The documentary portion is about 95 minutes long. If you’re curious, the narrator is the same person from the NWO DVD (he must have been working overtime).
Monday Night RAW started on January 11, 1993 at the Manhattan Center, a crappy New York City Theater. RAW took over for the successful Prime Time Wrestling, the classic USA/WWF wrestling show hosted by the magical team of Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.
Eric Bishoff, hired as a WCW announcer in 1991, discusses how WCW was at that time horribly mismanaged. In 1993, Bishoff lobbied for, and was promoted to executive producer of WCW. Jim Ross had also signed a new contract, but knew his days were numbered. He decided not to sit on the sidelines for three years, and turned down the remaining money on his contract to go to WWF for a lot less money (I bet he liked that decision considering he was fired by Vince at least two times in subsequent years).
WCW moved the filming of their matches to MGM Disney Studio in Florida. Coincidentally, Hulk Hogan happened to be there filming the Emmy-award winning Thunder in Paradise. Bishoff talked to Hogan, and convinced him to join WCW claiming that "Macho Man" Randy Savage had come to WCW because he was unhappy working in WWF as just an announcer.
In 1995, Bishoff said that his goal was to make money, as WCW had never made a profit when Ted Turner owned it, so he cut costs and produced more PPVs (increased to 7, 10, 12). The volume of PPVs was matched by the WWF (Thanks for watering down the specialty of PPVs!). Turner asked Bishoff what WCW would have to do to compete with the WWF. Bishoff’s response was to ask for WCW to air on primetime (thinking that Turner would never do that). Turner agreed to the request, granting WCW two live hours every Monday night on TNT to compete with the WWF. Vince McMahon whines that Turner was trying to hurt the WWF, because Turner would be the stronger of the two, and then there would only be Teds wrestling show. After all the people McMahon put out of business, he really is a phenomenal actor for saying this with a straight face. Pot. Kettle. Black.
The first Monday Nitro saw a surprise appearance by Lex Luger. Bishoff said that he didn’t like "Flexy" Lexy personally or professionally (who does?), but that Sting tried to convince him to give Luger another chance in WCW. Bishoff met with Luger, who convinced the boss to hire him (at 20% of what he made previously). Bishoff didn’t think that Luger would take that much of a drastic reduction in salary, and was surprised when Luger accepted the offer. Luger was on WWF PPV on a Sunday, and when his contract ended, he appeared on Monday Nitro the next day. Jim Cornette said that McMahon made a crucial mistake; he took somebody at his word! Luger was working without a contract, and verbally agreed to stay with Vince. (My spider-sense tells me this will be a recurring theme...).
The first Monday Nitro garnered a 2.9 rating; it was unopposed by Raw that week (they must have either had that stupid dog show or some tennis tournament). Both shows traded ratings victories for the rest of 1995.
In a classic dick move, Bishoff starts giving away the results of the every-other-week taped Monday Night RAWs on Nitro. Not only that, but Bishoff also said that he wanted to go on the air three minutes before RAW started to give away the results, so people wouldn’t have to watch RAW to find out who won the matches. Several WWF people claim that this was unethical, and Vince said that he really had some reservations as to how dirty these tactics were going to get.
During this time, Alundra Blaze/Medusa, the WWF Women’s Champion, was signed by WCW. Medusa called Bishoff and said she still had the WWF Women’s belt, asking him what she should do with it. Bishoff convinced her, against her better judgment, that it was a great idea to throw the WWF Women’s championship in the trash (amen).
Vince’s response was to show the Billionaire Ted Skits, which I wish were included in their entirety on this DVD. Starring Billionaire Ted, the Huckster, the Nacho Man, and Skene Gene, these were some of the best skits that the WWF ever produced (Who you calling a has been, brother?).
1996 saw Diesel/Kevin Nash and Razor Ramon/Scott Hall go to WCW. Cornette, once again, claims that both guys either gave WWF a verbal commitment that they would stay with the WWF or led Vince to believe that they were going to stick around. Vince gets a fax from Scott Hall, giving the WWF his notice. Of course, this led to the famous Scott Hall interview, creating the NWO. For more on the NWO and the NWO DVD, a review can be read here: http://www.screenspotlight.com/content/view/457/5/
On June 10, 1996, Raw beat Nitro in the ratings. RAW wouldn’t win again for nearly two years. Thankfully, some credit is given to the smaller wrestlers and Mexican/Japanese wrestlers for helping WCW with their ratings dominance, rather than the NWO getting all of the credit.
