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WWF Best of Raw Volume 2

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This is a 2-disc set with over 6 hours of Raw highlights. I was contemplating separating this into two reviews AND I DID! This deals with the best of Raw from 1999 and highlights the storylines that were prevalent then.

The Main Program
      Coach is the host this time around and we’ll take a look back at the best moments of Raw from late 1998 to late 1999. Coach runs down the major angles like Undertaker’s Ministry of Darkness, Vince McMahon’s Corporation and Steve Austin raising hell. There was also Mankind looking to become the WWF champion for the first time. The first segment they look at is at Survivor Series where the Rock won the title. Austin shows up the next night with a legally binding contract where he wrestles for the title but it will be his last chance. McMahon hires Ken Shamrock to help Austin lose and Austin is right on his way to winning until Undertaker hit him with a shovel that led him to black out later on. This started the Austin/Undertaker feud where Austin had to beat Taker in a Buried Alive match to become a participant in the Royal Rumble. Undertaker would later crucify him on the Undertaker Symbol. Austin won and got to enter the Royal Rumble.
      They show clips from Raw 01/04/99 where Mankind takes on the Rock for the title. The date listed on the DVD was 08/30 but that can’t be right. DX comes out to aid Mankind. Rock has the Corporation with him. They clip to Rock hitting the People’s Elbow but only for two. Mankind takes over but Rock hits him with the belt but only for two. Mankind hits his double-arm DDT on the belt for two. Out comes Mr. Socko and it goes right into Rock’s mouth. Shamrock comes in and attacks with a chair, which draws Billy Gunn. DX and the Corporation brawl when out comes Stone Cold to a HUGE pop. Austin nails Rock with a chair and puts Mankind over him for the pin and the win and Mankind’s first WWF Title. One of the biggest pops you’ll hear for the ending of this one. This would also be the night that WCW gave away the results of this match on their show which caused all the people watching WCW to turn to WWF to watch this match and another step in WCW’s demise. Mankind celebrates in the ring then dedicates his title win to his children. Whew, how do they follow this?
      They move onto the Royal Rumble stuff with a Corporate Royal Rumble from Raw 01/11/99. This was between DX and the Corporation. Shamrock eliminates himself with a plancha like the idiot he is. He kills Billy dead on the floor as the refs try to send him to the back. Shamrock doesn’t leave though and Bossman is number two. Shamrock finally leaves. Bossman and Gunn do the standard rumble stuff as Test is number four even though the Outlaws music plays. Whole much ado about nothing and X-Pac is number 5. Test hiptosses Gunn over the ropes and now X-Pac is the DX member in peril. The sixth man in is Road Dogg who slugs away at Test. It’s two-on-two again Kane is the seventh man in and you know this isn’t good for DX. Road Dogg gets clotheslined out by Kane and its three on one now. HHH is the eighth and last man in. He goes after Test so Kane holds him for Test. Test charges and clotheslines Kane by mistake. Kane tosses Test. Kane’s back is turned so both HHH and X-Pac clothesline him over the top. Bossman quickly tosses X-Pac leaving Bossman and HHH. The horn sounds again and out comes Vince McMahon as the REAL last participant. HHH is too occupied with Vince so Bossman attacks from behind. They try to toss each other and Vince walks in and dumps them both. He thinks he’s won but Chyna comes walking out. The stooges tell her she can’t go in and block her from going in. She levels the stooges and Austin’s music goes off. Austin comes down and distracts McMahon and Chyna tosses him over the top to become number 30 in the Rumble. Another great segment.
      Steve Austin was number 1 in the Rumble and then commissioner, HBK, made Vince the number 2. They show some of the McMahon training sessions leading up to the Rumble. They show McMahon winning the Rumble and Chyna becoming the first woman to participate in the Rumble. She also would win the IC title. She also had Mark Henry chasing after her. They go to a Raw from 11/98 where Mark asks her on a date and recites a poem for her. Chyna says she’ll go out with him. They show their date from 11/30/98 and Chyna just wants to get this over with. Mark Henry leaves to go to the bathroom so some guys start hitting on her. The guy calls her a bitch and Chyna levels her. Henry comes back and kills the three guys as they leave. Henry would later pick up a woman and start kissing her but it later turned out to be a man.
