Cert: 15

Length:Approx running time 7 hrs 58 mins

Discs: 3

Disc 1:
Chapters: 

• Samoan Royalty
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
  Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia
  RAW (13/02/97)
• Rock the Ruler
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
  Owen Hart vs. The Rock
  RAW (06/04/98)
• Nation vs. DX
• King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match
  Triple H vs. The Rock
  RAW (22/06/98)
• Rock’s Big Chance
• WWE Championship Match (Final Round)
  Mankind vs. The Rock
  Survivor Series (15/11/98)
• Rivalry with Mankind
• Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship
  Mankind vs. The Rock
  St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (14/02/99)
• So it continues…
• Ladder Match for the WWE Championship
  Mankind vs. The Rock
  RAW (15/02/99)
• Two of the Most Charismatic Superstars Ever
• WWE Championship Match
  Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock
  WrestleMania XV (28/03/99)
  

Disc 2:
Chapters:

• People’s Champion
• Steel Cage Match
  The Rock vs. Triple H
  RAW (05/07/99)
• Rock ‘n Sock Connection
• World Tag Team Championship
  The Rock / Mankind vs. Undertaker / Big Show
  RAW (30/08/99)
• The Verbal SmackDown!
• No Holds Barred Match
  The Rock vs. Kane
  SmackDown! (30/12/99)
• McMahon – Helmsley Regime vs. The Rock
• WWE Championship Match
  Triple H vs. The Rock
  Backlash (30/04/00)
• The Following Night…
• Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship
  The Rock vs. Shane McMahon
  RAW (01/05/00)
• The Great One vs. The Olympic Medalist
• WWE Championship Match
  Kurt Angle vs. The Rock
  No Way Out (25/02/01)
• The New Title
• WCW Championship Match
  Booker T vs. The Rock
  SummerSlam (19/08/01)
• The Undisputed Champion
• Undisputed WWE Championship Match
  Chris Jericho vs. The Rock
  Royal Rumble (20/01/02)

Disc 3:
Chapters:

• Icon vs. Icon
• The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
  WrestleMania X8 (17/03/02)
• Triple Threat
• Triple Threat Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship
  Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock
  Vengeance (21/07/02)
• Just Bring It
• The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero
  RAW (22/07/02)
• Third Time’s A Charm?
• Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock
  WrestleMania XIX (30/03/03)
• Transcending Sports Entertainment
• The Rock: The Most Electrifying in Sports Entertainment
  

Promos:

• Heat July 11, 1999 – “Billy’s Prayer to God”
• RAW August 9, 1999 – “The Big Slow”
• RAW September 6, 1999 – “My Name is Kane”
• RAW November 15, 1999 – “Doughnuts”
• SmackDown! August 10, 2000 – “Hermie”
• RAW December 4, 2000 – “Armageddon Opponents”
• RAW August 13, 2001 – “Thomas Jefferson Sucka”
• RAW September 10, 2001 – “The People’s Strudel”
• SmackDown! September 20, 2001 – “Great Balls of Fire”
• SmackDown! January 3, 2002 – “Copacabana”
• SmackDown! January 17, 2002 – “Camera Man”
• SmackDown! January 24, 2002 – “The Charleston”
• No Way Out February 17, 2002 – “NWO”
• SmackDown! July 11, 2002 – “Busta Rhymes”
• RAW March 10, 2003 – “The Superhero”
• RAW June 21, 2004 – “Miami Dolphins”
• The One-Liners

Review

The other day I was walking the dog when he discovered a skateboard broken in two pieces lying on the grass, which he promptly tried to get on and when that didn’t work sat down and started to chew the bottom half.  More surprising than a seven month old Bouvier des Flandres puppy trying to skateboard, was when I noticed the old ‘WWF Attitude’ scratch logo on the half-skateboard Shaggy had in his mouth. Turning over the other half, I was greeted by the image of a familiar face with one eyebrow raised above his sunglasses in dramatic fashion… Yes, The Rock. What are the chances that the same day I get this DVD to review the dog finds an item with his picture on? 

Proof if ever it were needed that The Rock gets everywhere. It wasn’t that long ago that The Rock was once ‘The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment’ considered by most experts to be one of the three biggest stars of the modern era of U.S. wrestling alongside Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin, crossing over into legitimate celebrity status.

When the WWF’s popularity in the Europe exploded again in 2000 it was The Rock’s face that was on the cover of magazines, newspapers and journals. I had never seen anything like it involving a wrestler before or since. Whilst many of these articles were  based on the WWF’s massive popularity or its tours of the UK, some of it had to do with The Rock’s other endeavours such as his (admittedly poor)  autobiography The Rock Says… (HarperCollins, 2000)  following in the footsteps of Mick Foley’s excellent Have A Nice Day (HarperCollins, 1999) which  reached #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List; his cameo appearances in popular television series Star Trek: Voyager and That '70s Show; his role in  Wyclef Jean’s single “It Doesn't Matter” (2000) - famously named after one of The Rock's catchphrases - which debuted at #3 in the charts over here; and his heavily-hyped but relatively small role as The Scorpion King in The Mummy Returns (2001). The Rock was featured so prominently in the advertising and promotion for that even non-wrestling fans were complaining at how little he was in it after they saw the film. When The Rock reprised the role in The Scorpion King (2002) he as earned $5.5 million and a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest salary for an actor in his first lead role, signalling the beginning of the end for his in-ring career. Wrestling, the printed word, television shows, music, film… It was hard to avoid the guy. Another one of his catchphrases even made it into the dictionary…

“Main Entry:
smack-down
Pronunciation:
‘smak-daun’
Function:
noun
Date:
1997

1: the act of knocking down or bringing down an opponent

2: a contest in entertainment wrestling

3: a decisive defeat

4: a confrontation between rivals or competitors”
Credit: Merriam-Webster Online

Now a relatively successful actor, having recently starred in his first Disney film The Game Plan (2007), earlier this year The Artist Formerly Known As The Rock stated he would be billed simply by his real name Dwayne Johnson in his films from now on. Yet while Johnson may have moved on from wrestling, it’s safe to say wrestling fans haven’t forgotten about Johnson’s former career as evidenced by the reaction he received at his most recent wrestling-related appearance inducting his grandfather and father into the 2008 Class of the WWE Hall Of Fame, the night before WrestleMania XXIV. This three disc set gives them a trip down memory lane to the late nineties and early naughties when he was cutting ‘electrifying’ promos and tearing up the ring with mssrs Austin, Foley, Helmsley, and Angle. Rather than the typical format of a biography / documentary with a series of as extras matches like Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen or The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling or a series of matches presented by the wrestler ala Mick Foley: Greatest Hits & Misses or The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin, the set consists simply of a collection of matches interspersed with short segments giving a summary of that stage of Dwa… I mean, The Rock’s career. In light of the different format, then rather than give a summary of what’s included, what isn’t include, and whether it’s any good I’ve gone through things in chronological order more like a wrestling card – just think of this as a hybrid of your standard DVD Review and an issue of Now That’s What I Call Wrestling...

Disc 1 –

“I’m telling you: It’s good to be The King but it’s great to be The Rock.”

(Jerry Lawler, WrestleMania XV, 28/03/99)

Samoan Royalty: Before focusing on the man himself, we get some background into The Rock’s roots starting with his grandfather the late Peter Maivia. In a nice touch, a graphic shows Samoa (where Peter Maivia was legitimately elected to the position of High Chief), New Zealand (where he learnt to wrestle) and San Francisco (where he became a big star in the 1960s/70s). For the record, his time in England, where he was sufficiently over that fans of glory days 60s British wrestling still mention him to me to this day, is not mentioned. Since Peter was the Patriarch of “The Samoan Wrestling Dynasty” we get a family tree showing how he was related to The Wild Samoans (Afa  and Sika), ‘Superfly’ Jimmy Snuka, Rikishi, Samu, Yokozuna, Haku, and The Tonga Kid. After he was diagnosed with cancer, his wife Lia took over his NWA Hawaii promotion and was even elected Vice President of the National Wrestling Alliance. Their daughter Atta married ‘Soul Man’ Rocky Johnson. Their son grew up to be The Rock.

We see photos of a young Dwayne Johnson as a kid backstage with Freddie Blassie and André the Giant and press clippings from his (American) Football days at the University of Miami (where he helped the Dolphins win the National Championship), before jumping straight into his wrestling career where he amalgamated the ring names of his father and grandfather to become Rocky Maivia. The real reasons behind this change in career path (see The Rock Says…, HarperCollins, 2000) are glossed over in favour of the phrase “the call to wrestling could not be denied” and we get footage of him practising moves with Dr. Tom Pritchard, footage from his (television) debut at Survivor Series ’96 and hear commentary from his early matches with Vince McMahon, Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, and Michael Cole putting him over so strongly its no wonder some rejected his push (bearing in mind this was before he’d actually really done anything). All in all, the first chapter is probably the most interesting of any of the non-match segments and sets us up nicely by providing some information on the man behind the character.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match - Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia RAW, (13/02/97): Our first match comes from the infamous Thursday Raw Thursday in February 1997, the night Shawn Michaels cut the promo claiming he’d “lost his smile”… and his pal Triple H his title. Basically Michaels vacated the WWF Title by not wanting to lose to Bret H… erm, I mean a “career ending knee injury”. According to comments by The Rock when asked about the subject this was the reason the decision was made to take the Intercontinental Title off Hunter Hearst Helmsley and give the fans something positive: “This kind of thing happens in our business sometimes. Guys will refuse to do a job or balk at following a story line. What Shawn’s reasons were… I don’t know. And I don’t care. I only know that it lead to another opportunity for me.” (The Rock Says…, HarperCollins, 2000).

