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Image Courtesy of the "Let's Photoshop RD and Blade" thread on the Official WrestleCrap Forum!RD Reviews The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment DVD
I've mentioned it countless times, but I love The Rock. In fact, a while back in Fighting Spirit, I wrote about it in detail:
There is an excitement lacking in wrestling these days. There are tons of wrestling shows, but at the end of the week, when I’ve seen them all, it’s very seldom that I can remember anything that happened. And it’s an even more rare occurrence that anything on these shows made me look forward to seeing what was happening next. I pretty much just continue to watch wrestling out of habit. It didn’t used to be that way.
I used to look forward to watching wrestling. Those days, it seems, are long gone. And when I think about the timeframe that this switchover took place, I can pinpoint it fairly precisely.
Man I miss The Rock.
And I bet a lot of you feel the same way.
The Rock, now there was a guy that I would go out of my way to see. There was a guy that could reach right through the television set and grab you by the collar and pull you into the action. He had more than charisma – he had presence. Whether he was in the ring, on the stick, doing some zany skit…didn’t matter. Whatever he was doing, you had to watch. You couldn’t miss what he said or did because no matter the material he was given, no matter how bad some of the stuff he was thrown into, he made it must-see TV.
Don’t believe me? Consider this, then: he made the Diva Search entertaining. I’m not sure there can be higher praise than that.
I think that pretty much everyone agrees that when it comes to mic work, there have been few better. But I must admit I’m humored that there is now a contingent of fans that now claim that Rock was never really that great of a “worker”. These poor, misguided souls claim that his punches looked “bad” and he didn’t perform the sharpshooter “correctly”, and thus, he really wasn’t all that good.
Maybe wrestling has passed me by, but my definition of what makes a good “worker” doesn’t begin and end with a moveset. Maybe that’s what the modern wrestling fan thinks wrestling is all about, and if you do, more power to you. Enjoy your weekly TNA X-Division spotfest and call whoever is in the ring at the time the greatest worker ever.
For me, though, a “worker” needs more than the ability to do a 720 flippymajobber. It’s more about how to draw fans into a story, a feud, a match. Did Rock ever do a triple-jump moonsault? No. Did he draw fans into matches with what he did do in the ring? I believe his track record of drawing money speaks for itself.
While I won’t say Rock was a once in a lifetime star (especially since his rise came almost simultaneously with Steve Austin, who shares many of the same characteristics), he was certainly a very rare breed: a man who could captivate audiences in any number of ways. Give him a microphone, put him in the ring, script him to do some goofy skit. The man could do it all. That’s why Hollywood wants him so badly.
Now that you know how I feel about the guy, you can just imagine my giddiness when I snatched this from the shelf at the local Circuit City:
Three DVD's of nothing but the Rock? Is there any chance I would NOT buy it?
And you should too.
Seriously, what more could you want? Sure, you get hte backstory of the guy, but that's really just scraping the surface.
Matches? Rock vs. Foley. Rock vs. Angle. Rock vs. Eddie. Rock vs. Hogan. Rock vs. Jericho. And what were two of my favorite matches ever (and arguably my single favorite feud ever): Rock vs. Austin.
But while I liked Rock in the ring, I thought he was even better just running his mouth. And what a selection of promos are here:
- Rock giving us a rundown of a conversation between Billy Gunn and God
- Rock making Coach dance the Charleston
- Rock dead on impersonations of Hunter, Austin, and Rikishi ("Shut your mouth, you thong-wearin' fatty!")
- Rock singing about how Cleveland doesn't rock, it sucks
- And my favorite Rock promo ever, where he confronts the nWo and totally buries Hall, Nash, and Hogan so far beneath the earth it's not even funny
Even though all these promos are fantastic, I can't help but wish that on this three disc set, they would dedicate an entire DVD to nothing but interviews. That's the guy's biggest strength, so why not load us up with them? (I should note it's not the first time I've ever thought that, either - can you imagine a Flair DVD of nothing but two hours of promos?)
Ok, I think I've gushed about Rock enough.
But before I go, let me tell you something else you get from this set, something I hadn't even thought about until I sat back and watched it again. On these three discs, you not only get tons of Rock, but you get the glory days of what many consider WWE's greatest period ever: the late 90's and early 2000's. So it's not just Rock, it's Austin, Foley, DX, Taker, Jericho, Angle. Heck, even Vince back when he was somewhat new and fresh. What a good time to be a fan.
And that's what this disc does - it makes you happy again to be a wrestling fan. I was laughing, I was marking out. I was a fan again.
