horrorfan_1986

The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment (Disc 1)



Rocky Maivia vs Hunter Hearst Helmsley - IC Title - Thursday Raw Thursday (Feb 13th 1997)
With In Your House just days away, Hunter defends the IC title against Rocky on the night that Shawn Michaels lost his smile. First I have to say what a terrible name Thursday Raw Thursday was. But seeing as it was only an one time deal, I can get over it. The match begins with a surprisingly amount of technical wrestling. Neither guy was really ever known for being technical, so it's kind of nice to see something different. Once that ends, the match starts to drag as Hunter is in control. One thing to note is that they must of had their mics under the ring turned up because the ring made so much noise. It felt like I was watching it live. Near the end, it starts to pick up as Hunter keeps hitting high impact move after another, but Rocky keeps kicking out. Vince and the other commentators keeps putting over how incredible this is. The finish is a sequence that has been done a lot, but I still find it enjoyable. The man in charge looks to hit his finisher (The Pedigree in this case), but his opponent is so weak that he keeps falling down. The man in charge (Still Hunter) gets cocky and gets over confident which the weak opponent waits for his chance then goes for a small package for the win. Bret Hart had success with it at the 1995 Survivor Series against Diesel and Rocky sees similar success against another Cliq member. Probably Rocky's best match up to this point, but it's not really saying much. This would be the beginning of his bland and boring title reign that would cause the fans to turn on him. But that just goes to show you that you need to let the wrestler act like himself, instead of pushing him as something else. After this match, these two would wrestle again in a few days at In Your House: Final Four with Rocky once again winning. 14 Minutes. 2 1/2 Stars.

The Rock vs Owen Hart - IC Title Match - Raw (April 6th 1998)
Just a week removed from Wrestlemania 14. The Rock had just turned on Farooq and took over as the leader (or as the Rock says, Ruler) of the Nation. At this point in time, The Rock was really figuring out what he wanted the gimmick to be about. The Rock was really at the brink of breaking out at this point. As far as the match goes, maybe I was just expecting too much, but this one really disappointed me. Both guys offense was very weak looking and they just didn't mix well enough. Perhaps it's because Owen worked better as a heel, but during this time he wasn't able to really show case his skills enough. I won't say it's terrible, but I expected so much more. The finish comes with Owen locking The Rock in the Sharpshooter mere seconds away from becoming champion when Chyna runs down and hits Owen with a bat (That sounded like plastic :suspic: ) causing a DQ. Kind of an ironic finish seeing how the Nation and DX would be feuding in a matter of weeks. After seeing this, I am curious to rewatch their 1997 match where Owen did defeat Rocky for the IC title. Even as The Rock as a face, Owen being a heel might be enough to make the match turn out better. 6 Minutes. 2 Stars.

The Rock vs Triple H - KOTR Quarterfinal Match - Raw (June 22nd 1998)
I was really glad to see this match be included seeing how I have it on tape, but it's not the best quality. Since the last match, The Nation and DX started their feud and by now it had became intense. This one is more of a brawl then the previous match between each other. With Chyna at ringside, she tries to interfere a few times. One time with the ref distracted, she hits a DDT on The Rock. Then with the Rock heading towards the ropes, she tries to nail him with Hunter's European title, but The Rock sees it in time to stop. Just showing that Chyna can cause more damage than good, with the ref distracted by Chyna, Rocky hits a lowblow and then hits a Perfect Plex to get the 3 count. After the match, both the Nation and DX comes out for a brawl. Interesting finish seeing how I can't remember the Rock ever using a Perfect Plex before. This one isn't as good as their ppv matches from the year, but it's a hell of a lot of fun in the development of the Nation-DX feud. These two would wrestle a few weeks earlier with a different result. 9 Minutes. 3 Stars.