As everyone knows Rocky Maivia getting this “opportunity” was not well received by many fans at the time, but the match in which he won his first Federation Title was a good one which gave us an early indication of the chemistry these two would have together. There is “no time limit” according to JR, and this turns out to be a nice basic match, featuring some mat-wrestling and plenty of counter-moves, a contrast to their 1998-1999 style brawls. It is as good a match as you could expect from these two in that era considering at the time, Rocky was green as grass and the skinny looking Helmsley was developing his skills. Both characters would change a lot over the next few years: Hunter is still the snooty blue-blood and Chyna had yet to debut (she would do so at that months In Your House 13: Final Four); and it’s always interesting to see Maivia as a smiley babyface in a gimmick that was the polar opposite of The Rock… and to see him throwing dropkicks. (For the record, Rocky’s early finishers were the shoulder-breaker and a high-cross body-block from the top rope).

As an added bonus, the commentary features a few inside jokes such as McMahon informs us Helmsley’s ‘butler’, Mr. Hughes was “conspicuous by his absence” (i.e. he had been released) and later on when The Honkytonk Man, who at the time was searching for a protégé (and what a let-down that story ended up) joins the announce team and mocks Vince’s obsession with pushing Rocky so hard. Honky gets in some great one-liners regarding his real-life cousin (“When it comes to The King, he’s full of royalty”)  and (unusually for a heel of that era)offers criticism of both babyface (“Rocky Maivia – I don’t think he fits the category of what The Honkytonk Man’s looking for”) and heel (“Hunter Hearst Helmsley’s a good Champion but he’s not great by far”), as well as the match itself (“I’m not very impressed by anything I’ve seen so far”). In another interesting note years before he would become ‘The Cerebral Assassin’, Jim Ross helps coin Hunter’s future nickname…

Jim Ross: “Many say that Helmsley is the most cerebral Intercontinental Champion since The Honkytonk Man”

Vince McMahon: “HAHAHA, most cer-ee-bral, eh?”

Jerry Lawler: “Yeah, for you morons out there that means that he’s a ‘thinking man’s champion’!”

In-ring Helmsley carries the bulk of the match, playing off his experience advantage as he works Rocky’s arm over, building nicely to the upset finish. ‘The American Blue-Blood’ looks as smooth as he ever has here, including a nice piledriver. Say what you will about Rocky’s Intercontinental Title push: the match in which he won it was very well executed. They wouldn’t have a non-gimmick match this good again for many years to come. Afterwards, we have the post match interview with Michael Hayes, while in the background Triple H storms to the locker room.

Rating: ***¼     

Rock the Ruler: This section covers the fans’ negative reaction described here as an anti-Maivia mob”. Contrary to revisionist history (and even the way it is presented here), the legendary “Rocky Sucks!” chants did not begin when Maivia won the Intercontinental Title - as a fan at the time I distinctly remember they were a part of his matches since at least January (see his Shotgun match with Savio Vega for example).  When he won the belt they just got louder. Indeed many fans at the time resented the clean-cut and unproven youngster been shoved down their throats, leading to some incredible (negative) reactions for a babyface at the time most famously at Wrestleania XIII (of course, Cena has topped them since). Listening to the fans, WWF were smart enough to capitalise on the reaction by turning him heel after he attacked Chainz (Brian Lee) and joined The Nation of Domination (renamed ‘The Nation’). We get some nice clips of his super-cool Nation Titantron, his early heel promos, and a rushed description of how he usurped Farooq as ‘Ruler’ of the stable.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match - Owen Hart vs. The Rock, RAW (06/04/98): This was a surprising choice for a match. When I read the match listing, I presumed the date was wrong and we would get the match from 1997 in which the still-babyface Rocky Maivia lost the Intercontinental Title to the late Owen Hart. Instead we get new Nation ‘Ruler’ The Rock taking on ‘The Black Hart’ in a random match from Raw. I didn’t even remember (yes, even though it happened on my birthday).  The only reasoning I could think of, although it isn’t mentioned here, is that Rock was something of a protégé of Bret and Owen Hart. Your commentators are the unusual team of Jim Ross and Michael Cole, the latter of whom blasts the former with the following line about Vince McMahon: “He convinced you to turn Corporate – you’re wearing that Stetson hat!”

Around two minutes in, the ref kicks Rock’s sidekicks D-Lo Brown and Kama Mustafa out for interfering. It’s interesting to see Owen kick out of ‘The People’s Elbow’ (which was at that point a transitional move) mid-match but other than that there wasn’t much of a match here as they kept things really basic until the end when Owen makes his comeback and locks on the Sharpshooter only for Chyna to come down and whack him with a baseball bat giving Owen the DQ win at 5:47.

Rating: **¼

Nation vs. DX: Explains how Owen became co-leader of The Nation alongside The Rock, leading to a faction vs. faction feud with Owen’s existing enemies Degeneration-X along with highlights of this feud. Ironically we get more footage of D-X than The Nation! Of course the problems between the respective gangs lead to a rivalry between their respective leaders which leads us to…

King of the Ring Quarterfinal Match - Triple H vs. The Rock, RAW (22/06/98): This is from the Quarter Finals of the 1998 King Of The Ring Tournament that were broadcast on Raw before the pay-per-view. At the time, I was surprised this match was on free television rather the pay-per-view portion of the Tournament (where The Rock met Dan Severn in the Semi-Finals and Ken Shamrock in the Final, whilst Hunter provided guest commentary on the Final) since they were two of the more over guys in the Tournament. This is another unusual pick and I think a better bet would have been the Final against Shamrock. Although one of the better matches of the Tournament and possibly one of the better matches on Raw that summer but not even the best match on TV that night (to put things into perspective, over on WCW’s Monday Nitro we got Bret Hart versus Chris Benoit).

We saw their great chemistry again, this time with their roles reversed in this ‘battle of the champions’ as heel Intercontinental Champion The Rock takes on babyface European Champion Triple H. You can tell right away that we are now squarely in the ‘Attitude Era’ and the match is typical for those two in that era featuring: punches, kicks, trademark moves (once again, The People’s Elbow was still a mid-match move at this point, just called a “very artistic elbow” by JR) and interference from Chyna. In a nice twist, her meddling actually backfires causing a distraction that allows The Rock to deliver a low-blow followed with a Fisherman Suplex (he should have used that one more often) for the win. The match serves to set up a post-match brawl between The Nation and D-X. Not the best match they ever had, but it is nice to see one of their rarer matches.

Rating: ***    

Rock’s Big Chance: Now this is where things start to get really interesting as we see highlights of Rock tapping to Ken Shamrock in the KotR Final before jumping into his babyface turn (no mention of his Ladder Match loss to Triple H at that year’s SummerSlam surprisingly) and subsequent problems with Vince McMahon (“Your’e nothing but The People’s Ass”) in the build-up to the Survivor Series 1998: Deadly Games WWF Title Tournament. Clips from the matches themselves show how the odds were seemingly stacked against ‘The Great One’ as we see his four second pin on McMahon’s henchman, The Big Bossman ,in the First Round, Bossman ‘throwing his nightstick to Ken Shamrock’ but Rock ‘intercepting’ it in the Quarter-Finals, and Kane interfering in Rock’s Semi-Final with The Undertaker giving ‘The People’s Champion’ a DQ win and spot in the Final against McMahon’s ‘Chosen One’ Mankind… 

WWE Championship Match (Final Round) - Mankind vs. The Rock, Survivor Series (15/11/98):

Jim Ross: “There is no time limit in this match-up and we will stay with it until there is a winner!”

Jerry Lawler: “Yeah, you’re gonna get to see all of this pay-per-view!”

Jim Ross: “That’s not very nice, King. Making fun of those less fortunate.”

Jerry Lawler: “It’s not nice but it’s accurate!”

Ah, The Monday Night Wars, you can’t beat ‘em (bonus points to those who remember what they were referring to here). Less about great matches and more about tying together two months worth of angles, swerves, and storyline twists, the Deadly Games Tournament at Survivor Series 1998 is widely remembered for producing one of the most fun pay-per-views of all time. Watched in its entirety it is an entertaining show, more comparable to a movie than your standard pay-per-view, that all makes sense at the end. Taken out of this context, the Final loses much of its appeal.

