DVD Review: WWE Monday Night War Vol.2 – Know Your Role

Certificate: 15
Running Time: 590mins (9hrs 50mins)
Discs: 4

Disc 1 – Chapters

• Monday Night Jericho
• Humble Beginnings
• Cruiserweight Division
• Creating a Character
• Countdown to the Millennium
• Lone Wolf
• Breaking Into the Main Event
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

• The War Gets Extreme
• Eastern Championship Wrestling
• Taking it to the Extreme
• Talent Raids
• ECW Comes to Pay-Per-View
• WWE Ushers in the Attitude Era
• Financial Struggles
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

Disc 2 – Chapters

• The War Gets Electrified
• Samoan Lineage
• Rocky Maivia
• Rocky Sucks
• People’s Champion
• Corporate Champion
• Rock N Sock
• Hollywood
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

• Divas Gone Wild
• Special Attraction
• Alundra Blayze
• Birth of the Divas
• Divas Get Attitude
• Rebirth of the Women’=’s Championship
• Stephanie McMahon
• Lita v Trish Stratus
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

Disc 3 – Chapters

• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff
• Pop Culture Explosion
• WCW Goes Late Night
• Mike Tyson
• Dennis Rodman
• Reality Based Television
• Hulk Hogan’s Influence
• The War Goes Mainstream
• Building An Army
• More Than a One-Man Show
• WCW Assembles Their Roster
• New Generation
• Faction Warfare
• Breakout Stars
• Creative Control
• Big Show Jumps Ship
• Decline in Programming
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

• The Kliq
• Bonds Begin to Form
• Triple H Comes Onboard
• Locker Room Heat
• Curtain Call
• Outsiders Defect to WCW
• The Formation of D-Generation X
• A New Leader Emerges
• Enduring Legacy
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

Disc 4 – Chapters

• Past Episode Analysis with Renee Young, Triple H and Sting
• Fatal Mistakes
• “We Want Flair!”
• Becoming One of the Boys
• Ric Flair’s Diminished Role
• Eric Bischoff’s New Direction
• Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
• Mistakes in the Battlefield
• The Fall of WCW
• The Rise of WCW
• Russo Raw
• Standards and Practices
• Vince Russo Joins WCW
• Radicalz
• Reset Button
• Bash at the Beach
• Acquisition
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

• Life After Wartime
• The War Begins
• Management Changes
• Mr. McMahon Purchases WCW
• The Final Nitro
• Invasion
• nWo Comes to WWE
• Eric Bischoff – Raw General Manager
• Then. Now. Forever.
• Post Episode Analysis with Eric Bischoff

“For a lot of you reading this, The Monday Night War was the pinnacle of professional wrestling. To borrow a parlance from the world of comics, if the 80s and the Hulkamania era were the Golden Age of Wrestling, 1995-2001 would be considered the Silver Age of Wrestling, peaking with The Attitude Era itself.”

That is how I opened the review for Vol.1 and this second four-disc set covers the remaining episodes from the WWE Network series, covering the last ten episodes.

As before, the shows are a series of talking heads discussing what it was like for them as wrestlers involved on either RAW / Nitro or as fans watching it unfold live.

Again, as with the previous release, there is a short post-episode discussion on what we have just seen, with Eric Bischoff being the one tasked with providing his two-cents. Of course, if anyone is qualified to talk about the Monday Night War, it’s Easy-E.

WWE have a habit of using talking-head footage from older releases and this one is no different, but I am a sucker for these type of releases and it’s nice to hear the opinions of current superstars discussing what it meant to them as fans as well as the wrestlers of the time.

Overview

At over 10hrs (including post-episode comments from Bischoff), this is great value for your £20.00, but as I’ve mentioned in the more recent reviews, the fact it can be seen on the Network for “free” does cast a rather large shadow.

The content is amazing (if not a tad “history is written by the winners” one-sided) and it’s brilliantly put together. It’s also nice that the series focuses on more than just the main-eventers of the era. Seeing mid-carders get a bit of shine and letting people discuss how important the entire rosters were to their respective shows.

It was said on Vol.1, Network subscribers will have most likely already watched this, so you have to ask yourself if £20.00 is worth it to hear what Eric Bischoff has to say on the various subjects. For non-subscribers, this is a no-brainer; you really do need to buy this release.

No extras are featured on the DVD release, but Blu-Ray customers also get -:

• Hulk Hogan WCW Contract Signing Parade – June 11, 1994
• Paul Heyman Calls into the Show – October 5, 1996
• Post-WrestleMania XIV Press Conference; Stone Cold Steve Austin & Mike Tyson Q&A – March 29, 1998
• Bash at the Beach Press Conference; Dennis Rodman & Hollywood Hulk Hogan v Karl Malone & DDP Contract Signing – June 18, 1998
• Scott Steiner Thinks WCW Sucks – Nitro February 7, 2000
• ECW World Heavyweight Championship Match: Mike Awesome v Tazz – April 14, 2000

Network subscribers: 3/10

Non-subscribers: 10/10