DVD Reviews: Best of RAW and Smackdown 2014, Live in the UK November 2014
February 3, 2015
By: Darragh O’Connor of Wrestleview.com
Wow, what can I say? 2014 was a strange year to be a WWE fan. Parts of it were just great while other parts were totally dire. With three hour Raws, nonsense storylines and awful promos it was very trying to remain a fan of the product. So, how interesting is it that this week I’ve been given two snapshots of 2014 from the WWE to review.
Best of Raw and Smackdown 2014
The first is an overall review of the year from the WWE. With WWE Home Video releasing something that manages to pull a great DVD out of something that by all accounts should not be able to happen: an entertaining series of matches and promos from 2014’s Raw/Smackdown.
This three disc set cherry picks the top matches from the WWE’s two flag ship shows of Raw and Smackdown. It’s interesting to note that the set manages to retain a standard and one would be forgiven in thinking that the terrible closing months of 2014 never happened.
This set has great matches, backstage/in-ring segments and tones of bonus features across the entire set.
Disc one and two are very strong; with their content taken from the earlier part of the year. It is glorious; you can relive the build to WrestleMania XXX, The Shield vs. The Wyatts and so much more on disc one. While, the middle of the set, disc two has basically The Shield breakup documented and the various feuds that resulted.
The wheels kind of fall off around the end of disc three. With endless tag matches and other such nonsense. However, it does have the outstanding cage match between Chris Jericho and Bray Wyatt from the Raw on September 8th. That match is worth the cost of this DVD alone.
If you want to get the best of a very tough year in the WWE then this is one to pick up. There’s some great stuff there for you.
Live in the UK November 2014
Next up, we have the annual DVD release from the WWE. This one is focused on their UK shows that occurred just before Survivor Series. In past years, this has been a pretty neat DVD for your collection. In particular, if you attended the shows.
Basically, this release contains everything recorded during the TV tapings of the UK tour and the quality of the DVD set is dependent on the quality of the show. The last round of WWE shows in the UK were awful and that really shows on this one. Seriously, there are like two good matches, and a neat match from “UK Rampage” in 1991, but that’s it.
I can’t recommend this set unless you were there.
Both the “Best of Raw and Smackdown 2014” and “Live in the UK November 2014” are available now from WWEDVD.co.uk.