With The Rock’s parents in the audience, we get off to a sloooow start and the first three minutes are disjointed and dull until Rock slaps on a chin-lock, bringing the match a standstill. As Mick Foley put it in his first autobiography, “Our match was literally dying, and as the senior member in the match, I would be held to blame” (Have A Nice Day, HarperCollins, 1999). Fortunately, they are just about able to rescue it thanks in part to Foley’s willingness to sacrifice his health as the action picks up with some violent chair-shots, low-blows, a dive through the Spanish Announce Table (which left Foley with a dislocated knee-cap and torn medial meniscus), a well-executed double-cross, and the use the obligatory ‘screw job’ finish. Yes the match-ending Sharpshooter was a direct reference to the Montreal Double-Cross at the previous year’s Survivor Series with Vince revealing his true intentions in a moment of revelation - “McMahon said ‘Ring the damn bell!’” (Jim Ross) - double-crossing Mankind and transforming The Rock into ‘The Corporate Champion’. The set wouldn’t feel complete without Rock’s first WWF Title win, by far the most important moment in his career to this date, winning the top title at the same event where just two years earlier he had made his television debut. Looking back it may seem predictable but at the time, although obvious to everyone who paid attention to wrestling The Rock was on his way to the top, it was still surprising just how quickly it all happened. We hear the post-match promo with the infamous line “Vince McMahon didn’t screw The People. The People screwed The People” but don’t get the post-match angle with Austin. The ending set up an immediate feud between Mankind and The Rock who would go on to have better matches against each other…  

Rating: ***   

Rivalry with Mankind: Highlights The Rock’s run as ‘The Corporate Champ’, my personal favourite era of his career. Sticking with the fictional story of The Rock being “the youngest” WWF Champion up to that point (in reality his cousin Yokozuna held that record), we get Rock’s reasons for his decision to double-cross ‘The People’ (he never forgave the fans for their earlier chants). It then moves on to his feud with Mankind. At the time (winter 1998-1999) I thought this the most interesting thing going on in U.S. wrestling but this is the most disappointing section of the DVD in so far that whilst there is a good collection of clips, there is little in the way of explanation, meaning it is confusing for newer fans. For the record, following Survivor Series the two battled each other in a rematch at December’s Rock Bottom, Mankind won the title in a No Disqualification Match on Raw later that month, Rock regained it in the violent (and difficult to watch) ‘I Quit!’ Match at Royal Rumble ’99, and Foley won it back off him in an Empty Arena Match broadcast on Half Time Heat during the 1999 SuperBowl. This led to the next match…

Last Man Standing Match for the WWE Championship - Mankind vs. The Rock, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (14/02/99): Defending Champion Mankind is selling his leg injury from an earlier angle (included here) on the live Heat prior to the pay-per-view where Rock attacked his knee with a fire extinguisher whilst he doing step-ups as part of a training with his mentor Dominic DeNucci, and former WWF Champions Bob Backlund and Sheiky baby (allowing them to play off Foley’s legitimate bad knees).

Held before 19,028 at The Pyramid in Memphis, in many ways this was an ‘Attitude Era’ tribute to the classic Memphis brawls of the 1970s and 80s. It really has it all: comedy, violence, trademark moves, lots of brawling around the arena, ref bumps, low-blows, and big bumps (at one point Mankind takes a backdrop off the Announce Table!). They work in some of their best spots from previous matches, use tables, chairs, steel ring-steps as weapons, and the various ’10 Counts’ are well executed. We start with some great psychology as Foley put his hands behind his back in a reenactment of the handcuff spot from the Rumble’s ‘I Quit!’ match to show how much punishment he could take before dishing out some of his own and the match builds from there. As usual Mankind takes loads of abuse but the match has much more than that. From his then-trademark slow walk to the ring (for me, one of the highlights of his heel act), to his ‘trash talk’ with fans and the ref throughout the match, the tracksuit-wearing Rock puts on a tour de force which highlights what a great all-round entertainer he was. At one point, he follows up three suplexes on the floor by commandeering Michael Cole’s chair to provide some commentary alongside Jerry Lawler. Later he grabs a microphone and does his impression of Memphis’ other King, treating the live audience to his rendition of “SmackDown! Hotel” (to the tune of “Heartbreak Hotel”).

We are also treated to some hilariously bad commentary from Cole like when he notes “Rock’s in trouble:  SIX HUNDRED pounds of weight on that table, King!”, just before Foley delivers a Double-Arm DDT. I guess they both must have spent a lot of time in the canteen that day (hopefully the table was reinforced). Nothing can top the following exchange as they are showing a replay of the match-ending double-chair shot:

Michael Cole: “Mankind and The Rock knocked each other out with the steel stairs and they could not get up!”
Jerry Lawler: “They used chairs, Michael Cole!”
Michael Cole: “They used stairs all night – chairs, what’s the difference?”

(I wonder what Michael Cole sits on when he’s having dinner and what he climbs up to get to bed)

Ah yes, the finish. At the time the main criticism was that this match was used to set up yet another rematch (the result seemed to set-up a Triple Threat Match at WrestleMania XV, but it was not to be and instead lead into the following night’s episode of Raw) rather than provide a conclusive winner. The live audience obviously agreed because the ending is greeted by a HUGE and sustained chant of “Bulls***!”  The post-match stretcher job is also included.

Whilst not as memorable, haunting, bloody or disturbing as the violent match at the previous month’s Royal Rumble this is arguably the better match (not to mention easier to watch) and possibly the best match of the Rock-Mankind series. Shame about the non-conclusive finish.

Rating: ****  

So it continues…: A quick recap explaining why they had a rematch the next night on Raw…

Ladder Match for the WWE Championship - Mankind vs. The Rock, RAW (15/02/99): You can tell which ‘Era’ this is from due to the abundance of signs with black marker. Before the action gets underway, we are treated to Rock’s pre-match promo at the expense of the crowd, Steve Austin, tequila, and Mick Foley. Then Steve Austin joins Lawler and Cole on commentary and does a decent job. Between  swearing a lot, insulting both wrestlers and gently mocking Cole’s commentary skills, ‘Stone Cold’ provides some funny and insightful remarks that actually add to the action .

Different from your typical Ladder Match, this is in fact closer to your typical ‘Attitude Era’ brawl being less about highspots and more about violence. They set the tone early when The Rock whips Mankind knees first into the ring-steps and throughout the bout they continue to play off Foley’s knee injury from the previous night, use spots from their previous matches (such as a Rock Bottom through the table), and throw in some stiff chair (not stair!) and ladder shots, including their version of the ‘hammering’ spot from the HHH/Rock Ladder Match at SummerSlam ’98. The match ends with outside interference when new Corporation member Paul ‘not yet The Big Show’ Wight (who debuted at the previous night’s PPV) Chokeslams Mankind off the ladder, allowing Rock to grab the gold and become a three-time WWF Champion within the space of four months. As hard-hitting as the match was, at just over thirteen minutes it all seems a bit too rushed  to live up to its full potential. Although long for a TV match in the ‘Attitude Era’, you can’t help but feel that an extra five minutes and it would have been better. Post-match, Austin delivers a Stunner to ‘The Corporate Champ’ which leads us to...

Rating: ****

Two of the Most Charismatic Superstars Ever: Focuses on the build-up to WrestleMania XV and the contrasting ideologies of the two mega-stars.

WWE Championship Match - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, WrestleMania XV (28/03/99): We end the first disc with the biggest match of The Rock’s career to that point: his first chance to headline WrestleMania. What makes this match even more impressive is that according Rock’s book, they didn’t get round to discussing what they were going to do in the ring until the day of the show when Austin and Rock went through the match with Pat Patterson (interestingly it was at this point that The Rock suggested he kick out of the Stunner). Fortunately, the final WrestleMania Main Event of the 90’s lived up to expectations. From the red hot crowd to the announcing (McMahon brought Jim Ross back specifically to commentate on this match following his second bout of Bell’s Palsy at the request of Austin and Rock) everything fell into place and the two headliners are over to a ridiculous degree in their roles as babyface and heel. Despite his mega-heel status, Rock had been cheered by some during his feud with Foley but here it’s plain to see who the live audience are behind here from the booming chants of “Rocky Sucks!” From the start you get the feeling this is a battle between two distinct characters intense and over enough to pull it off and the iconic stare-down at the start has been shown in video packages for the past nine years since. A ‘No DQ’ stipulation was only added on the live Heat before the show went on the air, and the match is like a ‘Greatest Hits’ tour of your typical ‘Attitude Era’-style brawl consisting of brawling, punch-stomp combinations, a lengthy period of brawling around the arena, multiple ref bumps, the smashing of the Spanish Announce Table, a long chin-lock from The Rock, lots of near-falls, low-blows, nasty chair shots (even Mike Chioda takes a brutal ‘no-hands-up’/unprotected chair shot to the head), outside interference/run-ins from McMahon and Mick Foley who takes his rightful place as Special Guest Referee (another recurring gimmick in the ‘‘Attitude Era’’), and long finishing sequence in which they kick out of and counter each others finishing moves. In the end, after surviving two Rock Bottoms, it took two Stunners for ‘Stone Cold’ to win.

For many fans at the time, WrestleMania XV was the night The Rock showed he was there to stay. Still as much of a big night as it was for The Rock, it was another milestone for his opponent: the memorable ending of the pay-per-view saw Vince McMahon almost in tears, his ‘Corporate Champion’ defeated by McMahon’s arch-enemy, as the returning Jim Ross shouted “Stone Cold has become the World Wrestling Federation and he did it at WrestleMania XV!” I probably like this match more than most (hence a higher rating than I gave the heavily-hyped main event of WrestleMania XXIII), but it really was an entertaining ride from start to finish.

Rating: ****¼  

Disc 2 –

“I love The Rock as much as everybody: This guy’s great, knows he’s electrifyin’ and all that stuff. But hey! Kurt Angle is a true American hero. He’s even wearing the colours of the United States: red, white and blue – this guy won a Gold Medal. Why is everybody feeling that The Rock is going to win this match with his eyes closed?” 