The Rock vs Mankind - WWF Title Finals - Survivor Series 1998
We skip ahead a few very important and great months for the Rock. At this point, The Rock had been kicked out of the Nation and had became a face by the cheers and eventually with Vince McMahon starting a feud with him. This match is the opposite of the first match with the first half of this dragging on, but once they start turning this into a brawl with all the weapons, it gets exciting. My personal highlight of the match would be The Rock slamming a chair repeatedly onto the steel steps that was laying on Mankind. At the end, the Rock gives the People Eyebrow to Vince giving Vince the sign that it's about to be over. The Rock locks in the Sharpshooter and in a scene straight out of the previous years Survivor Series, Vince yells for the bell to be rung. After the match, The Rock and The McMahons hug while a saddened Mankind questions what just happened. Vince distracts Makind so that The Rock can hit him from behind with the belt. The Rock reminds us that we, the fans are the ones who booed the Rock the previous year. "Die Rocky Die" and "Rocky Sucks" is the whole reason why this happened. I LOVED the ending of this. Looking back, it was almost obvious what was really going on. But I can remember being shocked back 10 years ago. Tying this together with the fans turning on Rocky in 1997 was another good touch. The feud with Mankind was such a smart choice. As the Rock moves up from midcard/low main eventer to top heel (and eventual co top face with Austin) choosing Mankind was the best idea. It was very easy to feel sorry for Mankind, so The Rock was easily able to get more jeers. Meanwhile, this was the final step in making Foley one of the most beloved wrestlers ever. Luckily, this was a good start of the feud seeing how they'd be wrestling each other for the next 4 months. 18 Minutes. 3 1/2 stars.

The Rock vs Mankind - Last Man Standing WWF Title Match - St. Valentine's Massacre (Feb 14th 1999)
Like I said, it's a good thing these two could put on good matches with each other. In between these two matches they had matches on Raw where Foley won the title, main event of Rock Bottom, an Empty Arena match and an I Quit match. This match was supposed to be the final match in their impressive feud. The match begins with Foley turning his back and allowing the Rock to get in free shots. Once the Rock looks away though, Foley nails him with the WWF Title. From here on out, it's a full fledge hardcore brawl. At one point, Rocky joins Cole and Lawler for a little commentating. Later on, the Rock hits a backbody drop threw the Spanish announce table. Back inside the ring, The Rock throws the steps from the inside of the ring to a fallen Mankind on the floor outside the ring. That could of been bad had it landed on Foley's head. Near the end, The Rock starts singing The Smackdown Hotel song, but as he looks down at Mankind, Foley puts the mandible claw on Rock. It's hard not to love it when someone is being cocky then hearing on the mic, the guy choking. The Rock nails a Rock Bottom, but both stands up before the 10 count. With both men not showing their chairs, but hit each other at the same time. Neither man is able to answer the 10 count and we have a draw. The fans instantly starts chanting bullshit, since no one wanted to see a draw. While this would suck for the fans there, it would lead into one more match for the feud. Hands down, this was my favorite match of the DVD. Even with the screwy finish. So much action, comedy and excitement. I would also say it was yet another early MOTYC for both men. 21 Minutes. 3 1/2 stars.

The Rock vs Mankind - WWF Title Ladder Match - Raw (Feb 15th 1999)
Since the previous night didn't see a winner, this match was named to properly find a champion for Steve Austin to challenge for at Wrestlemania. Speaking of Austin, he comes out to commentate before the bell. With Austin there, it adds more to the match. Austin did a great job of being in character, but also giving his opponents plenty of credit. Even though this is a ladder match, there really aren't too many ladder spots or times where either man are trying to retrieve the title. It's very similar to their past hardcore matches, but this time with both men trying to knock the other one out to eventually climb the ladder. Which should be noted that the belt is hanging far left than normal. The belt is normally hanging right in the middle of the ring, but for whatever reason it wasn't this night. Both times Foley does climb the ladder though, The Rock hits him in his already injured leg. On the outside, The Rock Rock Bottoms Foley threw the Spanish announce table. Back inside the ring, Foley stuffs Mr Socko down The Rocks Mouth on top of the ladder, but out comes Paul Wight (Who debuted the previous night) and chokeslams Foley off of the ladder. With that, Rocky pulls the belt down and the Wrestlemania main event is made. This is possibly their weakest match together during this feud. But considering so many of their matches were great, that's not such a negative comment. I am surprised that they put this match over the Empty Arena or I Quit match. For a Raw match though, this was pretty good. Having Austin on commentating was also a smart way to transition from one long feud to this big feud. 13 Minutes. 3 Stars.

