WWE: The Best of RAW - 15th Anniversary 1993-2008 (2007 Video) User Reviews

A fun reminder of a show I used to love.

[bh_tafe3 · 9/10 · 10 February 2009]

RAW was a great show when it first came on, but a combination of laziness, a loss of direction and a lack of interesting characters with depth (Randy Orton is the only one they've really had since Austin and the Rock left), have taken out most of the fun parts of a show and replaced it with a generic, unremarkable feel that makes it near impossible to watch every week.

This DVD looks at some of the sketches, promos, incidents and matches that have helped RAW To become one of the most popular TV shows in the world and near the end the elements that ruined it.

The first disc is mainly built around matches, but the most memorable moment is the Brian Pillman Gun incident from April 1996. Also amusing is the Triple H vs Shawn Miceals match for the European Championship from late 1997 where Micheals lays down for Triple H. It also includes Ric Flair's final match in the WWE in his first tenure, a loss to Curt Hennig in 1993 and the first ever European Champion crowned with British Bulldog defeating Owen Hart to take the belt.

The second disc is all about the promos and other segments. THe highlights are the Stone Cold beer truck and later the Kurt Angle milk truck. Shane McMahon buying out WCW, former WCW booker Eric Bischoff getting hired by McMahon as a General Manager, and the Rock: This is your life. Jericho's first appearance on RAW is hilarious too. Also included is Mankind's WWE Title victory over The Rock from 1999 and Jericho being stripped of the WWE Title moments after winning it from Triple H in April 2000.

Disc Three has some good stuff on it but just feels like wannabe moments rather than anything actually memorable. The Rock concert in Sacremento is funny. Kane unmasking was a memorable at the time which has since been tainted. Batista turning on TRiple H was a huge moment in any era, as was the Edge/ LIta live sex celebration, and John Cena getting drafted from SmackDown. Some of the other stuff is good, but apart from Edge winning the WWE Title in 2006 I found myself asking who cares? Unsurprising that John Cena despite being the focal point of the show for three years, has done almost nothing memorable, apart from arriving, and is rarely seen on disc three.

ridiculously inappropriate sound effect

[jpkmets · 1/10 · 27 January 2009]

this vote is strictly based on the inclusion of an incomprehensible sound effect in these volumes. I was watching these volumes in a multi-disc changer and the first disc of this series was started without my knowledge as I was dozing off.

Within 2 minutes I was ripped wide awake by a buzzing sound that sounded like some sort of projectile ripping across the sky of my living room. Figuring I misheard some odd sound in the opening credits as it was amplified by half-sleep, i settled back to take a lazy look at the wrestling -- only to feel as if I was under a rocket attack as the zooming and vrooming sounds kept repeating themselves at ridiculously fast episodes.

There was no rhythm to the audio attacks -- so I didn't know what in the blue hell was going on. However, after a minute I finally realized that the WWE had slapped this awful sound effect into this otherwise-excellent 9 hour set. Every time a "raw fact" card pops up onto the screen to let the viewer know one of the million amusing facts or coincidences that are part of the cool byproduct of a 15-year continuously produced live weekly series the senses are assaulted.

I'm a pretty mellow guy, but this was really just like nails on a chalkboard. In a mood to watch wrestling, I just had to completely give up on the half-day of what looked like excellent footage and go back to a 1999 PPV DVD of Rock Bottom: In your house that I won at WWE NY long ago.

Hopefully they decided to let the matches' sound just speak for themselves.

Anyway, if i were you, I'd try to listen to 10 or so minutes of this on surround sound or at least a real TV so you can hear how annoying this sound effect is. It definitely fatally compromised my ability to enjoy this product.