(Tazz, No Way Out 2001, 25/02/01)

People’s Champion: The second disc kicks off with a recap of the events that led to The Rock going from top heel to one of the top two babyfaces (along with Austin) when he decided to leave The Corporation after losing a rematch to ‘Stone Cold’ at Backlash. Yes it was ‘The Great One’ himself who made the choice (compare Randy Orton’s 2004 babyface turn where Orton was the one kicked out of Evolution by Triple H) and we learn that Triple H (and Chyna) had similarly decided to leave D-X, that Hunter was on his way to main event status and a renewal of their feud. Whilst its hardly a big omission it’s a shame it doesn’t mention that at the time Triple H joined The Corporation (WrestleMania XV) Rock was still the top star of group. I only mention that because it would have been nice to see one of the tag matches they had together in that period since they spent most of their careers opposing each other.

Steel Cage Match - The Rock vs. Triple H, RAW (05/07/99): Another odd choice, we kick-off Disc 2 on much the same note Disc 1 ended with an ‘‘Attitude Era’’ scrap. Yes, the main event of Raw the week after the one where Steve Austin won the WWF Title back from The Undertaker was given to the companies top two young stars and it’s good to see the roles reversed yet again, now with even better results as Rocky is back on the side of good and Tripper starting to come into his own as the Number 2 heel (behind The Undertaker). “I think he’s a very self-centred human being” says Jim Ross of Triple H who had just gotten the storyline credit for injuring Mankind/been responsible for Foley finally getting knee surgery, Hunter was on the way to winning his first World Title (which wouldn’t happened until the night after SummerSlam ’99).

The action itself is pretty basic - lots of punch-stomp in this one, in-between which Triple H uses a pair of handcuffs supplied by Chyna as a weapon – but the thing that really stood out to me most was that this match showed they could have a relatively strong match without either of them ever needing to hit their respective finishers. This was a ‘Number One Contenders’ match with “no time limit” (according to JR) and the lack of a referee inside the Cage means the only way to win is by escaping the steel structure. Simple, right? Wrong. Despite the fact that there is no referee and it is in a Cage to prevent outside interference/the wrestlers leaving the ring they still manage to work in outside interference, a ref bump and even manage to brawl up the aisle! They achieve this three-in-one after Chyna interferes by taking out Tim White, slams the door in Rock’s face in a throwback to WCCW, and physically drags her man out of the Cage. Predictably Rock follows and they brawl around ringside before The Rock finally drags Triple H back into the Cage to restart the match. A steel chair becomes involved in the finish and we get an unusual ending as the over-confident Triple H’s arrogance backfires on him when he accidentally crotches himself on the top rope when he is trying to climb back into the Cage so he can walk out the door, allowing Rock to escape instead. Interestingly Hunter’s fall was foreshadowed by the commentary at the start of the match, where Jerry Lawler talked about ‘The Game’s’ over-ambitiousness being his downfall: “The only gripe I have with Triple H is that that ego of his and that pride and that blind ambition almost split The Corporation in half but fortunately Mr. McMahon’s got all of that smoothed over” (oh, the irony!)

The DVD cuts out Mr. Ass’ post match attack on ‘The Great One’. Whilst not as good as the one they had at Rebellion later that year this was still a strong effort for a TV match.

Rating: ***¼   

Rock ‘n Sock Connection: Details how the former rivals became tag team partners with highlights from their comedy promos with Mankind campaigning to be The Rock’s partner and the infamous twenty minute “This Is Your Life’ segment where Foley brought out The Rock’s former Home Economics teacher, Football Coach, and high school sweetheart, and “delivered a jacket to The Rock officially dubbing their union The Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection.” It is worth noting that the next match is actually from before that angle.

World Tag Team Championship - The Rock / Mankind vs. Undertaker / Big Show, RAW (30/08/99):  Our heroes are already in the ring as Tag Team Champions ‘The Unholy Alliance’, billed at a combined weight of 828 lbs and carrying numerous injuries (in the case of Undertaker), sloooowly walk down to the ring. On the babyface side Foley looked the worse for wear due to his injuries and weight problems, even compared to his matches earlier that year with The Rock.

Show dives in and takes on both opponents by himself and from there the match is worked as a handicap match. ‘Taker gets in some cheap-shots outside but doesn’t ever tag-in as Foley plays Ricky Morton/Face In Peril to some humourous commentary (“How dare you insult Mrs. Foley!” JR to The King). Five minutes in, Paul Bearer starts sloooowly making his way down to ringside, tells Undertaker something I don’t think we ever found out and they leave together. With Big Show all alone, Foley hits a low-blow and hot tags The Rock who uses a chair-shot, followed by a Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection Double People’s Elbows for their first run as Tag Team Champions. Much, much better match than I remembered it being but still the weakest bout on the set so far. If they needed an R ‘n’ Connection match they should have used their match with The Dudleyz.

Rating: *¾  

The Verbal SmackDown!: This chapter deals with The Rock’s growing popularity, particularly how “SmackDown! – A term coined by The Rock was utilised as the name of the WWE’s first weekly broadcast on Network programming” and the word itself became part of the common vernacular earning a place in Webster’s Dictionary.

No Holds Barred Match - The Rock vs. Kane, SmackDown! (30/12/99): Rock is crazy over by this point as he takes on old-school Kane (you know when he still had the one arm covered). Set-up by an angle in which Stephanie McMahon accused The Rock of “oooogling” (Michael Cole’s word) Kane’s girlfriend Torri, this was the WWF’s last televised match of the Millennium. This leads to a humourous mistake later in the match when Cole remarks “Kane may be doing this for Triple H, but he’s doing it more for Terri!” 

At 5:13 this is a short but action packed brawl, that more resembles an ‘‘Attitude Era’’ pay-per-view main event that starts out at a fast-pace as they fight up the ramp, use the steel structures as weapons, exchange low-blows, etc., etc. Kane takes a big bump off the stage. Rock takes a Chokeslam through the table. In the end ‘The Great One’ uses a steel chair, followed by a Rock Bottom for the win. Similar to the Owen Hart match in that the action was slightly better than expected, but far too short to leave an impact.

Rating: **¼  

McMahon – Helmsley Regime vs. The Rock: Despite his success in 1999 we are told “His banner year paled in comparison to one of his familiar foes” as we get footage of the McMahon-Helmsley Era including Triple H and Stephanie’s wedding and Triple H ‘retiring’ Mick Foley at No Way Out 2000, which left The Rock as their remaining arch-enemy. The result? “When The Rock and Triple H met at Backlash 2000, the odds were undeniably in favour of Triple H: He was not only WWE Champion but essentially running the WWE with his wife Stephanie and to make matters even worse for The Rock Triple H’s brother-in-law Shane McMahon was serving as Special Guest Referee.” If only we knew then, what we know now… 

WWE Championship Match - Triple H vs. The Rock, Backlash (30/04/00): Actually Triple H is accompanied not only by Steph, but her dad as well! Before the match Vince announces that Special Enforcer ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin won’t be there, making the situation look even bleaker for The Rock. The pressure is on since, ‘The Great One’ had taken a leaf out of McMahon’s play-book and “guaran-damn-teed” victory.

The fourth and final match between mssrs Helmsley and Maivia is the best of their matches shown here. The wrestling itself is nothing fancy, consisting mainly of punch-stomp combinations and plenty of finishers. In fact Rock’s offence here doesn’t expand much beyond punches… And you know what? It doesn’t matter!!! They have the audience in the palm of their hands from start to finish. Everyone knows their role here: This is the ‘version’ of The Rock, a lot of people remember when they think about him and he was at possibly his most over here as a fiery babyface, Vince provides outside interference and classic facial expressions, Women’s Champion (remember that?) Stephanie screams, Shane helps his brother-in-law out any chance he gets with fast counts (JR: “Why is he patting Triple H on the leg? Affirmation?”) and flat out refusing to count for The Rock, and Triple H is in his absolute prime here as he heels it up, slows the babyface’s momentum down  with a long sleeper and a chin-lock spot, and bumps all over the place for Rocky’s comebacks. Add in a white hot crown, ref bumps, run-ins by Patterson and Brisco, steel chair shots, a finish involving appearances from ‘The Rattlesnake’, Linda McMahon and Earl Hebner, and the constant bickering between Ross and Lawler on commentary and you’ve got an entertaining slice of Sports Entertainment. Of course, the Spanish Announce Table gets smashed this time courtesy of a double Rock Bottom onto Shane and ‘The Game’. The only real criticism of this match is that the anticipation for Steve Austin’s arrival overshadowed some of the action as the live audience breaks into BOOMING chants of “Austin! Austin!” at various points throughout. When he does arrive, the ovation is incredible. Unfortunately ‘The Bionic Redneck’ was clearly struggling following neck surgery (he would make his comeback that September) which meant he couldn’t perform the Stone Cold Stunner (instead using a chair to take out the baddies) and found it difficult to get back up after falling down. After Austin delivers chair-shots all round, The Rock dropped The People’s Elbow for the win. (N.B. Rock lost it straight back to Trips in the Iron Man Match at Judgement Day the following month!)

Whichever way you slice it, this is a fun match and a perfect example of the familiar ‘babyface overcomes the odds’ storyline with a hugely over hero, a hated heel and some good storytelling. The post-match celebration involving Austin, a tow-truck, the D-X Express, and some beers is included.

Rating: ****

The Following Night…: A short section setting up The Rock’s first title defence, a Cage Match on the following night’s Raw…

Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championship - The Rock vs. Shane McMahon, RAW (01/05/00): There’s some more selective history involved here since they made a big deal out of the fact that if Rock lost he’d be “the shortest reigning WWF Champion in history” when in fact that ‘honour’ already belongs to Yokozuna (again!) at WrestleMania IX. Poor old Yoko’ being ignored in his family member’s DVD!

