Rating: Summary: This is a must have! Review: As I'm watching this dvd while writing this review, i found intrigue with not only the interviews with those who were there, but also contains some unseen footages behind the scenes, as well as memorable performances and matches in that piece of history (such as the late Owen Hart and Road Warrior Hawk). Also, please pay special attention to one particular commentary by Jim Cornette, in which i just couldn't stop laughing as i listened to it). Bottom line, it's a can't miss item INDEED!
Rating: Summary: EXCELLENT!!! And the EXTRA are great also!!! Review: I just finished watching this DVD, and let me tell you...if you were a fan in the late 90's of profesional wrestling, buy this NOW!!! The main feature is an hour and a half look back at wrestling in 1996-2001. They interview everyone, including Bischoff, Jericho, Benoit, Gurrerro, Mysterio, Mick Foley, McMahon, and bunch of others. They go into DETAIL the first Nitro w/ Lex Luger jumping ship, Alundra Blaze/Madussa trashing the womans belt, Savage junping ship, Jericho, Benoit and Gurrerro hating working for WCW, the whole NWO and how it grew too big thus being boring, the firing of Eric Bischoff and hirring of Vince Russo, the fact that he did NOTHING to help!!, J.R. talks about Ed Ferrara doing "Oklahoma" (and they show a clip and it was really bad taste!!), Mike Tyson, Foley talks about the night he won the belt and Nitro announced he would win, Flair talks about his hatred of Nitro and how he enjoyed seeing it end, plus much MUCH more!! And they dont rush anything, they go into detal and show clips it is just great. Now for the extras... 1. Stone Cold & Shawn Michaels vs. Owen and Bulldog (5.26.97) 2. Stone Cold stuns Mr. McMahon (9.22.97 3. Jim Cornette commentary (10.27.97) 4. Vince's "Bret Screwed Bret" interview 5. Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. Legion of Doom (12.15.97) 6. DX invades WCW 7. The Last Nitro 8. nWo in the Production Truck (7.22.96) 9. Eric Bischoff challenges Vince McMahon (5.11.98) 10. Benoit vs. Booker T (6.1.98) 11. Goldberg vs. Hogan (7.6.98) 12. Flair returns to WCW (9.14.98) 13. Rick Rude appears on both RAW ansd Nitro on the same night (11.17.97) Overall this is the best DVD WWE has released yet. I loved seeing the old footage, and hearing Bischoff admit his head got too big was great.
Rating: Summary: Looks Like A Solid Release Review: The year: 1995 the promotors: Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff The companies: WWE and WCW - Ladies and Gentlemen - The Monday Night War! This incredible story of Raw vs. Nitro charts the many chapters including the nWo, McMahon vs. Austin, D-X invading WCW, Flair returning to WCW, and much more! Among those interviewed for the DVD include Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Gene Okerlund, Ric Flair, Jim Cornette, Rey Misterio Jr, Gerald Brisco, and Bruce Pritchard. Interesting to note is that Flair says he was so happy the day WCW closed, he couldn't stand it. The Chapters: -D-X Invades WCW -Eric Bischoff Challenges Vince McMahon -Jim Cornette Commentary -nWo in the Production Truck -Ric Flair returns to WCW -Rick Rude Appears on Nitro & RAW on the same night -Stone Cold Steve Austin Stuns Mr. McMahon -The Last Nitro -Vince McMahon Interview "Bret Screwed Bret" The awesome DVD extras include matches such as: -Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels vs. WWF World tag team champions Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart (Austin and Michaels win titles, from Raw, 5/26/97) ***** -WCW U.S. champion Goldberg vs. WCW World champion Hulk Hogan (Goldberg wins title, from Nitro, 7/6/98) -Shawn Michaels & Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. the Legion of Doom (from RAW) -Chris Benoit vs. Booker T (from Nitro)
Rating: Summary: Great, but could have been longer Review: I had long anticipated this DVD, and it didn't disappoint. It exceeded my expecations, as I was afraid it would be a one-sided perspective, which it was not. I have been a wrestling fan since I was 7 years old (I am 19 now) and was a major fan of WCW as well as WWF/E. Bottom line: Eric Bischoff is a genius, and he cannot be knocked. Without his wit and quick tounge, there is no way Nitro would have set the ratings records that it did. However, Bischoff made the mistake of putting some of the washed-up old timers over to the point of which younger stars, such as Jericho, Benoit, etc. became almost obscure. However, what the dvde forgets is that this is not what dealt WCW the most damage; the dvd fails to put an emphasis on Bischoff's spending habits, as well as the influx of celebrities into WCW. True, WWF had the