By Graham "GSM" Matthews I was very much looking forward to the release of this DVD in late 2012 if only for the fact that I highly enjoyed Raw's historic 1000th episode celebration in July of that year. I had heard that the full episode was included on the disc, and I always love a good countdown, so I hoped to get a copy of the DVD. Unfortunately, I didn't receive it as a gift for Christmas and it was too expensive for me to buy with my own money, so I never ended up purchasing it. However, I saw that it was available on Netflix about two months ago and started streaming it there, so thank you, Netflix! As previously mentioned, everyone loves a good countdown, as it is a nice break from the in-depth documentaries that are put it (even though those are always great, too). That being said, countdowns are always tricky because there is always going to be someone, or a group of people, who disagree. That is completely fine, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but there is a very likely chance that the list you read/watch won't be identical to yours. Overall, I was very pleased with what WWE did with this DVD and their rankings as a whole. I was a bit skeptical of the list when I saw Triple H kicking Randy Orton out of Evolution ranked at No. 98, as that was a very memorable moment in the history of Raw in my mind, but it was smooth sailing from that point forward. They spent a significant amount of time on each moment as well and didn't rush through it as one would expect. They also didn't drag on, either, so the time spend on each moment was very well done in my opinion. The interviews that were done with various wrestlers, writers and other personalities were nice touches, although quite a few of them were very outdated.
Some of the interviews that aired I recognized from when WWE aired them on Raw prior to the show's 1000th episode, so that was confusing. Interviews were done with Vince Russo, who had just departed TNA at the time this DVD was being made, so I was unsure as to whether his contributions were from a long time ago or if they were actually done recently. Plus, why would I care to get his insight on a particular moment in Raw history anyway? Do most casual fans even know who he is? Personally, I watched the DVD in bits and pieces (I watched it whenever I was at lunch or having a snack, so only a few moments at a time). I might have a different opinion of the DVD if I watched it in full, as I might have fallen asleep by the halfway point possibly. With 100 moments to go through, you can expect viewers to grow bored after a while, but I thought the pace was kept consistent throughout and easy to follow along with. Most of the moments were either from the Attitude Era or from the last few years, and I didn't really have a problem with that. Sure, there were some cool moments from the early years of Raw and post-Attitude Era, but they paled in comparison to Mike Tyson's appearances, CM Punk's pipe bomb promo, and Stone Cold Steve Austin's beer bath. If you have been a loyal fan of wrestling for many years now and loved the hell out of the Attitude Era, then you will probably enjoy this DVD. That is mostly what this DVD covers, in addition to some recent happenings and some stuff that happened in the show's early years. There aren't many exclusive interviews, but I don't blame WWE for taking excerpts from documentaries and other material in order to fill out this DVD, as it would have been rather rather difficult for them to get comments from wrestlers on all 100 moments. Nonetheless, it was a well put together DVD set that helped make the 1000th episode of Raw feel even more monumental. Should you watch this movie? Yes. |
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