      They go over the Rock/Mankind feud that produced some great matches. The last match they’d wrestle was from 02/15/99 in a ladder match where Rock would win and face Austin at WM XV. Also in February of 1999, Undertaker and Kane fought in an inferno match where Undertaker gave McMahon a bear and burned it. This leads to Vince saying how Mark Calloway became too into his gimmick and became that monster. They show the interview with Vince and Stephanie. Stephanie gets abducted and she’s found in a boiler room and the famous line where Undertaker commandeers’s the limo, WHERE TOO STEPHANIE. He kidnaps her and Bearer says he’s her unholy bride and Austin surprisingly makes the save. Vince McMahon thanks him. Shane calls out Stephanie and Shane says Vince lost all his power. Shane fires the stooges and then slaps his father and tells him he’s not his father anymore. Shane forms the Corporate Ministry and Shane says that he was the mastermind behind all of this. From Raw 05/03/99 Vince had to wrestle Shane. Vince got Pearl Harbored in his locker room by HHH and Undertaker but still makes his way to the ring. Well not quite, he falls down on the way over and Shane runs out to take advantage of Vince’s pain. He rolls him into the ring and chokes him in the corner and follows with a Bronco Buster. McMahon makes the big comeback and clotheslines him and hits him with a stunner to pin Shane.
      This leads to the greater power angle that was sure to disappoint when it was revealed to be McMahon. Vince called what he did just business. Linda McMahon stepped down as the CEO and gave her position to none other than Stone Cold Steve Austin. He drinks a lot basically and dumps cow manure in McMahon’s office. Before all this happened, we go to a Raw from 03/22/99. This is the famous segment where Austin drove a beer truck out to the ring and sprayed everyone in the ring with beer, a segment that Angle repeated later on using milk. Steve Austin would later go on to win the belt at Wrestlemania XV. Since Austin won, he wants his flaming skull belt but the Rock won’t give it back. They show the title on the Titantron and the Big Show pulls it down and Austin rips it up. This leads to them at Detroit and Rock throws Austin into the river and throws the belt in after him. (This would be the same river Austin threw the IC title in months before). Following this (on 04/05/99), Rock sets up a funeral for Austin and has his eulogy already written. Actually, he never threw the belt in, it was a swerve! Of course, Austin is not dead and he drives a monster truck over there. He drives over the Rock’s car with his Monster Truck. He drives out to the ring and runs over the hearse. He charges Rock and manhandles the Rock. He dumps him in the empty grave and regains the smoking skull belt. Shane McMahon attacks Austin from behind with a shovel and steals the smoking skull belt. He regained the belt at the next PPV, with Shane as a referee. That wouldn’t be the end of the Rock though. The next night, The Rock has a problem with Shane McMahon, turning himself face.
      One man would change from 1998 to 1999, HHH. This is when HHH went from goofy leader of DX doing his crotch chops to becoming the Game and separating himself from DX and becoming a WWF main eventer. Mankind would win the gold at Summerslam but the next night HHH would do the impossible and win the title from Mankind for his first title and first big push. HHH wasn’t as good as a wrestler as he would become in 2000 but he was improving. As for the match, they show most of it actually and HHH nails Mankind with a chair and then Rock (who was doing commentary). Shane McMahon takes out Earl Hebner and counts the pin when HHH pedigrees Mankind.
      1999 was a big year for debuts. Big Show made his first appearance but an even bigger one occurred on 09/09/99 when Chris Jericho, Y2J made his first appearance, interrupting a Rock interview. His debut is still great to watch as he points out all the problems in the WWF (most of which are still true today) and in a time of wrestlers jumping ship to other promotions, this would be one of the last great jumps from promotion to promotion. They show the whole interview by the way. Jericho gets the honor of being his first major feud being with Chyna, who beat Jeff Jarrett for the title at the PPV. Jericho is sickened by her being a champion. He actually lost to her at their first PPV match (at Survivor Series) but he would get the title at Armageddon. They’d feud months into 2000 as well.
      The Rock had a great year in 1999 too. Teaming up with the man he feuded with at the beginning of the year. They would become the Rock N’ Sock Connection. The Rock was pretty apathetic to it at first but later they eventually got along and led to some great moments on television. Rock and Mankind won the titles from Big Show and Undertaker by hitting stereo People’s Elbows on the Big Show. The most famous segment of the Rock N’ Sock Connection was the “This is Your Life” segment which generated the highest rating for a wrestling segment ever if memory serves. Still a great segment and one of the longest in Raw history. They show clips of it but the full one is great and has to be seen.
      There’s not much left to show for the 1999 highlights. They have a segment on DX and their death in 1999. DX would break up in 1999 but got back together in late 1999 before HHH’s push got so big they killed DX off once and for all in mid-2000 and not keeping it around for 6 years like WCW did with the n.W.o. Anyway, they show highlights of 11/11/99 Raw where all them members of DX wrestled and all the matches ended in run-ins except for Vince McMahon hitting Shane in the head with the WWF title by accident. Vince would become the special guest referee for the Survivor Series match where Steve Austin would get run over by a car, which was later revealed as HHH’s master plot. At Armageddon, Stephanie turned on Vince and the McMahon-Helmsley era began. But that would be on Volume 3. (Did they ever even release that?) We end with a 2-minute highlight reel of Raw moments.