The Rock vs Steve Austin - WWF Title - Wrestlemania 15 (March 28th 1999)
Even though the WWF was really rolling strong in ratings and bringing money in, their PPVs were becoming more and more terrible. This night would be no different. On a night of horrible matches, it was up to Steve Austin and The Rock to save the PPV. Earlier on in the night, this match was turned into a No-DQ match. These two quickly takes the match to the outside where they fight on both sides of the arena in the fans. They would head over to the entrance where Rock hits the huge Wrestlemania metal hanging structure. Lawler makes the comment about if it would fall, it would cause a huge tragedy. Sadly, in two months there would be a tragedy. Back inside the ring, The Rock hits a nice Samoan Drop, but only gets a two count. Angry, the Rock hits a Rock Bottom on the ref. Austin nails the Stone Cold Stunner, but Earl Hebner arrives in the ring too late. This brings Vince out who punches Hebner out. With the Rock and Vince double teaming Austin, Mankind runs down knocks McMahon out of the ring. In a very similar ending sequence from the year before, Rock reverses the Stunner, but Austin reverses The Rock Bottom and Stuns The Rock for the win. For some reason, I was thinking this was a short match, even though it's just a minute shorter than their WM 19 match and longer than most WM main events. To say this match was the MOTN is an understatement. This match actually leaves the people happy with a great match. A lot of respect to both men for saving this ppv. While this is still their weakest WM match together, this match showed that they were capable of so much together. 17 Minutes. 4 Stars.

Overall
I have mixed feelings on this first disc. While I can understand why they picked every match, for most of the matches, there was a better similar one they could have picked. For example, instead of the KOTR match, why not show they Ladder match from Summerslam? Instead of the Owen match, how about a tag match with Owen? Those two men had some good tag matches together in the summer of 1998. But don't get the impression that this is a terrible disc. I really enjoyed every match, with the exception of the Owen one. Disc one is also expected to be the weakest disc since this is all about him finding his groove and leading into his prime as 1999 continues. Overall, this is a very good dvd to re-experience The Rock's climb to being one of the top guys of the WWF at the time. The best is still to come and I look forward to disc 2.

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King Steventon

Nice review, I'm also glad they put the St Valentine's Massacre match on the set as I feel it doesn't get it's due and often gets overlooked by the somewhat overated I Quit match. I know I'm definately going to be getting the set soon as well as a few others, but a good read nonetheless.

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Sir Nicky Talent

From looking at this, and really thinking about his career, this matches did get better over the years much to the dismay of critics who thought he was just a showman.

IDK if I'm going to buy this DVD, but thanks for the insight.

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neXus

horrorfan_1986

I used a gift card that I got for free. So mine was free.
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But I pre-ordered mine from Bestbuy.com for 19.99, which is down 5 bucks from it's normal price. It should be 25 again after this first week.

Disc 2 review will be up soon.

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Tommy Platinum

Nice review, looking forward to Disc 2, which should contain most of his better matches. I will possibly get the dvd.

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horrorfan_1986

I'm about to write up the review for the last match and the overall. So it'll be up in about 10 minutes. I think you'll be surprised how I rate a Triple H match.

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Tommy Platinum

Ok, looking forward to it. I hope you mention the absence of a particular Triple H match as a negative point.