As far as the match itself goes, the Cage gimmick plays to Shane’s strengths (he takes a big bump late on) and with his dad, sister, and Triple in his corner and Patterson and Brisco as Special Guest Referees there are enough distractions to disguise any flaws in the ‘wrestling’ which includes the usual outside interference, low-blows, and biased officiating in favour of the heel including Brisco slamming the door in The Rock’s face like he’s Terry Gordy on Christmas Day 1982. Whilst the second Cage Match of the set doesn’t quite live up to the first it is still a fun TV-style match. For the second night in the row, it’s a case of the babyface having to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds after Rocky’s pal Earl Hebner helps him out. Hot on the heels of the previous night’s title change the live crowd was really into this one, meanwhile on television this match drew a HUGE rating being watched by an incredible ten million viewers! Much better match than it had any right to be.

Rating: ***  

The Great One vs. The Olympic Medalist: After crediting, The Rock for crossing over and becoming a mainstream celebrity through his role in The Mummy Returns (2001), we are introduced to Kurt Angle. At the time a lot of fans (particularly of the on-line variety) moaned, groaned and complained that Angle was presented as an ‘out-of-his-depth’ transitional Champion during his first Title run. Here the current TNA star is put over very well as the narrator discusses his amateur credentials, him defeating The Rock for the WWF Title at No Mercy 2000, and his success at retaining the belt against ‘The Brahma Bull’ in their subsequent series of rematches.

WWE Championship Match - Kurt Angle vs. The Rock, No Way Out (25/02/01): These two always had great chemistry together (perhaps because of their friendship), going back to Angle’s early days in the Federation and this one was arguably the best match of Angle’s career to that point. Many have claimed this loss did more for Angle than any of his wins as Champion and in many ways the match itself is worked to put both men over as equals. With everyone expecting Austin-Rock to headline WrestleMania X-7, the commentary team of JR and Tazz do their best job of presenting the defending WWF Champion as a possible winner during the intense pre-match stare down.

Jim Ross: “Everybody’s expecting The Rock to win this match. I tell ya what: I believe that The Rock, I think from talkin’ to him today, he knows what kind of challenge this is going to be.”

Tazz: “Everybody’s sayin’ The Rock is going to win this match. Hey look, I’m tellin’ ya right now: I’ve been in the ring with both these guys, specifically Angle – Kurt Angle a Gold Medal Winner, this guy has never been an underdog and he ain’t an underdog today.”

Workrate-wise this is probably the best actual match on the set (at least up to this point) and you can see how the WWF/E Main Event style had evolved from the punch-stomp style of the late 90s as they exchange suplexes, submission moves (Sharpshooter, Angle Lock), belt shots, chair shots, a moonsault from Angle, and in the finishing sequence trade counters and reversals of finishers (that would become Angle’s trademark). Of course, they still throw in a ref bump and some outside interference from The Big Show (which has surprisingly little effect). The closing moments were particularly gripping with Angle swearing and showing a new intense side to his character as he desperately tried to hold on to the belt. They kick out of each others finishers, before Rock wraps things up with two Rock Bottoms… Actually it should have ended after the first Rock Bottom (being as Angle didn’t kick out!), but according to Kurt Angle’s autobiography the referee made a mistake:

“Instead of slapping the mat for the third time, he stopped his hand, the way he would if I was going to kick out. Only I didn’t kick out. The ref didn’t realize this was the finish. So he looked at us, then he looked at the announcer’s table where the bell was, and he knew he had messed up. He should have just said, “It’s a fall. The Rock wins.” But I guess he thought it would look bad, since he hadn’t finished the count. So he said, “No fall. The match continues.”’ (It’s True, It’s True, Collins Willow, 2001).

Rock improvised by nailing Angle with by far the hardest Rock Bottom you’ll see for the win. The crowd was hot, the action was fast-paced, and they ended one of the PPVs WWF/E have ever on a high-note that made both winner and loser look strong. 

Rating: ****¼

The New Title: Acknowledging this title win it says The Rock was back on top, but interestingly the bout where he lost the title to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin (arguably the best and most famous match of his career) at WrestleMania X-7 is not mentioned or shown in the highlights! Instead we hear all about how the WCW buy-out led to an influx of new talent, including WCW World Champion Booker t At this point the narrator notes, “While this major overhaul was taking place The Rock was in Hollywood filming another movie” (veiled criticism?) and we get some highlights from the build-up to their match at SummerSlam ’01.

WCW Championship Match - Booker T vs. The Rock, SummerSlam (19/08/01): Perhaps the most often cited problem with the Invasion angle is that the WCW/ECW Alliance guys were never (or at least rarely) made to look as strong as the WWFers and at SummerSlam ‘01 (the only WWF/E pay-per-view in history where the WCW Championship was defended in the main event) Booker certainly doesn’t come across as The Rock’s equal. In this case that is not entirely WWE’s fault because it would have been nearly impossible to find anyone from WCW they could have done that with against Rock and Austin. No-one at that point really could have with the exceptions of Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, Sting, and possibly Scott Steiner and Kevin Nash.

Right away, you’re reminded what an entertaining announce team JR and Paul Heyman were, with their constant bickering and the very real sense of tension you got from them. They do a good job here of hyping the importance of this WCW Title Match. Built as The Rock’s return to pay-per-view (his last being the previous PPV bout being at WrestleMania X-7 back in April of that year) after he had taken time off to film The Scorpion King, our man receives a great reaction. Rock’s problems with ‘The Book Man’ related to Booker claiming The ‘Spin-a-roonie’ was “The Most Electrfying Move In Sports Entertainment” and that he invented The Bookend (Rock Bottom) finishing move. Booker is accompanied by WCW ‘Owner’ Shane McMahon guaranteeing a truck-load of outside-the-ring shenanigans.

Following a very fast start, the match maintains its quick pace to the extent that - reminiscent of Blanchard and Anderson/Luger and Windham at Clash Of The Champions I (and Undertaker/Batista at WrestleMania XXIII - at times it is like watching two heavyweights moving in fast-forward!  Some smooth exchanges (at one point Rock even utilizes a La Magistral cradle) are complimented by plenty of outside interference, finishing moves, chair shots, and a run-in from the APA. In the end,  Booker’s overconfidence costs him the match as he takes time out to perform a ‘Spin-a-roonie’ and walks right, slap, bang, into a Rock Bottom giving ‘The Great One’ his first WCW Title.

Rating: ***½  

The Undisputed Champion: Explains the decision to unify the WCW and WWF Titles at the first Vengeance pay-per-view where Chris Jericho pulled an upset by defeating The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night (and went on about it for the next thirty years) to become the first The Undisputed Champion.

Undisputed WWE Championship Match - Chris Jericho vs. The Rock, Royal Rumble (20/01/02):

Jim Ross: “I don’t ever recall coming into a Championship Match where seemingly the Champion was the underdog!”

Jerry Lawler: “Well, Y2J has been given very little respect by not only The Rock but by the rest of the >censored< Superstars. As of late everybody’s been coming up to The Rock and saying that when they win the Royal Rumble they’re going to be facing The Rock at WrestleMania. They’re just assuming that The Rock is going to walk over Y2J, he’s like a walk in the park. Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

‘Love It Or Hate It’, describes the following match and in fact every match from then on in the set. Some call this a “forgotten classic” and label it a 2002 Match Of The Year Contender. Others found it to be “overbooked”, a glorified “squash match”, and claiming it made an already weak looking Champion look even weaker (no mean feat). For those who have forgotten, the storyline leading into the match was that everyone thought The Rock was going to win. This even led to a series of backstage segments in which all the main potential Royal Rumble winners confronted ‘The Brahma Bull’ and informed him that they were going to be challenging him for the Undisputed Championship at WrestleMania X-8. Naturally, this annoyed Jericho who claimed he was “not a joke”.

Following a long and dramatic stare down, complete with trash talk and culminating with  Jericho sticking his hand in front of The Rock’s face ala The Rock’s trademark “Just Bring It!” hand-signal, Rock starts with some fast punches and we are in for a near twenty minute action-packed match featuring numerous false finishes. The blonde Canadian delivered a pair of Lionsaults which only scored a two. Moments later, The Rock finished a  comeback by making Y2J tap to the Sharpshooter but a run-in from Jericho’s countrymen Lance Storm and Christian were able to distract the referee. ‘The People’s Champion’ took out both interferers, but the distraction allowed Jericho to deliver a Rock Bottom which only got another count of two. Avoiding Jericho’s version of The People’s Elbow, Rocky smashed ‘The Ayatollah Of Rock ‘n’ Rolla’ through Ross and Lawler’s announce table (Lawler: “Are you okay, JR?...  It doesn’t matter if you’re okay!”).Jericho slapped on The Walls Of Jericho, but ‘The Great One’ made the ropes. After a ref bump (allowing corrupt referee Nick Patrick to replace him) Jericho used his Undisputed Title to blast The Rock but ‘The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment’ kicked out and scored a visible pin with a regular DDT… Which Patrick predictably refused to count. After Rock Bottoming Patrick, Rock delivered the famous spinebuster/People’s Elbow combo for another visible three count but with no referee to count Jericho was given time to recover again. In the end, despite all the assistance (intentional and coincidental) he had received when he was clearly beaten throughout the match, it took three forms of cheating for Jericho to score the win as he delivered a low-blow, rammed Rock’s head into an exposed turnbuckle and then put his feet on the ropes. As a result Y2J beat The Rock for the “fifteenth time”, by Jericho’s counting.

Rating: ****¼

Disc 3 –

“The Rock: Arguably the greatest ‘Third Generation Superstar’ in the history of our business. His late grandfather, ‘The High Chief’, was a Superstar. His dad, Rocky Johnson, a Tag Team Champion. This young man using the WWE as a springboard to Hollywood stardom but there’s one thing The Rock has never done, King, and I truly believe it is eating him alive, and that is on the grandest stage that our business has to offer The Rock has never defeated ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin.”

(Jim Ross, WrestleMania XIX, 30/03/03)

Icon vs. Icon: Disc 3 kicks off with the background to possibly The Rock’s most famous ever match. Hollywood Hulk Hogan had returned following a nine year hiatus from the WWF, as part of the nWo giving fans the opportunity for a true‘Dream Match’ between two of the biggest names of all-time. It was a match many thought we would never see, right up there with Austin/Goldberg in terms of a ‘fantasy match’ fans talked about during the tail-end of The Monday Night War between the WWF and WCW and seeing the build-up again makes one remember how important it seemed at the time. We get footage from the classic in-ring segment from Raw the night after No Way Out 2002, complete with the obligatory one-liner from JR: “It looks like wrestling’s past about to meet wrestling’s future”…   

The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan, WrestleMania X8 (17/03/02): If the last match fell into the ‘Love It Or Hate It’ category then this match seemingly defines the category itself. This is a match that inspires strong feeling of love or hate, throughout both the internet  wrestling community and ‘mainstream’ wrestling journalism (it may be the only match I’ve seen nominated for ‘Best’ and ‘Worst’ match of all time in various polls). One thing is for certain: whenever it is mentioned you are guaranteed to get a variety of reactions to it. Some claim that Hogan, the heel, went out of his way to get cheered to “make The Rock look bad”; others argue it wasn’t really necessary considering this was Hogan’s first WrestleMania since IX  and  return to Toronto’s SkyDome site of one of his most famous WrestleMania matches ‘The Ultimate Challenge’ at WrestleMania VI (in which he lost the WWF Title to The Ultimate Warrior) and that Hogan was going to get plenty of support whoever he wrestled). Some say that not only did it have a great big match feel but that the ‘work’ of match surpassed expectations as far as in-ring performances went; others claim Hogan looked barely mobile pointing to several poorly executed or botched moves (including a missed kick in the corner). I could go back-and-forth with the various points and counter-points all day, but instead I’ll just say whatever your opinion on this match it was certainly a spectacle.

Most of the 68,237 who travelled to Toronto that Saint Patrick’s Day seemed to enjoy themselves, and the ‘Big Match Atmosphere’ is apparent before they even lock-up. Jerry Lawler compares it to getting to see Mike Tyson against Muhammad Ali or Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds, in their respective primes with one important difference: “We’ll never see Tyson and Ali, we’ll never see Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds but we are going to get to witness The Rock and The Hulk, only at WrestleMania!!!” In some ways the reaction to this match, mirrors the reaction to Hogan in general. As JR puts it: “You can love him or you can hate him and there’s a lot of these fans here in SkyDome that love this legendary figure: Hollywood Hulk Hogan.” That turns out to be the understatement of the year as a BOOMING chant of “Hogan! Hogan!” from the start. In the interest of fairness, Rock did have his supporters but they were drowned out by the assembled Hulkamaniacs (prior to the match the announcers had been told some pro-Hogan reaction was expected and to acknowledge it after but this was bigger than anyone expected).

Hogan dominates early on using his “You ain’t nothin’ Meatball” taunt from his character Thunderlips in Rocky III , before this Rocky (Maivia not Balboa) makes a comeback with a flying clothesline and the boos start already as he performs his trademark “Just Bring It!” hand-signal. This reaction set the tone for the rest of the match. Was the match itself any good? I’ll admit the match had an awkward feel to some of the exchanges but as far as the “Hogan looked awful” argument goes, I have to say Hulk’s offence consisting of elbow drops, back rakes, a back suplex and an abdominal stretch didn’t look bad. It was when he was on defence, i.e. required to take bumps/sell moves, that things looked awkward. A ref bump allowed some false finishes as Rock used the Sharpshooter for a visible tap out win to a chant of “Rocky Sucks!”… but with no ref it gave ‘Hollywood’ enough time to recover and deliver a low-blow followed by his version of the Rock Bottom for another visible fall, but by the time the ref got there it only secured a two. Both took turns whipping each other like Government Mules with Hollywood’s trademark weight-lifting belt. Interestingly (but not surprisingly by this point) the crowd cheered when Hogan did it but booed when it was Rock’s turn. The finish resembled the dramatic closing moments of ‘The Ultimate Challenge’: Hogan kicked out of a Rock Bottom, Hulked-Up and delivered TheBigBoot and a Legdrop for a pinfall attempt of his own but this time Rock was able to kick out. As ‘The Hulkster’ took to the air with a second Ledgdrop, ‘The Great One’ moved out of the way and followed up with two Rock Bottoms and a People’s Elbow for the win.

Refreshingly, this was the first match since the very first match on the set ( Hunter Hearst Helmsley vs. Rocky Maivia, 13/02/97) that didn’t involve some kind of outside interference. It does however include the post-match angle where Scott Hall and Kevin Nash attack their former nWo comrade and Rock helps ‘The Hulkster’ out thus cementing Hogan’s babyface turn. The post-match handshake (“A handshake that will be remembered for many, MANY  years to come!”) and celebration is included. Historically, WrestleMania has featured the biggest matches of the year with the emphasis more on presenting a larger-than-life spectacle than a workrate classic and this match wasn’t short of spectacle. Love it or hate it, I’d safely call this a match everyone should see at some point whether they end up enjoying it or not.

Rating: ***¼  (Atmosphere: *****)

Triple Threat: We get the build-up to his match at Vengeance. There isn’t much to say here other than The Rock was back for three months that summer before leaving again to finish filming Welcome To The Jungle/The Rundown.

Triple Threat Match for the WWE Undisputed Championship - Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker vs. The Rock, Vengeance (21/07/02): In 2008, this match isn’t so much ‘Love It Or Hate It’ as just plain forgotten. At the time it was quite the talking point however being hailed as not only a ‘Match Of The Year Contender’ but one of the best matches of the decade (to that point). Whilst inevitably overshadowed by Chris Benoit’s emotional title win against Triple H and Shawn Micheals at WrestleMania XX and the following month’s rematch at Backlash 2004, this match still has a small following who regard it as the best Triple Threat Match the promotion has ever done… Yet interestingly enough, it is rarely mentioned today.

In many ways this match was the template for the workrate-orientated, ‘chained-spots’ style that became synonymous with the WWE Main Event style into the mid-2000’s. That style has its share of positives and negatives, but here they make it work because it relies on three very distinct, and over, characters with their own trademark mannerisms and moves. They go through most of them here and also mimick each other along the way. All three were on top form: Undertaker was in his short-haired, heel, biker phase and the defending Undisputed Champion, ‘The Dead Man’ looks very slim here, moves incredibly quickly and isn’t afraid to mix things up a bit - including a rather unique variation of ‘Old School’; Kurt Angle is in full-on ‘Suplex Machine’ mode and plays a central role in keeping the action moving at a swift pace; and The Rock entered a strong performance typical of him in this era.  It’s funny how The Rock seemed to get better and better in-ring coinciding with the further his career moved away from wrestling (if he came back today he’d probably be the best wrestler in the world!). The ‘workrate’ here is very strong as they hardly stop for a breath delivering lots of punching, big bumps, comedy (thanks to Your Olympic Hero), blood (again courtesy of the Olympian), low-blows, a chair-shot, a ref bump and more false finishes than you can shake a stick at. Somehow they also manage to exchange taunts which each other as this is all going on. Its funny to see them all using each others moves as Rock chokeslams The Undertaker, then Angle Locks Angle’s ankle, before Angle Rock Bottoms Rock, and Undi’ Angle Slams Angle! Whilst the match is clearly built around big moves and high-spots it’s the way they are able to transition between them that makes it all ‘click’. In the end it was ‘The Brahma Bull’ delivering a Rock Bottom to Angle to become a record-breaking seven time WWF/E Heavyweight Champion. This match marked The Rock’s first pay-per-view match since his WrestleMania win over Hogan and he did so in style. At 19:35 it is given enough time for it not to seem rushed despite the frenetic pace and is easily the most underrated match any of the three have been in. I think the main reason it isn’t that widely remembered is because in the grand scheme of things it was just a way to set up Rock putting over Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam the following month.

Rating: ****¼     

Just Bring It: This is yet another match that comes from ‘the next night on Raw’ following a significant pay-per-view match involving ‘The Great One’. The voiceover talks about Rock’s challengers during his final title reign and puts over Eddie Guerrero as one of Rock’s best opponents during this period. Those who remember this match will be disappointed to learn that it doesn’t include the Eddie promo which set up this match, where Guerrero talked about taking down his daughters’ Scorpion King poster because they should support their dad (“I think I’m going to send them one just for the hell of it!”, JR).