In one of the best moments on the DVD, Vince says, "My philosophy of business is to help yourself, not hurt the other guy. And I dare say, again, not speaking for Ted, but I believe he has a different philosophy; I think his philosophy is win anyway you can; if you can hurt your guy, great, now you’ve hurt him, that’s good." Wow...just...WOW. Even Mick Foley chimes in, saying that he thought it was pretty cruel that Eric Bishoff wanted to put the WWF out of business.
Roddy Piper, X-Pac and Ted DiBiase joined WCW. DiBiase’s departure led to Steve Austin being on his own, without a manager and without a gimmick. Cornette says that by being himself with the volume turned up, the Stone Cold Steve Austin character was born and took off (Austin’s 1996 King of the Ring speech is shown in clipped form).
Shawn Michaels was fined $10K by McMahon for stuffing gauze down his pants on a Raw show, eventually leading to the creation of Degeneration X (DX) and many, many penis jokes. Vince says that you have to find a way to win. Austin’s spinal injury by Owen Hart at the 1997 Summer Slam PPV is discussed. Austin was still on the show, even if he wasn’t wrestling full matches (the September 1997 Raw, where Austin stuns Vince for the first time, is shown. Austin tells Vince I appreciate the fact that you and the WWF care...and I also appreciate the fact that...hell...you can kiss my ass!).
Around this same time, The Rock’s character develops, when he turns on the fans, joining the Nation of Domination and starts feuding with Austin. The chants of Die Rocky Die are discussed by The Rock in a clipped interview.
The 1997 Survivor Series screwjob is mentioned (for the uninitiated, a WCW bound Bret Hart took McMahon at his word that his match with Shawn Michaels would end in a disqualification, only for Vince to yell at the referee to Ring the fucking bell and say that Bret gave up, losing the title). Vince decided to use the fans hatred towards him to get his evil owner persona over, via the Bret Screwed Bret interview (which is shown as an extra on the disc). Mick Foley said that deep down, "I dont think Vince believed that to be true. I think Vince believed, like I believe, that Vince screwed Bret, but by playing it the other way, I think he very subtlety became a heel in the minds of millions of people." Certainly anybody who saw that show and knew the business knew that Bret did not screw Bret.
The WWF hired Mike Tyson as a special enforcer for the Wrestlemania 14 match between Austin and Shawn Michaels, but Austin breaks up the announcement before it can be made and flips off Tyson, causing a brawl. Austin wins the title at WM 14, then decides to do things the Hard Way with McMahon by stunning him (again).
Mick Foley said that it was disappointing to be on the losing end of the ratings war when creatively, the WWF was really ahead of WCW for a full year before the WWF started winning the ratings (with the Canada vs. USA storyline and the rises of Austin, the Rock and DX, I agree wholeheartedly!). Chris Jericho/Y2J explains that all WCW cared about was winning the ratings ever week, as WCW won 83 weeks in a row. The WWF finally won the ratings on the night in April, 2008 where Austin was due to fight McMahon, until Dude Love came out and attacked Austin.
Shawn Michaels once again lost his smile after Wrestlemania 14 (due to a severe back injury), leaving HHH in charge of a reformed DX (the Road Dog Jessie James, Bad Ass Billy Gunn and the returning X-Pac). DX is shown invading WCWs offices, demanding that WCW let my people go, (a reference to Hall and Nash). Bishoff counters by challenging McMahon to a fight on PPV. Not surprisingly, Vince stays at home.
Jim Ross details how The Rock, HHH, Kurt Angle, Kane, Undertaker - all the younger guys got a break into the main event scene, where in WCW, no one did except for Bill Goldberg. The July 1998 match at the Georgia Dome between Hogan and Goldberg is discussed, where WCW gave the match away for free instead of airing it on PPV. After losing for eleven weeks straight, WCW finally beat WWF for one week.
