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So I went to Twitter the other day and asked what I should do next for this blog.
As you can see, wwedvdnews gave me a challenge to make up content for the newest ‘Rock’ DVD coming out in February.
This sounds like a daunting task.
My response?
YOU’RE ON!
Coming out on February 21st, the newest Rock collection from WWE Home Video promises to be one for the ages. With input from the man himself, the collection apparently features promos, matches, but it’s not known at the point of writing whether a documentary is there or not.
Today, Bad Booking is about to become an armchair quarterback. Given this “dare” so to speak, I’m coming up with the content that should be on this new collaboration.
One difference noticed IMMEDIATELY is that this collection will be a 4-disc DVD/3-disc Blu-ray, like the Steve Austin one released not too long ago. Another difference is that the content, while more finite, will feature stuff never before seen on compilations (in addition to the repeat stuff).
Before starting, I will note that in a perfect world, I’d ask Vince McMahon if he’d make a charitable donation to the panda people so that nothing gets blurred/bleeped. Let’s not forget people that Rock’s prime was right smack in the ‘Attitude Era’, from 1998-2002. Although I’d get denied immediately, at least it shows initiative that I care about the content being presented without alterations.
Now then, let’s get to cracking!
Goes without saying, that DISC ONE IS A DOCUMENTARY! Shorter than Austin’s, but about as long as Bret Hart’s, which was about two hours itself.
Although I’m not exactly creative with chapter names, I can offer a preview of how this project will go.
- The first twenty or so minutes talk about Rock’s life before he got into the business himself. Unlike Steve Austin’s documentary, which glossed through his childhood/young adult year in about twenty-six seconds, Rock’s younger years are much more wrestling involved than his contemporary Rattlesnake. Starting with his grandfather ‘High Chief’ Peter Maivia, then his father Rocky Johnson, and perhaps an exploit about Freddie Blassie, little Dwayne always had wrestling in his blood. That almost took a different turn when he was on that legendary Miami Hurricanes college football team from the early 1990s.
- WWE, 1996. It’s the debut of one Rocky Maivia from Madison Square Garden, as he takes part in the Survivor Series. The ‘Blue Chipper’ catches on strong early, even winning the Intercontinental Championship. However, doing things the traditional ‘babyface’ way led to resentment from the crowd, and thus the newly-named ‘Rock’ made a mold of his own.
-Nation of Domination. This is where the ‘y’ from Rocky was dropped, as well as “Maivia”. Starting as in inauspicious addition, success went to the young man’s head. Becoming even stronger with another run with of the IC belt, Rock would kick out Farooq (Ron Simmons), and become ‘Ruler’. This would lead to finally showing the charisma the guy always had, and the start of the catapult to the top. The feud with D-Generation X would also be featured, as well as Rocky’s incredible run at the 1998 Royal Rumble.
-Corporate Champion. For a small little while, The Rock became a fan favorite. However, at Survivor Series 1998, the joke turned onto his opponent Mankind, when it was revealed that Vince McMahon, who had despised Rock, was working with him all along. On top of the world, Rock finally became a heel that could go toe-to-toe with the best from ‘Rattlesnake’ country.
- Royal Rumble 1999. Yep, the ‘I Quit” match alone gets a chapter. If released on Blu-ray, there should be an interactive portion that allows you to skip to the match during the chapter. Like the Jake Roberts DVD, this mentions the movie ‘Beyond the Mat’. If you remember correctly, Mankind went into the match champion after winning the belt in an emotional match on RAW. Mick Foley would of course be the main guy interviewed besides Rock, and would pretty much tell the same story he told in his second book, “Foley is Good”. Long story short, Johnson went a little too far. If you want to know why WWE bans chair shots to the head, watch this match. Instead of a few shots, Rock gets into double-digit category, while deepening a cut that was already there on Foley’s head. The chapter would also show Foley’s wife, Collette, protecting their children Dewey and Noelle from the carnage. Although the two patched things up, Rock and Foley had heat with each other for a little bit because Rock didn’t outright apologize to Foley, kind of like Owen Hart not apologizing to Steve Austin after Summerslam 1997.
- Wrestlemania XV: Although the match itself gets a chapter, it primarily revolves around Rock explaining how going into Wrestlemania WWE Champion feels like.