Main Program Review
Well, there’s certainly more here than the first disc. It is about 40 minutes LONGER than disc one. It’s actually a lot better produced too. By that, I mean that it seems to flow better from one thing to another and deals with really only the best. They don’t have things as ridiculous as the Val Venis stuff from Disc 1 and they seem to show more matches than Disc one. Some matches are almost shown in their entirety and clipped to the best parts. The first one was definitely more storyline oriented and the matches were thrown in as an after-thought to the McMahon-Austin feud. This seems to focus more on what was going on as a whole and focused on the 4 main eventers of 1999: Austin, Rock, Foley and HHH. Of course, the McMahon’s are all their too, but this is before we’d realize they’d remain on WWF television until just recently. Overall, a lot better than disc one in my opinion.

DVD Features
A) Extras
1) Shane Gets the Gold
From 01/11/98. This would be Shane McMahon and Kane vs. X-Pac and HHH. The winner gets the European Title. HHH starts off with Kane right away and damn HHH got a LOT bigger from January to August. Kane takes control and tags in Shane. Shane bails and tags back in Kane. Kane sends HHH to the ropes and HHH tags in X-Pac. HHH ducks a clothesline then Kane ducks a double clothesline and hits one of his own. X-Pac and HHH come back with a Total Elimination. X-Pac covers but gets tossed out of the ring on the kick out. Shane comes over to attack X-Pac but X-Pac chases him only to get clotheslined by Chyna who is in Shane and Kane’s corner. X-Pac is rolled back in and Shane is tagged in who covers for two. X-Pac comes back and tags in HHH. Shane tags in Kane and HHH immediately starts using the knee. Kane sits up and sends HHH to the ropes and hits a big boot. He goes to the top and hits a flying clothesline. He goes to cover but Shane wants to get tagged in. He works over HHH but HHH simply knocks him down. He gets double teamed in the DX corner but Chyna comes in and grabs X-Pac. Shane charges but hits Chyna instead. X-Pac kicks Shane down in the corner and goes for the bronco buster but Kane comes over and catches him and tosses him down. HHH knocks him to the outside and they brawl out there. Chyna gives Shane the European belt and he clocks X-Pac with it. Chyna puts him arm over X-Pac and the ref counts the three giving Shane the European title at: 4:22. Short but really non-stop action. **1/2.

