WWE/WWF: '98-'00 - Part 2

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(Disclaimer: The next couple of blogs might be very boring to alot of people, this is my 2nd post in a 3-part series on wrestling so for those of you who have no interest in it, have no fear, I'll blog about other things soon)


The Collection.

Ahhh, my pride and joy! The Collection consists of DVDs, VHS and Books. Compared to alot of wrestling fanatics, my collection is piss-poor, but I don't do it for bragging rights so who cares!

It all started in 1999, when I first started watching wrestling. The family and I were in the town centre in Manchester, just shopping, when we entered WHSmith...I had never thought of buying a wrestling video, but I saw 2 on the shelf and just had to get 'em! They were King of the Ring 1999 and Hell Yeah! A biography about Stone Cold Steve Austin. That was the start of my collection and here they are:



I've probrably watched each of these about 20 times, which is only twice a year since I've had them. The King of the Ring was pretty good, had a good match card and although unfortunately the winner of the KOTR tournament didn't really amount to much, it's still good to watch. The main event was a handicap ladder match - Austin Vs McMahons. This exemplified the legendary feud between Austin and Vince and also brought Shane into the light as a credible on-air personality.
The Hell Yeah! VHS is all right, it was just a brief highlight of Stone Cold's career, I don't really consider this as part of my main collection.

My earliest VHS is the 1997 Royal Rumble:



This VHS is a sign of it's time. The shitty fireworks, the crappy entrances, bad storylines, these are the things that actually made it good and it was at this time that WCW was beating the WWE in the ratings by quite a bit. The Royle Rumble match itself led to Stone Cold Steve Austin becoming a top tier star...although it would be over a year until he would actually win the major gold. The main event was a solid match between Psycho Sid and HBK with an excellent build-up.
This was a good example of the WWE at a time in which they were experimenting with the idea of "Hardcore", there was not alot of weapons or anything, but there were stairs, a table and a 2x4.
All in all, it was a good PPV and a great way to start the Road to Wrestlemania.

My main collection is PPVs from January 1998 to December 2000. These were the best years in WWE history as many fans would agree. The "Attitude Era" was a turning point for professional wrestling and is always looked back on as the years that gave rise to such superstars as "The Rock" "Stone Cold" "Kane" "HHH" amongst others...it also helped the WWE beat WCW in the ratings war.

Here is my main collection...





I even have the ones that were filmed in the UK and weren't available in the USA, but barely any titles ever change and they never make a difference to storylines, certainly a good addition to the collection though.
The bulk of it was bought from Ebay, as they stopped selling them in the shops, that's good though because they were cheap as fuck at £4-£5 each, that includes Postage+Packing. There are a few that are somewhat rare however, they cost me around £10-£20, so it's still a relatively cheap hobby to have I would say.

My Favourites.

Alot of people can't pick their favourites as they see their collections as their "children". Fuck that I say...There are some really bad PPVs out there, but there are some really good ones, here's my Top 3:

No.3: Summerslam 98'

I remember when I bought it, I was in HMV with my mum, I must have only been 12-13 and the guy at the checkout till was very friendly. He was a wrestling fan so we got talking and we both agreed that the ladder match between HHH and The Rock was one of the best matches ever. Heh, the customers behind us got a little pissed off I think.
The matchcard was pretty solid, shame about those retarded rapping clowns in the entrance of the Odditties though. This PPV definitely encapsulated what the WWF was putting across at the time...Attitude.




Highlights:
Undertaker legdropping Austin on the Spanish announce table.
Kai En Tai getting squashed by The Oddities.
Jeff Jarrett getting his head shaved.
The Rock Vs Triple H...that whole match was tremendous.



No.2: Wrestlemania XIV '98

Not only my 2nd favourite video of my whole collection, but also one of my favourite Wrestlemanias of all time. I don't really have a recollection of buying this, other than I went to McDonalds with the family afterwards...heh, the shit I remember eh? This Wrestlemania was the last event for over 4 years that HBK wrestled and Undertaker got some awesome revenge on his brother. This Wrestlemania was the start of Stone Cold Steve Austin's reign as WWF Champion and the end of a very "gimmicky" era. From now on things were very different, less kid's stuff, more ass kicking.




Highlights:
Kane getting Tombstoned 3 times.
Tyson knocking the shit out of HBK
The D-X band covering "America the Beautiful"
Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie being INSANE


No.1: Backlash '00

This PPV defines everything about Professional Wrestling and the WWE. Every match had a purpose with brilliant build-up and excellent storylines. I feel that this is one of the most underrated PPVs in the history of the WWE and is also the only one of my Top 3 that happened while I was a wrestling fan. It also featured a surprisingly excellent match between Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty, also underrated. This event was slap-bang in the middle of what was known as the McMahon-Helmsley era, where HHH and Stephanie McMahon had all the power of the WWE.




Highlights:
Dean Malenko and Scotty 2 Hotty surprise everyone
The Rock finally winning the gold
The hardcore match was entertaining, shocking and funny.
The Showster.


I can't say it enough that it really is a shame that the WWE has become what it is today. The PG rating, lack of JR on commentary and of course John friggin' Cena. It's all well and good that they have decided to change their target audience, but to neglect the diehard wrestling fans by having 5 minute matches and 10 minute backstage skits is a kick in the balls. One day I really do hope they improve their product, it's no coincidence that they toned it down when Linda McMahon started doing her political thing. She wants a clean-cut image so that she can get more votes, simple...but her image will always be tainted by the amount of wrestlers that have passed-on due to WWE's neglect. She has alot of explaining to do and so does Vince.

Well, that was fun as heck...sorry about the rant at the end there, it had to be said. Part 3 will be about the rest of my VHS collection, my DVD collection and some other tidbits.