tonyschlapak Another documentary that could have been better than what it was. Now, it was very detailed and chronicled the history of one of the biggest wrestling factions in history but my biggest problem was wrestlers trying to keep kayfabe. This documentary lacked because of that reason

zkonedog As a childhood fan of the WWE, I grew up in the "Hulkamania" era of the late 1980s and early 90s. However, when Vince McMahon began the new "Attitude" era in the mid-90s, I briefly "defected" to the WCW in order to see all my favorite wrestling superstars again. Thus, when I saw this "NWO" set had been released, I thought that it would bring back some good memories for me from that time period. Unfortunately, the only notion it hammered home to me was this simple one: even at its best, WCW could not hold a candle to what some might consider the worst of the WWE.I'll briefly touch on the good: The only reason "nWo: The Revolution" deserves two stars over one is because of the documentary portion of the collection, which nicely chronicles both the rise and fall of WCW's nWo experiment.The trouble will begin when you start watching the individual matches. In contrast to the excitement, visual presentation, and skill level of the WWE program, WCW looks like a B-movie. For a few examples...-The nWo matches are never very exciting, always devolving into a mess of outside interference and posturing. The matches from Hollywood Hogan are actually the worst, as they largely consist of Hogan playing the part of a coward who acts like a tough guy. -The visual presentation is underwhelming; it seems as if the arenas are small and the theatrics are done on the cheap. -The wrestlers themselves are physically just not very good performers. Hall and Nash are passable (but nothing more), while Hogan is a downright embarrassment in his Hollywood persona. Even mega-stars like Sting and Goldberg are quite average when actually plying their wrestling craft. -Even the announcers are sub-par, as an exciting/hilarious broadcast team can always up the excitement/humor of any match or situation. Nothing here even sniffs the great WWE combos of Monsoon/Ventura or Ross/Lawler.Overall, then, this set was an eye opener for me. Though I had remember enjoying the nWo plot lines as a child, I was surprised at how poorly they hold up in context. The only match I can get some enjoyment out of now is the last one in this set...held in a WWE arena, of course. I never thought in my life that I would say this, but "nWo: The Revolution" opened my eyes to the fact that Vince McMahon, for all his personal faults, deserves much credit for the success of WWE, as he is head-and-shoulders above WCW's Eric Bischoff.This set may appeal to you more if you grew up with WCW, but it is more likely that it will open your eyes to exactly why the WCW had such a short competitive run.

Sean Bardgett When Eric Bischoff became the executive vice president of WCW, he went about changing the structure and old school attitudes to make the company function in more modern way. He started this by creating WCW Nitro. At first people believed that Eric was just another guy with radical ideas that was going to keep the company in the stone age. Then came the nWo.With the arrival of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and the infamous heel turn of Hulk Hogan, the nWo changed the foundation as to how wrestling on television was shown to a mass audience. In many ways it was reality TV before reality TV became popular because even though it was still fake, you honestly believed that everything was happening was real. It also allowed wrestling itself to become mainstream picking up athletes like Karl Malone, Dennis Rodman from the NBA and Bill Goldberg a retired NFL player who went on to become one of the biggest household names.The idea had promise and generated ratings but it wasn't without its flaws. WCW was not known for allowing newer talent to be pushed to mainstream status, plus despite being cool the nWo were bad guys. The problem was they were bad guys that always won. Fans were always waiting for the day where the nWo would finally lose and even when moments came whether you had the outsiders losing the tag belts, or Hogan losing the WCW title to either Goldberg or Sting, the victories never really seemed important.One thing however that I disagree with was the when they arrived in WWE that they were old news. The biggest issue was that they were not promoted properly. During their time in the company they were beating up crewmembers backstage on Raw and Smackdown shows, and wrestling no name talents like Spike Dudley. With proper story lines that would have helped to promote them as the top heels, it would have made for more meaningful matches against superstars like Austin and the Rock. For someone who doesn't like to make bad business decisions, Vince McMahon seemed to have no trouble, killing a group that was guaranteed to make him millions of dollars.