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Although this review is not as groundbreaking as being the first site to report
the making of the full length Simpson’s movie (a big
pat on our own back for that one), it is nostalgic in it’s own sense.
I have searched the DVD Internet world for a full review on a wrestling DVD, and have come up with only a slight few. So with this review for The Monday Night War, it is our pleasure for DVDFanatic.com to recognize and review a wrestling DVD.
The Monday Night War is a documentary about the real life
battle between WWE and the former WCW for wrestling supremacy. The battle begins
in the mid 90’s with Ted Turner’s WCW, ran by Eric Bischoff, premiering
WCW Monday Nitro in direct competition with Vince McMahon’s established
WWE Monday Night Raw. With a wealth of more money, Bischoff lured big name wrestlers
like Hulk Hogan and Randy “Macho man” Savage to leave WWE and head
for WCW. This was not the only tactic used in attempt to win the ratings war,
Bischoff used the fact that his show was live and WWE Raw was taped (at the
time, currently Raw is a live show) as an opening to give away the results of
Raw three minutes before the show even aired. This made it so fans would not
have to worry about switching back and forth between shows to attain the results,
and would simply only watch Nitro. However Raw still controlled the ever-coveted
ratings war until WCW used two former WWE talents (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash)
to create one of the most controversial groups ever, the NWO. While WCW continued
to win the ratings war for 83 straight weeks, WWE would not quit. New stars
including Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock gave Monday Night Raw hope that
the undermanned WWE would be able to win the war over WCW.
Most likely you already know who won The Monday Night War,
as it was a true story and only one of the wrestling enterprises still remains.
Many more twists in the war are talked about including Bret Hart’s defection
to WCW, the young stars of WCW rebelling against the older stars taking all
the limelight, WWE’s brainchild creation known as DX and the eventual
firing of Eric Bischoff in favor of Vince Russo to run WCW. The Monday
Night War expands on not only these sub-plots, but on many others,
which ultimately lead to the end of the war.
There are many special features included in The Monday Night War
to further expand on the battle, they include:
- “Matches”: Four matches total are included. There are two WWE
Raw matches: Stone Cold & Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart & The British
Bulldog (5.26.97), and Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. Legion of Doom (12.15.97).
There are also two WCW Nitro matches, which are: Chris Benoit vs. Booker T (6.1.98)
and Goldberg vs. Hogan (7.6.98). While I do enjoy seeing these classic matches,
the only one that I think had a profound effect on The Monday Night War is Goldberg
vs. Hogan, which made Goldberg one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling,
which he still is.
- “Stone Cold stuns Mr. McMahon”: The battle between these two played
a major role in WWE’s resurgence. This is one of the first times the two
have a physical encounter.
- “Jim Cornette commentary”: The famous wrestling managers views
on certain happenings during the war. If you are familiar with the storylines
he discusses, you can’t help but agree with him.
- “Vince's "Bret Screwed Bret” Interview”: McMahon’s
reaction to the 1997 survivor series championship match where Vince had the
referee ring the bell to dethrone Bret Hart (who had signed onto WCW and was
leaving WWE soonafter anyhow). Many fans still chant, “you screwed Bret”
to both McMahon and the referee (Earl Hepner) for their involvement.
- “DX invades WCW”: The controversial group who coined the phrase
“suck it” invades WCW’s corporate headquarters in what became
one of the most popular pranks in wrestling history. This lead to…
- “Eric Bischoff challenges Vince McMahon”: In response to the antics
of DX, Eric Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to a fight at WCW’s upcoming
pay per view at the time. Obviously, Vince did not show.
- “nWo in the Production Truck”: One of the stunts pulled by the
lawless group in WCW. Stunts like this added to the unpredictability of the
group, which made for very entertaining television.
- “Flair returns to WCW”: The living legend, Ric Flair’s triumphant
return. After 13 weeks of RAW dominating Nitro, his return gave WCW the edge
once again.
- “Rick Rude appears on both RAW and Nitro on the same night”: Once
again RAW being a taped show bites McMahon as the late Rick Rude left to show
up on the live Nitro show to bash the RAW episode that was currently airing
with him on it.
- “The Last Nitro”: Oh well, the cat is out of the bag (as if you
didn’t know). This is about the historic last episode of Nitro, where
McMahon claims his victory in The Monday Night War as he had recently bought
WCW from Ted Turner. (although according to storyline his son Shane bought WCW,
but we all know the truth).
Unfortunately, The Monday Night War was only a part of the
battle between WWE and WCW. I look forward to possible upcoming DVD’s
about the pay per view war and Thursday night war (which eventually caused WCW
to move its show to Wednesday). Still, this is easily what I would call the
best wrestling DVD of all time. The Monday Night War gives
a brilliant insiders look at the most popular and entertaining time in wrestling
history. The special features are an excellent addition to the DVD and give
an even better look into the melodrama that was professional wrestling. My final
verdict: If you are a wrestling fan, The Monday Night War is
a must have. If you are not a wrestling fan but remember the ever publicized
war, I still recommend giving this DVD a look for behind the scenes info on
the battle for Monday night supremacy.
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