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horrorfan_1986

The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment (Disc 2)



The Rock vs Triple H - Steel Cage Match - Raw (July 5th 1999)
This match is weird in that I found most of it boring, but I loved the different things they did in the match. With most cage matches, you see similar spots. The steel cage door being slammed into the head of one of the wrestlers being perhaps the most popular for over 10 years. For this match, it doesn't really pick up until it's over...well not technically. In order for Chyna to slam the door in the face of The Rock to stop him from getting out, she knocked out referee Tim White. After slamming the door in Rocky's face, Hunter easily escapes. So naturally he wins, but wait, the referee is out cold so he can't ring the bell. Even though Chyna plays such a minor role in this DVD, I like that for two straight times they show that having someone in your corner to cheat can also have negative results for you. So while White is outcold, Rocky walks out and starts battling Hunter on the outside before throwing him back through the door. Tim White wakes up and he sees both men in the ring, he has no idea what really happened. The match continues and leads to both men straddling the top of the cage, Chyna making up for her past mistake, gives Hunter a chair. One hit later and Rocky is laying face down on top of the cage. Triple H with a renewed confidence climbs down back inside the cage to leave through the door. But karma came back to haunt Hunter as he slipped and nutcracked himself on the top rope. With Hunter down, Rocky starts waking up and he is able to climb down before Hunter can slowly crawl out through the door. Had the match ended when it originally looked to have, I probably wouldn't have rated it too highly. But for whatever reason, I loved the segment of continuing the match from a false finish. 14 Minutes. 3 Stars.

The Rock N Sock Connection vs The Big Show and The Undertaker - WWE Tag Titles Match - Raw (August 30th 1999)
A Rock DVD wouldn't be complete without at least one Rock N Sock Connection match. Being that this was a significant one, they chose this one. Right away, I have to say I loved The Undertaker's gimmick at this point. At the time he was the ultimate heel character and he took The Big Show under his wing to try and pull out the evil in Show. He often did this by demoralizing and forcing Show to do his own bidding. Case in point, Show and Taker are coming down to the ring, they both look to charge in the ring. But as Show begins to go, Taker stops and just lets Show go in by himself.
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The match mainly consists of The Big Show beating the hell out of Mankind. Like always, Foley takes some bumps including his trademark knee into the steps. Eventually, Paul Bearer comes down and talks to The Undertaker (Who had yet to even be in the match) which interest Taker so much that he just left. Bearer even nodded towards the ring as if asking, "What about the match?" Taker just blows it off as if it's meaningless.
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Honestly, although it only lasted a brief time, this was such a great time for Taker. Back in the ring, The Rock gets the tag in (First time) and the crowd erupts. They were smart though in booking Show as a monster. Foley comes back in the ring with a chair but Show just kicks it in Foley's face. Show hits a chokeslam on Rock, but the delay in pinning him only gets a 2 count. Some double teaming leads to Show on his back and The Rock looks to hit the People's Elbow. Rocky nods Foley over and with Rocky throwing his elbow pad to the fans, Foley throws Mr Socko and for the first time ever, a double People's (Or in Foley's case, Socko) elbow. With that, we have brand new tag team champions. This match isn't anything too special, but it has some fun spots, comedy, mystery (Why did Taker leave?) and Big Show actually being very agile. This is the exact kind of fun match you can expect on free tv. 8 Minutes. 2 and 1/2 stars.

The Rock vs Kane - No DQ Match - Smackdown (Dec 30th 1999)
Why this is on the DVD, I have no idea. Other than being the only match from the Rock's show (Smackdown) nothing of real meaning came from it. Kane really holds the distinction of being the only major star of this era that The Rock never feuded with. Sure, they did have plenty of matches together, but they were all from combined feuds. I can't recall a single feud between these two, even a short one. This match can best be described as one of Rock and Mankind's hardcore brawlers from earlier in the year condensed into a 5 minute match. We get two tables spots, a few low blows even Kane hitting then-girlfriend Tori with a closeline on accident. With the distraction, The Rock hits Kane with a chair then hits the Rock Bottom for the victory. Like I said, it's a very odd choice to be added to the dvd, but it's a fun match for the entire time. Personally, I hated this time for Kane. While I enjoyed the humanization of Kane by teaming with X-Pac, the whole girlfriend storyline with Tori just made Kane out to be some emo hunchback of Notre Dame. 5 minutes. 2 Stars.

