The Monday Night War

What up DOIites and welcome to a special McTape Review. Today I will be running down and giving my thoughts and opinions on the latest WWE release, “The Monday Night War.” While reviewing WWE is not the norm here on the DOI, I think a DVD of this magnitude is certainly worth making an exception for. Without the Monday Night War, in my opinion, wrestling would’ve never reached the levels that it did. With that said, here is my McReview of this DVD.

This DVD is 90 minutes straight. It is a visual timeline with comments from all different angles. Among the people who were featured prominently in this DVD were Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair, Jim Ross, Gerald Brisco, Mean Gene Okerlund, Mick Foley, Arn Anderson and Jim Cornette. Conspicuous by their absences were the two people who might’ve been the most influential in winning the war for the WWF, The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin. (They were credited though for being the force that put the WWF ahead of WCW)

The DVD recaps all the heat and inside stuff that was going on during the years of 1995-2001. A great quote from Shawn Michaels was, “Before the Monday Night Wars, ratings were never a topic of discussion. Then, and today, it’s all about ratings.” Even though the internet wasn’t prominent pre-Monday Night War, I don’t ever remember hearing ratings numbers for WWF Primetime, Saturday Night Main Event, Clash of the Champions, or even pre-Nitro WWF Monday Night Raw.

The biggest question going into this DVD was, “Will the WWF revise history?” Honestly, I think they did a fair job reporting it. It didn’t seem like the handcuffs were on Eric Bischoff, and he was able to talk freely about his decisions. Ric Flair was able to proclaim his hatred for Bischoff. Bischoff explained a lot of his controversial decisions, such as giving away Raw Results, signing WWF stars, creating the n.W.o. as a WWF splinter group and more. A cool fact that I didn’t realize at the time was, Bischoff asked to start 3 minutes earlier every night. Those 3 minutes were exclusively for giving away RAW results. Footage of this was even shown.

I think if this DVD was made in 2001, after the WWF buyout of WCW, this DVD would sell even more then it is now. I also think the history would’ve been revised. Now in 2004, fans are smarter and WCW has no chance of coming back at all, so I think that is the true reason why the WWF opted not to put their slant on all angles.

After watching this DVD, I think you respect Eric Bischoff more. Despite all the bad mouthing of him, you feel for the guy. It’s a dog eat dog world, and everyone knows that the wrestling business is full of politics, and Bischoff is a guy who knew that, and did what he could to make sure he stood at the top. He took a company that was averaging millions of dollars of losses a year, and turned it into a multi million dollar empire. He never had full control and unlike Vince, had to answer to dozens of people with every decision. His downfall was getting too cocky and arrogant, and believing he had the trust of Ted Turner. Bischoff freely admits to it, and thought he would one day soley own WCW.

The 90 minutes recapping the war flies so fast. It is produced excellently and is fair and accurate. Triumphs of both sides were shown. Downfalls of both sides were shown. We saw the debut of Nitro and how Lex Luger debuted on the first ever Nitro. Alundra Blayze/Madusa, dumping the WWF womens title was shown. Eric Bischoff even admits to making Madusa do that against her own will, just to pop him. Sounds like many indy promoters today, who run angles just to please themselves. Bischoff even says this cost Madusa any chance of resigning with the WWF.

Likewise on the other side, Vince McMahon was running stories for himself. He was the brainchild of the “Hulkster”, “Nacho Man”, “Scheme Gene” and “Billionare Ted” skits. McMahon said he needed to show that his stars were younger. Bischoff said he used to laugh at these things with Ted Turner.

A lot of talk on this DVD is about the New World Order. The n.W.o really did revolutionize WCW. Bischoff talks about how he wanted to make the n.W.o. its own separate brand. Hogan is discussed as a major catalyst. Cornette said the biggest mistake Bischoff committed was letting wrestlers have creative control, as it created havok. Bischoff agrees to it, but also disputes it. Really good stuff here. The Bret Hart screwjob is discussed. Mick Foley says he doesn’t believe Bret screwed Bret. He says he doesn’t even think Vince believes that. McMahon and others think “Evil Mr. McMahon,” was one of the reasons why WWF took over. And if you look at the ratings, it’s true. The Austin/McMahon feud drew the highest consistent ratings and made the most money during the Monday Night wars. While it didn’t have the highest rated, or even second highest rated segment ever (“This is your life Rock” and Hogan/Savage WCW Title Match) it constantly produced great TV.

A whole segment of this DVD is dedicated to Ric Flair. Ric Flair’s relationship with Eric Bischoff hasn’t been a kind one. Both sides talked bluntly about each other, with Flair getting more time to talk. He says Bischoff has no respect for Ric Flair. The Nitro where the 4 Horsemen were united was shown. Sadly, as Flair says, they were squashed by the n.W.o a few weeks later. (Curt Hennig turning on the Horsemen and giving Ric Flairs robe to Hulk Hogan.) Rick Rude’s appearance on both shows on the same day is also discussed by Jim Ross. Apparently, Rude had a verbal agreement with McMahon, but didn’t have anything signed. Bischoff found out, and Rude at the time was disgusted with the Bret Hart situation and made the jump. Jim Cornette said, “Taking people’s word has hurt McMahon time and time again,” citing Kevin Nash as a prime example.

I really think the only thing that would make this DVD better would be if it was longer. One thing that didn’t get enough coverage was the Radicalz jumping to the WWF. The infamous meeting where Raven left WCW and wound up working for the WWF after a stint in ECW wasn’t discussed. Another thing that wasn’t addressed was the impact of ECW and how both promotions went after ECW guys, such as WCW signing The Sandman, Mikey Whipwreck, Mike Awesome, Stevie Richards, and more, and how the WWF signed Taz, The Dudley Boyz and more. A double disc would’ve been fabulous.

The DVD is loaded with extras. The extras are (in order):
Stone Cold Steve Austin & Shawn Michaels vs. Owen Hart & The British Bulldog (Austin and Michaels win titles, from Raw, 5/26/97)
· Stone Cold Steve Austin stuns Mr. McMahon (09/22/97, from RAW)
· Jim Cornette commentary (10/27/97, from RAW)
· Vince McMahon interview: "Bret screwed Bret" (11/17/97, from RAW)
· Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. The Legion of Doom (from RAW, 12/15/97)
· D-X invades WCW (04/27/98, from RAW)
· The last Nitro
· nWo in the production truck (07/22/96)
· Eric Bischoff challenges Vince McMahon (05/11/98)
· Chris Benoit vs. Booker T (06/01/98)
· Bill Goldberg vs. Hulk Hogan (Goldberg wins WCW World title, from Nitro, 7/6/98)
· Ric Flair returns to WCW (094/14/98)
· Rick Rude appears on Nitro and RAW on the same night (11/17/97)

I thought the extras were great. I would’ve liked to see more. I think the 10 man tag from Raw that saw The Radicalz/X-Pac/HHH vs Too Cool/Rikishi/Foley/Rock should’ve been shown. Radicalz made an impact, and today they are both in the double main event of WrestleMania. The DVD really glosses over the Radicalz as they were discussed for 3 minutes, with Eddie Guerrero talking about how he wasn’t happy in WCW. The HBK/Austin vs Owen/Bulldog is a classic match. It is one of my favorites, and was HBK’s first match back after his “I lost my smile” speech on Thursday Raw Thursday in Lowell, MA. (I’m a huge HBK mark these facts never go away lol)

Another match I would’ve liked to see would’ve been Vince Russo winning the title, and the Bash of the Beach 2000 match where Booker T wins the title. Booker T winning the title was one of the bright spots during WCW’s dying days. Vince Russo’s time in WCW was horrendous and while the DVD discusses it, not enough time is devoted to it. The Bischoff/Russo merger, and the New Blood vs Millionaire feud from 4/10/00 is not discussed at all.

Overall, the extras are enjoyable and key matches are showcased.

Final McWord:
This DVD is a must have for any collector or wrestling fan. I’d even recommend this DVD over the Ric Flair Triple Disc, as this highlights everything. Like I said various times, my only complaint was that it wasn’t long enough and material was either shorted or omitted. I really enjoyed this DVD. Typing reviews all the time sometimes sucks the fun out of watching wrestling, but this was one of the rare occasions, where I just sat there, didn’t take any notes, and remember everything because it’s so fascinating, and I remember it happening live. Watching the DVD is like watching an A and E history special or a True Hollywood Story. It’s that good.

I priced the DVD around. Best Buy is the best buy, selling the DVD on sale for $17.99 and $19.99 as the regular price. Every other store is $26+, including Sam Goody who had it for $28.99. While it probably is worth the 30 bucks, there is no reason to spend 10 extra dollars.

As far as online, highspots.com had the best price.

I’m out…
Look for a new McPinions discussing the ROH fiasco, now that it is 100% that RF is guilty.

Sean “The MiC” McCaffrey
BULLSMC@aol.com