WWE Tagged Classics: Year in Review 1993/94 review (DVD) ★★

1993 actually kicks off in 1992, so to speak, but for good reason: this set's minute-long opening match marked the WWE debut of the late and legendary Yokozuna in December. To tell you the truth, I haven't got a clue who his opponent Bill Jordon is or was, but what I do know is that he was absolutely squashed in this one, which set the tone for the year to come as Yokozuna quickly rose to the status of a main event-level Superstar and dominated the WWE Championship picture, successfully defending his gold against the likes of Hulk Hogan in the close of the Hulkster's WWE career for almost a decade; Lex Luger, who became a patriotic face and was pretty much instigated as Hogan's replacement after body-slamming Yokozuna on the U.S.S. Intrepid; and Bret Hart, whom the big man defeated to capture his first WWE Title in the final moments of WrestleMania IX in Las Vegas, right before the titanic, thunder-stealing ego of Hulkamania took hold of the show and produced one of the weakest and quite frankly annoying 'Mania endings in history.

Yes, it was 1993 and Hogan was still running wild even though he was on his way out of the company. Making sporadic appearances, he outright refused to drop the title to Bret Hart and only agreed to lose the WWE Championship to Yokozuna under controversial circumstances at the inaugural King of the Ring event. The Hitman had his moment at the show, however, as he overcame Bam Bam Bigelow in the main event to become the first Superstar ever to wield the scepter, don the crown and robe, and take a pew on the King of the Ring throne. This match was tremendous and undoubtedly one of the best of the year, although that doesn't say a whole lot, and unfortunately we're only treated to the final few minutes on this DVD, which is a reoccurring theme throughout, as most, if not all the bouts, are joined in progress.

Hosted by “Macho Man” Randy Savage, The Year in Review 1993 includes a few decent matches, but is far from “wrestling magic”. As I mentioned, the steroid trial was forthcoming, Hogan would soon be departing, and new stars had to be born fast, hence the monster pushes of both Yokozuna and Luger. '93 also saw the debuts of Doink and Giant Gonzales, and I'm still trying to erase them from my mind. Gonzales would make his first appearance in the Royal Rumble, totally destroying The Undertaker and laying the foundations for a horrendous match at WrestleMania. It wasn't much of a show altogether, either. In fact, apart from the impressive Roman set-up at Caesar's Palace, Bobby Heenan's corny-but-funny entrance where he rode a camel backwards, and the debut of Jim Ross, it was almost an entirely lackluster event, which, although disappointing, was essentially the theme of the year.

The following matches are included in the programme:

Off the heels of the year that kicked off the “New Generation” talent initiative, the late, great Gorilla Monsoon presented the 1994 edition of The Year in Review, which took a look at some of the biggest rivalries of the period, two of which produced three of the greatest matches in WWE history, yet very annoyingly only one of them is featured in its entirety: Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon's utterly epic Ladder Match from WrestleMania X. The other top bouts – Owen Hart vs. Bret Hart in their brother against brother attraction also from the 10th anniversary of WrestleMania, as well as their WWE Title Steel Cage showdown at SummerSlam – are merely shown with only a few minutes left, which is this presentation's biggest detriment. Two of the aforementioned matches are unforgettable five-star classics and so you can be damn sure that if they were featured in their complete form, the second half of this two-disc DVD set would be getting a far higher score from me. But at least we do get to see the Ladder Match, which Monsoon hailed as the best bout he had ever seen, so at least that's something.

The quality of matches is generally superior than that of the previous disc, but there's still plenty of throwaway material such as SummerSlam's Undertaker vs. Undertaker encounter, which was a slow, boring mess. As soon as the real Deadman stepped into the ring any illusion that the fake 'Taker was real was completely shattered. They looked nothing like each other, and the real deal was and still is infinitely more talented. The only parts of this contest that I liked were the genuine Phenom's return entrance and his Tombstone counter into his own Tombstone. The match also included just about the slowest non-ref-bump three-count I've ever seen, but that definitely wasn't a highlight.

As you can see form the match listing below, most of the programme is comprised of WrestleMania X bouts, so your best bet is to actually go out and pick up the event itself on DVD.