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Bulldog's DVD Rack: Last Call With Raven & Sandman

By Canadian Bulldog Jun 29, 2010 - 12:46 PM

Previously reviewed on the Rack:

Andre The Giant    

Before They Were Famous    

The Best Of CM Punk (In Full Impact Pro)

Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon

Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story

Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story

Compilation Tape Extravaganza~!

The Definitive Guide to Mick Foley on DVD

FMW King of the Death Match

FMW Ring Of Torture

A Guide To ECW On DVD

Hulk Hogan's Unreleased Collectors Series

IndieMania (3PW, ROH, UPW, FMW)

JCW Volume 3

Jeff Jarrett: King Of The Mountain    

John Cena: My Life

King Kong Bundy: The Missing Matches    

McMahon    

Pro Wrestling's Ultimate Insiders: Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara    

The Road Warriors

The Spectacular Legacy Of The AWA

TNA Best Of The Bloodiest Brawls

Triple H: The King Of Kings

The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling

Twist Of Fate: The Matt & Jeff Hardy Story    

The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers

WWE Legends Of Wrestling

WWE Unauthorized

10 Must-Have Wrestling DVD's

Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology

 

I'm not generally a huge fan of shoot videos. For the most part, the interviewer reads from a list of pre-selected questions, and the lack of genuine rapport between interviewer and interviewee gets tiresome to watch.  That's, of course, in stark contrast to Club WWI.com, where for as little as 14 cents a day, you can hear of interesting and uncut audio interviews with hundreds of wrestling's biggest names, not to mention a weekly podcast by yours truly, and....

Where was I? Oh yeah.... shoot videos. The one exception to my shoot video rule is the Ultimate Insiders series. DVD 's in the series include Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara, and Matt and Jeff Hardy, and are well-produced, intelligent and fun to watch (there's also one with New Jack, which I have yet to find for sale in the Toronto area).

The fourth Ultimate Insiders video features ECW originals Raven and Sandman, sitting in a bar and swapping wisecracks. It sounded like a solid premise; both guys have proven to be interesting interviews in the past and have great stories to tell. And if you get liquor into them? Icing on the cake.

Last_Call.jpg

The problem, however, was in the execution. Host Dr. Keith Lipinski has trouble maintaining order (though I can't imagine too many people would have been able to), and from the very beginning, his guests are pretending to be asleep and are generally uncooperative answering questions.

It's all a ruse, of course -- Raven and Sandman are just trying to amuse themselves -- but that's also part of the problem. One can tell within three minutes of the interview that this won't be a hard-hitting look at their careers, but rather a chance for the two to get really, really drunk.

In reality, Sandman is definitely a bit hammered (he failed to smash beer cans against his forehead until he bled, however), while Raven sips from bottled water and proves he can be a wiseass while sober.

Soon, Lipinski disappears and WWE Hall of Famer Terry Funk appears in his place. The conversation between the three is lively, animated and -- in at least one spot -- disturbing (you'll never think about cows the same way again).

Bovine_University.JPG
"When I grow up, I want to go to Bovine University."

Unfortunately, Funk is soon gone as the host/bartender and we're left with Raven and Sandman berating Lipinski and largely avoiding his questions.

Before long, New Jack and Mustafa Saed enter the makeshift bar and from that point forward, the DVD becomes a chance for New Jack to practice stand-up comedy.

The good news: New Jack is hilarious and well worth the price of admission. The bad news: You can barely hear anyone else over The Original Gangsta's rants about Ooo-bama, cocaine and whether All In The Family came out before Good Times. As a result, Raven and Sandman kind of move into the background.

In a running gag, New Jack continually apologizes to Terry Funk for failing to mention him by name during Funk's own retirement banquet (the entire "tribute speech" is included as an extra; the banquet is the one featured in Beyond The Mat).

For a short while, The Gangstas disappear, allowing Lipinski to focus on Raven and Sandman again. However, the New Jack Show takes over again and he continues talking until the interview makes an abrupt end.

triple_R.JPG
The Gangstas order up another round of strawberry daquiris, while Raven does his Triple H impersonation.

Don't get me wrong - New Jack is the most entertaining of the five ECW legends in "the bar". But there were so many things I would have liked to hear Raven and Sandman discuss, ranging from the famous cruxifiction angle, to their work together in WCW to their thoughts on Vince McMahon's version of ECW. None of this is really addressed.

The extras include a half-dozen XPW matches that feature the five wrestlers on the shoot, plus Shane Douglas, Messiah and others. None are must-see, in my book.

Overall, this video is an opportunity to see a group of controversial veterans shooting the shit and having a good time. If you're okay with that, it may be worth picking it up on the cheap. Otherwise, I couldn't really recommend it with a clear conscience.


Need more Bulldog? Follow him on Twitter , Facebook  and order his book of nutty prank e-mails to wrestlers.

 


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