-The People’s Champion: Shortly after Backlash 1999, where Rock lost his title rematch to Austin, the most electrifying man in sports entertainment finally becomes the most loved man in the company (or almost by that point). Now laying the Smackdown to his bad guy adversaries, the fans immediately rallied behind him. This would also cover The Rock and Sock Connection days, with ‘This is Your Life’ prominently featured. Oh yeah, that’s easily a special feature. All 30 some-odd minutes of it!
- McMahon-Helmsley Regime: Although The Rock and Triple H were always at odds in the WWE, their most legendary segment of their rivalry took place in 2000. The power-hungry WWE Champion versus The Great One, it was a months-long epic confrontation that produced many hours of entertaining TV (with or without EVERY member of the McMahon family). This will cover it all from about December of 1999 to about June of 2000 where the feud pretty much died off after King of the Ring. This is a chapter that in practice would come off much better in visual presentation.
-WWE Champion: After The Rock won the WWE Championship in 2000, he began a successful series of mini-feuds and title defenses that endeared him to legendary status. Sadly Chris Benoit won’t be featured, because let’s face it, he is one of those “unmentionables”. However, Summerslam 2000, Unforgiven 2000, and the highly controversial No Mercy 2000 matches are covered. Somewhat lengthy chapter, but all tied together in theory.
-The Promos: Would you like a chapter of the Rock describing his promo style? Yes? Then that’s all this is, about seven minutes of clip glory.
-Rikishi: Short chapter on the rivalry with Rock’s “cousin”. Goes all the way up to Royal Rumble 2001, with Armageddon 2000’s Hell in the Cell match mentioned too.
-Wrestlemania X-Seven: After winning the WWE Championship from Kurt Angle the month before at No Way Out, Rock and Austin face off once again in a 70K Houston Astrodome on the grandest stage of all. An untraditional face vs. face match, the two went at it for thirty minutes straight. Of course until Vince showed up, and Austin turned heel. Also covering the cage rematch the next night, this would segue into Rock’s budding movie career getting a head-start.
-Movies: This chapter mentions the PR Rock did, including outside interviews and the two ‘Mummy’ movies. Again, much better described visually than verbally, WWE would do a GREAT job getting old footage together and presenting it in a complimentary matter.
-Invasion: This describes Rocky coming back in July of 2001, to take the WWE side of the war. All the way until Survivor Series 2001. Also mentioned would be Rock hitting on Lilian Garcia, and some of the funniest put-downs imaginable. This definitely would also feature that infamous promo on Booker T.
- Wrestlemania X-8: Skimming over the next few months, and the fact Jericho would once again gloat rightfully about his accomplishment, here the doc mentions the match that transcends time. The build-up, the atmosphere of Toronto, getting booed as a babyface, everything. Epic ten minute chapter. For WWE, they can cheat using the Hogan footage from ‘Still Rules’.
-Summerslam 2002: Rock won the Undisputed Championship at Vengeance, and his next opponent would be “The Next Big Thing”. Long island, Summerslam, Brock Lesnar. Rock notes how the crowds are smart, and they knew he was going to lose the title. Instead of pandering to the crowd, he instead electrifies them, and makes Lesnar look like a million bucks. Seeing as Lesnar may or may not retire from UFC, some new interview footage would be awesome!
- Wrestlemania XIX: Third time is the charm for Rock. Rock quips about how usually when people return they get cheered. He returns and gets booed out of the building! Again, the visuals on this would be tremendous, and that’s why WWE is the best when it comes to documentaries.
- Wrestlemania XX: Comments on his handicap match with Mick Foley versus Batista, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton as Evolution. In my mind, highly underrated match that is a fine compliment to all of their careers. Rock would make his last actual wrestling performance there for a very long time.
- Movie Career: Rock and the movies. Simple. Talks about hits like ‘Fast and Furious’, while trashes bombs like ‘Doom’. The Wrestlemania 24 Hall of Fame is also mentioned, with new stories surely to be unearthed.
-The return/Survivor Series: For the first time in a long time, The Rock returns to WWE television. Cutting a promo on the company as a whole, but in particular the PG rules and John Cena, Rock’s personality wins over a new generation of fans. After screwing Cena (arguably) out of the WWE Championship at Wrestlemania 27, the two agree on a match to headline Wrestlemania 28. In the meantime, they tag up in MSG, 15 years nearly to the day Rock debuted, at Survivor Series. Add in Miz and R-Truth to the interview footage, and we got ourselves quite the little number going on.
