JG's Columns
James Guttman Reviews...WWE's "The Rise and Fall of WCW" DVD Set
By James Guttman
Sep 4, 2009 - 9:20 AM

WWE s Rise and Fall of WCW DVD  documentary is the type of thing that most people write off before even seeing it. In today's day and age of "the winner retells history," most people make the assumption that this DVD is nothing more than a hit-piece set to gas up the former WCW talent who participate and bury those who don't.

Sadly, many people are right in this assumption and, had this been five years ago, we'd all be upset and shocked. But given the tone of some of the company's recent DVD history-lesson releases, this is actually tame in comparison. I watched it and wondered if I had become desensitized to the reality of these documentaries. After hearing how silly the Ultimate Warrior is or how Vince McMahon was the real power behind ECW, you can't help but be happy when they inject bits of humility into other DVD sets. They did that here - but sparingly.

Now before anything, this DVD isn't for someone who knows nothing about WCW. If you're looking for a prolonged and in-depth recap of the company that challenged WWE for years, you're going to be disappointed. The documentary, roughly an hour and a half long, is more of a recap for people who know the situations. It's paints the whole thing with a broad brush and touches upon major moments, spins others, and leave some out altogether.

For example, the Ric Flair-Rick Steamboat series of matches got about three minutes of a mention. Flair's classics with Terry Funk got none. Instead, they spoke in generalities. Someone would mention that they felt "WCW had a superior in-ring product to WWE at the time," and they'd show quick clips of Flair-Funk or something to that effect.

If you're in TNA, the story was even tougher. In the case of some, they were left out altogether. Sting, for example, is barely brought up and his turn from beach surfer to Crow-wannabe in the late 90s isn't mentioned at all.

In the case of others, it was brutal. Kevin Nash was portrayed as a greedy booker who salivated at the chance to kill Bill Goldberg's character. While that may or may not be true, there's an irony to seeing Nash vilified for killing Bill's push when WWE went out of their way to do the same thing when they signed him. Oh, and if you're wondering why they had a positive spin on Goldberg's career, it's because he participated in the DVD. If he hadn't, I'm sure we'd hear how he was a Stone Cold rip-off. It's just the way business is done with pieces like this.

For a TNA guy like Jeff Jarrett, the attention was minimal but brutal. Jarrett was mocked for his lack of star power and apparent delusions of grandeur. At one point, they even laughed about how Jeff's "little brain" believed he was a bigger star than Hulk Hogan. Again, while it may be true, I could only imagine how it would have been spun if Jeff was sitting in a chair talking about his experiences to a WWE camera crew. Making it worse is that while the critique of Jarrett was harsh, it lasted less than two minutes. It's WWE's way of saying that he's so bad he's not even worth their time.

Vince Russo probably wishes he got the same treatment as Jeff. Russo was portrayed, as he always is by WWE, as the McMahon-filtered WWE writer without a clue in the world. They showed some of his worst moments including his shoot on Hulk Hogan at the Bash. They also got a lot of mileage out of the clip showing his arrogantly stomping his way to the ring. It was a case of an image speaking volumes.  They did whatever they could to make him seem out-of-touch, even ten years ago, with wrestling fans.

Here's the insane thing, though. After crucifying those involved with TNA, they then cut a piece talking about WWE's lack of competition following the WCW buyout and how it's hurt business. It was amazing to hear from the company that most assume don't even realize that fact. However, it's funny to see them pine for a competitive company to improve wrestling…right after downgrading the only chance they have for one at the moment.

Making this DVD a bit rougher is the archived footage. Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and Scott Hall all appear. However, all the interveiew clips are from 2002 or 2003. It begged the question, "Why the hell didn't you do this DVD in 2002 or 2003?" Back then it would have seemed more relevant and, with so many on the payroll at the time, it would have made sense to do it. Doing it in 2009 with so many old interview clips made this release seem like a desperate plea to make money off of something they bought and wasted years ago.

For the most part, everybody had a role here. Guys like Bill Watts and Ole Anderson were shown as old-school "rasslin'" guys who couldn't change with the times. Guys like Jim Herd were shown as non-wrestling people who didn't know what to do with the company. Guys like Eric Bischoff were shown as successful but slimy all at the same time. While this could all be very trues, it's the type of thing where you have to ask yourself, "If all these people were so inept, why did this show beat WWE so badly for so long?"  From watching the documentary, you get the impression that it was a combination of dirty tricks and Lucha stars.  Everything else was presented as nothing more than a bumbling distraction.

In the end, this DVD is a very general overview of a company with such a long history that you can't help but feel they deserves more. There is enough material for an 80 hour DVD here and rather than give the promotion a full eulogy, WWE gave it a two paragraph obit. The moments that could have been included in this set to tell their story are too numerous to mention. Unfortunately, that didn't happen and we instead got a snapshot of WCW through the eyes of WWE stars, disgruntled former WCW stars, and archived footage.

I could recommend this DVD to a fan that wants a plunge into nostalgia, but can't suggest you grab it for a comprehensive rundown of one of the most well-known companies in wrestling history. It's like saying, "Oh you're really hungry? Here. Take one of these Red Hots. Remember them from when you were a kid? They were good." Sure, you'll pop it in, get a nostalgia kick, but ultimately it's not going to fill you up. That's what this is.

The extras are okay, but in the age of Youtube and other forms of video-sharing online, you have to wonder if WWE realizes what they're sitting on with WCW footage. There are simply too many free alternatives for fans eager to relive WCW's days that a half-hearted DVD isn't going to send too many people running for Best Buy. The days of thrown-together video sets like this are coming to an end and I think a lot of us hoped that they wouldn't make World Championship Wrestling another - and hopefully the final - installment of that mindset.