ringside with a cane. And, during it, Flair kept on going to the outside to stall and eventually knocked out Poffo, stole his cane, and hit Savage with it to win the match. And, that is how we got to this match. By way, all the lifeguards in this match are wearing these crappy orange tie-dye shirts and orange swimming shorts. I don’t know why, but whatever. There were also some stars from the show Baywatch at ringside because WCW was doing some cross promotion with Baywatch in order to bring in more fans. Angelo Poffo was also there, not wearing a shirt for some reason. I guess he was hot and planned to go for a dip after his son’s match. The match itself is okay, but Flair and Savage have had better. 6/10. SPEAKING OF better matches between Randy Savage and Ric Flair: Match 21. WCW Title Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Ric Flair, Monday Nitro, January 22, 1996. After Bash At The Beach, Savage would go on to capture the WCW World Title, winning it in the first ever World War 3 battle royal. Though, he lost the title to Flair at Starrcade 1995. This is the rematch between the two. Before the match, we get a little pre-match promo from Savage with an appearance from Hulk Hogan. Anyway, this match is very good. It’s not the best between Savage and Flair, but it was much better than the last one. 8/10. A few months after this match, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash came to WCW, beginning the nWo Invasion angle. Originally, Savage was on WCW’s side, fighting against the nWo. However, in 1997, Savage decided that if you can’t beat ‘em, then join ‘em. So, he joined the nWo. Then, he began one of his best feuds in WCW: Match 22. Falls Count Anywhere Match: “Macho Man” Randy Savage VS Diamond Dallas Page, The Great American Bash, June 15, 1997. Page and Savage had a series of great matches in WCW at this time. I would have liked to seen at least one more of those matches on this DVD, but I’m glad to see that at least one was included on this set. And, this is a good one. You see, Savage could still go, and DDP was getting better as a wrestler. Plus, most of their matches involve both men just beating the hell out of each other with whatever they could get their hands on. This made for a damn good match, especially when they trash the “VIP” area (which looks more like a picnic area at a park) and Savage taking out three referees and a photographer. Also, I like Savage’s attire in this match. Now, I have said that I’m not a fan of his full body suits. But, I really liked his black and white “Madness” suit. It just looked cool to me. And, it’s nice to see Kimberly Page at ringside. Goddamn! That woman is fine!!!! 9/10. Match 23. Tag Team Match For The WCW Title: “Macho Man” Randy Savage and Sid Vicious VS Kevin Nash and Sting—Bash At The Beach, July 11, 1999. Our final match on the DVD takes us to WCW in one of their worst years. It was 1999, and things were going down hill for the company. For one, they were having a tag team match with the WCW Title on the line. And, no, Vince Russo was not booking at the time. Anyway, around this time, Savage had taken a hiatus from WCW to have knee surgery. When he returned, he had a new look, sporting a slicked back ponytail-type of hairstyle and had a lot more muscle mass than he normally had. He also brought with him with three valets: Madusa, AKA Alundra Blayze, the WWF Women’s Champion who threw the title into the garbage on an episode of Nitro; Miss Madness, AKA Molly Holly, and his new girlfriend Stephanie Bellars, whom we all know as Gorgeous George. You see, one of WCW’s undercard guys had managed to buy the rights to the name “Gorgeous George” from the family of the original Gorgeous George. So, WCW decided to give the name to Lanny Poffo, who had just signed with the company. However, Lanny never appeared on WCW TV. So, the name went to Savage’s girlfriend. By the way, WCW kept on paying Lanny $150,000 a year even though he never wrestled a single match for them. God! That must have so sweet! Get paid a lot of money by a company and not having to do a thing! No wonder so many people miss WCW! As for this match, whoever pins the champion, at the time Nash, would become champion. That included Nash’s own partner Sting! Why they didn’t just make this a fatal fourway, I’ll never know. Nor am I going to try to figure out why because trying to come up with a logical reason for the stupid decisions WCW made would cause me to go insane. Also at the time, Savage was involved in the angle that saw him abusing women. Anyway, despite all the crap surrounding it, the match is pretty good. And, there is a hilarious moment with Sting falling down, barely missing Sid’s crotch. Yet, Sid sells it like Sting’s head had fallen on his nads. However, the ending of the match made no goddamn sense. During the match, Gorgeous George was in Nash’s corner because on a previous Nitro, she had shown up with two black eyes. Strangely, she turns on Nash and helps Savage win the match. Why she would help the man who had abused her to win the WCW Title I’ll never know. Like I said, trying to come up with a logical reason for the stupid decisions WCW made would drive me crazy. 7/10. After that, the DVD ends with some stupid skit in which Striker takes Maria off camera and tries to pick her up onto his shoulder like Savage use to do with Elizabeth, only to drop, which we can tell from the sound of her “falling.” It’s oh so hilarious.[/sarcasm] Now, onto the special features. Unlike the first two discs, Disc 3 has a lot of special features, all of them being promos throughout Savage’s career. These promos include: Savage calling Tito Santana “nothing but garbage,” Savage calling Santana and Hulk Hogan “yesterday’s newspaper,” Savage on Jesse “The Body” Ventura’s Body Shop showing off his newly won Intercontinental Title, Savage bringing out a broom and chastising Gene Okerlund for interviewing Miss Elizabeth, Savage getting a little risqué by saying that Macho Madness is “more seductive than sex” and warning Okerlund not to give her the flower from his lapel, Savage visiting a psychiatrist and doing some free word association, Savage calling Ricky Steamboat’s challenge for the Intercontinental Title at WrestleMania III his “cuppa’ coffee in the big time,” Savage calling himself “the cream of the crop” and blaming WWF President Jack Tunney for his loss at WrestleMania III, a Savage promo from when he turned face (an infamous one that ends with Savage yelling to Okerlund “NO MORE QUESTIONS!!!!”), Savage in his Macho King gimmick before he wrestles “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan at Madison Square Garden and forcing Sean Mooney to bow to him, Savage giving a pre-match promo before facing Duggan on SNME, Savage giving a pre-match promo before a steel cage match with the Ultimate Warrior at Madison Square Garden, Savage before his match with Jake “The Snake” Roberts on SNME, Savage giving an interview in an empty arena before a WWF Title Match with Ric Flair, Savage and the Ultimate Warrior talking about their match with Razor Ramon and Ric Flair at Survivor Series 1992, Savage just before his match with Flair on an episode of Nitro, and an nWo paid announcement with Savage calling out DDP and saying that Kimberly Page has “no class with a capital K.” Each one of these is amazing. Though, I like the earlier ones better than the later ones. And, I would have liked to seen a lot more. I mean, they could have dedicated a whole disc to Macho Man promos, and I would have been happy. But, I’m content with the ones they featured on the DVD. All in all, this is a good DVD set. There were a few things that disappointed me. Yes, there could have been a documentary. Yes, they could have shown some better matches and more promos. But, it didn’t really matter. What is on here is some prime Macho Man goodness. There are a lot of great matches, cool promos, and fantastic angles. And, it was great to relive some memories from my mark days, growing and being amazed by the Macho Man flying around the ring and taking people out left and right while Elizabeth cheered him on. And, let’s not forget, this could have just as easily have been a revisionist hatchet job like the Warrior DVD or worse. There could be no Macho Man DVD at all. Highlight: the TNT skit with Savage doing free word association with the psychiatrist. It is funny as hell. Recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Jul 31, 2009 18:55:52 GMT -5
