WWE: The Best of WWE RAW 2010 DVD Review

Back in the mid-90s, WWE would produce a “Year in Review” VHS release and I’d snap them up every time. Even now, the 1995 one, hosted by the one and only Dok Hendrix. The basic crux of these releases was to sum up the previous 12mths and present to you the best action and storylines from that time period.

The Best of RAW 2010 doesn’t stray from that winning formula and is pretty much as “Ronseal” a wrestling DVD can get, featuring great matches, interesting promos, surprise appearances and all the top WWE superstars who made their mark at the end of the decade.

Kicking off with the most highly anticipated return in history, it looked like 2010 was going to be a “vintage” year for the promotion…

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 445mins (7hrs 25mins)

Discs: 3

Disc 1

Chapters

January Highlights
Bret “Hit Man” Hart Returns to RAW – 4th January, 2010
Unified Tag Team Championship Match: D-Generation X v JeriShow – 4th January, 2010
John Cena v Sheamus – 25th January, 2010
February Highlights
Sheamus v Christian – 8th February, 2010
Triple Threat Elimination Match for the Unified Tag Team Championship: D-Generation X v CM Punk & Luke Gallows v ShowMiz – 8th February, 2010
“Undertaker… I can beat you.”
Streak v Career – 22nd February, 2010
Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
March Highlights
John Cena & Batista’s Bad Blood
“The Name and Face of the WWE” – 1st March, 2010
Win by Pinfall or Submission Only: Shawn Michaels v Kane – 22nd March, 2010
A Career in Retrospect
Shawn Michaels Says Farewell – 29th March, 2010

Disc 2

Chapters

Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
April Highlights
Jack Swagger v Randy Orton – 5th April, 2010
Divas Championship Match: Maryse v Eve – 12th April, 2010
Unified Tag Team Championship Match: ShowMiz v The Hart Dynasty – 26th April, 2010
May Highlights
Randy Orton on The Cutting Edge – 3rd May, 2010
Edge v Christian – 17th May, 2010
“This place is nothing without me!” – 24th May, 2010
John Cena & Evan Bourne v Edge & Sheamus – 31st May, 2010
Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
June Highlights
“The start of something much, much greater.” – 7th June, 2010
The Raw Roster Battles The Nexus – 14th June, 2010
Chris Jericho v Evan Bourne – 14th June, 2010
July Highlights
Randy Orton v Edge – 12th July, 2010
Triple Threat #1 Contender Match: Randy Orton v Edge v Chris Jericho – 19th July, 2010

Disc 3

Chapters

August Highlights
John Cena & Bret ‘Hit Man’ Hart v Edge & Chris Jericho – 9th August, 2010
Chris Jericho v Wade Barrett – 16th August, 2010
John Cena v The Miz – 23rd August, 2010
CM Punk Looks Back at 900 Episodes of Raw -30th August, 2010
September Highlights
Poster Child – 6th September, 2010
Falls Count Anywhere Match: John Morrison v Sheamus – 13th September, 2010
Randy Orton v Chris Jericho – 27th September, 2010
October Highlights
“You’re a Coward, Cena.” – 11th October, 2010
Champion v Champion Match: Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler – 25th October, 2010
November Highlights
Tea Time with Santino – 8th November, 2010
Piper’s Pit with John Cena & Randy Orton – 15th November, 2010
The Miz Cashes In – 22nd November, 2010
King of the Ring Tournament Final: John Morrison v Sheamus – 29th November, 2010
December Highlights
Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match for the WWE Tag Team Titles: Santino Marella & Vladimir Kozlov v Mark Henry & Yoshi Tatsu v The Usos v Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel – 6th December, 2010
Michael Cole & Jerry “The King” Lawler
2010 RAW Recap

The return of Bret Hart was quite the hot topic in the days leading up to the first RAW of 2010. The moment didn’t live up to the hype, but seeing Bret Hart in a WWE ring, hugging Shawn Michaels (and apparently burying the hatchet for real at the same time) was a sight most of us thought we’d never see after twelve long years of bitterness and fence-mending.

Other non-match highlights from the year that stand out are the debut of Nexus (what a shocking surprise this was and, to add to it, the angle played out beautifully), Santino’s tea party in London, Piper’s Pit with Cena and Orton, Miz cashing in Money in the Bank, the entire build leading up to Undertaker v HBK II, the night after that awesome match, the surprisingly enjoyable shenanigans of both JeriShow and Show-Miz, the introduction of the anonymous RAW General Manager, the elevation of Michael Cole into a bona-fide heel you love to hate, the evolution (no pun intended) of Randy Orton, CM Punk’s verbal excellence and Batista’s hissy fit.

Inside the ropes, the matches that are worthy of repeat viewing include HBK v Kane, Orton v Swagger, JeriShow v DX, Cena/Bourne v Edge/Sheamus, Evan Bourne v Jericho, Orton Jericho, Daniel Bryan v Dolph Ziggler and the two Sheamus/Morrison bouts.

As per usual, the WWE production team deserve a special mention for their awesome work in building feuds and their ability to make a match, any match, seem like the most important happening in the promotion.

Extras

None.

Overview

Starting with the biggest story of the year and ending with a nothing match, this seems to have it’s ass on backwards, but The Best of RAW is exactly that, the best storylines, matches and promos from the previous 12mth span, all rolled onto three shiny discs (two if you go Blu-Ray, the latter of which has some extra content) for you to enjoy.

Some awesome matches make this fantastic value if you can get it from around £14-18, with the Santino tea party showing how funny in the US promotions should and can be done. In-ring, witnessing the evolution and rise of a fair number of new guys was refreshing and, on a personal note, seeing Daniel Bryan do so well in WWE is something to behold.

As I said for the 2009 edition, this is a much better purchase than first impressions would lead you to believe. Far from being written off as a dud of a year, 2010 had plenty to crow about.

Points: 8/10

Buy It:

UK: DVD / Blu-ray

USA: DVD / Blu-ray

Canada: DVD / Blu-ray