And I don't think it gets much better than that.
Highlight: That promo with the nWo. That three minutes alone is worth the entire price of admission.
Highest Recommendation
You can order The Rock DVD Set by clicking rightchere!
(Warning: RD is about to SHILL. Click here to skip this section.)
Shillville!
- Now this is one HELL of a deal. My Death of WCW co-author, Bryan Alvarez, is making a deal for WrestleCrappers that is flat out stupid cheap. Get this - a full month of Figure Four Weekly for NINETY NINE CENTS! Yep, for less than a DOLLAR you get all the audio updates, all the news, and all the archives of what is, without question, the funniest wrestling news letter you will ever, ever read for an entire MONTH. Get in on the action by clicking here. I can recommend nothing more highly.
- And, of course, here's the info on the crap I'm peddling these days...
WrestleCrap Personified: The Worst of RD Reynolds
Double DVD-R Set
Now Available!They say those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. But that’s never
stopped RD Reynolds, the curator of WrestleCrap.com, the site that pokes fun at all the worst in wrestling.You see, RD once worked on the independent wrestling scene himself, booking and participating in angles every bit as bad as those he ridicules on his site. And now, because his fellow crappers have asked for it, those events are now available in a double DVD-R set.
Disc 1:
Babyface RD in Championship Wrestling of America
- RD Shills Pizza
- RD Does Terrible Babyface Commentary
- RD Sings Happy Birthday to some dork
- CWA Champ Mike Samples wrestles the world's longest match (well, it felt that way), then proceeds to get run over by a car going 10 MPH, all with Good Guy RD calling the actionHeel RD in Pro Wrestling International:
- PWI Intro Featuring RD DANCING
- RD’s Heel Debut: the Uncle Burt Speech
- Trash Losagain Debut, in Which He Appears to have a GIANT DONG and looks to have pooped his pants
- RD: Heel Commentator Montage in which I talk about how much I hate the fans and tell really, REALLY bad jokes
- RD and Trash Get Biggum (translated: ZERO) heat by stealing a guy’s hat
- RD Heel Refs a Match in GIANT CLOWN SHOES (with commentary by RD, and his friends Casey (Trash Losagain) and Dan Garza (Diamond Dan)
- RD Promo in Hope, Indiana, in which I promise to kiss the foot of everyone in the building if I lose my match
- RD in a Blindfold Kiss My Foot Match (with commentary)
- Bonus: Radio Promo in Which I Pretend to be a Hillbilly Who “Milks Pigs and Shears Cattle”Heel RD Works Indy Shows:
- NWA Indianapolis snippet featuring me managing Mad Man Pondo versus New Jack (with commentary)
- RD and Trash vs. Diamond Dan on a LUCHA SHOW (with commentary)
- Elementary School Show Snippet featuring a guy who is now a HYOOOGE star in TNA (with commentary)
- Promo for Merle Vincent’s TV ShowDisc 2:
RD in CWA: Special Commentary with CWA Promoter Jeff Cohen, who teaches me the fine art of SHILLING!
RD Books PWI Into the Ground (All with commentary with me and Casey):
- PWI Roll Call: A Look at the Poor Guys We Booked Into Oblivion
- We make fun of RD & Trash's debut match
- Dissection of the Hat Stealing Angle
- RD on RD: RD Takes a Look at His Wrestling "Career"
- Special Bonus Match: Otto Bauhn (geddit? Like AUTOBAHN!) vs. Johnny Walker, Whom I Dubbed THE HUMAN CHIA PETSpecial Feature: Blade Braxton's Revenge of the Scorpion in Its ENTIRETY (both with and without commentary by the JOTW head honcho himself)
Believe me, this stuff SUCKS - you've been warned!
Cost for the set is $10.95, which includes free media mail shipment in the US. Foreign orders are also available, at a cost of $17.95. All sets come personally autographed (if you have a special request on the autograph, please let me know). Just use Paypal to send the money to thedeal@wrestlecrap.com, and be sure to include a shipping address! You can also snail mail a check or money order; for that information, click rightchere.
Note: DVD-Rs are playable in MOST newer DVD players, as well as DVD-ROM drives on computers. Also note this is in NTSC format. I cannot guarantee compatibility. If you have any questions regarding that, please contact me here.
Check out all the fun of WrestleCrap Radio rightchere!
Discuss this column and more at the Official WrestleCrap Forum; email RD your comments, questions, and suggestions rightchere.
And be sure to visit RD's Bookshelf and RD's Video Shelf to find out what wrestling books and DVDs are true crap.