Hey! Look! A DVD review! Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist Okay, let me get this out of the way: I got something big planned for August. I don’t wanna give it away, but it involves a famous superhero. Now, that that’s out of the way, let’s get on with this review: “Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist.” Yeah, I know this DVD came out in February; but I’m a lazy procrastinator. Besides, it was low on my Netflix queue for a while. Anyway, let’s get on with it. Based on the book of the same name by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, the film stars Michael Cera as Nick O’Leary and Kat Dennings as Norah Silverberg. Nick, a teenager from Hoboken, New Jersey, is heartbroken after his girlfriend, Tris (Alexis Dziena), breaks up with him. His friends and musical bandmates in the queercore band The Jerk-Offs (of which Nick is the only straight member), Thom (Aaron Yoo) and Dev (Rafi Gavron), finally convince him to leave the house to perform at a club later that night only because his favorite band "Where's Fluffy?" would be playing somewhere in New York City that night. Norah and her best friend, Caroline, (Ari Graynor) attend the same high school as Tris. Norah and Tris dislike each other as Norah is smart and motivated, having been accepted into Brown University, while Tris is more of the typical self-interested brat. Tris shows Norah and Caroline a mix CD Nick has made for her and throws it away. Norah takes the mix CD out of the garbage and says that Tris does not appreciate the artwork or the songs. She has been recovering the discarded mix CDs for some time now. That night, they all end up at Arlene's Grocery on Manhattan's Lower East Side where The Jerk-Offs are playing. While performing, Nick sees Tris in the audience with another guy. Meanwhile, Norah eyes Nick on stage. Thom and Dev meet Beefy Guy/Lethario (Jonathan B. Wright). Norah asks Nick to be her boyfriend for five minutes to prove to Tris that she is going out with someone. Norah kisses Nick, not knowing that Nick is Tris' ex, and incites Tris' jealousy. Caroline gets drunk and Norah wants to take her home, but Nick's band-mates, who see Norah as a potential girlfriend for Nick, give Norah some clothes they know that Nick likes and then offer to take Caroline home so she can ride with Nick. Nick and Norah decide to try to find the "Where's Fluffy?" concert. Meanwhile, Caroline wakes up in the back of the van and overhears Thom and Dev having a graphic sexual conversation. (They are actually just trying to come up with a new name for their band). She freaks out, thinking they’re going to rape her and runs away when the van stops. Nick gets a call from his band-mates telling him that they lost Caroline, Nick tells Norah what happened, and they meet with the band-mates to try to find her. After no luck finding Caroline, they hope that she is already at the "Where's Fluffy?" concert. They all go to a club to see if the band and Caroline are there. Nick decides to show he is interested in Norah and starts dancing with her only to be interrupted by Norah's ex, Tal (Jay Baruchel). The rest of the movie shows them trying to find Caroline, Nick trying to get over Tris, Norah trying to get over Tal, and the title characters falling in love. All in all, it’s an okay film. It’s not laugh out loud funny, but it’s got it’s fair share of comical moments. However, it’s more romantic than comedy. As for the acting, Michael Cera is okay. Sure, he’s playing himself in this film again; but he plays the sad sack loser well. Kat Dennings, on the other hand, is fantastic. Teenage angst just pours out of her like sweat, but she’s also got a sweet side to her. And, the chemistry between Dennings and Cera is quite good. Their passive-aggressive flirtation is what pretty much keeps the film going. At times, the movie doesn’t really seem like a movie but a tourist film focusing on all the trendy spots and indie music New York has to offer. It’s like director Peter Sollett got more interested in the surroundings and exposing the world to all these cool New York spots and cool music than the plot. So, it’s not surprising that Dennings and Cera’s scenes together are what keeps the film alive, nor is it surprising that there are several scene stealing performances. Jay Baruchel and Alexis Dziena are great in their roles as the title characters’ obnoxious exes. Both just make you want to slap the taste out of their mouths. And, there are some good cameos: John Cho, Seth Myers, Eddie Kay Thomas, and Kevin Corrigan. Though, the best cameo comes from Andy Samberg as a homeless guy who gets fresh with Nick. I also liked Nick’s gay bandmates, played by Aaron Yoo and Rafi Gavron, and Beefy Guy, Jonathan B. Wright. It’s nice to see some non-stereotypical gay characters. But, out of all the performance, Ari Graynor gives the best one as Norah’s drunk friend Caroline. She gives the best performance I’ve ever seen in my left. She doesn’t go overboard with it, playing like she may actually be drunk. And, she doesn’t get obnoxious. She’s still a little annoying but also sweet and vulnerable. She’s like your actual friend who gets drunk all the time: a bit of a burden but you help her (or him) out anyway because you can’t help but feel a little sorry for. She’s one of the main reasons to watch the film. In fact, all the performances are worthy of giving this film a view. The film can be too cute for its own good, but the performances make up for it. The special features are also worth giving this DVD a view. These include commentary with director Peter Sollett, actors Michael Cera, Kat Dennings and Ari Graynor; commentary with Peter Sollett, authors Rachel Cohn and David Levithan, and screenwriter Lorene Scafaria; a digital copy of the film for playback on PSP™ and iTunes; deleted/alternate scenes: one featuring Caroline vomiting in a public restroom and a janitor refusing to clean it up, Caroline and Norah getting on a bus and Caroline vomiting on the driver, alternate takes of Tal trying to remember the name of Nick’s band, alternate takes of Caroline dressed as a Christmas tree, alternate takes of Nick running into some homeless people, Norah getting demos from people in clubs and on the street, Caroline doing a chant that annoys Norah, Nick mistaking a tranny for Tris, and Norah running into Jesus in the bathroom; outtakes; a music video for “Middle Management” by Bishop Allen, storyboard animations of the opening scene and the scene where Nick and Norah meet with optional filmmakers’ commentary; a Nick & Norah Puppet Show by Kat Dennings; Ari Graynor’s Video Diary: A Look Behind-the-Scenes; a faux interview with Michael Cera and Kat Dennings conducted by Eddie Kaye Thomas, and a photo gallery. The special features are cool. They’re not as boring as the typical ones you see on other DVDs. They’re fun, lighthearted, and show a more intimate look behind-the-scenes. All in all, this is an okay DVD. Nothing spectacular, but it is entertaining nonetheless. Highlight: The Nick & Norah Puppet Show by Kat Dennings. A hilarious Cliffs Notes version of the film with a little more Stephen Colbert paranoia to it. (That means it involves those Godless killing machines that are hell-bent on stealing our pic-a-nic baskets and drinking our Coca-Cola.) Hell, I would say this is funnier than the movie. Recommended, mainly for renting.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Sept 6, 2009 20:19:58 GMT -5
What time is it!? Well, I have [insert time review is posted]. Anyway, here’s a DVD review. So, I…um…said that I had something big planned for August in the “Nick And Norah’s Infinite Playlist” DVD review. Well, August has come and gone; and I didn’t do a single DVD review. A funny thing happened: I got real lazy. And, I procrastinate a lot. And, I got obsessed with this website, The A.V. Club. Needless to say, I didn’t do it. What I had planned was a big review of the Batman Anthology DVD along with “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight”; my brother got it for his birthday, and since we live in the same house I had access to it. I planned on review each Batman movie in August and calling it Batman Month since there isn’t any holidays in August. Well, in America anyway. But, as I said: lazy, procrastinate, A.V. Club. I will do those reviews, probably in October, maybe earlier. Now, I know what you’re thinking: “What the hell does all of this have to do with WCW?” Not a goddamn thing. So, let’s move on to The Rise And Fall Of WCW. As I said in another DVD review, that one being the Starrcade DVD, I miss WCW. It was a good alternative to the WWF’s sports-entertainment. That means it had wrestling. In fact, it had some of the best wrestling on TV, especially during it’s 1996-1997 heyday. Hell, even when things were bad