The Rock vs Triple H - WWF World Title - Backlash 1999
I don't like Triple H. With the exception of the early days of the second version of DX, I've always been bored with him. Even his so called great matches have bored me into sleep. So naturally, having 4 matches on the dvd with Hunter, I wasn't too excited. Up to this point, minus the unique cage false finish, none of the matches has entertained me too much. This match was going to be the longest Hunter match of all, I was expecting pure crap. As it turns out...I was wrong. This match is very reminiscent of Over the Edge 1998 with Dude Love vs Steve Austin. Vince stacks the deck so much against the face. If you really want to know how to suck an audience in, just follow this match setup. Take away the thing that the fans wanted the most (Austin returning for one night) and make it look like once again Triple H was screwing the Rock to keep the title. At the peak of the fans hating what they were seeing, give them what they want (Austin coming out) and let them go home happy with the Rock winning the WWF World Title. After the match, Rocky and Austin celebrated with a few beers. The match also contains one of the biggest pops I've ever heard when Austin's music first started. One of the unsung heroes for this match has to be Shane McMahon who was the guest referee. He was obviously bias, but he would cheat in more subtle ways then most. Such examples are Shane patting the leg of Hunter to try and wake him up as he's counting both men out. Quote of the night goes to Jim Ross when he saw Pat Patterson coming out. "The parade must of ended" which was followed by Lawler yelling what?!!
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I'm not going to give out too many specifics of the match because you should really just watch it for yourself. Hands down my favorite Triple H match ever. Speaking of Triple H, how is it that he gets 4 matches on the Rock's 3 disc DVD (which isn't a problem since he was a major part of his career) and yet The Rock doesn't get a single match on Hunter's 2 disc DVD? No Ladder Match, Iron Man Match or any of the other matches. How can you make a career over a wrestlers career while ignoring their biggest rival? Sure he had Austin, Foley, Batista and Flair, but The Rock was the only one who he feuded with at every stage of his career. To not have a Rock match is like trying to downplay just how much of an impact Rocky had on Hunter's career. Anyways, 19 Minutes. 4 Stars.

The Rock vs Shane McMahon - Steel Cage WWF Title Match - Raw (May 1st 2000)
We're just one night removed from Backlash and Vince McMahon wants to make The Rock the shortest reigning champion of all time. Uh...Kane had a 24 hour reign just two years before and Yokozuna had a 5 minute reign in 1993. But sure, keep repeating the fact that Rock may end up being the shortest reigning champion ever. :thumbsup This is your typical Shane McMahon match, but in a cage. Shane shows a lot of agility and ends up selling a lot. The special guest referees are Jerry Brisco and Pat Patterson. Quote of the match once again goes to Jim Ross when Pat Patterson was walking out. "No surprise, Patterson is bringing up the rear". God, JR loves those gay jokes.
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Much like the previous night, the odds are stacked against Rocky since Hunter, Steph, and the stooges are all out there stopping him whenever they get a chance. Hunter smartly uses a stick to keep hitting the Rock inbetween the cage. Rocky takes the typical head meets cage door spot and things aren't looking good for him. Out from the back comes Earl Hebner who ended up counting to 3 the previous night. He beats up Jerry Brisco and slams the door in the face of Hunter allowing The Rock to take out his rivals one by one. As Vince is chasing Earl to the back, Rocky wins by climbing up and over the cage. He and Earl celebrate at the top of the ramp. I loved whenever Earl got involved in a storyline, he was always such a great face ref. Give it up to Shane who knows how to hide his weaknesses and seemingly always puts on a good match. 9 Minutes. 3 Stars.