The Rock vs. Eddie Guerrero, RAW (22/07/02): From one underrated match to another, the action is quick, there is some silky smooth wrestling from both, and you can almost feel the charisma coming from the two in the ring. Eddie was such a good sneaky heel at this point. From the way he worked the crowd during his entrance, to the ‘Latino Heat’ character, to his facial expressions to the way he alternated between power moves, ariel attacks and slowing down The Rock with a chin-lock, he really brought a lot to the table. Lots of nice counter moves further illustrate how ‘complete’ a wrestler Eddie was when he was on form. After countering a Rock Bottom, Guerrero misses the Frog Splash and suffers the spinebuster/People’s Elbow combo for another Rock victory.

Based on this ‘Latino Heat’ and The Rock showed they had some real chemistry together so it’s a shame we never got a proper program between them. Not long enough to be a classic, this was still a really fun TV main event.

Rating: ***¼

Third Time’s A Charm?: The reasons behind The Rock’s heel turn (he was getting booed for having ‘turned his back on wrestling’ during his summer 2002 run) are ignored and in fact from watching this you don’t even learn that he did turn heel upon his return in early 2003. What we do learn is that for The Rock to move on, there was one thing left for him to accomplish: defeat ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin at WrestleMania and we see highlights of the two previous WrestleMania matches (XV and X-7) between the two.

Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock, WrestleMania XIX (30/03/03): Fittingly, the last match of the set is the third match in the Austin/Rock WrestleMania Trilogy bringing us full circle to the end of Disc 1. As far as mixed reactions go, nothing may top the discussion relating to Rock/Hogan at WrestleMania X8 but if anything comes close its Rock’s match from the following year’s show. Many consider this to be the weakest of their three WrestleMania matches, but a small but vocal minority of others argue it was in fact the best of the bunch. This was Steve Austin’s last match. ‘The Bionic Redneck’ was in bad shape at the time having spent the previous night in hospital and was unable to do much beyond basic very basic punch-stomp-Stunner offence. The result is that if the previous two bouts were more of an ‘Austin Match’ in terms of him ‘leading’ the action, this was The Rock’s match both in result and in terms of carrying most of the work so I suppose a lot of whether you like it depends on whether you’re a fan of The Rock or not. Another problem is that it’s inevitably compared to the match at WrestleMania X-7, where they went into the match as the top two babyfaces in the company. Compared to that match people say it doesn’t have as good a structure or enough “wrestling” being more of a punch-kick brawl. Personally, I think this one is far closer to their match at WrestleMania XV, both of which were built mainly around of brawling and finishing moves with a definite heel in The Rock. It also evokes memories of Rock’s match with Hulk Hogan from the previous WrestleMania in terms of him having to create most of the ‘movement’ in the match with a physically limited opponent.

The Rock’s short-lived wrestler-turned-arrogant Hollywood movie star gimmick was a ton of fun and a noticeable departure from the way he worked during his 1999-2002 babyface run as he combined elements of his ‘Corporate Champ’ days (such as the long, slow walk to the ring), with the more workrate-orientated style of his later babyface days, and then added in something new to create one of the most entertaining gimmicks of the past few years. He is able to carry this arrogance through to the match, where he mocks Austin even going so far as to wear ‘The Bionic Redneck’s’ jacket as he lays the smack down on him.  The match itself has a slightly odd structure but the red-hot crowd and some good commentary really add to it. For all the criticism they have taken over the past few years this is an example of how well Ross and Lawler can work at adding to the ‘Big Match Feel’ of the contest from the long entrances to finish, in one of Ross’ sharpest performances of recent years (“This is some serious ass impact! BOOM! Flesh on flesh, body on body.. Nothin’ pretty about that! A hellacious physicality on display!”). They play-off their previous matches via a long brawl down the aisle, use of the Sharpshooter, and delivering their own versions of each others’ finishing move. Ultimately, it takes three Rock Bottoms for The Rock to FINALLY… get a pinfall victory over ‘Stone Cold’ at WrestleMania.

In many ways the match brought closure not just to Austin’s career but to an era in wrestling: with Rock already successful actor by this point this was one last chance to revisit the classic Austin-Rock feud that had existed in many forms in the WWF from late 1997-2001 and often been the highlights of the promotion during that period. It’s a shame Austin shot down the ‘Career vs. Career’ stipulation that was suggested by Creative because I can guarantee the match would be better remembered if it had been used. Still, for whatever short-comings it might have this was still an entertaining spectacle, which only added to one of the better WrestleManias they’ve ever done. And lets face it, like him or not, The Rock deserved the win here for putting Austin over all those times in the past.

Rating: ****

Transcending Sports Entertainment: The main feature concludes with a nice little summary of The Rock’s career, reminding us that “The Rock is unquestionably headed for the WWE Hall Of Fame” and highlighting of the strengths that made him such a star with lots of clips of his best catchphrases, angles, eyebrow raises, and trademark moves. The DVD ends by boldly stating “His place in Sports Entertainment, will be forever recognised” followed by ‘The Great One’ himself reminding us: “Vince McMahon didn’t make The Rock. Hell, The Rock didn’t even make The Rock. The People made The Rock.”

Promos:

“Apparently this year’s Royal Rumble is going to be different from all the rest because apparently there’s not just going to be one winner of the Royal Rumble, EVERYONE is going to win the Royal Rumble. Steve Austin told The Rock he’s going to win the Royal Rumble. Kurt Angle told The Rock he’s going to win the Royal Rumble. Undertaker, Triple H – they’re all going to win the Royal Rumble, Big Show, Booker T… Hell, The Rock even just got a postcard from that sick freak Goldust saying he’s going to win the Royal Rumble!”  (The Rock, SmackDown! January 17, 2002)

Let’s face it: it wouldn’t be a Rock DVD without some interviews…

Heat July 11, 1999 – “Billy’s Prayer to God”: This was the first time I’d seen this promo since it was shown on Sunday Night Heat at the time. It is a great example of The Rock’s early post-Corporation promo work which was basically a babyface version of the storytelling, audience participation, ‘Sing-Along With The Great One’, style he perfected as ‘The Corporate Champ’. We get a two-in-one as Rock sets up his matches at Fully Loaded and SummerSlam ’99 in one segment as ‘The Great One’ insults  Triple H, whom he had beaten in a Cage match on the previous week’s Raw (see: Disc 2), and Mr. Ass who had attacked him afterwards. The highlight is ‘God’ getting Billy Gunn’s name wrong.

RAW August 9, 1999 – “The Big Slow”: Rock mocks Big Show, ripping into his gimmick, his ability and his theme song in one of  the highlights of the entire DVD. If it seems short (and it does) that is because this was the set-up for the Millenium Clock to countdown to Chris Jericho’s debut. Unfortunately this debut and The Rock’s subsequent verbal exchange with Y2J isn’t included… Although I suppose that would have more place on a Jericho DVD set (hopefully I’ll be reviewing one of them in the future!). Short and to the point.

RAW September 6, 1999 – “My Name is Kane”: Another short interview segment, mocks Kane’s new-found ability to talk via an electronic voicebox. This seems to be here as an example of The Rock’s standard ‘take opponent’s gimmick’, “shine it up real nice”, “turn that sumb**** sideways”, “stick it straight up your candy-a**” promo that we all remember him for.

RAW November 15, 1999 – “Doughnuts”: The night after Steve Austin was run over at Survivor Series ’99, the investigating police officers commit the cardinal sin of interrupting Rock’s backstage interview on Raw to inform him that it was his rental car that was used in the attack on ‘Stone Cold’. ‘The Great One’ is on top form here and we get some excellent set-ups to his trademark catchphrases here as well as few other memorable one-liners (“Write it down, you like writing things down”).

SmackDown! August 10, 2000 – “Hermie”: Reigning WWF Champion The Rock accuses interviewer Kevin Kelly of being “an ugly hermaphrodite” and nicknames him “Hermie”.

RAW December 4, 2000 – “Armageddon Opponents”: This is one of The Rock’s most famous interviews. From the Raw prior to Armageddon 2000  he imitates his five opponents (Kurt Angle, Rikishi, Triple H, Undertaker, and Steve Austin) in that coming Sunday’s Six-Pack Hell In A Cell. This interview is something of a classic, thanks in particular to Rock’s dead-on impression of cousin Rikishi (“Or maybe The Rock is going to face Rikishi, beat Rikishi: ‘I did it for De Rock. I did it for De People, I did it… I du’… Ah, shut your mouth you thong-wearin’ fatty!”). It’s a good example of how a promo can be both funny and make you want to see the match its promoting, ending on a high note hinting at the main event of the next year’s WrestleMania (“…Or maybe The Rock has got to beat… >puts on ‘Stone Cold’ baseball cap< ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin? Which means I gotta get in pick-up truck, drink some Steveweisers, listen to some Backstreet Boys… And THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE, ‘cause ‘The Great One’ said so!”)

RAW August 13, 2001 – “Thomas Jefferson Sucka”: The Rock and Chris Jericho confront Stephanie McMahon, Booker T and Rhyno at the height of the Invasion storyline. Its worth noting this is part Rock promo (obviously), part Jericho promo (which is a good thing), and part Stephanie promo (which is a very bad thing). Booker makes the mistake of saying he is going to ‘take The Rock to school’ which sets up ‘The Brahma Bull’ mocking him for taking the “short bus” (highlight: The Rock saying “Meep meep! Meep meep!” > dramatic pause / shot of angry Booker about to explode < “Meep  meep!”) and impressions of Little Booker T answering questions in class (“Do you know the answer Booker?”).

RAW September 10, 2001 – “The People’s Strudel”: Michael Cole is caught looking at “The People’s Strudel” after ‘The Great One’ got out of the shower. Rock mocks him for it and Cole looks like he’s going to cry.