for the company, WCW had some damn good action in the ring. But, sadly, good wrestling couldn’t keep it from going the way of the dodo. The company went from making $55 million in 1997 to losing $62 million in 2000. Though, WCW had always seemed doomed from the start. It had been ran by guys who were over the hill and couldn’t adapt to booking for a new generation of wrestling fans and guys who didn’t know a damn thing about wrestling. Then, a savior came, turned everything around, and not only turned a profit but also nearly put the competition out of business. However, the savior’s booking style got stale; and he was replaced by a guy who booked storylines so mind-numbingly stupid and confusing that it drove fans away. Eventually, the money, ratings, and wrestlers disappeared; and new management came in and saw WCW as a huge failure and sold it to the very competition it nearly put out of business. How in hell could this happen? Well, The Rise And Fall Of WCW gives you all those answers… That have been approved by Vince McMahon. If you want all the honest answers to how WCW went belly up, then go buy a copy of the book The Death Of WCW. That will give you a detailed account of how WCW went from a wrestling company that could do no right to one that could do no wrong and then back to doing no right again. And, I’m not just saying that because I’m on the forum for the website of one of the co-authors of the book. It’s one of the reasons, but it’s not the whole reason. The other reason is that WWE is known for its revisionist history on its DVD. For proof, go watch the McMahon DVD or the Self-Destruction of The Ultimate Warrior DVD or the perfect companion to this DVD, The Monday Night War DVD, which details the battle between WCW and the WWF during the late 1990s and early 2000s. So, how revisionist is the documentary? Let’s take a look. (By the way, before the documentary, there is a little preview of “The Marine 2” with Ted DiBiase, Jr. And, much like John Cena in “The Marine,” it appears Ted has more moves in this movie than he does in real life.) The documentary starts off in the 1980s, when WCW wasn’t even a company. World Championship Wrestling was originally a TV show for Georgia Championship Wrestling. In fact, GCW is one of three promotions featured in the beginning of the documentary; the other two are Jim Crockett Promotions and Mid-Atlantic Wrestling, which are technically the same company. These three companies would basically become WCW. How? That’s a long story. In the early 1980s, there were three main wrestling companies: the NWA, the AWA, and the WWF. Now, the NWA, or National Wrestling Alliance was basically that, a conglomeration of smaller wrestling promotions, like GCW, WCCW, Mid-South Wrestling, Mid-Atlantic Wrestling/Jim Crockett Promotions, Championship Wrestling From Florida, St. Louis Wrestling Club, World Wrestling Association (Los Angeles), Pacific Northwest Wrestling, etc. They even had promotions in Canada, Japan, and Mexico. Hell, even the AWA and the WWF were once part of the NWA before breaking off on their own. All these promotions would be independent of each other, but each recognized one world champion: the NWA World Champion. He would go around each promotion and wrestle the top guys in each promotion for the title. And, there was a committee, NWA Board of Directors, comprised mostly of territory owners, who decided when the title changed hands via a vote. And, each time a guy got the belt, he had to put down a deposit of $25,000 on it to insure that he didn’t leave the NWA with the belt. The NWA ran smoothly until Vince McMahon began his expansion of the WWF in the 1980s. Eventually, things fell apart and promotions began breaking off from the NWA, like WCCW and Mid-South. Anyway, in the Southeast coast of the America, Mid-Atlantic, Jim Crockett Promotions, and Georgia Championship Wrestling were the top territories. (Yes, I know Championship Wrestling From Florida was also there, but it isn’t mentioned in the documentary. So, I didn’t include it here.) Jim Crockett, Sr., a promoter of several sports and entertainment aspects from wrestling to boxing to circuses to the Harlem Globetrotters, started JCP in the 1930s, based in Charlotte, North Carolina. He later gave control of the promotion to his son, Jim Crockett, Jr.; and JCP became known as Mid-Atlantic. Mid-Atlantic ran shows in the Carolinas and Virginias and featured numerous talent, like Ric Flair, Dusty Rhodes, the Andersons, Tully Blanchard, Magnum T.A., etc. It eventually became a big promotion for the NWA, with Ric Flair as the NWA World Champion. JCP soon became so big that it launched the supershow Starrcade in 1983. As for Georgia Championship Wrestling, take a guess where it was located. It was formed by Paul Jones in the 1940s. In the 1970s, Jones was running GCW with Ray Gunkel, who would have gotten GCW after Jones retired. However, Gunkel died of a heart attack after a match with Ox Baker. His widow Ann seemed poise to take over the company, but she got the shaft in favor of Bill Watts, who planned to rename GCW “Mid-South Sports.” Ann decided to start her own promotion, All-South Wrestling. Thus, the Battle For Atlanta had begun. Ann won at first, with most of the GCW wrestlers following her and getting a TV spot on Ted Turner’s WTBS. Then, Jim Barnett came in, took over GCW, and pretty much drove Ann’s promotion into the ground. Barnett ran GCW with three other men, Jerry and Jack Brisco and Ole Anderson. They did well, mostly because they had a slot on WTBS, which became a cable company in the 1980s. Their slot on TBS went from regionally to nationally, making it a lucrative territory. There was talk of GCW changing its name to World Championship Wrestling and going national. But, that never happened. Vince McMahon, who was also looking to expand nationally, decided to go south and take over GCW. He was able to get the Briscos to sell their share of the company for $900,000 and guaranteed jobs. In fact, Gerald Brisco still works for WWE today. Eventually, Barnett sold his share as well, due to his disappointment in Ole Anderson’s booking. The sell allowed Vince to get control of GCW and the TBS slots. On July 14, 1984, a day that will live in infamy for southern wrestling fans, Vince McMahon showed up on World Championship Wrestling to announce that he had bought the company. To say that people were upset would be an understatement. Not only did GCW personnel quit over protest of the sale, but fans were highly upset that a Northern wrestling had taken over their Georgia Championship Wrestling. It didn’t help that McMahon aired shows that had already aired on USA (Yes, McMahon already had a show on another cable channel) and promoted shows in Boston and New York. Basically, it didn’t work because Vince showed wrestling that while got over in New York didn’t get over in Atlanta. Of course, Vince says that it was mainly Ted’s fault. Not entirely true. Part of the GCW deal was that Vince had to do World Championship Wrestling show live in Atlanta. Vince didn’t. So, Ted started airing Bill Watts’s Mid-South on Sunday nights. Eventually, Vince went to Jim Burnett, who told him to go to Jim Crockett, who offered to buy the TBS slot for a million dollars. Vince agreed, and JCP got on TBS. As for Vince, he took the money he got into helping promote WrestleMania. The whole Black Saturday deal isn’t really explained well. It’s like they’re trying to cloud and make it seem like Vince got screwed out of the deal. But, really, it seems like everyone lucked out. Vince made some money. Crockett got a TV deal. Ted got the wrestling show he wanted. And, the GCW owners got jobs. Nevertheless, the war between the WWF and WCW had begun. After Black Saturday, the documentary goes into JCP’s national expansion. They began promoting shows in Chicago and Baltimore and Magnum T.A. became popular. However, a car accident put an end to his career. That was just the beginning of the end for JCP. Crockett began spending more money that he was making. He flew guys all over the country in private planes. He went into territories where JCP wasn’t well known, which also alienated the loyal fans in the Carolinas and Virginias. They were making money but not enough to keep up with all the spending. Eventually, Crockett went into debt. And, everyone and their mother shows up on the doc to say that if Crockett had stayed in the Mid-Atlantic territory and expanded slowly, he would still be in business and rich. But, if wishes were horses, they’d all have stables. Surprisingly, they don’t mention the Starrcade/Survivor Series incident, in which Crockett and McMahon