The Rise and Fall of WCW
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DVD Cover Information
Artist: WWEBrand: Genius
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 540 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-08-25
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Genius
Product features:
- WWE-RISE & FALL OF WCW (DVD MOVIE)
Movie Reviews of The Rise and Fall of WCW
Movie Review: 5 stars for the matches...
Summary: 5 Stars
Just received this long awaited DVD, so here's my review:
I'll stick to the packaging and content of the doc, because it looks like most have already listed the matches.
First, whoever is in the art department over at WWE designing the look of these DVD covers and packaging, deserves
a raise! Excellent cover, and your jaw will drop when you open up the digi-pak and see the two panels of art staring
you in the face. One panel is an awesome collage of Arn Anderson, Ric Flair and Goldberg, while the other features
the Outsiders, Sting and Hogan holding up the spray-painted WCW world title belt. Great stuff!
Now, as for the documentary. If you're like me and you have a stack of WWE DVDs at home, you've seen your fair
share of WWE produced documentaries on wrestlers and rival promotions. They have all contained a little bit of
revisionist history, but this one is hands down the worst when it comes to this. Again, Dusty Rhodes is still not
taking any responsibility for the fall of Jim Crockett Promotions. Yes, JCP was poorly run from a business sense, but
Dusty pushed himself to the moon and was cramming himself down the fan's throats and it hurt business big time!
They skip over big parts of the companies history like why Vince Russo was brought in, how Eric was let go and then
brought back and the reasons behind it and they completely ignored the mass jumping from WCW to WWF by Benoit,
Guerrero, Saturn and Malenko. That was a HUGE story at the time, and signaled to wrestling fans that WCW was in
trouble. I understand why they no longer want to mention Benoit, but they could've talked about this without even
mentioning his name. That was disappointing. And I don't believe Vince for a second when he describes how he felt
after purchasing WCW. If he truly felt that way, then he's not human. Watch it and judge for yourself.
No mention of Bret Hart... at all?! Really? No mention of WCW missing the boat on Austin? No mention of the talent
trade agreement and later raids of the original ECW? So much was left out that the documentary feels slapped
together. To this day, still the best WWE produced documentaries can be found on The Rise and Fall of ECW
and WWE - Bret "Hitman" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be.
The documentary does have some great moments. I was thrilled to see Kevin Sullivan interviewed for this, who looks
great by the way. Kevin offered some refreshing insights and was an excellent addition to the older interviews included
that we've seen on other WWE documentaries numerous times over the years.
It was nice to hear from Harvey Schiller, would've liked to have heard more from him.
It was nice to see them acknowledge where the idea for the nWo came from - an angle in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
I was glad to see WWE acknowledge how the WCW cruiserweights were one of the most important factors in making
Nitro the must-see show every Monday night. As a fan back then, I know they were the reason why I would watch
Nitro instead of Raw, that's for sure. In fact, those cruiserweight matches are some of the only matches worth re-watching
from that era in WCW's history.
Goldberg talking about the creation and evolution of his character & career was pretty cool. He shared a few things that
I had never heard before. Also, check the extras for "The Origin of Goldberg" which offers some great little stories about
how Goldberg's character and gimmicks came to be.
I also liked how they acknowledged that several people within WCW believed Russo was being controlled by Vince McMahon
and did the things he did to put WCW out of business. That's been a longtime wrestling rumor, and WWE usually doesn't
discuss those rumors.
Finally, they really stuck it to Jeff Jarrett, thus WWE is sticking it to TNA, when talking about him in the documentary. Fair or
unfair, it's entertaining to watch.
Overall, the documentary really leaves you wanting more. I would give the doc portion 2 stars, but the matches I give 5.
As for the matches, there are some classics here, many of which are making their DVD debut! All of the NWA matches
here are great and worth your time. Being a huge Vader fan, I was glad to see his match against Sting included here from
the Great American Bash '92. Also, Rude vs. Sting from Spring Stampede '94 is pretty solid. Flair vs. the Giant and the cruiserweight
bouts make the best of what's on disc 3.
This is definitely a buy, but don't get your hopes up over seeing an insightful or revealing documentary.
UPDATED 9/07/2009
A user in the Comments section wanted to hear more about the matches, so I thought I would add a little bit about that.
Match compilations on these DVDs are tough because it's impossible to please everyone, myself included. And when
you consider the rich history of NWA/WCW, you don't even come close to scratching the surface of it with just 2 DVDs
worth of matches. Most of the matches are good choices. I was glad to see Vader vs. Sting where Vader captures the
world title on this release. Jericho vs Juventud is an underrated classic cruiserweight bout, and having Juventud's mask
on the line just adds to the drama. Syxx vs. Eddie Guerrero is a satisfying ladder match from the terrible nWo themed PPV Souled Out.
While not as violent as today's ladder matches, it's still action packed and tells a great story. Goldberg's best in-ring performance
is here against, of all people, DDP. Perhaps the DVDs best must-see match is the classic tag team bout pitting Sting and Lex Luger
against the Steiner Brothers. This is a tremendous match that you should go out of your way to see! Plus, it was also nice to see
the Big Show's first world title win against Ric Flair on Nitro. I remember being so bummed that Flair lost the belt so soon after
winning it when that match aired.
Now, with that said, I would have cut Flair vs. Hogan, Flair vs. Steamboat, Midnight Express vs. Southern Boys, Rey vs. Malenko, the
celebrity tag match, Booker T vs. Lance Storm & the Outsiders vs. the Steiners and replaced them with...
1. Ron Simmons vs. Big Van Vader for the WCW World Title (WCW Saturday Night) - why on earth this match didn't make this set
is beyond me! Not only was it a great match, it was important from a historical perspective. One of the top glaring omissions from
this DVD.
2. Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage vs. Sting Triangle match for the WCW World Title from Starrcade. I think most of us would agree that we've
wanted WWE to release this match for quite some time. It was a really great bout and one of Flair's best title wins.
3. Rey Mysterio vs. Ultimo Dragon from the first World War III PPV - Here's another one that I don't understand why WWE has never released
on DVD. It was easily my favorite Mysterio match from his WCW run. These two went all out that night, and I saw high flying moves I had never
seen before.
4. Cactus Jack vs. Big Van Vader in Spin the Wheel, Make the Deal from Halloween Havoc. Tremendous brawl from these two, but it wont see
the light of day now that Mick is in TNA, which is a shame.
5. Sting vs. Flair from the 1990 Great American Bash - Sting's finally beating Flair for the title should've made it on this set.
6. First War Games match - I agree with another reviewer, War Games was such a huge part of WCW that to not include the first one is a shame.
I understand why they included the match they did (it set up Sting's transformation into the Crow character), but it would've been nice to still see
the first one on this set. Maybe we'll see a War Games themed DVD set in the future instead?
7. Rick Rude vs. Steamboat Iron Man Match from Beach Blast - Their feud was touched on briefly during the doc, so why not show their best match?
Well, that's what I would've done. The match selection was still good and worth a look.
Summary of The Rise and Fall of WCW
WCW grew out of a southern promotion, into a giant that battled World Wrestling Entertainment every Monday night. For the first time ever, the complete story of World Championship Wrestling, from Ted Turner?s purchase and entry into the world of professional wrestling, through the Monday night wars, and the company?s eventual collapse.Similar DVD Movies
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