Michaels-Austin-=Tyson escapade, but that was one time. During the Summer of 1998, I watched as Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone became involved in both matches and storylines, and by 1999, musicians such as the Misfits, KISS, and even Master P(!) are involved. This, in my mind, dealt even more damage to WCW than their failure to push non-veteren superstars (Other than Goldberg, of course). Meanwhile, the WWF was not only pushing new talents, but by Late 1999-early 2000 actually put more of an emphasis on athletics (which WCW had done in 1996-97 with Malenko, Mysterio, Benoit, etc.) with an incredible feud between Mick Foley and HHH, as well as Kurt Angle, the Hardys, the Dudleyz, and the superstars that had left WCW about that time (such as the Radicalz). I am probably one of the few fans that LIKES Bischoff; he adds flavor to RAW in 2004 (which, thanks to Chris Benoit, Kane's new character, and Edge's return; not to mention this now two year feud between shawn michaels and HHH that just never gets old), but the fact remains that he DID piss away everybody's $$$$ (If you don't already know, read "sex, lies, and headlocks" to find out how!). Nevertheless, getting rid of Bischoff was a mistake (He MADE Nitro), and by this point (late summer-early fall of 1999), the war was pretty much over, although it didn't "officially" end until March 26, 2001. Until seeing this DVD, I hardly knew anything about what was going on in WCW after January of '99, because I had simply lost interest, but was stunned by what I saw. At the time, J.R. was suffering from Bell's palsy, which led to one of his eyes becoming smaller than the other, and Ed Ferrara made fun of him in an attempt to boost ratings ("Pinata, Pinata"), which by the way, failed miserably. The fact that Ferrara would do theat is simply despicable. Jim Ross has given everything he has to the business since the 1970s and does not deserve anything but the respect of his peers; Ross and Mike Tenay are the greatest commentators that ever lived. I think Vince Russo (who I do not like AT ALL) also bid himself up beyond his capabilities and truly made a fool of himself at Bash at the Beach 2000 (you should look up a synopsis of this PPV on line to see the entirety of this tirade; it's pretty shocking; in the tirade he also says that Booker T had been in WCW for 14 years!!!!!...I don't even know if Booker was wrestling in 1986!) By 2000, you barely heard mention of WCW anymore (and the nWo was a pop culture phenomenom from '96-'98!!), whereas the WWF was, quite literally, everywhere (The Rock, Stone Cold and Mick Foley had become so popular that they were actually mainstream celebrities; Mick Foley became a New York times best seller two times over). Nevertheless, WCW had talents every bit as great as those in WWF, but most of these were lost to Vince during this period of time: Eddie Guerrero Chris Benoit Dean Malenko Chris Jericho Big Show Perry Saturn There were also those who made it to WWE later or never did: Rey Mysterio Booker T Juventud Guerrero Scott Steiner Diamond Dallas Page (who I actually met on a flight from New York to Orlando in December of 1999; he's a helluva nice guy, and he told me just how REAL wrestling really is) NOT ONE OF THESE TALENTS EVER GOT A MAJOR PUSH UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE (Booker T won the title 5 times between late '99 and '01 and was the last WCW champion and Steiner practically owned WCW in '00-'01). However, there is one more reason for the downfall of WCW which IS mentioned very briefly by Gene Okerlund in this dvd: WCW wrestlers could mess television tapings whenever they wanted; they could call in sick at any time. It is well documented that Goldberg, Hogan, Hall, Savage, and others took advantage of the provision at various times. Great DVD, but for more in depth coverage of the Raw-Nitro wars, and the wrestling business in general, read "Sex Lies and Headlocks". Nevertheless, the "Monday Night War" is a sure fire "do not miss".
Rating: Summary: own it and..... Review: it wuz ok... should have more d-generation x matches and nwo in speciasl fetures. *sigh* those were the good old dayz =(
Rating: Summary: It was OK, but one sided... Review: It would've been nicer to get the story of the Monday night wars from both sides. Sure, Eric Bischoff, Paul "Giant/Big Show" Wight, Chris Jericho, Benoit, and Eddie Guerrero of the former WCW put in their 2 cents but they all work for WWE now and you know they're not going to bash their bread and butter even if WCW is defunct. A nice trip down memory lane nonetheless. Gerry Brisco is such an ass kissing yes-man. Those segments alone made me want to Ebay this DVD.