were both going to air a PPV on Thanksgiving day 1987. McMahon didn’t like this and decided to force the PPV companies to pick one PPV, Starrcade or Survivor Series to air. Crockett came up with a plan that should have made everyone happy: air Starrcade before Survivor Series. The PPV companies like it, thinking that people would just watch wrestling all day. However, Vince put his foot down and said that the PPV companies had to chose, and if they didn’t chose him, they wouldn’t get WrestleMania IV. Sure enough, most of the PPV companies backed McMahon. That is such a glaring omission, but it’s not hard to see why it was omitted. Anyway, Crockett had to sell the company. And, he did to Ted Turner, who wanted to keep wrestling on TBS since it had been on the station since it’s local days. And, that is how WCW officially became a company. Ted had a hands off approach to WCW. He basically let other people run it. Unfortunately, those other people were old promoters who hadn’t caught up with the times (Bill Watts and Ole Anderson) and businessmen who knew nothing about wrestling (Jack Petrie, Kip Frey, and Jim Herd, who had previously ran Pizza Hut). Though, WCW did have a lot of great talent at the time: The Road Warriors, the Steiner Brothers, Sting, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Mike Rotunda, Barry Windham, Dusty Rhodes, Doom, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express, the Midnight Express, Vader, etc. And, that talent was listed for us by Kevin Sullivan! Never thought I’d see him on a WWE DVD. Well, in a documentary anyway. Anyway, the talent and quality of matches was a pretty good reason to watch WCW in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That was the time when Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat had a series of 5 star classics. But, the management was terrible. It was basically a revolving door of bookers at WCW, which led to confused wrestlers having to adjust to different plans over and over. Jim Herd’s time is featured, complete with clips of the Ding Dongs. Then, they mention Ole Anderson’s run, which was a disaster because of his stubbornness and his old ways. Hell, Michael Hayes calls him an asshole; and Teddy Long calls him “the worst booker in the history of America!” Kip Frey came in for a cup a coffee. He’s only mentioned by name by Dusty Rhodes. Though, I don’t know why they didn’t go into more detail with him. Probably to show that WCW was always run by idiots, because he actually had some good ideas: (from The Death Of WCW book) reward the wrestlers with a bonus system that gave the wrestlers who performed the best match on a PPV $5,000. He also gave out raises. This motivated guys to work hard, which motivated fans to watch and buy the product, which would in turn make everyone rich. However, Frey suddenly quit. Then, they mention Dusty Rhodes and basically build him up as one of the greatest bookers of all times whose ideas were cut down by idiots who didn’t know how to run wrestling. Then, Bill Watts came in. Watts ran the successful Mid-South territory based in Shreveport, Louisiana. However, he was very old school. At first, the documentary builds Watts up well, but they quickly turn on him, which is funny since he is on the documentary. Hayes said that he was happy that Watts came in at first, but that soon changed. Watts wanted to “legitimize” WCW, and he did that by getting rid of the mats on the concrete floor and banning top rope moves. He also did things to cut costs, like fining wrestlers and trying to bust their contracts. Needless to say, this upset the wrestlers. There is also a clip of Eric Watts, Bill’s bean pole of a son. Though, they didn’t mention that he pushed his green son to the moon. They also didn’t mention some racial remarks that got him into hot water with the Turner Corporation. He had done an interview with Pro Wrestling Torch in which he said that he believed that restaurant owners could refuse service to black people if they wanted. This got him into trouble with Hank Aaron, who was the most famous black person on the Turner payroll. It didn’t help that he had plans for a tag team called The Posse, two black men dressed as criminals being led by a rich white Southerner. (By the way, this team eventually became Harlem Heat.) Anyway, Watts eventually got fed up and quit. Next came Bill Shaw, who was smart enough to know that he wasn’t equipped to run the wrestling aspect of the business. And, he did: Eric Bischoff. Bischoff had been an announcer in the AWA. When that went belly up, he went to the WWF but didn’t get a job. He then went to WCW. At the time, it appeared that either Tony Schiavone or Jim Ross would end up with the job that eventually went to Bischoff. Of course, that didn’t happen. Despite not getting the job, Schiavone stayed with WCW. Jim Ross, however, quit and went over to the WWF, where he’s still employed. Bischoff had some good ideas. He began filming WCW shows at Disney MGM studios. These shows were taped in advanced with audiences made up of casual fans whom Bischoff could control, i.e. basically tell them who to cheer for and who to boo. Bischoff also brought in Hulk Hogan. In fact, Bischoff brought in a lot of old WWF guys, like Randy Savage, John Tenta, Ed Leslie, Gene Okerlund, Bobby Heenan, and pretty much anyone who was friends with Hulk Hogan. This was big for WCW, and they were able to deliver the match that WWF had failed to do in 1992: Ric Flair VS Hulk Hogan for a World Title. WWF could have had Hogan and Flair, who had joined the WWF in 1991 because of a dispute with Jim Herd (which isn’t mention for some reason; it seemed like a good example to show how inept WCW was) for the WWF Title at WrestleMania VIII, but they changed their minds for some reason. WCW immediately jumped at a Flair/Hogan World Title match, having them wrestle for the WCW World Title at Bash Of The Beach 1994. Things went well at the time. The influx of WWF guys made WCW seem fresh and new, which brought up money and ratings. However, Hogan began turning WCW into his own WWF. WCW fans didn’t want to see WWF, and the money and ratings went down. Then came Nitro. Bischoff had a meeting with Turner and asked for two hours of primetime TV, live. He figured that they wouldn’t get it, but Turner in fact gave WCW two hours on TNT. The first Nitro was a big coup for WCW, especially since they were able to bring in Lex Luger. Luger had worked for WCW, but at the time, he was with the WWF. His contract came up around the time Nitro was premiering. He went to Bischoff for an offer. Of course, Bischoff jumped at the chance to bring in a WWF and show to the fans that anything could happen on Nitro. He also began giving away the results of WWF Monday Night RAW. You see, WWF had debuted RAW two years earlier and said that it was live. This was partially true. At times, RAW would be live, but there would also be taped shows. Bischoff took advantage by airing Nitro live all the time and giving away the results of taped RAWs, giving the fans no reason to change the channel. McMahon was pissed. Ironically, he had become an old wrestling promoter who being challenged by an up and comer, much he had been to all those other territory promoters in the 1980s. He also drew away from the cartoonish storyline and gimmicks of the WWF. He had guys use their real names, like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. SPEAKING OF Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, next comes the nWo. They show the infamous debut of Scott Hall, who shows up on the documentary!!!!