Raw's Most Memorable Matches

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 86 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: April 3 2007

Raw's Most Memorable Matches followed the similar SmackDown release, and again offers a few matches at a budget price. Given the long and eventful history of Raw, it was always going to be a stretch to suggest that the show's most memorable matches are within this 90-minute DVD, but there are some gems nonetheless.

The first is Jeff Hardy challenging The Undertaker for the Undisputed WWE Title in a July 2002 Ladder match. It's a very dramatic bout, and you would never know from watching this that Hardy was as stale as an old piece of toast at this point in time, as he delivers his last truly great performance before leaving WWE for the first time in 2003. Match two pits Triple H against Ric Flair in May 2003, culminating a one-night storyline where Flair (then HHH's chaperone, no pun intended) looks to prove to HHH that he really was and is The Man.

Triple H returns to face Kane in June 2003, in a bout which is fairly good but is more memorable (and is genuinely memorable) for Kane finally unmasking in the aftermath, as per the stipulation. (Some people thought this meant the end of the Kane character; how wrong they were.) Following this is a Shawn Michaels vs. Chris Jericho match from July 2003 which is very good, but a slight notch below expectations; it certainly isn't a disappointment, but it follows and would be followed by superior HBK vs. Y2J collisions. The DVD ends with a brilliant Michaels vs. Shelton Benjamin clash from May 2005, with one of Shawn's greatest ever superkicks providing an incredible finish.

Only the first and last matches have been released in full on other DVDs, so this is a nice little release to pick up while we wait for 2003 episodes of Raw to be added to the WWE Network. Considering that it is a bargain-priced DVD, and assuming that you don't take the title too seriously, this is well worth picking up.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good

SmackDown's Most Memorable Matches

Image Source: Hyper-Pars

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 86 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: April 3 2007

Initially designed to be the first of a lengthy series of budget-priced DVDs relating to WWE's two top brands (it was scrapped after four, which is fairly lengthy I suppose), SmackDown's Most Memorable Matches provides six bouts which stand out as being noteworthy. In some cases, it's debatable as to whether this is applicable, but all six provide entertainment in their own way.

Kicking things off is Hulk Hogan and Edge facing Billy & Chuck for the WWE Tag Team Titles in a July 2002 bout that WWE has often released under the proviso of it being massively memorable, but it actually isn't (the huge crowd reaction to Hogan is noticeable, though). Better is Rey Mysterio's WWE debut three weeks later against Chavo Guerrero in the first of many great WWE matches for Rey Rey.

One week later, a tag team match that isn't really memorable but is still engaging to watch pits The Rock and Edge against new SD signings Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero, which sees a finish that fans of today's WWE would consider greatly damaging to a top babyface (that it did no harm to Rock in 2002 is worth pointing out). We then jump ahead to June 2003 and to a genuinely memorable bout between Brock Lesnar and Big Show (hint: the ring plays a role in the finish).

We then leap to January 2005 and a really good Rey Mysterio vs. Eddie Guerrero bout which not only combines great wrestling with some clever comedy, but acts as the beginning of the long-running Rey vs. Eddie feud of that year. The DVD ends in October 2005 with Chris Benoit defending the United States Title against Booker T, in a hard-hitting match that sees Benoit take an extremely painful-looking bump into the side of an announcer's table off a missed tope.

This isn't a true representation of the most memorable or even the best SmackDown matches of its first few years (the absence of TLC III being a classic example), but with some thrilling matches and a few surprising moments, this budget DVD is more than adequate. If you enjoyed WWE's product in the mid-2000s, this is a good DVD for you to own.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good

Owen - Hart Of Gold

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 396 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: December 7 2015

The first ever DVD on the life and career of Owen Hart was the most anticipated release of 2015, with fans having waited many years for a look back at The Rocket. It was also the most controversial compilation, since Owen's widow Martha had not given approval for such a release. Since Owen's tragic death at Over The Edge 1999, after which Martha and the Hart family understandably sued the then-WWF (it was settled out of court in late 2000), fans have not seen much footage or discussion of Owen due to a desire by Martha to refuse WWE the right to promote Owen's legacy. While that's also understandable, fans, wrestlers and even family members (including Bret Hart) have been dismayed that it prevents anyone celebrating who Owen Hart was and what he meant to so many people.

Regardless of your opinion on the situation, this nevertheless was the chance for everyone to finally recognise and remember the legacy that Owen Hart left behind. Due to the Martha situation, there is very little discussion of Owen's life away from wrestling, and even the section on Owen's death would probably leave some people confused. However, we still get a nice look back at Owen's in-ring career.