The Rock vs Kurt Angle - WWF Title Match - No Way Out
This match happens to be one of two matches that I really got this dvd for. The second match is still to come on disc 3. I've only seen this once, but I could never get it on dvd since No Way Out was the last WWE PPV to be released only on VHS. Some months earlier at No Mercy, Kurt Angle finished off his rookie year defeating The Rock to win the WWF Title. All these months later, the only thing that's stopping Kurt Angle from headlining his first Wrestlemania is the man who he took the belt from. Angle as champion in 2000/2001 felt a bit weird since I never saw him as a legit main eventer until his return in 2003. At this point he was just a great midcarder who was allowed to temporary wrestle with the big names. Starting the next month, he'd be back with the midcarders until the Invasion began. Enough of that and onto the match. After a nice series of overhead throws, the Rock DDT's Kurt Angle. While both men are down, the Big Show music plays. Show comes out and chokeslams the ref, Kurt Angle and The Rock. Once that's all done, he just goes back to the back. This was beyond bizarre because while he was feuding with the 2 men to main event the show, the WWE didn't do anything with Show until around the end of fall when he got a small push leading into the Survivor Series. So while they do this great interference, it's basically meaningless because of how they book Show. Now personally, I would of did this earlier in Kurt Angle's title reign, in fact maybe even do it at No Mercy. That would lead into Angle vs Rock vs Big Show at the Survivor Series (Can Show win the title at the same event and match type that he did the year before?) and then at Armageddon have Show vs Angle over the over booked 6 man hell in a cell. But that's just me. Back to the match, two refs come out to help the fallen Mike Chioda (Aka chokeslammed ref) funny moment happens when Earl Hebner and Tim White are carrying Mike to the back. Earl sees Angle laying on top of Rocky so he rushes in the ring to count. When Earl left his ref buddies, Tim White couldn't carry the weight of Chioda by himself, so the camera gets a perfect shot of both refs falling hard to the ground.
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With Hebner now as the ref, work tries to get a submission with the Ankle Lock which I believe was still fairly new. A People's Elbow only gets a 2 count, Angle throws Rocky into an exposed turnbuckle followed up by an Angle Slam, but only gets a 2 as well. It's your typical Angle match with a lot of near falls near the end. Rocky hits a Rock Bottom and gets a three count...no wait, it's a two. Looking at this, it was perfectly clear that Angle didn't even flinch after the two. Based on the way that Jim Ross and Tazz sold the fact that Angle kicked out of the Rock Bottom so hard and because the WWE never edited this part out. I'm under the impression that Angle just forgot about having to kick out as opposed to Hebner fucking up big time. Either way, it looked terrible, the fans hated it and it caused the match to lose a lot of momenteum literally at the end of the match. The Rock pissed off, picks up Angle and Rock Bottoms him one more time and this time gets the three count. This is one of those matches that I wish the WWE would edit. remove the first fucked up Rock Bottom. It disrupts the flow and kinda cheapens the win. This is still a great match, but that botch removes at least a half star. That being said though, this was the beginning of the Rock trying to help put over young wrestlers for the future. Even though he lost, Angle looked like a million bucks here. Later on this year, Rocky would really help Chris Jericho look good only to have the WWE fuck it up in a matter of a few months. The following year, he had no problem with having Brock Lesnar cleanly beat him at Summerslam. In 2003, he really helped The Hurricane and Jeff Hardy look better, even though Jeff would fuck up and get fired and The Hurricane never got pushed. Although the WWE messed up on most of these pushes, Rocky still did everything he could to help them look good and get the fans behind them. 18 Minutes. 3 and 1/2 stars.

The Rock vs Booker T - WCW Title Match - Summerslam (August 19th 2001)
First off, thumbs up for the WWE showing matches involving current TNA wrestlers. I personally hate it when a dvd shows a wrestler in a negative light or doesn't talk about them at all just because he works for another company. Shane McMahon is with The Book in this match, so we get some great Shane moments like always. Early on, both men fights in the crowd. Around this time, Shane loosens the turnbuckle for Booker to use. Little does he know that Booker will be the one who ends up hitting the metal. With Nick Patrick as the ref (Patrick is a WCW ref so that makes him evil) he counts slow. When Shane tries to interfere in the match, The APA comes out from the back. Earlier on in the night, Shane cost the APA and Spike a match against The Dudleys and Test. With Farooq chasing Shane around the ring, Shane runs right into a Closeline from Hell. A few minutes later, Shane gets a Rock Bottom on the floor. In the words of Mike Aldame, "Have Mercccyyy". Booker takes over and looks to finish the Rock off. The Books hits a scissors kick and does the spinaroonie, but ends up walking right into a Rock Bottom. One-Two-Three, The Rock is once again a World Champion. It was right around this time, the WCW talent were really being mishandled. Booker would go on to keep losing to The Rock, DDP would become a jobber and more and more WWF wrestlers were made into Alliance members. Sadly, this match was the peak of Booker's career in 2001. Either way, it's still a strong match for both men. When they wanted to, this timeframe could produce some really good matches. This would be one of those cases. 15 Minutes. 3 Stars