-Legacy: Adding in comments from other superstars while contributing a music video, it’s that denouement chapter that summarizes everyone into one little beautiful visual package of pomp and pageantry. This is the point where people realize their money was not spent in vain, and that this was FINALLY the release they waited for.
So you want matches and promos? Since disc one on the DVD will be the documentary plus some other side stories, here is the content listing from disc two to disc four, with the Blu-ray exclusives!
Disc Two:
Intercontinental Championship, vs. Triple H, THURSDAY RAW THURSDAY, 2/14/97 (Alternate commentary with The Rock & Triple H.)
IC Championship, vs. Ken Shamrock, Royal Rumble 1998
2 out of 3 Falls, IC Championship, vs. Triple H, Fully Loaded 1998
Triple Threat Steel Cage, vs. Mankind vs. Ken Shamrock, Breakdown 1998
WWE Championship, vs. Mankind, Survivor Series 1998
“I Quit”, WWE Championship, vs. Mankind, Royal Rumble 1999
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Nation of Domination (8/18/97)
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No Way Out of Texas 1998 (2/15/98)
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Wrestlemania XIV (3/29/98)
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NOD vs. Chyna (8/24/98)
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Corporate Champion (11/16/98)
Disc 3:
w/ Steve Austin & Vince McMahon vs. Shane McMahon, Triple H, & The Undertaker, RAW (5/10/99)
WWE Championship, vs. Triple H, Backlash 2000 (Alternate commentary by Triple H, The Rock, and a unnamed special guest).
WWE Championship, vs. Kurt Angle, No Way Out 2001
No Disqualification, WWE Championship, vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Wrestlemania X-Seven (Alternate commentary by Steve Austin & The Rock.)
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Rock ditches The Corporation (4/26/99)
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“This Is Your Life” (9/27/99)
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Rock/Jericho promo on Booker T/Rhyno/Stephanie (8/13/2001)
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Angle. Rock. Pie (9/27/2001)
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Rock runs down his opponents for Armageddon (12/4/2000)
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Margaritaville (11/12/2001)
Disc 4:
Triple Threat, WWE Championship, vs. Kurt Angle vs. Undertaker, Vengeance 2002
vs. Steve Austin, Wrestlemania XIX (Alternate commentary by The Rock & Steve Austin)
with John Cena vs. Awesome Truth (The Miz & R-Truth), Survivor Series 2011
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“Anyone can be in the Royal Rumble!” (1/17/02)
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Rock challenges Hogan (2/18/2002)
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Summerslam 2002 training vignettes
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Rock Concert from Sacramento (3/24/03)
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Promo before Wrestlemania XX match
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Return promo from 2011 (2/14/11)
Blu-ray Exclusives
Royal Rumble Match, Royal Rumble 1998
with Mankind & Ken Shamrock vs. Undertaker & Kane, RAW (9/28/98)
vs. Hulk Hogan, Wrestlemania X-8 (new film edit, with different camera angles on top of the original commentary)
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Rock Concert from Toronto (2/24/03)
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Viva La Eddie (7/22/02)
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Making Wrestlemania 28 with John Cena (4/6/11)
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Why he's teaming with John Cena (10/31/11)
I know a lot of you are looking at the match/promo list and going, “WAH, THIS IS A GOOD AMOUNT OF REPEATS!”
Well shut your mouth and know your role and read the blogger spiel!
When it comes to some of the matches, lets face it: they are meant to encompass the career of The Rock, and not his opponents.
For example, the first Triple H/Rock match is to show how far they’ve come. The addition of commentary only adds to this point.
As for the Blu-ray, it contains both of Rock’s 1998 Royal Rumble matches. Both of these made the stock in Maivia rise that night. The IC match was not only good, but had one of the best reversals of fortune EVER, and if anyone doubts early heel Rock, then watch the end to this. 55 minutes in a Rumble directly afterwards is no slouch either, yet Rock pulls it off big time! Not to mention a foreshadowing brawl with Austin!
Summer of 1998 had two choices, whether it’d be Summerslam or Fully Loaded. I personally chose the FL match because while both have been on DVD before, I thought this match also showed why heel Rock was awesome, barely escaping with the title.
The Breakdown match is a truly underrated classic that quite frankly can be repeated and no one will mind. A match with three men inside a cage doesn’t seem all that intriguing until you have a hardcore bastard in Foley, the world’s most dangerous Shamrock, and then a electrifier in Rock. Three combustible men= A TON OF FUN!
There’s a rare match on BD I chose to include with the handicap war from RAW. This is on the out-of-print Best of RAW V1 & 2 set from 2001, and let me tell you, this is a TREAT! One of the only times ever where Undertaker is pinned clean as a sheet in the center of that ring.
Both Foley matches, Survivor Series 98 and Rumble 99, need no explanation. They are the second genesis of heel Rock, and better yet, make Rock look absolutely horrifically evil. Those chair shots at the Rumble, although it was an accident, made Rock a monster no one ever saw before.
That six-man tag from RAW in 1999 is the #1 all-time rated ANYTHING in the history of RAW. Sure it doesn’t match ratings done by a Saturday Night’s Main Event from the 1980’s, but let’s not fool ourselves. At the PEAK of the Monday Night War, a 9.3 rating is nothing to slouch at. I put it on here because it proves that Rock=ratings.
Backlash 2000 needs no introduction. This should have happened at Wrestlemania the month before, from the stips all the way to Austin making his presence felt. Perhaps one of the absolute best matches in Rock’s career, it had a hot crowd, and a hotter finish. I wish there was room to put Judgment Day 2000 on here as well, but three matches against “The Game” is certainly enough for anyone. On commentary yet again, the two explain how it was like to perform like they did in front of electric crowds every night. Plus a certain bald-headed man makes a cameo near the end!
Another solid unspoken for contest is No Way Out 2001 against Kurt Angle. Sure it may seem a little strange, but it was a straight-up no-stip match with a couple of surprises. One was Big Show destroying EVERYONE mid-match, and the other was Earl Hebner legitimately screwing up the finish. I love little flaws like that, even if it wasn’t caught on immediately (I only noticed about a year ago myself).
For the bajillionth time, we have Austin/Rock II from Wrestlemania X-Seven! YAY! OPEN UP THE CANS OF STEVEWEISERS! First time ever, Rock and Austin both get to finally settle down and talk about this match on the commentary track. Performing in the Astrodome, nearly seventy thousand fans, and everyone reacting to everything, Austin and Rock fondly look back at this, their best match together, knowing full well they got the absolute best out of one another. On the DVD, highlight this chapter, press left two times, and there’s an easter egg of Jim Ross sitting down with Rock and Austin just days before X-Seven! And you thought I couldn’t make old dogs learn new tricks!
Next up is probably the second-best Triple Threat match in WWE history, as Angle and Rock take on Bad Ass Undertaker for the Undisputed Championship at Vengeance 2002. Bad ass is right, as the only time this match was available on DVD was the special two-disc version of “JUST BRING IT”.
One more time, Austin and Rock sit down for Wrestlemania. This time its for XIX, famous for being the one Rock finally won while being Austin’s last competitive match. Austin tells Rock stories, like the near-heart attack, that make Rock completely dumbfounded on how well this match came out. Both point out JR did a great job on commentary post-match covering up the fact it was a mini-love fest, while verbally JR saying it was smack talk.
Hey, want to work the audience? Then what about this! “Schedule” Rock and Cena to do a recording of a commentary for their MSG match, but only Cena shows up, and Rock doesn’t! While the commentary sadly won’t be recorded, it’d be an easy way to grow anticipation of the release!
The promos really need little to no explanation. Literary thesis wasn’t a strong point of mine, and while there’s nothing hidden (besides Rock wanting to be pleasured by Gennifer Flowers), the promos are a huge part of what makes The Rock The Rock. No one else talks like him, exaggerates like him, but better yet, no one can do a great setup/pull-off like him. Even on RAW in 2011 he still “had it”. Hell, Rock can definitely be amongst the top five, maybe even top two, promo men in the history of the WWE.
IN CONCLUSION: Consider the dare done. I made a Rock set, WITH FOUR DVDS, and with some of the best promos to boot. The only hard part of it wasn’t the actual content, but what dates did the promos occur on. Time constraints suck too, but that’s half the fun! I hope you all have fun reading this, and hope when the actual content list from WWE gets released, you’re not all disappointed anticipating my version.
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Great Read!!
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