…in a pre-taped clip from 2002, who showed up during a Mike Enos and Steve Doll match and challenged WCW to war!!!! This was a revolutionary debut. Before, wrestlers debut with some fanfare and hype. Usually, vignettes would air on TV that would tell the audience that a new wrestler was coming. This was different. Hall just showed up in the audience. You could barely see him; WWE had to highlight were he was in the audience during the clip of his debut. And, he didn’t just challenge one wrestler. No, no, no! He challenged the whole company! Then, when Kevin Nash showed, it looked like the WWF was invading WCW! Vince was pissed, suing for copyright infringement; Nash and Hall had been acting like their WWF characters Diesel and Razor Ramon respectively. Vince even so far as to put new guys in those characters, giving us Fake Diesel and Fake Razor Ramon. At least, Fake Diesel became Kane. Nevertheless, WWF’s answer to WCW’s invasion angle was like Bambi VS Godzilla, with WCW’s Godzilla just squashing WWF’s Bambi. But, the invasion angle was just getting started. Hall and Nash began saying they had a third man in the back and challenged three WCW guys to a match at Bash At The Beach. Sting, Lex Luger, and “Macho Man” Randy Savage answered the challenge. During the match, Nash and Hall’s partner didn’t show; and Luger got taken out early on in the match, making it a tag team match. As the match was coming to an end, Hulk Hogan, who is on the doc in pre-taped clips, came out to assumingly lean clean house and save WCW. Instead, he dropped his leg onto Savage over and over again. The most famous wrestler in the business had just turned heel. Hulk Hogan was dead. Long live Hollywood Hogan. This shocked wrestling fans (myself included), even bringing back casual who had stopped watching wrestling at the time. The nWo was born, and WCW had the hottest angle in the wrestling world. The ratings went up, and the nWo became the most talked about thing in wrestling. They did a series of vignettes that were poorly shot in black and white and Batman-like angles. The idea was to make the nWo appear to be a separate company, which was Bischoff’s plan: have WCW be two shows: WCW Nitro and an nWo, much like what WWE has now with RAW and SmackDown!. He wanted the WWF to be the number 3 wrestling company in America! It was a bold plan that ultimately didn’t work. To do so, Bischoff had to put more guys in the nWo. However, more people in a stable devalues its prestige. It started off small: Hogan, Nash, and Hall were soon joined by the Giant (Paul Wight, aka the Big Show), Syxx-Pac (former WWF wrestler Sean Waltman), Ted DiBiase, and Bischoff himself. Then, it blew up to hold guys like Scott Norton, Buff Bagwell, Vincent, and others. Sure, there were a few good additions, like Curt Hennig and Rick Rude. But, there were also some clunkers, like a past his prime heel Dusty Rhodes. They also had an nWo PPV, which did poorly, and an nWo Nitro, which was also a bad show. However, the nWo did good business. They sold merchandise like hotcakes. Bischoff had also some good ideas besides the nWo. For one, he brought in a lot of talent. He struck a deal with New Japan Pro Wrestling to bring in wrestlers from that company to WCW. He also snatched up guys from ECW and Mexico. Basically, he brought all the good talent in the world: Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Ultimo Dragon, Jushin “Thunder” Liger, Konnan, Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, Raven, etc. And, they wrestler fantastic matches. The plan was simple: have an awesome undercard with great matches and main event the show with the big nWo angle. Sure, the main event matches weren’t as great as the undercard, but the drama made up for it. Hell, the main eventers knew it. Bill Goldberg appeared on the doc and praised WCW’s Cruiserweight division. SPEAKING OF Goldberg, his chapter comes up after the Cruiserweight one. Now, Goldberg was a big find for WCW. And, they booked him perfectly…at first. It was very simple: Goldberg never lost. That was it. He won one match and then another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another and another. Eventually, he got up to 170 wins and 0 losses. They also mention the WCW Power Plant in Goldberg’s chapter. The Power Plant was where WCW trained new guys, like Goldberg. They also show Goldberg’s first win. Goldberg soon took off because he kept winning. And, he never spoke. And, he was surrounded by security…to protect other people from him. And, he came out with a storm of sparks. He was a tough guy who really looked like he could do some damage. He soon became the company’s biggest star. And, WCW was doing well. The ratings were up. Merchandise sold well. Events sold out. PPVs got big buys. They had a wide variety of things wrestling fans wanted to see: good wrestling, the Nitro Girls, the nWo VS WCW, etc. If you wanted to see something to good, you had to watch WCW Nitro. And, people did. Nitro beat RAW in the ratings from June 10, 1996 until April 13, 1998, when RAW finally won out after nearly two years of ratings defeat. Next comes the celebrities. Diamond Dallas Page shows up (in pre-taped clips) meeting Karl Malone and getting him to come to WCW. They also mention Dennis Rodman joining the nWo. This led to DDP and Malone VS Hulk Hogan and Rodman at Bash At The Beach 1998. The match was a disaster, but it gave WCW a lot of publicity from news and sports outlets. This then led to Jay Leno getting into the ring. Another disaster in the ring, this time taking place at a disaster of an event: Hog Wild, or Road Wild as it became known after Harley Davidson sued them for use of “Hog.” The event was a money pit: a PPV filmed at the Sturgis Bike Rally that drew no money at the gate. However, Goldberg thought Road Wild was a good idea, saying so on the documentary. But, of course, he would; Goldberg’s a huge motorcycle enthusiast. You know who else is? Eric Bischoff, which is why he held the show from 1996 to 1999. Road Wild wasn’t the only problems with WCW. They created Thunder, which overexposed the product, and not just in WCW. Thunder led to Vince introducing SmackDown!, which overexposed the WWF. He also had one of the hottest matches of the 1990s, Bill Goldberg VS Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Title, for free on Nitro. If they had done it on a PPV, it would have made WCW a lot of money. But, Bischoff only cared about beating the WWF in the ratings. Also, the product had gotten stale. Hogan, Nash, Hall, Sting, Flair, and others stayed on top while guys like Jericho, Mysterio, Malenko, Benoit, Guerrero, Raven, and others stayed on the undercard. Bischoff wasn’t making new stars. The only guys who had elevated to the main event at the time were DDP, who was buddies with Bischoff but did work his ass off to become good in the ring, and Goldberg. Bischoff kept relying on the old ones, some of who were in the 50s. He also brought in The Ultimate Warrior, who had some whopper of ideas. Basically, he made himself to be Batman and scared the hell out of Hollywood Hogan with mirror tricks and smoke filling the ring. They had a match at Halloween Havoc 1998 that horrible. SPEAKING OF Halloween Havoc, the PPV ran long, 15 minutes over when it was suppose to end. This caused a problem as the feed cut off right at the beginning of Diamond Dallas Page VS Goldberg for the WCW Title. Fans were upset! However, WCW made it up to them by airing DDP VS Goldberg for free on Nitro and gave out refunds. Things were starting to fall apart. To make matters worse, Kevin Nash began booking the show. Nash used this to put himself over. There was a rehashing of the nWo VS WCW storyline, this time with the nWo fighting among themselves. Nash led the black and red nWo Wolfpack, which had Konnan, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Sting (both of whom had been fighting the nWo for over a year and now had suddenly joined forces with some of their enemies). Hogan led the nWo Hollywood, which had all the same nWo guys. Nash also decided that he would be the one who ended Goldberg’s streak. This was a bad idea as the fans were not tired of the streak. Then came the Fingerpoke of Doom. Nash was suppose to wrestle Goldberg in a rematch. But, Goldberg had been arrested for stalking Miss Elizabeth. So, Hogan was put in Goldberg’s place. The match was just Hogan poking Nash in the chest, Nash falling down, and Hogan pinning him. Goldberg then showed up and was promptly beaten up by the re-united nWo. Also, this was the infamous night in which Tony Schiavone reveled that Mankind would beat The Rock for the WWF Title on RAW. After he said the infamous quote “That’ll put butts in the seat,” fans quickly turned over to USA to watch Mankind beat The Rock for the WWF Title, which the documentary surprisingly doesn’t mention (it is mentioned in the special features). WWF rewarded its fans with a surprise title win by a guy who had worked hard in the business and finally achieve the pinnacle of it by winning a World Title. WCW “rewarded” its fans with two egos getting themselves over at the expense of a guy the fans really wanted to see holding a World Title. It was crap like this that pissed off a lot of guys in WCW. One was Paul Wight. He promptly quit and went to the WWF. He’s still there as the Big Show. Another guy who left WCW for the WWF and is still with the company is Chris Jericho. Soon, other guys abandoned ship. Raven left WCW for his old stomping grounds of ECW. And of course, there was the Radicals: Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn. They were four of WCW’s best wrestlers, but they had been held down for so long that they got fed up and threatened