That includes a little Hart Family history lesson, Owen getting his start in the family-owned Stampede Wrestling, his initial WWF try-out and his first run as The Blue Blazer, his subsequent trips to Japan and even an almost-unknown period in WCW, his New Foundation and High Energy teams with Jim Neidhart and Koko B. Ware, his legendary feud with older brother Bret, his underrated tag team with Yokozuna and his even more underrated combo with The British Bulldog, his Intercontinental Title stints and the Hart Foundation faction from 1997, the fall-out to Montreal and his teeth-gritting decision to stay in the WWF during the adult-themed Attitude Era, before talk turns to his untimely death and his lasting legacy.

There are many taking heads including Bret, Neidhart, Mick Foley, Triple H, Edge, Jim Ross, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Koko B. Ware and many more, including family members. Notable absentees are regular opponent Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin, whose SummerSlam 1997 match with Owen is infamous for the neck injury accidentally inflicted upon Austin by The Rocket. Apparently, Jeff Jarrett was actually contacted about doing some interviews for the set (Double J has been on WWE's enemies list for many years), but prior commitments meant that it wasn't to be.

Those familiar with Owen will know of his reputation as a practical joker, and this is emphasised by the documentary including several Owen Tales about such instances, with many more included as DVD extras. We also get archive interview clips from Bulldog and, most notably, Owen himself from an unseen in-character interview on his career from 1996.

At around 70 minutes in length and with the focus almost solely on his in-ring exploits (partly due to the Martha situation), the documentary isn't one of WWE's greatest or most in-depth presentations. However, it is still enjoyable and should bring back many nostalgic memories. My biggest annoyances was that the Owen Tales used in the documentary, entertaining as they are, disrupt the flow and make you feel like you're watching a different feature altogether at times. It would have worked better to have had a lengthy documentary section on Owen's prankster ways, and then have all of the Tales as DVD extras. Otherwise, though, it's a good doc, but not a great one; it will meet your expectations, but it won't blow you away.

The bonus matches are very good on the whole. Some Stampede Wrestling matches (the latter of which has a terrible finish, or at least a terribly-presented finish) lead us to the Blue Blazer's debut and a thrilling bout against Mr. Perfect. We then get Owen's WCW debut before we see the Rocket return to the WWF (no tag bouts alongside Neidhart or Koko are included, sadly), beginning with a 1993 clash with Shawn Michaels (which Owen amazingly wins, given his status at the time).

His incredible, star-making win over Bret at WrestleMania X is here, as is his King Of The Ring victory against Razor Ramon (which features some appalling commentary from a guy named Art Donovan; he makes Michael Cole and Byron Saxton seem like absolute masters). Unfortunately, his superb SummerSlam 1994 Cage showdown with Bret isn't on the set, so we jump ahead to 1995 via an unseen squash win held in Times Square prior to WrestleMania XI.

Disc three opens with Owen and Yokozuna facing The Allied Powers in a decent In Your House tag match. Of greater quality is a singles match with Shawn Michaels from IYH VI (incidentally, if WWE ever changes Roman Reigns' character to mimic how Shawn behaves here, the Big Dog really is in trouble). From there, it's a rare Raw bout against Mankind and a classic European Title meeting with British Bulldog in Germany.

Strangely, we don't get a regular tag bout with Owen and Bulldog together, but we do see Owen vs. Rocky Maivia for the Intercontinental Title and the memorable Canadian Stampede main event. As the set enters the Attitude Era, Owen faces Hunter-Dust (Goldust pretending to be Triple H), Ken Shamrock inside the Hart Dungeon (which made me wonder: why did the Hart family allow the WWF to produce a match from their home in the wake of the Montreal Screwjob?) and Edge in a fun match from Breakdown 1998. A final match with Owen and Jeff Jarrett teaming up would have been nice, but you can't have everything.

Fans who remember Owen Hart and what he meant to so many should be satisfied with this set. The documentary is adequate, and the match selections contain some classic bouts and some hidden gems. It's not the five-star compilation that we would have liked, but given the subject and the action on display, I think that this is a must-own for longtime fans, even if the overall rating doesn't quite reflect that.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

Survivor Series 2015

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 182 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: January 25 2016

(To read a full event review of WWE Survivor Series 2015, click here.)

At the time when it was held, the 2015 edition of Survivor Series didn't exactly receive a lot of praise. But whilst it hardly stands out as an epic event upon the second viewing on DVD, it still has its moments, even if it doesn't really feel like a major supershow.