2) Chyna Goes Jewelry Shopping
From Raw 01/18/99. This was after Mark Henry had done some stuff with a transvestite and Chyna is pissed. Chyna the week before tossed McMahon in the Corporation Battle Royale (shown in its entirety on the main program). On Heat the night before, Vince McMahon beat Chyna in an arm-wrestling match with the help of the stooges, which set up Chyna vs. Brisco/Patterson. Brisco starts off and takes Chyna down with a go-behind takeover. Chyna reverses and Brisco makes the ropes to break. Patterson tags himself in and he jaws with Chyna. He points his finger in her face so he grabs his finger. He picks her up and works in the airplane spin. Patterson gets dizzy though and Brisco comes in and tosses him out. Brisco goes for a bodyslam but Chyna reverses into an atomic drop. Patterson comes in and it’s forearms for him. She sends Patterson into Brisco whose head is down and ends up in Patterson’s groin. Patterson goes for a low-blow but there’s nothing there. Chyna grabs his members and then Brisco’s. Brisco and Patterson argue and push each other as Patterson shoves Chyna off the top rope where she was sitting. Patterson rolls her back in and she’s knocked out. Brisco does the corporate elbow and covers but Patterson pulls him off. He splashes her and covers but Brisco pulls him off. They slug it out and Chyna gives them a double noggin knocker. She gives Patterson the ten count punch in the corner but only gets up to eight. She turns around and Brisco throws powder in her eyes. They then pat her ass and grab her breasts (and they wonder why the PTC was after them). They try a double clothesline but Chyna ducks and clotheslines them both down. She DDT’s Patterson and Brisco and puts Brisco on top of Patterson and sits on them both for the three count and the win at: 6:00. Just a comedy match, ½*.

3) “All Right. All Right- I Quit”
From Raw 01/25/99. This would be the night after The Royal Rumble. They mention their Half-Time Heat match which I have and definitely will review one day. They start off slugging right away and Rock bails. He comes back in and gets caught with a high knee. He gets the standing ten punch count in the corner with an extra crotch chop and eleventh punch thrown in. Who knew that a year later these guys would main event 3 PPV’s in a row? HHH tosses Rock outside and connects with a baseball slide. Rock starts to bail and HHH follows. Rock sends him into the steel entry-way. He tries to whip him off the ramp but HHH holds on for a short-arm clothesline. HHH gets the mic and Rock doesn’t quit so he hits him with it. They fight back to ringside and HHH gets sent into the ringbell table. The Rock grabs Cole’s headset and badmouths HHH and tells him to say he quits. HHH charges him and they fight behind the announce table. HHH sends him over the barricade into the crowd and follows. They exchange punches and HHH grabs an electrical cord and chokes the Rock. Rock still won’t wait though. He sends Rock into the unforgiving steel steps and tosses him back inside. HHH grabs the ring bell and hammer (though not the sledgehammer yet, that wouldn’t be for another few months). Rock avoids the bell and DDT’s HHH. He sets the bell on HHH and hits the corporate elbow with the hammer. Rock asks him to quit but HHH says suck it instead. HHH gets sent to the ropes but catches Rock with his head down and knees him. He pedigrees him and grabs the mic but he’s not done yet. He pedigrees Rock on the floor. He’s still not done though. He sets up the Rock on the announcers table and gets ready to pedigree him when Kane and the rest of the Corporation come out and threaten to chokeslam Chyna unless HHH says he quits. HHH quits ending the match at: 9:08. HHH goes into the ring to check on the status of Chyna. He turns around to look at Kane when Chyna low-blows HHH! HHH’s look at Chyna is classic. Well, Chyna’s the newest member of the Corporation. The Corporation kills HHH afterwards as Vince comes out smiling and welcome Chyna to the corporation. Really good segment and the match wasn’t bad either! **1/2.