to leave. WCW tried to keep them by promising Benoit the WCW Title, which he even won from Sid Vicious at Souled Out 2000. However, Benoit saw right through their ploy and left, with Guerrero, Malenko, and Saturn. The four showed up on RAW in the front row. Of course, for obvious reasons, they don’t mention Benoit’s departure from WCW. One of the things that WCW had going for them was its wrestlers. Sure, the storylines could be bad, but at least you would be able to see some great wrestling. But, the good wrestlers were leaving. WCW was loosing the one thing that made it watchable. And, things were just getting less and less watchable. Next came the reason things were getting less and less watchable: Vince Russo. He was guy who had worked for the WWF at its magazine. He wrote some fantasy storylines that impressed McMahon so much that he put him on the creative team. Eventually, Russo became the top booker, answering only to McMahon. Russo’s idea was to make the WWF more adult oriented. Stone Cold Steve Austin would cuss up a storm and flip everyone the bird. Sable would take off her clothes until some came out to stop her before she got naked, which she did in Playboy. The Rock threw the British Bulldog into dog crap. D-X got girls to show their breasts. The WWF was presenting shock TV, and you had to tune in to see what would happen next. Sure enough, people did tune in. And, they stayed because Austin, Undertaker, The Rock, Mankind, and others were putting on exciting main event matches. Basically, the WWF was winning, and Russo was a big part of that. However, he hated living in the WWF’s headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut. He wanted to move and some time off to spend with his family. McMahon flippantly told him to hire a nanny. Russo was upset and left, taking Ed Ferrara with him. They went to WCW. However, we soon learned that Russo is only good when he has an editor. With McMahon editing his storylines, Russo brought the WWF back on top. Without an editor, his ideas went out unfiltered; and WCW suffered for it. Of course, they don’t mention why Russo left the WWF. They just showed him showing up. But, they were sure to mention that Russo is only good with an editor, like Vince McMahon. They showed a lot of his bad ideas, like “Last Call” Scott Hall and the West Texas Rednecks, which is funny because I could have sworn those were done before Russo showed up. It’s a good thing WWE made this documentary, or else I would have gone on believing that misnomer. Thanks, Vince McMahon!!!![/sarcasm] Though, they do correctly attribute the Piñata On A Pole Match, Oklahoma, Tank Abbot, and Russo himself wrestling to him. They also mention the lowest rated WCW segment ever: a KISS that also gave the world The KISS Demon. And, of course they show Russo’s worst idea ever: David Arquette winning the WCW World Title. I also wanna point out a nice shot of the WCW Nitro pyro being shown in reverse when Jericho says that things were collapsing. That was a cool image. They also show Hulk Hogan VS Jeff Jarrett at Bash At The Beach 2000. Here was another disaster. What happened was that Jarrett laid down for Hogan, who begrudgingly pinned him with his foot. Then, Russo threw Hogan the belt. Hogan took the mic and said “That’s why the company is in the damn shape is—because of bullshit like this!” He was right, thought Hogan was largely responsible for that bullshit. Anyway, the idea, which had been thought up by Hogan, Bischoff, and Russo, was to have Hogan win the belt like this and then leave. Then, Hogan would return later and challenge whoever was the WCW Champion at the time, saying that he was the rightful champion because he had a belt as well. The whole thing was suppose to be a worked shoot, revolving around the old guys in WCW (Hogan and the Millionaire’s Club) taking on Bischoff, Russo, and the new talent (the New Blood). However, Russo’s shoot legitimately upset Hogan, probably because Russo had called Hogan a “bald son of a bitch.” And, that is one thing you do not do: Call Hogan bald! Seriously! Think about it! Of all the people who feuded with Hogan, not a single one took a shot at his receding hairline. Hogan was upset and actually sued Russo and WCW, with the lawsuit going on long after WCW had folded. There’s also some Jeff Jarrett bashing. Mike Graham basically said that Jarrett “broke 6,000 guitars—never drew a dime,” and said that he had an ego. Things were getting worse. And then came the AOL/Time Warner merger. This basically pushed Ted Turner out of his own company. He wasn’t in a position to help WCW. This led to Jaime Kellner taking over Turner Broadcasting. He was an outsider, a guy who had worked at making FOX and the WB into networks. Basically, he didn’t see wrestling as cyclical business; he saw it as a TV show that should be cancelled when the ratings are down. It’s not hard to blame him for that: he was an outsider and saw that WCW was not making any money and had lost a lot of ratings. So, he cancelled it. And, AOL/Time Warner sold it. Bischoff tried to buy it by getting investors. But, once Nitro and Thunder got cancelled, the investors left. And, McMahon swept in and bought it. On the last Nitro, Shane McMahon showed up as the storyline owner, beginning the InVasion storyline; and the less said about it, the better. Then, we come to the end, with people talking about WCW’s legacy. They basically say the same thing: WCW gave the WWF competition, and competition is good for the business. The funniest thing on this chapter is Vince McMahon saying that he took pride in buying WCW. BULLSHIT!!!! YOU KNOW HE WAS ELLATED!!!! YOU KNOW IT!!!! Sure, he probably upset now because he got rid of all his competition, and there’s no place for talent to ply their craft, built up, and get good so that he came bring them into WWE! (And, I know he has FCW, but it’s just not the same!) He’s probably upset NOW, but you know that he was happy as hell back in 2001. The documentary is okay. There is a lot of revisionist history. They don’t mention the built to Starrcade 1997. They don’t talk about how Russo turned things around for the WWF before screwing up in WCW. They don’t show a lot of the stupid characters and angles from the early 1990s. They don’t really show a linear timeline, mixing things up and attributing some ideas to people who didn’t come up with them. And, it’s not that long. The Rise And Fall Of ECW got three hours, yet WCW only gets two. Why? Well, I have an idea why, but still. Nevertheless, it is a good DVD. They got guys I never thought would talk to WWE or ever see on a WWE DVD, like Sullivan, Goldberg, Watts, the Crocketts, and Dr. Harvey Schiller. And, they do make us of their archives by showing old clips of Bischoff, Scott Hall, Booker T, and Hulk Hogan. And, it is pretty accurate about why WCW is no more: not elevating the younger talent and building stars, keeping the old guys around too long, putting the wrong people in charge, emphasis on ratings over PPV buys, bad ideas, bad gimmicks, giving the title to people don’t deserve, etc. It is nice Cliff’s Notes version of the history of WCW, but if you want something more accurate, then go read The Death Of WCW. Now, for the special features. On Disc 1, we get Lost In Cleveland, Dusty Rhodes telling the story of how this stupid angle in which Cactus Jack got amnesia and thought he was a sailor living with homeless people (Basically, Bill Watts hated Cactus Jack and Dusty thought this would be a good way to humanize him. Don’t ask me how. That’s what he says.); Bill Watts defending his mistakes and racial remarks by mentioning all the black wrestlers who pushed; Spam Man, which has Dr. Harvey Schiller talking about a character they were going to create to promote with Hormel Spam; yes, they were going to create a wrestler who either wore Spam or liked Spam (By the way, it got killed because Hormel didn’t want to do it because they saw wrestling viewers as lower on the social totem pole than people who buy Spam!!!!); the Origin Of Goldberg, which basically has Goldberg talking about how the character came to be: he wanted to be called The Hybrid because he didn’t thing “Goldberg” was intimidating or marketable (well, he’s right; “Goldberg” didn’t became a profitable name to fear until he came along), the spear was created in a match with Manny Fernandez (he was told to do an impactful move, and since he was a football player, a simple tackle at top speed was easy to do and look destructive enough to take out a brick wall), the Jackhammer (which was originally Malenko’s move that he did off the top rope, and Goldberg just did in the middle