The first two matches are actually quite good: Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio is an underrated battle and a nice start to the PPV, whilst Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens is better still with some really cool spots and high-impact moves. These are the semi-finals of the tournament to crown a new WWE Champion after Seth Rollins went down with injury; the final, between Reigns and Ambrose, would be the Survivors main event.

It's the second hour of the show which dragged the event down. Although it starts fairly well, the Survivor Series elimination match features some strange booking decisions and, by the end, the match just feels like a waste of time. The Divas Title match between Charlotte and Paige is better than I had remembered, but the disinterested crowd reduces one's enjoyment of the bout. Likewise, Dolph Ziggler vs. Tyler Breeze is a short but adequate match that suffers from a complete lack of heat, which no doubt played a part in Tyler's push being curtailed shortly afterwards.

The seemingly asleep Atlanta audience does seem to care about the next match, which celebrates 25 years of The Undertaker as he and Kane face The Wyatt Family. It's a decent bout, but it needed more high-quality action and standout moments if it was going to amount to anything memorable. That said, the double chokeslam to Braun Strowman through an announcer's table sticks out, as does the double sit-up by the Brothers of Destruction during Bray Wyatt's Spider Walk.

The WWE Title tournament was in itself a missed opportunity to create a bit of unpredictability and excitement, so many fans were hoping that Reigns vs. Ambrose would end the tournament with a bang, perhaps via a heel turn. Instead, the match is fine but it doesn't last very long (the crowd seems apathetic again which also doesn't help), and it ends with no heel turn, making the entire tournament exercise feel like filler. There are post-match capers whereby Sheamus cashes in Money In The Bank (I wasn't going to spoil it, but WWE spoiled this moment themselves on the reverse DVD packaging), but the presentation feels too similar to Randy Orton's Authority-influenced cash-in from SummerSlam 2013, and Sheamus' total lack of momentum before and even during this show resulted in a fair amount of disappointment with the finale to Survivor Series.

The only DVD extra is the pre-show Survivors elimination match, which is arguably better than the bout which was featured on the main card. I should point out that this was shown on the WWE Network, meaning that it is false advertising to call this an "exclusive" DVD extra. That being said, it's clear that DVDs are no longer a priority for WWE, so this probably won't be a problem for much longer.

So while it isn't totally forgettable, Survivor Series 2015 was a bit of a let-down (especially compared to the 2014 edition which featured Sting's historic WWE debut). There were some good matches, a historically noteworthy Undertaker match and a MITB cash-in, but the combination of lazy outcomes, strange booking decisions during the main elimination match, a lacklustre crowd, an injury-depleted roster and the seen-it-all-before feel to Sheamus' big moment resulted in a show which didn't exactly wow the "WWE Universe". Only die-hard collectors or fans of The Undertaker (since this was his 25th anniversary) are likely to enjoy this DVD; otherwise, barring a clearance sale, you may want to steer clear of this one.

Overall Rating: 6/10 - Reasonable

SummerSlam 2015

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 231 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: October 12 2015

(To read a full event review of WWE SummerSlam 2015, click here.)

The DVD release of SummerSlam 2015 is a strange one. The '15 SS was a four-hour presentation, in an attempt to make it feel like a massive supershow. This means that the show would be, erm, shown across two discs, which can contain three hours of material. So, surely this DVD would include two hours of exclusive extras, right?

Nope. Besides the usual bonus interviews, there are no DVD extras, a terrible decision which leaves you with a very short second disc, and further enhances the thought that WWE DVDs will soon be a thing of the past, a point I will discuss in a future article. (This may have been done to ensure that the Blu-ray version remains a one-disc release, but it still makes the DVD seem unimportant.)

With that complaint out of the way, the card itself is pretty good. After a frankly bizarre opening segment involving host Jon Stewart and Mick Foley, we get an engaging clash between Randy Orton and Sheamus, which is an example of a match which is more enjoyable upon second viewing (watching a match cold on DVD means you could be watching it anytime, which in this case fortunately means that you probably aren't watching a bout at a time when we've seen it far too many times to culminate a feud with no real storyline behind it).

The four-way for the Tag Team Titles is fun, but the DVD version is spoiled by the exclusion of The New Day's tribute to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys' tune Empire State Of Mind. Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev features some cool spots but has a disappointing finish and occurred at the height of the cringe-worthy love quadrangle plotline also involving Lana and Summer Rae; meanwhile, Neville and Stephen Amell vs. Stardust and King Barrett is acceptable and sees the celebrity Amell look to prove himself as being worthy of starring in a major wrestling match.