4) Hardcore Banana Split
From Raw 02/22/99. This is for the Hardcore Title. Hardcore Holly is the champion at this point having just won it from Al Snow at the Valentine’s Day Massacre. Bart Gunn is his opponent. The NEW MIDNIGHT EXPRESS EXPLODE! This is set up by Hardcore Holly giving Gunn a verbal lashing. Holly is the only one that Gunn didn’t knock out in the Brawl for All. If you don’t count Butterbean too that is. They punch and Holly makes it outside and finds a pitcher conveniently placed at ringside and smashes it into Gunn. He grabs the chair and wallops Gunn with it a few times. Gunn hasn’t bladed yet so I guess he didn’t get the Attitude brochure. Gunn somehow finds a glass of KOOL –AID and hits Holly with it. Okay, water being at ringside I can understand, but since when do the WWF put KOOL-AID at ringside in pitchers and glasses? This isn’t ECW. Gunn drops Holly on the exposed barricade but Holly funds a fire extinguisher and dumps a bucket of ice on him. He sends Gunn into the unforgiving steel chairs and tries for a suplex on the STEEL ramp which Gunn reverses. The announcers mention Sparky Plugg as Bart covers for two. Bart hits a horrible DDT on the ramp then throws him into the stairs. He sprays him with the fire extinguisher but Holly lowblows him and comes back. He bodyslams him on the steel ramp and they go to the ring entrance. The brawl and Gunn finds a watermelon. He cracks it across Holly’s head. Bart then finds a metal rod, which he breaks over Holly’s back. Holly comes back with a low blow and finds a crate of bananas. He smashes it over Gunn’s head and starts eating a banana. Holly finds a garbage can and hits Gunn in the head and just stands there. Gunn fights back and hits him with the trashcan lid. He finds a sack of flour and bashes it over Holly. Dr. Death dressed as a ninja attack Gunn and sends him off the entry way onto a table. I completely forgot about that gimmick. Holly walks over and pins Gunn for the three count at: 8:15. Horrible match that had no business going 8 minutes. ½*.

5) A Death-Defying Leap
From 03/13/99. They mention the Bulldog/Test feud, which I guess I completely erased from memory. Test and Bulldog will in fact be wrestling in a steel cage match. They battle in the cage as the referees have trouble locking the cage. Test sends Bulldog who goes upside down into the turnbuckle. Test tosses him into the cage and gets a spinning sidewalk slam. Test gets whipped to the turnbuckles but catches Bulldog with an elbow. Test charges but gets elbowed down. Test gets sent into cage and Bulldog gets a delayed suplex. Test ducks a clothesline and they both hit clotheslines. Test misses a big boot and Bulldog gets a powerslam. He tries to escape but Test catches him on the top rope. He shoves him off and makes it to the top of the cage. The Mean Street Posse come down and break the lock on the door as Test hits a huge elbow on Bulldog off the top of the cage. The Posse triple team Test and Shane runs down and climbs over the cage and hits a flying crossbody off the top of the cage onto the Posse. Meanwhile, Bulldog escapes out of the cage as the Posse work on Shane. Joey Abs gets him up in a Razor’s Edge and slams him down when he’s at the top. Text revives and tosses Abs but gets hit by the cage door by the other posse members. Stephanie runs out to look over her brother and Test. So Test’s big spot was completely missed by the cameraman due to the Posse, Bulldog escaping was not mentioned until about a minute later and the only thing they show is the Shane high-spot. In the end, it’s the Stephanie/Shane and Test in the ring. They replay the Shane spot three times and the Test elbow once. The match was there just to show Shane’s suicide bump and the cage match sucked before that. ¼*.

6) What a Blast!
From 03/22/99. Two weeks ago, Kane blasted Chyna with a flare gun by mistake and carried her out. Kane is facing Goldust tonight. There’s no match as Goldust is actually HHH in disguise and he blast Kane in the face with a flame-thrower. He takes out some referees while pounding on Kane. Kane’s face is set on fire again! Good thing all the scars healed when he took his mask off years later. Fun segment, but no match. (**)

7) A Mammoth Showdown
From 06/07/99. This is for the WWF title, Undertaker vs. Big Show. Undertaker would be champion if you didn’t know. Big Show attacks and Undertaker fights back while still wearing the belt! Big Show hits a big elbow early and covers for two. He sends Taker into the turnbuckles with AUTHORITY and manhandles the Undertaker some more. Man, Big Show was actually kind of in shape here and if they pushed him for what he was, a massive giant who was kind of acrobatic, they wouldn’t be stuck with what they have now. A guy who always blows the big one and is sent to OVW annually to lose weight. Big Show completely dominated Undertaker early on. Undertaker ducks a clothesline attempt and grabs Show’s neck for the chokeslam but Show grabs him right back. Undertaker knees out of it and hits his flying clothesline. They go to the outside and Undertaker tries to send him headfirst onto the top of the steel cage. Show blocks and its Undertaker who is smashed into the steps. Show picks up Undertaker but Taker slides of his back and shoves Show into the ringpost. Undertaker makes it to the apron and dives onto Show to bulldog him off the announce table. It sounds better than it looked. Undertaker hits Show in the back with a chair and drives his head into the ground with his foot. He chokes him on the ground and dominates Show for a while. They FINALLY make it back to the ring and Undertaker goes off the top rope but gets caught by Big Show. Big Show chokeslams Undertaker THROUGH THE RING and Hebner calls for the bell at: 6:48. The Acolytes come in and get slammed as done Mideon. The parts where Big Show was in control were actually not bad. The brawl on the floor was boring as all heck though. ¾*.

8) Tag Titles Up For Grabs
From 07/05/99. The Hardy Boyz are accompanied by Dok Hendrik. This is actually set up by a Heat Match last night where Kane and X-Pac fought the Hardys and the Acolytes interfered resulting in Bradshaw getting tombstoned onto the steel steps. Bradshaw doesn’t even have medical clearance to fight tonight! Matt jumps out and gets caught so Jeff follows with a somersault plancha. Faarooq and Matt battle inside as Bradshaw sends Jeff to the steps. Matt gets a neckbreaker and Matt hits a legdrop from the top ad Jeff splashes him from the top. Jeff covers for two but Matt is the legal man. Matt gets a spinebuster so Jeff runs in and gets powerslammed. Bradshaw tags in and Matt gets a big boot. Bradshaw bodyslams Matt and then kicks him in the back. Bradshaw throws Matt to the corner but Matt puts up a foot when Bradshaw charges. Matt dives onto Bradshaw but gets caught. Jeff hits a dropkick off the top rope and Matt covers for two. Faarooq comes in and dumps Matt and Jeff comes in. Faarooq works him over but gets DDT’d for two. Bradshaw is tagged in and Jeff was never actually tagged in. Bradshaw is about to powerslam Jeff but Matt kicks him in the head. Matt is tagged and kicks Bradshaw who ducked down. Bradshaw no sells and lariats him down. He covers but Jeff breaks the count drawing Faarooq in. Jeff and Faarooq brawl outside and Dok gets caught up with Faarooq. Jeff runs around and nails Bradshaw with Dok’s cane and Matt hits a tornado DDT for the pin and the tag titles at: 4:24. Really good match. **3/4.

9) Kane Speaks
From 08/09/99. Kane and X-Pac come out together with combined music to take on the Acolytes for the Tag Team Titles. Big brawl to start as Kane and Bradshaw fight on the inside as Faarooq and X-Pac battle outside. Kane works Bradshaw over in the corners to start but Bradshaw reverses and Irish whip to the corner. Bradshaw charges but gets elbowed by Kane followed by a clothesline for two. The Acolytes double and shoulderblock Kane down, but he sits right up. Faarooq tries an Irish Whip to the ropes but it’s reversed and Kane hits the big boot. X-Pac is tagged in and he gets caught in a big spinebuster. Bradshaw is tagged in and works over X-Pac but X-Pac tries to come back only to get caught and slammed down. Bradshaw covers but Kane breaks up the pin. Faarooq is tagged in and gets a backbreaker for two. Bradshaw is tagged in and grabs Bradshaw in a bear hug. He escapes only to eat a Bradshaw big boot. Bradshaw goes for the clothesline from hell but X-Pac ducks and hits a spinning heel kick. Kane is tagged in and he goes to the top and hits a flying clothesline on Bradshaw. Faarooq runs in and he is about to get chokeslammed when Bradshaw saves. He ducks a double clothesline and clotheslines them both down. Faarooq ends up in the corner and X-Pac goes for the Bronco Buster but gets caught by Bradshaw who had just clotheslined Kane out. Kane pulls Bradshaw to the outside as X-Pac reverses Faarooq eliminator with the X-Factor for the pin and the tag titles at: 4:36 (even though X-Pac wasn’t the legal man). Afterwards, Kane speaks without the voice box for the first time. Not bad if too rushed. *1/2.

10) The Voice Box Gimmick

From 09/06/99. This is for the Tag Team titles as The Rock N’ Sock Connection(c) take on Kane and X-Pac. Rock makes fun of Kane’s voice box and it’s absolutely classic Rock. Kane comes out by himself. HHH makes his way to Kane’s corner. Rock attack Kane as Chyna comes out, sledgehammer in tow. Kane works over Rock in the corner and elbows him down. He misses an elbow drop and Rock comes back. He ducks a clothesline and wiggles out of a bodyslam attempt with a side Russian legsweep. He sends Kane into Mankind’s foot and Mankind is tagged in. Mankind punches away at Kane in the corner but he no sells. He works Mankind over in the corner and whips to the opposite corner. He follows with a clothesline and then a short-arm clothesline. Kane refuses to tag Mankind and Mankind hits his piledriver. Rock comes in only to get booted down. He sends him off the ropes and ducks down so Rock slams him face first into the mat. Kane gets to his corner and HHH tags himself in so Kane clotheslines him over the top. Kane catches Rock in a chokeslam but HHH runs in and hits Kane in the back with a sledgehammer. Rock hits the Rock Bottom and People’s Elbow for the pin and the win at: 4:24. Match was nothing special at all. 3/4*. Kane is still down and HHH goes to pick him up but Kane grabs his throat. HHH decides to give him a sledgehammer blow to the heart then the arm. Undertaker and Big Show come down to make the save as HHH runs away.

11) The T.I.T. Tourney
From 10/05/99. This would be the second of the best of five series between the Hardy Boyz and Edge Christian for the services of Terri. They would make it to a Ladder Match at No Mercy where the Hardy’s eventually won. T.I.T. stands for the Terri Invitational Tournament. Edge gets a nice hurricanrana on Matt in the ring and Christian is tagged in for a double team flapjack, which gets a two. Jeff is tagged in and he gets back dropped and bodyslammed. Edge is tagged in for a double forward slam for two. Edge gets sent to the ropes and Matt pulls him outside. Edge is focused on Matt and Jeff baseball slides him. Matt works him over outside and sends him back in. Matt is tagged in and they do some double-teaming. Matt covers for two. Matt works Edge over in the corner. He hotshots Edge on the top rope and covers for two. Matt suplexes him and Jeff hits the Swanton off the top for two. Edge and Christian are up 1-0 here in terms of the best of 5 series. Jeff misses a crossbody and he ends up outside. He recovers first and tags in Matt who hits a springboard moonsault off the top rope, onto Edge’s knees. Hot tag Christian and he cleans house until he gets hotshotted by Matt and rolled up by Jeff. Pier six ensues as Matt takes a suicide backdrop over the turnbuckles to the outside. Jeff comes off the top onto Christian who’s laying on the mat only to get speared on the way down by Edge for the pin and the win at: 4:20. Match was fun but we’ve seen it before since these teams have fought hundreds of times from 99 to 03. **.

B) Audio/Visual
It’s presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and it’s just the same as any TV show. The VQ is pretty good too. It’s full screen and better than television, which is all you, can ask.

C) Liner Notes
The liner notes are 4 pages long. The first page and last page are the covers and the middle two are the chapter selections and extra features.

Best of Raw DVD Volume 2 Rundown
1) Shane Gets the Gold (**1/2)
2) Chyna Goes Jewelry Shopping (1/2*)
3) “All Right, All Right – I Quit” (**1/2)
4) Hardcore Banana Split (1/2*)
5) A Death-Defying Leap (1/4*)
6) What a Blast! (**)
7) A Mammoth Showdown (3/4*)
8) Tag Titles Up For Grabs (**3/4)
9) Kane Speaks (*1/2)
10) The Voice Box Gimmick (3/4*)
11) The T.I.T. Tourney(**)

Overall Review
Damn, those were some high quality extras. There are 11 extras which is three less than the previous disc but they were all matches and most of them pretty good. Far superior to disc one in every way and this is the best one to get if available separately. As a set, it’s quite a nice look back on the WWF glory years and any new WWE fan should take a look back to see what all the fuss was about

Overall Rating
8.0


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