The Rock vs Chris Jericho - Undisputed World Title Match - Royal Rumble (January 20th 2002)
A general disclaimer. I own the 2002 Royal Rumble DVD, so I've seen this match a couple of times. This is the one match that when the match listing came out, I couldn't believe was added. Anyways, this is the beginning of Chris Jericho's title reign. On Raw and SD, he spent most of his time wrestling midcarders while on PPV the WWE decided to keep giving him matches against the two most over men in the WWE, The Rock and Steve Austin. If you keep being booked over Rocky and Austin, the fans will respect you right? Anyways, to the match. Once the bell rings, Jericho is taunting the Rock before any physical contact has started. Once Rocky tries to do a little talking, Jericho puts his hand into Rocky's face and then does the just bring it mannerism. Great way to begin the match. That is also the highlight of the match for the next ten minutes of this fairly boring match. The match picks up once Lance Storm and Christian comes down, with Storm distracting the ref, Christian gets his ass kicked by Rocky. But the distraction is enough for Jericho to Rock Bottom the Great One! After only a 2 count, Jericho gets Rocky down for the People's elbow (Jericho only throws his elbow pad a couple feet, HA awesome) but as Jericho is bouncing off of the second ropes, Rock kips up and throws Jericho over the top rope. Rock follows Jericho to the outside of the ring and hits a Rock Bottom through the announcers table. Back inside the ring, the Rock accidentally takes out the ref so Jericho hits him with the belt. Once Nick Patrick comes out from the back, Rock kicks out after a 2. Rock hits a DDT, but Patrick doesn't count, so the Great One Rock Bottom's The Patrick One. Rocky hits his people's elbow and Rock Bottom combo, but there isn't a ref. Once a ref does come around, Jericho lowblows Rocky (Fuck, there's a lot of low blows on this DVD set) and throws Rock into an exposed turnbuckle AND with his feet on the ropes, Jericho gets the three. Honestly, if your World Champion has to have the help of two Canadians, a shady ref, a low blow, an exposed turnbuckle and feet on the rope just to win, you have your belt on the wrong person. This match made The Rock look strong while making Jericho looking even weaker. Obviously, if you're a heel, you're going to cheat. But doing that much cheating just makes you look to be a joke. Everything before the Storm/Christian interference was boring, but afterwards it was fairly exciting. It was better than I remembered, but I still think they could of put a different match on the DVD. Any of their 2001 matches together (Excluding Vengeance) would of been a better pick. Still though, for having half of the match being good, I'm left being happy. 19 Minutes. 3 and 1/2 Stars.

Overall
This disc was amazing. It really just shows that Disc 1 was just training in prep for these matches. Disc 2 feels more like a PPV than anything else. Early on you get some short lesser meaning matches (while throwing in an important match to balance things out), but as the disc progresses, the matches increase in quality and length. All together you get 4 title wins and not a single bad match. Match wise, this is the disc why you want to buy this DVD set.

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King Steventon

Again, a very good read as expected. I've got No Way Out on burned disc, it's been a while since I've watched it but I think the Rock/Angle match was better than you made it out to be, even with the fuck up. I remember marking bigtime when Rock kicked out of the Angle Slam
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(Wasn't it the first time anyone had kicked out of that move?). Like I say, it;s been a while so take it for what it's worth.

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