WWE's starting to look like the WCW of 1999-2001 now... They could sure use some competition again. They might start producing better shows...
Rating: Summary: A Nice (though somewhat biased) "Abridged Version" Review: For someone who didn't realy tune into Pro-wrestling until late 2000, by which point the wars were basically over, "the Monday Night Wars" does a decent job of presenting a brief synopsis of what was missed. Think of the blurbs that preceeded episodes of dramatic television shows to let you know what has happened and where you are in the story. If you don't know what the Monday Night Wars were or what happened, this DVD would be a good buy, as it gives you the gist fairly well. Once you become a bit more interested in the topic, however, you'll wish that there was a lot more to this DVD. As always, the WWE chooses to interview only the people who they have employed when they make the DVD, and even makes some strange choices among their own employees. This gives the account of what happened a very one sided feel, and creates some doubt in the viewer as to whether they are getting the whole story. It is also frustrating to spend so much time hearing from people like Gerald Briscoe who, while I'm sure he witnessed a lot and was very involved with the Wars, is not exactly the type of personality to excite wrestling fans across the globe. It becomes even more puzzling when one views the special features and realizes that the WWE had plenty of people who would have known a lot about what was going on, who they chose not to talk to. Scott Steiner, Booker T, Rey Mysterio, all of these people should have been heard from more in the main feature of the DVD rather than just the special features. The ultimate example of this is Kevin Nash. One would be hard pressed to find a single person who represented the Monday night Wars more than Kevin Nash, aside from possibly Scott Hall. While Hall's absence is understandable, the WWE had Nash under contract at the time, and yet did not use any of his interviews anywhere but in the special features. It would also have been nice to have heard from Stone Cold, who is never too far away from being under WWE contract. In light of the Rise & Fall of ECW DVD, the length of the "Monday Night Wars" is a bit disappointing, and the special features leave something to be desired. At least one match involving Sting (a mainstay of WCW who to this day has never set foot in a WWE ring) would have been nice, as well as some stuff with the Outsiders and the Rock. This DVD is decent as an "abridged version" of what happened, but don't come here looking to learn more about specific details.
Rating: Summary: Great documentary but matches suck! Review: Don't be confused with all the great WWE comps. that are coming out lately. This is essentially just a documentary with a few matches thrown in for fun. However it's pretty good (although a bit biased :-). It chronicles WCW coming out of nowhere and eventually destroying WWF in the ratings until suddenly, miraclously, poor Vince comes back from bankruptcy to again reign supreme, eventually buying WCW and "winning the war". Seriously, some of the things (especially said by Vince) is pretty hypocritical and it's like a Michael Moore production, always showing what he wants the public to see and leaving out anything positive from the other side. Still that's the bad stuff, there's a lot of great moments such as the birth of the NWO, Austin 3:16 and DX. The return of Ric Flair and his speech about Bischoff is awesome! Also it includes lots of the McMahon/Austin feud which really turned WWF over the top. Plus anything by Jim Cornette is worth hearing once as well. Still they missed out a lot like Hogan/Sting and the great crusierweight division that built a strong fan base for WCW. And what about that 10-man tag team match with Austin's team Vs. Hart's team? Now 4 the matches:
1) Owen Hart/Davey Boy Smith Vs. Steve Austin/Shawn Michaels - WWF Tag-Team title - Austin was feuding with Team Canada and accepted help from HBK. Awesome RAW match. ****1/2
2) The Road Warriors Vs. HBK/HHH - Not a great match, I guess it's here to show how powerful DX was, much like the NWO was in WCW. **
3) Booker T Vs. Chris Benoit - Pretty good match. This was #4 of the best of 7 matches. ***
4) Hollywood Hogan Vs. Goldberg - After defeating Scott Hall, Goldberg got the chance to defeat Hogan in front of like a million fans. Much like Hogan/Warrior or Hogan/Rock this match is great because of the fact the fans were SCREAMING to see Hogan get beat. ****
But do you know what they REALLY needed? A 2nd disk labeled "Raw Vs. Nitro Wrestlecrap" including all the stuff that the Monday Night war caused like Hogan Vs. Ultimate Warrior 2, celeb wrestlers including Leno, Rodman, Malone and WCW Hvwyweight champ Arquette. What about the fingerpoke of doom and fake Razor/Diesel? Oklahoma? And how about a 2hr documentry about Vince Russo, the man who basically destroyed WCW. The "war" created some real crap. Vince I would pay MUCHO money for that DVD :-)!
