Oh yeah, that's right. Trev got me this WWF (pre-WWE!) retrospective DVD last year for Secret Santa based solely on the fact that Mankind looks like a maniac on the cover. Well done Trev! On my day off today I finished up the end of disc 1 (which had been partially watched at said Secret Santa event) and the entirety of the second disc to complete the nostalgia trip he intended for me so many months ago. Three storylines dominated the two-disc set, which come as no surprise as they were the three I remember most vividly from pro wrestling in 1998 and 1999- the rise of D-Generation X, the rivalry between The Rock and Mankind, and finally Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon and the rest of his Corporate Ministry. It was fun reliving some of the memorable moments from these game-changing storylines and discovering some events for the first time- I remember Austin spraying down the Corporation with a beer truck, for instance, but must have completely forgot the time he filled McMahon's car with cement, or the time he got 'thrown off of a bridge' by The Rock. While you could probably catch up on what happened through a series of Youtube clips today, I appreciated the mix of matches, mic segments, and commentary that kept things moving. On the other hand, there were a few additional clips thrown in at random that strain the credibility of the 'Best of Raw' title- did I really need to see the entirety of Mark Henry's first date with Chyna? Or how about a few meaningless minutes of Billy Gunn wrestling the Big Bossman? I was happy however to see Chris Jericho's introduction, which was just as cool a moment as I remember it- he had been hyped up for weeks, with Jericho finally showing up the cheers, and quickly turning the crowd against him by making fun of them all and receiving a verbal beat-down from The Rock. Seriously, The Rock was all over these DVDs. Anyway, it was fun to watch how ridiculous this show could get at times ("It was me, Austin! It was me the whole time!"), so I suppose I'm now ready for Wrestlemania next spring. YES!
Man, this was an awesome gift. So many great things are going on on the cover, but my favorite may simply be the misspelling of "disc." I'm not being facetious either - it reminds me that once upon a time, pro wrestling was low budget, sloppy, and prone to all sorts of gaffs. Those were the days!
ReplyDeleteSo glad you managed to stomach this just in time for this year's Secret Santa. Although I've never been much of a sports guy, I did watch a good deal of WWF and WCW as a kid (maybe even a little bit fo ECW if I found myself hungering for some bloodlust) - I blame all of this exposure on my neighbor who's parents always ordered him the Pay-Per-View specials. Since my 'rents were so restrictive over television and movies for me as a child, fake wrestling became the forbidden fruit I always desired.
ReplyDeleteThis is truly a piece of nostalgia that brings me back.