For the modern wrestling fan, the most important day of the week is Monday. It is our shabbat, our sabbath. No matter what else is going on in our lives, when 9 o'clock strikes on Monday night, we are not to be bothered. This is our Raw time; our vacation from the world. For a while, the wrestling world was split between Raw and Nitro, and for a New York minute this year, TNA Impact tried its hand at the time, but since 1993, Mondays nights have belonged to the WWE and Raw. This simple program idea changed the face of wrestling, but you'd never know it from the recent WWE DVD release. While bringing a bit of nostalgia to DVD form, this 4 disc set definitely fell short of my expectations.
The set is split into 2 boxes. These boxes contain two discs each as compilations of each of the first two years of Raw's existence. The 1993 set (discs 1 & 2) contain all the DVD extras, leaving 1994 to have more time for its own footage. The extras were mostly vignettes for new superstars or teams, so imagine someone watching the Best of 2010 Smackdown and seeing Albert Del Rio in his vignettes. Yep, that's how exciting they were. It was a little more amusing given that some of those people actually went on to accomplish something, but those same videos are easily found on youtube. I don't get excited to own something I can watch for free.
While the special features were at least amusing, much of the content on the main discs was downright disappointing. Perhaps it is due to Raw simply not being a great program in 1993-1994, but many of the included clips are flat out useless. Many of the matches on the discs were jobber matches! I'm not kidding. Obviously, that was the status quo back then, but keep in mind that children are a large part of the market for this DVD. These children weren't alive when these episodes aired and won't understand that WWE worked in this way. What would have been helpful on the DVD was talent or announcers or ANYBODY talking about how Raw came about, its format, and the state of the business at that time. None of that is present though. Instead, we got a collection of clips which are about 50 percent jobber matches, a few decent matches, and some decent segments. Of course. there are no explanations as to how these matches or segments came to pass, so they have to be taken as just isolated events. Just what the doctor ordered.
I don't want to give off the impression that everything was negative for 4 full discs, as there were some memorable moments on there. From the Luger slam of Yokozuna aboard the U.S.S. Intrepid to the birth of The Heartbreak Hotel, there is definitely footage that fans should be aware of and should see. However, this DVD merely shows these things without explanation of them or summation of their impact on the industry. On top of that, the memorable moments like Luger/Yoko are just as prevalent on the DVDs as Doink the Clown vs. a jobber. There are no transitions between scenes except snippets of the original Raw theme music, and this does no wonders for the lackluster matches featured more than sparingly. About the only positive is that in between each scene, there are "did you know" type facts about the wrestlers that are about to be featured. While not incredible, at least the viewer new to these characters will learn something about them. I suppose there is always a silver lining, and those little facts are it for this DVD set.
If it isn't clear by now, let me reiterate. This DVD serves the purpose of nostalgia for the older viewer and education for the younger viewer. However, it serves neither purpose well. It fell way short of expectations in terms of capturing the excitement of new programming and even shorter in regards to explaining the impact creating this show had on the industry. Heck, there is NO mention of that at all. It is basically a compilation of matches and segments, and a weak one at that. As I stated in the Elimination Chamber review, the viewer must feel like they are getting somethign out of watching the DVD, and when no new information is brought to the table, what should entice the purchase of this DVD set? Matches and segments can be found on youtube, so the viewer essentially paid good money for little tidbits of trivia in between each segment. Not exactly bang for your buck if you ask me. WWE did a poor job with what could have been a great DVD set. I hpoe that if they decide to continue the series, they change the format dramatically so that we will actually feel like we're getting value the next time around.
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