Rating: Summary: WCW vs WWE Review: I got this dvd for christmas and I like it but I also think they could've added more stuff on the dvd also. This dvd talks about the monday night wars between WWE owner Vince Mcmahon and WCW which was own by Ted Turner and run by Eric Bishoff. Both companys fought to compete to win over the other. This is an interesting documentary but the extras are cool too I just wish they would've added more.
Here are the extras:
HBK/SCSA vs Owen/Bulldog
Austin Stuns Mr.McMahon
Jim Cornette Commentary
Vince Mcmahon "Bret Screwed Bret"interview
HBK/HHH vs LOD 2000
NWO in the production truck
DX invades WCW
Goldbreg vs "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan
Chris Benoit vs Booker T
Rick Rude appears at Raw & Nitro the same night.
The extras are cool more extras would've been better but that doesn't mean this should stop you for this getting this dvd I think you should still pick up this DVD to add to your wrestling collection.
Rating: Summary: Good But Far From The Whole Story!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Review: It seems to me That The Former WWF Dropped the Ball on what Could've Been an Amazing Look at what Brought Pro Wrestling back to the Masses I'm Talking about the Monday Night War.
A lot of Key Elements were Over-Looked It's very Close to a Shoot But, Vince doesn't seem to say Much and what he does say seems very off-center. The WWE was the WWF at that time why couldn't everyone just call it the WWF when RAW was Brought up???
What They should've Done to Please The Fans
Release This as A Box Set Like The Monday Night War The 1st Year (1994-1995) have the 1st Year of Both Raw & Nitro on as many dvd's they Needed. They don't have to Put the whole 2hr/1hr show just the Amazing and sometimes Crazy Events that happened in and around Both Companies with Before and After Interviews (Shoots)& Segments talking about each show or something like that.
That would've been a Very Smart Marketing Device for the WWE
But, as Always, Vince and His People can't give the Fans what they really want.................
The Probs with this DVD
Nothings is sad about The Following Things:
1. The Brian Pillman/Steve Austin Gun Angle (This was so Crazy and seemed so Real why not talk about this?? R.I.P. Brian
2.Using the ECW to Try to Lure fans away from Nitro I'm talking about ECW Is Raw the night ECW came to the aid of The WWF and Showcased a Number of ECW Stars (Tommy Dreamer, The Dudelyz, Big Stevie Cool, Raven and Many More) Hearing the Chants of "ECW" ECW" on RAW with alot of The Crowd being Die Hard ECW Fans is a Site to see and here They Plugged their 1st PPV But, in the end ECW was Burned in the Process.
3.Introducing RVD as Mr. Monday Night (while he was still with ECW)
4. The NWA Angle where a few of the wrestlers from NWA Were Introduced Good Idea to bad they gave up on it
5. Bret Hart Turning Heal and Re-Forming The New Hart Foundation
6. Cactus Jack being Introduced into the WWE
7. Terry Funk being Introduced into the WWE
8. Tammy "Sunny" Sytch Being the 1st True WWF Diva!
9. The Sad and Very Unnessary Raw after the Death of Owen Hart
(The fact that Not one word is said about the Memory of Owen Hart on this dvd is so Heartbreaking and in Poor Taste)
10. Double J working a WWE PPV and the next Night Showing up on Nitro!
11. Raven joined WCW
12. Todd Gordon trying to Bring the Whole ECW Roster to Nitro!
13. WCW Creating a Hardcore Title
14. WWF Creating a Hardcore Title
15. The British Bulldog Being the 1st Person to win and Hold The WWF European Title R.I.P. Davey Boy Smith
16. Turning Sting into a "Crow" type Character
17. Tylene Buck being Introduced as a WCW Valet
18. Bret Hart's 1st Interview in WCW! (After The Screw Job) Way to Go Vince!
19. Both WWE & WCW Signing a Number of Former ECW Star
20. ICP Making appearances on Both RAW & Nitro
21. The Death of so many of the Stars in Both Promotions
These are just some of the Things this dvd left out
There are some Cool Things on this DVD that happened During this Amazing Fight for the Top Spot in Pro Wrestling
But when everything is Said and Done, you feel like you Missed a lot of the Great Things that were Etched in every fans Mind during this time are sadly Left out!
Shame on The WWE trying to pass this off as The True Story about what was going on Behind the Scenes in Both the WCW and WWE
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