NWO Back in Black & Diesel/Razor Ramon review (DVD) ★★★★

NWO Back in Black contains a feature-length documentary that gives decent insight into the history of the New World Order. It begins by highlighting the twilight times in Kevin Nash and Scott Hall's original WWF runs as Diesel and Razor Ramon respectively, before delving into their jump to WCW where they formed the dominant tag team The Outsiders, which paved the road to when they allied themselves with Hulk Hogan in his now legendary heel turn. It's all very interesting and I was enjoying it a lot, but it suddenly cuts to the NWO's WWE debut at No Way Out 2002, just as the members begin talking about how the faction started expanding right across WCW and becoming what almost seemed like a separate company. Hogan, Hall and Nash just touch upon their feelings that they always liked the group best when it was just the three of them, and suddenly we're in WWE country. I would have much preferred more depth into the expansion era of the New World Order, but hey-ho.

As the documentary looks into the trio's WWE run, we get everything from Vince McMahon's awesome SmackDown promo where he swore to inject his company with a lethal dose of poison because it was ridden with cancer, to The Rock and Steve Austin's numerous battles against the group that stemmed from their really quite hilarious backstage segments with all three invaders, all of which lead up to their WrestleMania 18 matches, one being, of course, The Rock vs. Hogan I, which I firmly believe to be the grandest bout in WrestleMania history as far as spectacle and hype go.

Moving on to the second part of this Tagged Classics set: Big Daddy Cool Diesel and Oozing Machismo! Razor Ramon, two best of compilations that were released on video in 1995 and '94 respectively to highlight two of the most prominent wrestlers in the World Wrestling Federation's post-Hulk Hogan “New Generation” phase. Perhaps given their current statuses in the world of professional wrestling, these sets should be renamed for 2010 as Big Caddy Cool Kevin Nash and Boozing Machismo! Scott Hall. But I digress. Both compilations are accessible on the second disc and contain three hours worth of content; five matches in just under an hour for Diesel and two hours for Ramon, containing nine bouts. Razor Ramon is definitely the superior part of the disc, not only for the amount of matches you get, but the quality as well. Watching his Ladder Match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X never gets old. Razor's is also a much more defined presentation, featuring clips of the Bad Guy himself that were filmed exclusively for the videotape, as well as segments with Gorilla Monsoon and Stan Lane introducing the matches and segmenting the action, so it's a lot different to just seeing Lane open and close the programme like with the Diesel release, and that was a year later.

Big Daddy Cool Diesel

Royal Rumble '95 - WWF Championship: vs. Bret Hart ???
This is definitely the best match on the Big Daddy Cool side of things. It was a nice, back-and-forth title bout throughout, it's just a shame it ended without a clear decision because of interference from a whole lot of people, including Owen Hart and Shawn Michaels. The DVD also cuts to the next match a split-second after the bell, so you never actually get to hear the official decision from Howard Finkel. Thankfully this match is in its entirety, unlike the last featured here.

RAW - WWF Championship: vs. Jeff Jarrett ??

Home Video Exclusive – WWF Championship: vs. King Kong Bundy ?
Some exclusive this is. The match lasts about a minute, and most of that time is spent with Diesel in a Bundy chinlock. The finish basically just comes out of nowhere and it's pretty lame, but makes sense since we were never going to seen a Jacknife Powerbomb on King Kong.

Action Zone – WWF Championship: vs. Owen Hart ??

WrestleMania XI – WWF Championship: vs. Shawn Michaels ??
The eleventh annual WrestleMania certainly divided critics. Some called it the worst WrestleMania of all time, while others attributed it with saving the WWF from its business feud with World Championship Wrestling. Like most WrestleManias, it was a pretty star-studded event, but the WWF Title match of HBK vs. Diesel featured a special guest time keeper in the form of Home Improvement child star Jonathan Taylor Thomas, NYPD Blue's Nicolas Turturro as the guest ring announcer, Playboy model Jenny McCarthy was in Shawn Michaels' corner, and Pamela Anderson stood in Big Daddy Cool's! Not to be distracted by the celebrity presence, this match, which as a whole I'd give three stars to as a fairly decent outing, is only the second half of the 20-minute dance, so a lot of good action is missing, which is a real shame because it's the only match worth writing about besides Diesel vs. Bret Hart.

Oozing Machismo! Razor Ramon

Home Video Exclusive: vs. Bam Bam Bigelow ???
I really liked this match. In all honesty it's barely worth three stars, but it was relatively short and sweet and is capped off with a nice finish. I won't give away how it concludes as this was an exclusive match for the original VHS, so it's not like it's in the history books/Wikipedia next to the RAW results from '94, but it being a match booked specifically for the Oozing Machismo! release, I'm pretty sure you can work out who the victor is.

RAW – Intercontinental Championship: vs. Rick Martel ???
This match came about as the result of a 20-man Battle Royal where the rules stated that the final two competitors would compete one-on-one for the gold the following week. Unfortunately we don't get to see the whole Battle Royal, just the last 30 seconds which involve Razor eliminating the Quebecers. Then it cuts to the next edition of RAW for the title match, which was a very entertaining clash that ended well for the Bad Guy after a Razor's Edge, much to the live crowd's appreciation, preventing the WWF from having three non-American champions, as at the time the Quebecers held the tag team straps and Yokozuna had the WWF Title.

Home Video Exclusive: vs. Crush ??

Home Video Exclusive: vs. Adam Bomb ?
Essentially just a squash match with Adam Bomb being sent for a ride with the Razor's Edge about two minutes in, so there's isn't much of the good in this exclusive contest.

WrestleMania X – Undisputed Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match: vs. Shawn Michaels ?????
Not only do I rate this, the second-ever Ladder Match in the WWE, as a five-star bout, but it's one of the few matches in World Wrestling Entertainment history that pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has also awarded the highest marks to. What can I say about this historic Ladder Match that hasn't already been said? It's a true classic; a legendary match of innovation and excellence that has influenced every future bout involving ladders, such as the unforgettable Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches that The Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and The Dudleyz made iconic years later. If this wasn't on the Oozing Machismo! release, it simply wouldn't be a best of.

Royal Rumble '94 – Intercontinental Championship: vs. I.R.S. ??
For some reason the matches aren't in chronological order as this contest took place at the Royal Rumble event a couple of months before the above five-star WrestleMania collision. Regardless, this was an okay match, pretty short, and with a bit of a silly ref bump ending that didn't really work out, but at least it ends with a taxman being sent for the Razor's Edge, right?

RAW: vs. Jeff Jarrett ???
This is an enjoyable, fast-paced match with Razor's Intercontinental Title not on the line. He was instead scheduled to defend it the following weekend against Kevin Nash, and since this best of doesn't contain that championship battle, I guess it wasn't deemed as one of Ramon and Diesel's greatest performances, especially paired with this preceding match up, which aired for free on Monday Night RAW.