SmackDown! September 20, 2001 – “Great Balls of Fire”: With first ballot Rock And Roll Hall Of Famer Jerry Lee Lewis in attendance, The Rock talks about Beale Street, treats the crowd in Memphis to his own rendition of Lewis’ classic (complete with references to The Rock’s privates).

SmackDown! January 3, 2002 – “Copacabana”: The first SmackDown! of 2002 sees The Coach admit to liking Barry Manilow. Predictably The Rock makes fun of his for it, including the all-time classic one-liner: “Copa your ass on outta her, Jabroni!”  

SmackDown! January 17, 2002 – “Camera Man”: In one of the better promos on the set, The Rock runs down the potential winners for the 2002 Royal Rumble (see above) before stopping, looking at the camera and informing us…

“This jabroni holdin’ the camera just whispered to The Rock he is going to win the Royal Rumble! Give The Rock the camera, give The Rock the camera.

>Camera Man hands The Rock the camera<

Unclip yourself jabroni, unclip yourself. Good. Now seeing your candy ass in front of The Rock

>Close Up on Camera Man’s face (to a BOOMING “Rocky! Rocky!” chant)<

Does this jabroni look like a man who’s going to win the Royal Rumble?”  

SmackDown! January 24, 2002 – “The Charleston”: One week after the Rumble, The Rock makes The Coach dance The Charleston after Jonathon Coachman commits the cardinal sin of not paying attention during ‘The Great One’s’ promo.

No Way Out February 17, 2002 – “NWO”: The Rock buries (in storyline terms) the nWo six feet under before any of them have had the chance to wrestle, in hilarious fashion. Although short some regard this as one of the best promos of Rocky’s entire career.

SmackDown! July 11, 2002 – “Busta Rhymes”: This one however is definitely not short. Busta Rhymes makes an appearance on SmackDown! to promote his role in Halloween: Resurrection (2002) which came out the next day. The Rock and Rhymes sing their version The Drifters’ 1964 hit Under The Boardwalk. As far as random celebrity appearances go it’s not as horrible as some made out at the time but it lasts too long, taking away from the segment (… then again maybe I’m biased because I saw The Drifters last Wednesday).  

RAW March 10, 2003 – “The Superhero”: The penultimate promo comes from Rock’s highly-praised 2003 ‘Hollywood’ heel run. ‘The Great One’ is backstage playing guitar when The Hurricane pops up and confronts him about their match (“The biggest match ever on Raw Superhero vs. Superhero”) that night: “All Superpowers go”. These two had a three or four week mini-feud, during which ‘The Great One’ showed how his star power could rub off on someone during what was to The Rock a meaningless program (Helms received bigger pops in the weeks following this series of interactions… Shame they didn’t do anything with him afterwards). The Rock is on top form as he mocks Hurricane for being ‘The Hamburgler’ asking “Hey whatcha gonna do> Throw a Chicken McNugget at The Rock? You gonna hit The Rock in the head with a Chesseburger?” Funny stuff.

RAW June 21, 2004 – “Miami Dolphins”: The retired Rock makes one of his last appearances to date in his old hometown, mocking his old University team The Hurricanes and NFL squad The Dolphins many of whom are seated in the front row: “You all make twenty million dollars a year and got on free Nike gear!”  

The One-Liners: In one of the highlights of the DVD we end with a near ten minute long collection of clips from various promos. Featuring a fair few repeats, there is nonetheless some hilarious material here one of the highlights being from his feud with the late British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith (“Well The Rock says, your bark quite frankly sounds exactly like this: ‘Ick ick ick ick ick ick! Ick ick ick ick ick ick!’”) before moving into individual sections of ‘The Great One’: insulting opponents; humiliating announcers, referees and members of the production crew; singing and playing music; doing - mostly very good - impressions (including Test, The Big Show, Scott Hall, Ric Flair, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Rikishi, Kevin Nash, Kane, ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, Billy Gunn, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart); and raising ‘The People’s Eyebrow’. 

TheBigBoot’s Fun Fact: The Rock wrestled all the wrestlers he imitates here with the exception of Savage.

TheBigBoot’s Best Match: Hmmmn, it depends which version of the Rock you like and what you’re looking for dramatic WrestleMania main events, “Attitude Era” brawls, fast-paced workra… Ah, forget it! As the man himself would say, “It doesn’t matter!”

TheBigBoot’s Most Memorable Quote: “Big Show you think you impressed The Rock? Let The Rock make something perfectly clear to you: is you have never… And The Rock means >audience chant: “NEVER!”< EVER impressed The Rock  from the time your crappy music hits: ‘Well It’s The Big Slow’ and every single one of The Rock’s fans stops… pauses… and takes a look and they all say this: ‘Ah, I’m going to take a leak this guy sucks!’” (The Rock).

Conclusion

The main two criticisms relating to this DVD were not unexpected. Most obvious is that it doesn’t feature any comments from Dwayne Johnson/The Rock, instead relying on a narrator to provide info on each section of his career before introducing the next match. That they couldn’t get ‘The Great One’ to record a sit-down interview isn’t unexpected but it still leaves the DVD feeling like it is lacking something. Another obvious but unavoidable problem is that the bulk of The Rock’s best years coincided with the infamous ‘‘Attitude Era’’-style ‘scratch’ logo, meaning there is plenty of blurring going on. Fortunately the blurred logos don’t detract too much from the action but I’m aware plenty of you find that annoying. Verbally it does lead to some amusing editing that makes it sound like the announcers are swearing: “The Rock has defeated Kurt Angle to once again become the >censored< Champion” (Jim Ross, No Way Out 2001). Of course Hogan’s music at WrestleMania X8 has been edited as well.

As far as match quality goes, whilst the standard is generally high we run into another problem associated mainly with those from the “Attitude Era” namely that they are overbooked and the constant low-blows, chair-shots, ref bumps, run-ins/outside interference (mainly from Chyna, Big Show and members of the McMahon family) get a bit repetitive after a while. That’s not to say those things can’t add to a match when used correctly but other times they are just unnecessary. On the plus side, watching the matches in order makes it interesting to see how The Rock’s style evolved from his early babyface work, to more of a brawling style, to incorporating more moves, to being able to carry a match. If anything, I think it shows The Rock was more versatile than he was given credit for since he seemed to change his style to suit the times so in the “Attitude Era” he went from a distinctly average brawler in early 1998 to one of the very best at that punch-kick style by a year later, then when the Federation moved to a more ‘workrate’ orientated style in 2000-2001 he was smart enough to add more wrestling moves into his repertoire (his summer long feud with Chris Benoit in 2000 playing an important part in that).

The actual choice of matches here is pretty good. Normally I have a long list of matches that could have been included, but in this case a lot of The Rock’s big matches are on here and with the ones that aren’t I can fully see the reasons behind leaving them off. Obviously, Chris Benoit (Fully Loaded 2000)falls into persona no grata territory and Brock Lesnar (SummerSlam ’02 which was all about putting Brock over)isn’t far behind so two of The Rock’s better singles PPV matches are automatically out. Recent efforts to avoid repeating the same matches on multiple compilations affects The Rock’s other famous matches namely: the Ladder Match with Triple H (on The Ladder Match), the violent ‘I Quit!’ Royal Rumble with Mankind (on Mick Foley: Greatest Hits & Misses), or the Backlash ’99 and WrestleMania X-7 main eventswith Steve Austin (on The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin). Meanwhile, The Rock’s only appearance inside Hell In The Cell at Armaggedon 2000 is due to appear on the upcoming Hell In A Cell DVD. In fact the only obvious omission is the Iron Man Match with Triple H from Judgement Day 2000… but when you consider that match lasted over an hour (including entrances, etc.) you can see why it was omitted. That said whilst it gets The Rock’s big matches right, the choice of television matches is at times puzzling. Just off the top of my head, they could have included Austin versus The Rock from the night after Survivor Series ’98, Rock and Big Show’s cracking pre-WrestleMania XV match with Austin and Mankind, or maybe even the chance to see the top two stars in Rock and Austin teaming against The New Age Outlaws from October 1999 all of which were bigger matches than something like the rather random matches with Owen Hart and Kane. It wouldn’t have hurt to have included at least one of the matches from his year-long (1997-98) feud with Ken Shamrock either.

Even more puzzling is the choice of interviews which for some reason start in July 1999 when The Rock had already been a three time WWF Champion and was now a very over top babyface. As a result we never get to see how his promo style made him popular since we jump right in when he was alreadyvery over and competent on the mic. It’s shocking they didn’t include any of his early promos from The Nation, as the Corporate Champion, his feuds with Mankind and Steve Austin, etc.Not event “The Most Electryinging Eulogy In Sports Entertainment” from the Raw before Backlash ’99 made it. They didn’t include either of ‘The Rock Concerts’ from his 2003 heel run either.

The lack of interviews with the man himself will no doubt disappoint some but with a strong line-up of matches and some entertaining promos you would be hard pressed not to enjoy most of it. It’s not perfect, but its certainly a lot of fun. If there was any doubt that he was ‘The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment’ in nine hours of footage we see that The Rock could wrestle, act, sing, play guitar, cut promos and entertain the millions… And MILLIONS, of The Rock’s fans like very few before or since.

Points: 8.5 / 10

Carl ‘TheBigBoot’ Robinson

Buy It:

UK: DVD

USA: DVD