The Intercontinental Title three-way doesn't last very long, whilst Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper is alright, but isn't a match unlike any others that you will see involving these participants. Of note is the "Roman's sleeping!" chant which occurs whilst Reigns is supposedly knocked out at ringside.

I enjoyed Seth Rollins vs. John Cena far more than I did at the time, despite the weird ending, although it still feels like Rollins did most of the work here. The Divas 3-way trios bout gets a surprising amount of time and is worth watching, although it happened around the time that people started to see the "Divas Revolution" as being somewhat mishandled (to put it mildly). The penultimate clash between Cesaro and Kevin Owens is a great little match, a hidden gem which fans of both wrestlers (of which there are many) should definitely revisit. Since this opens disc two, it could be argued, ironically, that the rather brief second disc is the better of the two.

The main event between Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker was hugely anticipated and, unlike their WrestleMania XXX match, this lives up to expectations by delivering a hugely dramatic, brutal and at times bloody battle. The visual of Brock laughing at Taker to be met with a truly evil cackle in response never gets old. The finish seemed strange at the time but it did allow both men to save face and set up the feud-ending bout at Hell In A Cell; unfortunately, though, the WWE editing team strikes again by censoring Lesnar's middle finger to Taker at the end, making the moment pointless (surely a five-second "Up Yours" wouldn't have prevented this being a PG-rated DVD in the States?).

So, whilst SummerSlam 2015 was a fairly memorable show, the DVD release is something of a let-down. Unless you're an avid collector or a big fan of Undertaker or Lesnar, you may want to wait until this one is available at a discounted price. Alternatively, you could save your money and watch the show back on the WWE Network instead.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10 - Okay

Hell In A Cell 2015

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 183 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: January 4 2016

(To read a full event review of WWE Hell In A Cell 2015, click here.)

Hell In A Cell was one of the better WWE PPV events in 2015. Watching it back on DVD, the impact of some encounters is lost, but the show as a whole is still worth giving a second look.

The opener between John Cena and Alberto Del Rio for the United States Championship is the bout which loses the most impact upon second viewing. This is because, at the time, Del Rio's return appearance was a huge shocker, largely because of the circumstances in which ADR left WWE, but obviously that isn't a factor on DVD when you know it's coming. Also not helping is how Alberto quickly became just another wrestler again, and how his Mex-America alliance with Zeb Colter was quickly abandoned after general apathy. The match is fine but quite short, and as stated it lacks the significance that it had when it was originally held.

Fortunately, that doesn't apply to match two, a very good HIAC clash between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt. Reigns is booed by a lot of fans (which isn't unusual at this point), but he gets many on his side with the big bumps and smoothly-executed spots against Wyatt, who is at his evil best here. On another card, this would be the best match of the night, but it's still an underrated steel-enclosed battle, at least by the standards of the PG era.

From there, the show loses steam slightly with a mildly disappointing Tag Team Title match between The New Day and The Dudleyz; the highlight is the pre-match promo by New Day (the botched spot involving D-Von Dudley legdropping Big E is left in, but the commentary lines which emphasise the blunder are taken out). In contrast, Charlotte's Divas Title defence against Nikki Bella is an improvement on their Night Of Champions battle and is a really good bout, although the spot where Nikki falls backwards off the top rope almost onto her head is hard to watch knowing that she had neck surgery shortly afterwards.

Seth Rollins vs. Kane is a decent WWE Title match which brings the Corporate Kane/Demon Kane storyline to a suitable finale. Conversely, Kevin Owens vs. Ryback is a fairly dull match to watch, with the crowd not necessarily helping matters by booing the Big Guy out of the building.

The main event justifies a purchase of this DVD. Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker inside Hell In A Cell is a brutal war, and as violent a match as you could get in the PG era. Some spots are nasty (like Taker driving a steel chair into Brock's throat), and the bloodshed is unedited (Lesnar's initial cut is pretty gruesome). The brawl is one of the best WWE matches of 2015, and provides a strong ending to a rivalry that had its ups and downs dating back to when Lesnar killed the Streak at WrestleMania XXX. There is a final segment which I don't spoil here, although it didn't achieve much in the long run.

The only DVD extra is a very entertaining six-man match pitting Neville, Cesaro and Dolph Ziggler against Sheamus, King Barrett and Rusev. The babyfaces have a great showing here, especially Cesaro who receives a main event-level reaction as the match enters the finishing sequence.

In the WWE Network era, it's harder to justify a full-price purchase of a DVD release for a Pay-Per-View, besides WrestleMania. But if you are still collecting supershow DVDs, the Cell matches provide a good enough reason to buy this. The remaining content isn't really worth owning, so get this for the two HIAC bouts.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable