In my last review we took a look at another of WWE’s recent DVD releases, Top 100 Raw Moments. I have it the big thumbs up, even though I didn’t review all of this particular collection.
That’s because the third disc contained Raw’s 1,000th show, and as I’ve never seen this show in full before I thought it would be a good idea to give it the full treatment right now…..
After an initial appearance from our esteemed leader Mr. McMahon it was on to a fun segment involving the return of every member of D-Generation X. Well, almost all of them. A certain porn actress wasn’t there. From what I hear she’s been a bit green lately.
This was great. I really enjoyed seeing the guys going through all the old routines, although it was inevitable that they’d get interrupted. Damien Sandow soon found out that he’d made the wrong decision after Sweet Chin Music from Shawn Michaels and a Pedigree from Triple H, with Billy Gunn adding in a couple of words as well.
After Jim Ross joined the commentary team it was on to the first match as Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara and World Champion Sheamus faced Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio.
Before the match began the commentators speculated as to whether Jericho and Ziggler could get along following their confrontation the previous week. It proved to be a good point.
The match was joined in progress after the commercial break. Cara was getting the punching bag treatment until he got the hot tag and the mass brawl started. It went down to Sheamus and Jericho. The Irishman missed a Brogue Kick and was hung up on the top rope when Jericho looked to take him out with his springboard dropkick. But just when he was about to execute the move Ziggler clobbered him. A Brogue Kick from Sheamus later and the babyfaces had the winning pin.
After some Tout thoughts from the WWE Universe (I hate that term) and a brief Skype chat with Charlie Sheen it was backstage to A.J.’s wedding preparations. Layla began to question her choices as a cavalcade of crazy people passed by their dressing room door.
Back in the ring Jack Swagger took on Brodus Clay in an attempt to break his losing streak.
Before the match began Clay introduced his guest for the evening, none other than Dude Love. As for the match Swagger missed a corner attack, Clay took him down with a suplex and then finished him off with a big splash. And now Swagger is headlining Wrestlemania?
Afterwards the Dudester got in the ring to dance with Clay and his girls, breaking off his routine for a few seconds to take Swagger down with a multi-coloured Mr. Socko.
Backstage Trish Stratus tried to tell Triple H about her yoga regime, with DX coming in to find them in a certain position. Some double entendres followed that the Carry on team would have been proud of.
Back in the ring it was time for the wedding of Daniel Bryan and A.J. Lee, with the man with the greatest entrance music in wrestling history, the Doctor of Style himself, Slick, handling the ceremony.
You know these wrestling weddings get me every time. When are they going to learn? Never have your wedding in the ring in front of a paying audience! It always turns out the same way!
Basically A.J. said yes. Not to Daniel Bryan, but to Vince McMahon’s offer to become the new General Manager of Raw. Yep, she dumped him for a better proposal.
This morphed nicely into the next segment. With Bryan refusing to leave the ring WWE Champion C.M. Punk came down to taunt his former challenger, and after Punk proclaimed he was the greatest ever the People’s Champion, the Rock, came out to dispute those claims.
Rocky did his usual routine before announcing his title shot at the Royal Rumble. Both Punk and Bryan argued their case before Rocky took Bryan down with a Rock Bottom.
By the way, if, as Rocky said, Bryan is nothing more than an Oompa Loompa then what am I? After all, the American Dragon is taller than me!
Also, am I the only wrestling blogger who has actually met one of the original Oompa Loompa? He went on to become a weather midget you know!
With Bret Hart as the guest ring announcer the Miz challenged Christian for the Intercontinental title.
This wasn’t too bad. They began quickly, with Christian banging up his knee when he came off the top rope to attack the Miz while he was on the floor. Miz began to target the injured limb until Christian made a spirited comeback. The action was taken up a notch when they began to look for their respective finishers, but when Christian flipped over Miz and jarred his leg again Miz quickly took him out with the Skull Crushing Finale for the winning pin and the title.
Another Skype chat with Charlie Sheen followed as they discussed the night’s events. Sadly no references to tiger blood or rock stars from Mars here.
Triple H then made yet another appearance, this time to address his challenge to Brock Lesnar at Summerslam.
This was a great set-up for the match. The Game called Lesnar out but found himself facing Paul Heyman instead. The back and forth tirades soon saw Heyman insulting Triple H’s kids, a move that brought Stephanie McMahon into the situation, and it was only after she goaded Heyman with a few home truths that he agreed, on Lesnar’s behalf, to the match.
But when Heyman began goading Mrs. Helmsley she attacked him, and it wasn’t long before the Pain himself arrived on the scene. The inevitable brawl between Lesnar and H followed, with the Game sending him packing after a clothesline over the top rope.
More Touts followed (where on Earth do they find these people?) before we got a look at the Steve Austin/Vince McMahon feud of years gone by. It was a reminder of how great things were back then, and also a shame that the Rattlesnake couldn’t make the show.
After a plug for the Brawling Buddies, which consisted of Hornswoggle and Santino Marella handing out freebies to the front row it was on to Heath Slater’s legends challenge, and this time around the One Man Band put out a challenge for a no disqualification and no count out encounter. This time it was the lovely Lita who answered the challenge.
At first Slater treated her challenge like a joke. He quickly accepted the challenge though, but before the match began Lita introduced her backup for the evening, the APA, John “Bradshaw” Layfield and Ron “Farooq” Simmons. Slater tried to head for the hills but was headed off at the pass by all of the legends he’d annoyed in the previous weeks.
So with Slater back in the ring Lita soon took him down with a Twist of Fate. Bradshaw then connected with a Clothesline from Hell before Lita took the win after a moonsault. The legends then climbed into the ring for the celebration, with Simmons have the last word. I think you can tell what that last word was.
Backstage Sean Mooney, the guy who used to sit in front of all of those screens in the Events Centre, interviewed Daniel Bryan. The boy wasn’t too happy with what Charlie Sheen said about him.
After Michael Cole interviewed WWE’s 100,000,000th social media follower Fozzie Bear took a look back at some of Raw’s greatest catchphrases. More great memories.
Backstage Zack Ryder revealed to John Cena that Gene Okerlund was the brains behind GTV, even though Mean Gene didn’t work for them at the time. The Rock then interrupted them to exchange pleasantries with Cena.
Back in the arena Kane came out for his match. The match never happened because Jinder Mahal and a bunch of guys stuck on Superstars came out to bitch about their lack of opportunities. But before they could do anything the Undertake returned, and even though the odds were against them the Brothers of Destruction made short work of the dark match regulars.
More words from Charlie Sheen followed as he responded to Daniel Bryan. He spoke of the possibility of a match between the two of them. I suddenly got flashbacks of David Arquette there.
The main event saw John Cena cashing in his Money in the Bank contract and so he could challenge C.M. Punk for the WWE title.
This was an altogether different encounter to the one I reviewed a few days ago. Of course back then Punk was a beloved babyface, which made this a slightly more sportsmanlike affair. Although this wasn’t their best encounter it was still pretty enjoyable. The exchanges were as good as ever, even though they did seem a little rushed because of the television time constraints.
The dramatic moment came when Punk shoved Cena. Cena accidentally collided with the referee, and while the official was taking forty winks at ringside the Big Show came down and attacked Cena, taking him out with his knockout punch.
Punk watched all of this from the corner of the ring. He hesitated for a few moments as he tried to decide what to do. Eventually he pushed the referee back into the ring and went for the cover, only for Cena to kick out.
Cena soon made his comeback, avoiding the Go to Sleep so he could apply the STF. This led to another attack from the Big Show. The referee called for the bell immediately, giving Cena the disqualification win, but not the title.
Show continued his attack on Cena as Punk looked on, and it was only when the Rock came charging down the ramp that the assault stopped. Rock took the big man down with the spine buster, but just as he was about to deliver the People’s Elbow Punk took him down with a clothesline, cementing his heel turn when he left Punk laying after a Go to Sleep. And with that the show came to an end.
There’s only one extra on this disc, a five minute piece looking at the making of Raw 1000.
In conclusion – this was the first full episode of Raw I’ve seen in quite a while, and even though it wasn’t exactly up to date it was still very good.
The backstage and in-ring segments were enjoyable, and they certainly achieved what they set out to do. As for the matches I would have like to have seen a few more, but then again you can’t have everything.
As for my match of the night no-prize it was a close run thing, but once again I’m going to plump for Punk and Cena.
So with all of that out of the way there’s only one more thing left to do, and that’s to give Raw 1000 the thumbs up.
With thanks to Fremantle Media and Fetch Publicity for supplying a copy of this release. Raw 1000 forms part of the Raw Top 100 Moments set and is available to buy online at www.wwedvd.co.uk.
Don’t forget to check out my website at twoshedsreview.blogspot.com. It’s Britain’s longest running wrestling and MMA blog, and has been online in one form or another for nearly 13 years.
And for today’s final plug of another site where The Two Sheds Review appears check out Steve Gerweck’s efforts at www.gerweck.net.