of the ring), his look (he shaved his head because he got hot playing football and the tattoo was created by a tattoo artist), “Who’s next!?” (which Goldberg got from a waitress); and Bischoff giving away the results of RAW (which has clips of McMahon condemning what Bischoff did and Bischoff defending it; also this is the special feature that mention’s Foley’s infamous WWF Title win). However, the real treat are the matches. Seriously, the documentary is good, but not their best. The special features are cool, but aren’t really a enough. They could have filled a whole disc of memorable WCW moments, like Hogan’s heel turn, Scott Hall’s first appearance, anything with the Four Horsemen, etc. Though, a lot of those are on other DVDs, so I can forgive. But, it is the matches that are the real reason to buy this DVD. It has a lot of classic matches, like Ric Flair VS Ricky Steamboat for the NWA World Title at Chi-Town Rumble, the Steiner Brothers VS Sting and Lex Luger for the WCW Tag Team Titles at SuperBrawl, Sting VS Vader for the WCW Title at The Great American Bash 1992, Flair VS Hulk Hogan for the WCW Title at Bash At The Beach 1994, a War Games Match between Team WCW (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger, and Sting) VS the nWo (Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and “Sting”), and Goldberg VS Diamond Dallas Page for the WCW Title at Halloween Havoc 1998. It also has some great cruiserweight matches, like Rey Mysterio VS Dean Malenko for the WCW Cruiserweight Title at Clash Of The Champions XXXIII, Syxx-Pac VS Eddie Guerrero in a Ladder Match for the United States Title at Souled Out, Guerrero VS Malenko in a No DQ Match for the U.S. Title at Uncensored 1997, and Chris Jericho VS Juventud Guerrera in a Mask Match at SuperBrawl VIII. There are also some rare gems, like Ric Flair VS Magnum T.A., Sting Lex Luger, and Barry Windham VS The Four Horsemen (Flair, Arn Anderson, and Tully Blanchard), The Rock ‘N’ Express VS The Midnight Express at Wrestler War (I wish they had gone with a match between these two teams during the 1980s), Rick Rude VS Sting for the WCW International Title at Spring Stampede 1994, and Booker T VS Lance Storm for the WCW Title on an episode of Nitro. They also have that DDP and Karl Malone VS Hogan and Dennis Rodman match for some reason. At least it wasn’t the match with Jay Leno. There are some matches I wish had been on this DVD, like the match where Hogan turned heel or a Barry Windham/Ric Flair encounter or a Rick Rude/Steamboat match or a Jung Dragons/Three Count match (as bad as things were in 2000, those two stables delivered top notch matches). That’s the thing about WCW: they had so many great matches. All in all, this is a great DVD to pick up. As I said in the Starrcade DVD review, I miss WCW. I missed a lot of it. I did watch it a bit in the early 1990s and watched a lot of the heyday of the nWo VS WCW era. But, when the Attitude Era started, my WWF loyalty made me turn back. I was watching RAW more and Nitro less, and then Benoit, Guerrero, Malenko, and Saturn came to the WWF. So, I just gave up on WCW because they were the only reason for me to even bother to change the channel. I really regret not seeing as much of WCW as I could have. I mean, I know I said it countless times, but I don’t care; it bears repeating: they were pretty much second to none when it came to in-ring product. I mean, you had the Cruiserweight Division, Ric Flair in his prime, the Four Horsemen running roughshod all over the company, the WarGames match, early 1990s Sting, the nWo, monster heel Vader. Yeah, WCW was responsible for a lot of crap, but there was a lot of good to negate the bad. At least, we have the DVDs. Sure, it’s WWE’s version of WCW; but it’s better than no WCW at all. Highlight: Spam Man! I can’t believe! Not only did they think that a wrestler named Spam Man was a good idea, but also Hormel believes that wrestling fans are not the type of people cultured enough to eat Spam! MY GOD!!!! It also makes you think that if that horrible idea didn’t make it to TV, then we just saw the tip of the iceberg of bad ideas WCW came up with! Recommended.
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Post by Hulkshi Tanahashi on Sept 20, 2009 15:33:11 GMT -5
DVD Review Time!!!! Revolutionary Road Ah, Netflix! It’s a wonderful invention! I mean, you can just go online and make a list of movies you wanna see, and they’ll send those movies to you! What an ingenious idea! All I have to say is, Thank you, Reed Hastings! Thank you very much! Now, what does this have to do with Revolutionary Road? I’m sure you’re thinking that I rented it off my Netflix queue. Well, you’re wrong! WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!! For your information, you big fat failure turtles, my mother rented it off of her Netflix queue. (Yes, I live with my parents. The economy’s been hell on college graduates, dammit!) Now, I have been interested in seeing this movie ever since I saw the ads for it. However, I wasn’t so interested that I would go out to see it in theaters. Nor was I so interested that I would actually rent it. However, I figured that if this movie was to somehow come into my house or if I ever saw it on TV while channel surfing, then I would sit down and watch it. In fact, I even decided to do a review of it. Why? Because, I was interested in seeing if I was right. Every single ad for the movie pretty much had Leonardo DiCapprio and Kate Winslet yelling at each other like a drunk redneck couple featured on an episode of Cops. Just from these 30 seconds to 2 minute previews I figured the movie was just two hours of Jack and Rose yelling at each other! By the way, I half expected this exchange of words to take place: Kate: You never draw me naked anymore! Leo: Well, if hadn’t gotten so fat!!!! Kate: You son of a bitch! I should have stayed with Billy Zane! Leo: I wish I had frozen to death in that water. By the way, thanks for sharing the door with me!!!! Kate: This is why I’ve kept that blue diamond hidden from you. Leo: I KNEW IT!!!! The movie stars Leo and Kate as Frank and April Wheeler, a couple of suburbanites living in 1955 New York. The film opens with them meeting at a party, and then we’re whisked away to them married and moving to Revolutionary Road in one of New York City's wealthy Connecticut suburbs. April is dissatisfied with her life as a suburban housewife, wishing she was an actress; and Frank despises his marketing job at Knox Business Machines, where his late father worked for 20 years in a similar position. The Wheelers feel they are unique and special, but trapped in the conformity of life in the suburbs, where they moved while April was pregnant with their first of two children. Of course, they’re not happy. They yell. They fight. April wants to move to Paris. Frank says no but eventually relents. More fighting ensues. Frank sleeps with other women. They are visited by John Givings (Michael Shannon), the son of their friend/realtor Helen (Kathy Bates), (a former mathematician who is now under psychiatric care in a mental institution), who tells them what wrong with their lives and why they’re unhappy. April gets pregnant again and wants an abortion. Frank says no. The move to Paris gets postponed. April has sex with neighbor Shep Campbell (David Harbour). More fighting and unhappiness ensues. The reason I’ve been wanting to see this movie for one reason: was I right? As I said, I judge the movie solely by its ads, and that judgment was that it was nothing but 2 hours of the couple from Titanic arguing. To me, it just looked like a big juicy worm on a hook, waiting for all those critics and Oscar voters to bite. But, you should never judge a book by its covers, or in this case, a movie by its ads. I could have been wrong about this movie. Maybe it’s more than just Oscar bait. Maybe there is some aesthetic value to it other than seeing two actor do their damnedest to win a little gold man. So, was I wrong? No. No, I wasn’t. I couldn’t have been more right. Sure enough, 10 minutes into the movie, Kate and Leo are yelling at each other. It was everything I thought it would be and more! My God are these people miserable! And, how do I know this!? Well, they tell me! Half the dialogue is explanations about how miserable the speaker is. Hell, they beat you on the head with a miserable stick. Subtlety is obviously not a word in the screenwriter’s vocabulary. Yeah, I insulted Justin Haythe! What are you gonna do about it!? (FYI: the movie is based on the book Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates. Now, I have not read the book, but it is well loved, making it on Time’s 100 Best Novels list and getting praise from such writers like Kurt Vonnegut and Tennessee Williams. I imagine that the book is better than the movie, mainly for Yates’s writing). Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that this is a bad movie. There are a lot of good parts. Kate and Leo give good performances. In fact, Kate should have gotten that Best Actress Oscar for this movie instead of “The Reader.” Also, Michael Shannon is amazing in his role. He goes from over the top to down played very well. If he hadn’t had been nominated the same year as Heath Ledger, then I suspect that Shannon might have won that Oscar that went to The Joker. David Harbour and Kathryn Hahn are good as the Wheelers’ neighbors, the Campbells. There is a scene where they learn that the Wheelers are moving to Paris, and they both have this great expression of faux-happiness on their faces; Harbour and Hahn pull this off very well. I also enjoyed Dylan Baker’s performance as Frank’s co-worker Jack Ordway. He tries to come off as sophisticated, but he does it by using this ridiculous English accent, which makes no sense since the movie takes place in New York. His whole performance comes off as a little over the top, but Baker somehow makes it entertaining. Also, it looks amazing. They really captured the look and feel of the 1950s. It really is a time capsule of the Eisenhower Era. It’s also nicely directed. Sam Mendes does a good job. I especially liked the scene where the Wheelers and Campbells go out dancing, and after Frank takes Milly home because she got sick, April and Shep get to talking and decide to dance and later f*** in a car. There is the nice, crisp focus on April. It’s the closest the film comes to subtlety. Also, I’m glad Mendes cut out 18 scenes from the film. Just limiting this movie to 2 hours was a good decision. After a while, all the fighting gets to be too much, and we don’t need another half hour of it. However, I just have this huge problem: subtlety. As I watched this move, I was reminded of my creative writing teacher in college. He had a great rule when it came to writing: show, don’t tell. Unfortunately, this movie tells and doesn’t show. Frank and April tell everyone about how unhappy they are. April even unleashes it on her kids. In fact, she actually says that if Frank doesn’t stop yelling that she’s gonna scream. He doesn’t, and sure enough, she screams! It’s like he read the screenplay direction out loud. There’s so much telling going that on that I watched this movie with my eyes rolling every 5 seconds as I thought to myself, “No, tell us how you really feel!” as sarcastically as I could. Now, my creative writing teacher wasn’t the only thing this movie reminded me of. I also thought of the AMC TV show Mad Men as I watched it. There are a lot of similarities between this movie and that show: both take place around the same era (Road in the Eisenhower Era, and Mad Men in the Kennedy Era that followed), both feature men with marketing jobs who sleep around a lot and have dysfunctional marriages, and both feature women unhappy with their lives in suburbia. Yet, Mad Men is a 1000 times better than “Revolutionary Road.” Why? Because, it shows and doesn’t tell. Don Draper doesn’t yell at Betty about how he hates his life, and Betty doesn’t yell the same thing back. They don’t need to. You can see it on their faces and hear in the way they talk. When it comes to writing, Mad Men takes that miserable stick “Revolutionary Road” bangs over the audiences heads and soundly beats it over its head. Yet, amazingly, I found “Revolutionary Road” a lot more entertaining than Mad Men. I may get a lot of flack for this, but there are times when I find Mad Men to be boring. I mean, put me to sleep because it’s a cure for insomnia boring. As for “Revolutionary Road,” it’s so over the top with its presentation of miserable suburbanites that I can’t help but laugh at it. Kate and Leo’s arguments made me laugh, even though that clearly not what the filmmakers were going for. But, I couldn’t help it. I just found them to be so ridiculous. And, I enjoyed the hell out of Michael Shannon. Again, his performance is filled with unintentional hilarity. I’d rather see Shannon yelling at people and telling them why they’re so unhappy every week than Don Draper feeling melancholy. But, I’ll take Mad Men, mainly for Christina Hendricks: *sighs* I could watch that all day. The special features include commentary from director Sam Mendes and screenwriter Justin Haythe, a making of featurette entitled “Lives Of Quiet Desperation,” and some of the deleted scenes. The making of featurette is pretty standard. Though, it is shot better than most. And, I did learn a lot about the film from it. For one, I have a little more appreciation for Mendes’s direction from it. The film was shot on location: all of the Wheeler house interiors were shot in an actual house in Darien, Connecticut, the office scenes in an abandoned office in downtown New York, etc. Now, this is very difficult because there isn’t as much room as there would be in a studio. In fact, he had to use a lot of white sheets to reflect light from windows because there wasn’t enough room for lights. Nevertheless, it was a smart idea as it helped capture the claustrophobic dynamic between Kate and Leo. He also focused on all the flaws and wrinkles in the face of the actors to make the film seem more realistic. I don’t know how I missed this as I was watching. I guess I was just too focused on the performances. As for the deleted scenes, not all of them are on here. I as said earlier, 18 scenes were cut; but the DVD only has 5. One scene has Frank waking up to April mowing the lawn the day after they had a fight while driving home from a play April was in; by the way, she apparently didn’t give a good performance. Another has the Wheelers at the Campbells’ house sharing drinks and talking about the play and Frank telling a story about when he was in the War (WW2) and everyone in the First Division sang “Happy Birthday” to him. Another scene shows Frank riding the train to work and having a flashback to his childhood and riding on the train with his father to his work, with his father commenting that he's going to be a big shot now. (Also, he’s reading a New Yorker magazine that blurred because apparently they could get the clearance to show it.) The next scene is a flashback of April's to the time when the couple decides to buy the house on Revolutionary Road: it shows a pregnant April and Frank being very loving towards each other. They stand for the first time in front of the picture window and April comments that "there's not escaping the picture window." Frank comments that one picture window won't ruin their personalities. As for the final scene, well Spoiler Alert: Frank is shown running into the house after he finds out April has died (even though they decided not to have an abortion, April changed her mind and performed one on herself, which ended up killing her and the baby). It is night time and he goes upstairs and discovers the bathtub where the abortion is shown although the actual bathtub is not shown. Shep then comes in the house and calls his name and begins looking for him, but Frank hides behind the door and isn't discovered. Shep leaves and Frank wonders downstairs and discovers a note from April on the table. It reads, "Whatever happens, don't blame yourself. I love you." Frank reads it and begins to cry. All in all, this is an okay film. Sure, it is your typical Oscar bait, but it’s good Oscar bait. It could use a lot of subtlety; as my creative writing teacher said, “Show! Don’t Tell!” And, like I said, it draws comparison to Mad Men, which is vastly superior to “Revolutionary Road” in the writing department. But, I was entertained nonetheless. It had an over the top melodramatic quality that I enjoyed. Though, it could use a little more: *sighs* Man! I would eat a cake off of her butt. Highlight: Michael Shannon. I can’t stress enough how good he is. He’s only in two scenes, but they are good ones. The best thing about them is that whenever he starts speaking his mind, his mother tries to change the subject. However, Shannon ain’t havin’ none of that, by shutting her down with a stern “Quiet mother! I am trying to tell Leonardo DiCapprio why he is such a f***ing pathetic human being!!!!” Okay, he doesn’t come out and say that, but with this movie, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. Recommended, but only if you wanna see the couple from Titanic yell at each other for 2 hours.
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