Scott's Blog of Doom

Scott,

Hope you can post this on your blog if you see fit.

I hope you get around to reviewing the new Rise & Fall of WCW DVD set in the near future.  After reading longtime blog participant Charlie's rave review of it, I was psyched to get this (not to mention the fact that NWA/WCW will always be my favorite promotion).  To say that I am disappointed in the documentary is the biggest understatement ever.  SO much was glossed over or never mentioned at all.  What made the Rise & Fall of ECW set so great was how it focused on the different wrestlers and their impact on the company.  This is nonexistant in this set.  No bios or history whatsoever on legendary guys like the Road Warriors, Rock n' Roll Express, Midnight Express/Cornette, Sting, Luger, Koloff, Steiners, etc.  No mention of concepts like the Bunkhouse Stampede, War Games, or Skywalkers.  The departure of the Radicals, the Flair/Bischoff feud, the HUGE signing of Bret Hart - all left out of the DVD.  What the hell kind of rush job was this?  For a company with such a storied history and such legendary wrestlers, this documentary is inexcusably bad.  In no way, shape, or form does it surpass the ECW set.  At least we get some great matches on DVD.

Can't wait to read your review.  Keep up the good work.

 

Well, DVD-wise I just bought the first two volumes of the Summerslam Anthology off of Amazon, so I’m a bit tapped out in that regard and the WCW set wasn’t high on my list to begin with.  There are of course ways around that, which I shall explore because now I’m really curious to see just what’s up with this documentary. 

While I’m on the topic of the Anthology…

- I know it’s a neater system for them to divide it up into 5 shows per set, but 1999-2008 are already available on DVD, which means that now I have 88-97 and 99-2005 and I’m STILL missing a DVD-quality version of 98, and that kind of drives me nuts.  I don’t need volume 3 because I already have four of the shows on DVD and I can’t just buy 98 by itself.

- For those who have it already, are the early shows PPV versions ala 24/7 or the edited Coliseum versions?