A couple of months later, the September 1998 Nitro won the ratings night with the reunion of the Four Horsemen show, only to continue to lose to the WWF thereafter (the Horsemen were soon disbanded once again). Bishoff claimed that the internal WCW struggle was between the old school NWA Ric Flair vs. the NWO, luchadores and Japanese wrestlers (which was counter-culture to the old NWA). Flair was there to maintain the loyal WCW fanbase, while Bishoff was trying to boost the other facets of wrestling. Flair and others complain about how he was treated. A smaller looking Rey Mysterio (before he said his prayers and took his steroids...err...his vitamins) said that WCW didn’t want to push new stars, while the WWF had Edge and Christian, the Dudley Boys and the Hardy Boys exciting the crowd.
The January 4, 1999 RAW which was a taped show, is discussed on this show. Mick Foley/Mankind won his first World Title. Over on Nitro, Bishoff had Tony Schiavone announce sarcastically that Mick Foley won the championship, and that’s gonna put some butts in the seat. HA! This strategy backfired on WCW, as 300,000 houses in the TV audience switched from WCW’s Fingerpoke of Doom match to watch Foley win the title, causing the WWF to win the night (the Fingerpoke of Doom match was where Nash lost the WCW title to Hogan, after Hogan touched Nash with Hogans finger, causing Nash to fall to the ground and get pinned, then celebrate with Hogan).
Bishoff claims that his biggest obstacle during this time was himself, and his ability to deal with the people above him, because he (Bishoff) was impossible to deal with. Mean Gene Okerlund says that Bishoff didn’t know what was going to happen ten minutes before show time (there was no call sheet). In Gene’s opinion, Bishoffs single biggest mistake was letting the talent call their own shots.
The Big Show/The Giant boasts how it was good coup for the WWF to snag me, because it shifted the momentum at the time. UNFREAKINGBELIEVABLE!!! Ummm...I’ll have what he’s smoking! As if it was the DVDs creators’ response to this delusional oafs ramblings, August 1999 saw Jericho introduced on WWF TV via a classic confrontation/interview with the Rock.
Bishoff says that revisionist thinking is that "I was losing WCW money; I turned the company around; they were losing $10M a year and four years later the company that was making $50M a year. I made a decision that I was going to fight when I was losing control of WCW because I thought, mistakenly, that I always had Ted Turner to fall back on." In September, 1999, Bishoff was fired. Meanwhile, in the WWF, HHH became "The Game", and wins his first World Title. Smackdown was created as a second show, appearing on network TV.
WCW hired Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara to take over for Bishoff’s booking duties. Ferrara is shown doing his impression of Jim Ross (Oklahoma), while Mean Gene and Ric Flair said that Russo and Ferrara didn’t have McMahon to control their ideas, so they knew WCW was in trouble.
The Radicalz WWF debut is covered, where Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, and Perry Saturn left WCW because of the backstage turmoil and Kevin Sullivans booking, and make a huge impact in the WWF. Bash at the Beach 2000 is discussed, where Vince Russo bashes Hulk Hogan and his politics, promising that "As God as my witness, you will never see that bald-headed piece of shit again!" If only.
After the failed Russo experiment, Bishoff was brought back to WCW, and he made an offer to buy WCW, which was being sold by Time-Warner (who bought out Turner). The deal was cancelled by one of Bishoff’s partners because they wouldn’t get the TV time on Turners network to show the product.
McMahon swooped in to buy WCW for a reported $3-5M. This led to the last Nitro, on March 26, 2001. Flair said that "I was so happy to see that company go down; I couldn’t stand it! But I was sad at the time to see all those people lose their jobs who had nowhere to go."
Gerald Brisco, who reveals throughout this DVD that he really is Vince’s stooge, declares, with an overly sexual look on his face, "The most important lesson to come out of the Raw/Nitro Wars was...don’t mess with Vince McMahon!"
The documentary is set-up as being Vince McMahon vs. Ted Turner, when it was really McMahon vs. Bishoff. Turner agreed to virtually all of Bishoff’s ideas, some of which were great, and some of which were terrible. Having said that, the DVD does a great job of recapping the major events between WCW and WWF during this time frame.
There are a number of extras, including (among others) the Bret Screwed Bret McMahon interview, the Hogan vs. Goldberg match, Rick Rude appearing on Nitro and RAW on the same night, Jim Cornette’s Commentary ranting against WCW, clips of the last Nitro, Stone Cold Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels vs. The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith & Owen Hart, and the Four Horsemen Reunion.
Of the extras, watching a crazed, emotional Ric Flair’s Four Horseman return to Nitro in 1998 is almost worth the price of the DVD by itself! Flair was suspended by Eric Bishoff for attending his son’s school wrestling tournament, after he was told that he wasn’t needed on that weeks Nitro, and Bishoff sued Flair for breach of contract, saying that Flair would never wrestle again in WCW. Flair’s return led to one of the best is it real or is it scripted? interviews of all time:
Crying in the ring, Flair says, "My God...thank you...thank you...thank you very much. I’m almost embarrassed by the response, but when I see this, I know that the twenty-five years that I spent trying to make you happy every night of your life was worth every damn minute of it. Now...somebody told me...that the Horsemen were having a party tonight in Greeneville! Could that...be true...that the most elite group that Eric Bishoff... said...was dead...is alive and well? Bishoff, this might be my only shot, and I gotta tell you, I’m gonna make it my best. Is this what you call a great moment in TV? It’s wrong because this is real; this is not bought and paid for; its a real...life...situation! Just like the night in Columbia, South Carolina, when you looked at me, tears in my eyes, and said, God, that’s good TV. This is real...Arn Anderson passed the torch; it was real, dammit! You think Sting was crying in the dressing room, like I was on TV if it wasn’t real? This man (points to Arn Anderson), my best friend, is one of the greatest performers to ever live, and you...you squashed him in one night. Then, you get on the phone and tell me Disband the Horsemen, they’re dead! Disband...the Horsemen?! Me? You know what? I looked at myself in the mirror the next day and I saw a pathetic figure that gave up and quit! And for that, I owe you, the wrestling fans, I owe these guys, an apology. Because it won’t happen again! (My wife, Sari, who is NOT a huge wrestling fan, walked into the room as I was transcribing this interview, and points out that Flair is so emotional during this interview that his tongue is bleeding, and blood is on his teeth). We’re real and Bishoff, no matter what you think...(Flair sees Bishoff walking down the aisle and turns toward him)...yeah...no...you’re an overbearing asshole! That’s right...you’re an obnoxious...you’re an obnoxious overbearing asshole!"
Bishoff says "You’re history this is my TV!"
Flair (taking off his jacket) yells, "Abuse of power! You! Abuse of power! Cut me off! Cmon!"
Bishoff threatens, "You will never ever wrestle on my show again!"
Flair screams, "It’s called abuse of power!...You suck! You...I hate your guts! I hate your guts!"
Bishoff responds, "You’re history!"
Flair (popping a vein in his forehead) screams, "You are a liar...you’re a cheat...you’re a scam...you...are...a...no...good...son of a bitch! Fire me! I’m already fired! Fire me! I’m already fired!"
Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been a wrestling fan for at least 25 years. Trust me - wrestling doesn’t get much better than that!
Regarding the overall rating for this DVD, I usually deduct from a review’s final score if a WWF/WWE DVD release is a single disc; with all of the matches that could be included on a documentary/narrative DVD, its damn near inexcusable that this release was only approximately three hours long. Having said that, what’s included is incredible, and definitely worth it for the historical significance. Yes, there are parts of the DVD that are obviously slanted as being pro-McMahon and anti-Turner/Bishoff (I’m looking right at you, Gerald Brisco, for crying about how Monday Nitro was life and death. It was our jobs. It was our lives, It was our families. It wasn’t about ratings. It was about survival.). However, the fact that Bishoff is interviewed and pretty much allowed to speak his mind about why certain decisions and mistakes were made in WCW lends an undeniable air of credibility to this DVD. The extras put this DVD over the top, ratings wise.
4 out of 5 stars!
