This could be a big hit or a total mess.
Source
DVD Documentary
Stars Align
Free Agents
The Outsiders
Bash at the Beach
Here's the nWo
Element of Reality
Fan Interest
nWo vs. WCW
Rivalry versus Sting
The nWo. Goes Mainstream
Internal Strife
Restoration Attempt
nWo 4 Life
Matches:
Scott Hall's Nitro Debut
Nitro – 27th May, 1996
Kevin Nash's Nitro Debut
Nitro – 10th June, 1996
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper confronts Eric Bischoff
18th November, 1996
Hollywood Hulk Hogan confronts "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
30th December, 1996
The nWo's WWE Debut
No Way Out – 17th February, 2002
The Outsiders vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Sting & Lex Luger
Bash at the Beach – 7th July, 1996
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
The Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan
Hog Wild – 10th August, 1996
WCW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat
Halloween Havoc – 27th October, 1996
Syxx vs. The Bounty Hunter
nWo Saturday Night – 9th November, 1996
WCW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Outsiders vs. The Steiner Brothers
Souled Out – 25th January, 1997
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Hollywood Hogan vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
SuperBrawl VII – 23rd February, 1997
Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Lex Luger & The Giant
Bash at the Beach – 13th July, 1997
Las Vegas Sudden Death Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Halloween Havoc – 26th October, 1997
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
Nitro – 29th December, 1997
No Disqualification Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Nitro – 20th April, 1998
Match for Control of the WCW World Tag Team Championship
Sting vs. The Giant
Great American Bash – 14th June, 1998
Hollywood Hogan & Eric Bischoff vs. Jay Leno & Diamond Dallas Page
Road Wild – 8th August, 1998
War Games Match to Determine the #1 Contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Team WCW vs. Team Hollywood vs. Team Wolfpack
Fall Brawl – 13th September, 1998
No Disqualification Match for WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash
Starrcade – 27th December, 1998
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Goldberg vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart
Nitro – 20th December, 1999
Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. The Rock & "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
RAW – 11th March, 2002
Blu-ray Exclusives:
nWo Legends of Wrestling Roundtable Discussion featuring Kevin Nash, Jim Ross, JJ Dillon, & Michael Hayes
The Beginning
The nWo Concept
Hogan Turns his back on WCW
Putting Vince out of business
Ratings war
Pointing fingers
Goldberg
Cutting Edge & Controversial
Downfall
Invitation only
WCW Saturday Night – 27th July, 1996
Nothing Personal
WCW Saturday Night – 3rd August, 1996
Modern Day Gladiators
Monday Nitro – 19th August, 1996
Worldwide
WCW Saturday Night – 7th September, 1996
Room Service
Monday Nitro – 30th September, 1996
It's Not Easy Being King
Monday Nitro – 20th January, 1997
The Real Hot Rod
Monday Nitro – 17th March, 1997
The Madness
Monday Nitro – 28th April, 1997
All Over But The Crying
WCW Pro Wrestling – 15th June, 1997
Source
DVD Documentary
Stars Align
Free Agents
The Outsiders
Bash at the Beach
Here's the nWo
Element of Reality
Fan Interest
nWo vs. WCW
Rivalry versus Sting
The nWo. Goes Mainstream
Internal Strife
Restoration Attempt
nWo 4 Life
Matches:
Scott Hall's Nitro Debut
Nitro – 27th May, 1996
Kevin Nash's Nitro Debut
Nitro – 10th June, 1996
"Rowdy" Roddy Piper confronts Eric Bischoff
18th November, 1996
Hollywood Hulk Hogan confronts "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
30th December, 1996
The nWo's WWE Debut
No Way Out – 17th February, 2002
The Outsiders vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Sting & Lex Luger
Bash at the Beach – 7th July, 1996
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
The Giant vs. Hollywood Hogan
Hog Wild – 10th August, 1996
WCW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat
Halloween Havoc – 27th October, 1996
Syxx vs. The Bounty Hunter
nWo Saturday Night – 9th November, 1996
WCW World Tag Team Championship Match
The Outsiders vs. The Steiner Brothers
Souled Out – 25th January, 1997
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Hollywood Hogan vs. "Rowdy" Roddy Piper
SuperBrawl VII – 23rd February, 1997
Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman vs. Lex Luger & The Giant
Bash at the Beach – 13th July, 1997
Las Vegas Sudden Death Match
Diamond Dallas Page vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Halloween Havoc – 26th October, 1997
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
Nitro – 29th December, 1997
No Disqualification Match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Hollywood Hogan vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
Nitro – 20th April, 1998
Match for Control of the WCW World Tag Team Championship
Sting vs. The Giant
Great American Bash – 14th June, 1998
Hollywood Hogan & Eric Bischoff vs. Jay Leno & Diamond Dallas Page
Road Wild – 8th August, 1998
War Games Match to Determine the #1 Contender for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Team WCW vs. Team Hollywood vs. Team Wolfpack
Fall Brawl – 13th September, 1998
No Disqualification Match for WCW World Heavyweight Championship
Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash
Starrcade – 27th December, 1998
WCW World Heavyweight Championship Match
Goldberg vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart
Nitro – 20th December, 1999
Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. The Rock & "Stone Cold" Steve Austin
RAW – 11th March, 2002
Blu-ray Exclusives:
nWo Legends of Wrestling Roundtable Discussion featuring Kevin Nash, Jim Ross, JJ Dillon, & Michael Hayes
The Beginning
The nWo Concept
Hogan Turns his back on WCW
Putting Vince out of business
Ratings war
Pointing fingers
Goldberg
Cutting Edge & Controversial
Downfall
Invitation only
WCW Saturday Night – 27th July, 1996
Nothing Personal
WCW Saturday Night – 3rd August, 1996
Modern Day Gladiators
Monday Nitro – 19th August, 1996
Worldwide
WCW Saturday Night – 7th September, 1996
Room Service
Monday Nitro – 30th September, 1996
It's Not Easy Being King
Monday Nitro – 20th January, 1997
The Real Hot Rod
Monday Nitro – 17th March, 1997
The Madness
Monday Nitro – 28th April, 1997
All Over But The Crying
WCW Pro Wrestling – 15th June, 1997
Blu-ray is a must in this case. I like that the roundtable is there.
ReplyDeleteThis match was on the rarer original nWo DVD:
Hollywood Hogan, Kevin Nash & Scott Hall vs. The Rock & "Stone Cold" Steve AustinRAW – 11th March, 2002
Let's face it, any interest is coming from the promos and not the matches. I think if you're fond of waxing nWo nostalgia, it should deliver.
ReplyDeleteInteresting collection, a lot of repeats as usual though. They need more stuff between July and November 1996 in particular I think though.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm glad they at least included the DDP/Savage match. I've always heard that was the best of the bunch, I think Scott rated it ****+.
ReplyDeleteThe '98 War Games. May God have mercy on our souls.
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a really bad collection of matches. I'll still pick this one up for the documentary alone though.
ReplyDeleteFirst day purchase for me.
ReplyDeleteSyxx vs. The Bounty Hunter is an odd choice. Unless I'm missing the significance of that bout.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of reminds me of Scott's comment about the recent ECW set, in that it's bulletproof because those who love it (ECW/NWO), are going to be in to it no matter what. On the other hand, if you weren't NWO4LIFE, you probably wouldn't care for it at all. Complete hit or miss because of that.
ReplyDeleteI think it's from the NWO Saturday Night shows.
ReplyDeleteYeah, which I remember hearing about, but never actually seeing.
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of like that with anything though, isn't it? There is no era of wrestling that appeals to everyone.
ReplyDeleteI've come to realize that harsh reality in the past few years or so as more young people have taken up to reviewing old NWA shows and feel that stuff is boring and that Flair/Steamboat is overrated, etc.
Well the nWo weren't really known for putting on stellar matches, it was all about the promos with them. The main workhorse of the group was probably Syxx and even then his WCW run wasn't anything to write home about.
ReplyDeleteDDP/Savage was the only good feud to come out of the nWo era in terms of workrate as these two had great chemistry together.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because back in the day I ordered Great American Bash 1997 on the rave reviews of their match at Spring Stampede.
ReplyDeleteI was a little disappointed with the GAB 97 match, although it did get stellar reviews in some corners of the net at the time, including Herb Kunze surprisingly enough.
Then a few years ago I saw the Spring Stampede match and was disappointed as well -- it didn't seem like a four snowflake kind of match, so this is sort of my last hope haha.
I think part of the issue is that generally speaking, I just don't care for out of the ring brawls unless they are pretty high on the brutality scale -- which is probably why I still prefer Austin/Bret at Survivor Series 96 to their WrestleMania match.
I feel that some other sets have more moderate, across the board interest than this one would (SNME & Rock sets would be two examples), being able to offer enough to get at least SOME interest. One might not have been to gung-ho about the Rise & Fall of WCW, but it's hard not to respect that second disc because of the tremendous match quality, and therefore give it some consideration.
ReplyDeleteIf this set had a better match selection, with less dogs, I think it might not get such a polarized reaction. Fans can generally agree that good matches improves any set.
I don't know, I'd be pretty surprised if most fans bought these sets for the match quality in general, excepting members of this board maybe. It's a nostalgia trip.
ReplyDeleteA set like SNME or Rise and Fall of WCW probably have more appeal than others, but I'd guess because it encompasses multiple eras and fan bases. A set like this probably has a pretty wide fanbase to draw from given how popular wrestling and WCW was at the time, but it occurred over a relatively short period of time.
Very true, though I was more referring to awful shit like the Piper and Leno matches.
ReplyDeleteguess i might have to buy my first and probably only blu ray disc.
ReplyDeleteStuff like the "roundtable" is EXACTLY what they should be adding to Bluray releases. THAT is worth the extra money, not crap like Kane vs. Khali.
ReplyDeleteGoggling gave me this post here from 2.5 years ago which is old, obviously, but at least it's something to go on: http://www.rspwfaq.com/2010/02/28/wwe-dvd-sales/
ReplyDeleteI be missin the first NWO DVD when it be comin' out, not sure I want dis one. (98 Wargames? What bilgerat put that shipwreck on dis set?)
ReplyDeleteAnd who in da name a' Davy Jones be "The Bounty Hunter"?
There seems to be some sort of gimmick to your post but I'm not sure what the reason for it might be. Am I allowed to ask what's going on or is it kayfabe all the way?
ReplyDeleteI kind of feel that Flair/Steamboat is overrated. Well, not "overrated", it's fine for what it is and I don't disagree with giving it *****, but it's just not my style of wrestling. I need some highspots or some violence to be really entertained.
ReplyDeleteI guess they're doing it be completionists, but I wouldn't have bothered to include any of the abysmal WWE run. The WWE's writing team completely missed the point of what the nWo was supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteI kinda wished they'd included the very last match if only for the epic fail of seeing Nash tear his quad by walking across the ring. Either that or the HBK promo that went on and on and some fan yelled out GET TO THE POINT!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, what happened to the Roundtables? Wasn't there supposed to be more episodes upcoming? RAW memories, or something.
ReplyDeleteI would have left the nWo Silver crap out too. Fuck it though, you can just stop the DVD at that point, which is what I plan to do.
ReplyDeleteWow, all pretty close actually. Lots of sports entertainzments on top though.
ReplyDeleteBy winning some match or another, they were able to have their own segment on WCW Saturday Night. They'd take guys like Syxx, Nash, Hall, and Buff and put them in matches with jobbers in an empty arena, providing sound effects and snarky commentary along the way. At the time, these segments were highly entertaining and hilarious... but I haven't watched any of those segments in 15 years, so I don't know how well they hold up. From the time they formed until about the late winter/early Spring of 97, they could do very little wrong, in my opinion.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that viewpoint -- those are perfectly justifiable reasons for not loving it. I don't know, this whole idea of 'objectively' rating matches seems hopelessly passe anyways. The whole system was created in the first place to separate those who primarily appreciated wrestling for the workrate from those that appreciated it for other reasons. The whole reason to watch a wrestling match is to be entertained though, so if a match is not a five-star entertainment to you, well then it's not a five star match.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am the same way with out of the ring brawling that you are with Steamboat/Flair matches -- I just don't see the appeal in it that other people do. Most of the time you just can't realistically take bumps the same way outside the ring as you can inside, so it always seems kinda weak to me, unless you're Foley or a Nasty Boy wielding a shovel.
Ah ok--as I'm very behind the curve of pop culture, I thought maybe Charlie Owens was a TV/movie character I didn't know. Thanks for the explanation!
ReplyDeleteAnd on Davey Boy Smith's back.
ReplyDeleteVery little indeed.
ReplyDeleteBut the one thing they did wrong was add the Giant. Just a bad pickup IMO.
Totally, I fall asleep on each match.
ReplyDeleteThey are just boring to me.
But ive watched the ECW dvds on Netflix, and by no means am I a mutant for ECW but I enjoyed it, and i stayed up for the majority of the dvds.
The SNME set was good but not great. I don't think I ever actually watched the end of it (as in the return of SNME stuff in the 2000s). It was a nice cross section but for me personally, i was wanting to see more of the crazy early moments, like the Halloween show, Uncle Elmer, etc. instead of just quick clips.
ReplyDeleteI would love it if they put out a complete set of all the SNME shows. Then again I would love a lot of stuff that WWE probably doesn't feel like bothering with (even though the cost is minimal and they would make a profit after selling about 40 copies). I would dig DVD sets on DiBiase, Windham, Malenko, Terry Funk, and many, many more.
So is Sony paying WWE to push folks so heavily towards Blu-Ray these days? Sheesh. The DVD sets are getting skimpier and skimpier (almost 9 hours of footage is closer to 6 1/2 hours these days) and more and more "bonus" content is being put on Blu-Ray. I find it odd that WWE is going so heavy into Blu-Ray, minus a kickback from Sony, since Blu-Ray has for the most part not captured the imagination of mainstream America. It would have made more sense to be doing this 3 years ago when Sony was really pushing players and it still had a chance of catching on better. I think a lot of people may be like me though. I watch the vast majority of wrestling shows either in the bedroom because my wife has no interest. I don't have a blu-ray player in the bedroom. I think kids and teens (supposedly the WWE target audience, although not really on this set) are in the same situation. They may have a DVD player in the bedroom, but no blu-ray player. Just conjecture on my part though.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, Blu-Ray is still somewhat of a niche product and just seems odd for WWE to be jumping on the bandwagon somewhat late in the game.
If WWE has proven anything over the last decade, it is that they are often out of touch and/or behind the times. Why should this be any different?
ReplyDeleteA lot of teens I know have PS3s in their bedrooms because their parents don't want them taking up space in the living room.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the Nitro set is one of the top sellers WWE has ever produced.
ReplyDeleteI have a Blu-Ray but only because the Back To The Future trilogy came out a couple of years ago, They're my favorite movies and so whenever they hit a new format, it's my personal time to upgrade, hence why I never had a DVD until 2003.
ReplyDeleteIs there evidence to support this? I mean Blu-Ray hasn't taken the nation by storm like DVDs, but it seems to have had a steady growth the last 5 years (or whenever it started). Look at a Walmart or Best Buy and compare them to what they looked like about 4 years ago--big difference.
ReplyDeleteI just got a Blu Ray player about 9 months ago. I like the increased content on discs and I like the fact that it's a pretty convenient and pleasant way of watching Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube videos. I just create a YouTube playlist and can watch it on TV for late night entertainment (I normally like to have the TV while I fall asleep).
I wasn't calling it a colossal failure overall, I was simply saying it hasn't taken off like they thought. Other new formats like CDs and DVD resulted in much faster adoption plus much larger sales on back catalog titles to replace albums, cassettes, and VHS. But Bl-Ray hasn't had that. I've said this before but Blu-Ray doesn’t speak to middle America. CDs? No fast forwarding or rewinding. Go right to your song. Shuffle play. DVD? No more rewinding. Smaller. And studios supported it by selling every title brand new for a decent price as opposed to VHS where many titles were “priced as rentals” (which is why some of the older folks on the board may remember being charged $150 bucks for a lost VHS tape at the video store). Blu-Ray has better picture quality and sound quality. To most people, it’s a big woop. DVD is fine. After all it looks the same anyways. Sony likes to pump up numbers by including PS3s, but it really has been a big disappointment to what they thought it would be. Now the ability to go online through the blu-ray player is something that might increase sales. But again middle America is waaaay behind the curve on that one. Having to have routers and whatnot is beyond most people’s hookup skills. However it is a selling point for newer players that they could push.
ReplyDeleteI own a ps3 and a blu-ray player. I managed a blockbuster up until august 2009. I’m no hate rof new technology or blu-ray in particular. I’m a realist. I saw middle America in and out of my store. I am a hater though of being shoved into a new format not just by bonuses on the blu-ray, but by WWE skimping and cutting back on the quality and content of the DVD. You want to increase blu-ray sales with bonus content? Great. But near as I can tell, the Blu-ray is merely carrying what we would have got on a DVD set a couple years back, charging more, all while they screw over the DVD buyer with 3 hours less of product.
Good questions raised. Blu-ray sales have grown over the last year, but still at a lower than expected pace. DVDs have dropped off from where they once were, but are still relatively strong, even for new movies. I was just reading an article about Hunger Games coming out --- in it's first weekend, it sold about 2.5 million copies in the DVD format and 1.3 in the Blu-ray -- but the BR set is about $10 more of course, so maybe it's just that the profits are better on the BR discs and as I recall, the WWE Home Video division has been rather soft the last few years.
ReplyDeleteSlightly on-topic, I remember back in the mid-1980s, the WWF actually released a few of their earlier titles on Laserdisc in addition to VHS/Beta. I'd kind of like to own a copy of WrestleMania 1 on LD just for the giant sleeve!
Yeah, I'd kill for 'season' sets in general.
ReplyDeleteThe WWE should launch one of those WB-like DVD on Demand stores for their library. I've actually bought a few titles off of there -- it is a pretty cool system, because it allows you to buy just about anything without the studio having to make sure a particular title is cost effective to release on a mass scale.
That's a good point actually -- I wouldn't be surprised if most of the BR players out there today were in the form of PS3s.
ReplyDeletethis. the difference between dvd and bd ist just too small to have everybody going crazy.
ReplyDeletethat's actually one of the main reasons why Bluray won against HD-DVD.
ReplyDeleteagree on the old home video rating system. "worth watching" and "not worth watching" would pretty much do it for me.
ReplyDeleteThey could have at least included that series of segments where Vince announced he was bringing the nWo back, and made a shitload of wacky faces
ReplyDeleteAll points well taken.
ReplyDeleteI originally got one because I saw some of my favorite companies and entities, including WWE, putting more and more special features on Blu-Ray. So, certain companies pushed me into getting it, quite frankly. The last straw was buying the Hart-Michaels DVD and not getting the friggin' Montreal match (it's about 2 1/2 stars, but its historical significance is huge).
I look at my dad as the kind of middle America (but privileged middle America) you're talking about. DVD player? Check. Flat screen HD TV for the front/family room? Check. Blu-Ray? Too much of a hassle and not enough reward. But for non-gamers, it's internet capabilities and "channels" may catch on eventually... that is if middle America deems TVs with similar features built into them a little weird.
Yeah, it seems like it might get around the whole thing you see today where people are like "yeah it is a **** match because it had a lot of moves, but based on the booking / crowd response / personal feelings about it, I didn't really like it or it doesn't matter in the longrun." Just seems like we're sort of caught in between different systems right now.
ReplyDeleteAw damn i have way too many wrestling dvd's but this might be my 1st blu ray. I remember in 97' when I started watchin wrestling on TV and had only seen Videos rented from the store as a like 4-5 year old...and I was just shocked at the premise of Hulk Hogan being a bad guy and hanging with Dennis Rodman(hated him)...nWo partly made me a wrestling fan for life. It was so cool...everyone was throwin up Wolfpac symbols and "4 life" stuff in school.
ReplyDeleteJust a really cool damn Era. I went to Havoc 97' in Vegas with my mom and it was crazy. That Savage/DDP match was awesome. Would be cool to see it again cuz I doubt my copy of the live PPV on tape even works anymore I watched it so much...plus I'd say getting a blu ray would be a better investment than a "new" VCR if they even make them still. NWO could still work in 2012. NWO > Horsemen
And i agree with whoever said Flair/Steamboat is overrated. It's classy, it's nice but I bought the Wrestlewar 89 tape like 10 years ago based on Scott's review and was like "that's it?". I was much more impressed when I first saw Dynamite Kid-Tiger Mask and Kobashi-Misawa
ReplyDeletea lot of teens I know have PS3s in their bedrooms because their parents have an allergy to parenting.
ReplyDeleteyeah, but the bigger reason is pornography - same reason VHS beat out Beta
ReplyDelete