Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24343 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-04-05
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 181 minutes

Special Features

• Additional footage (80 mins)

DVD Technical Information:

• Running Time: 181 mins
  
• Region Code: 2
  
• Aspect Ratio: Fullscreen 4:3
  
• Language: English

Synopsis
Charting the head-to-head battle of WWE and WCW on Monday nights in the 1990s as the two wrestling organisations compete for supremacy. A three hour wrestling ride through the background to the greatest contact sports series, including the early days, the Birth of Nitro and New World Order. Featuring the superstars of the ring Stone Cold Steve Austin and Ric Flair.

Customer Reviews

Not as bad as many think.
The only disadvantage of WWE owning all the ECW and WCW tapes is that we can't really ever hope for a truly independent documentation of wrestling history. This DVD is an example of that.

Much like the Self-Destruction Of Ultimate Warrior DVD, The Monday Night War is by no means unbiased. Most surprisingly, the most even-handed talking head on the DVD is one Eric Bischoff, head honcho at WCW, who handles the entire DVD with a mix of curiously charming arrogance and a self-deprecating wit, admitting when he was wrong and what he was doing wrong.

Those speaking from the WWF perspective are too often arrogant, revisionist, or even appallingly chosen - the worst of all is Gerald Brisco. At the end of the DVD when WCW's final closing down is discussed, virtually everyone mentions their mixed feelings as far as their competition shutting down due to a lot of their friends losing their jobs. This is aside from Gerald, who is so insufferably self-righteous about the WWF's victory (and unsympathetic to those from the other side who contributed to wrestling's greatest period) that I guarantee you'll want to punch him in the face.

The DVD isn't quite as uneven as many would have you believe, as a good deal of the documentary's first half is devoted to how WCW originally got ahead (although some of the backstage stories from the nWo days are a scream). However as far as this documentary is concerned, WCW virtually disappears once the Attitude Era begins.

The extras also leave a lot to be desired. Aside from an insightful featurette to the last Monday Nitro and Goldberg's winning of the WCW world title, the matches provided are mostly inconsequential. Surely some of the more important events - the Rock/Mankind This Is Your Life segment, for example - could've been included from a library so rich?

All in all, the DVD isn't as bad as all that - especially when you get to see Eric Bischoff essentially admitting he was wrong over and over - but it's not anywhere the triumph it could and should have been.

a lesson i wont forget!
this dvd charters something that the world of wrestling may well never see again,a battle between two rival organisations that split the wrestling fan down the middle,a rivalry that was dirty and painful for both parties and ended with the demise of one and the rise of the other to global power,but it could just as easily been wwe going bust as wcw,in the end as we all know ,it was wcw that ended and wwe that marched on.
This documentary is a wwe release and it could be easy to think it is biased,many here feel it is,i dont think is is for what my opinion is worth.
The monday night wars pitted wcws band nitro against the wwe brand raw,the two went head to head on rival networks on a monday night,wcw went live,so on many ways that had the edge,while wwe was prerecorded,and i couldnt believe the way that wcw nitro told the results of the wwe show on their show to stop fans watching it,that was a dirty trick hey,but it wasnt just the wcw company hurting their rivals,their was certainly messing about from vinces company.
I was always a wwe man,i lived for their products but even i never knew how close they were to losing and going bust until i watched this,wcw had the money and the athletes and the success,they stole the best of the wwes wrestlers by waving blank checks at them.
However in the end wcw relied too much on old faces while wwe struck lucky with the births of stone cold and the rock and in the end wcw was losing and never got back in the race,vince bought the company and closed it and took the best they had and left the rest out of work,a little cold perhaps but it must have felt good.
The interviews are good,if not a little kissy kissy to vince at times,but its the stuff with wcw leader at the time eric bishcoff that makes for the most insightful stuff,he knew he was arrogant and he admits it killed the company on some levels,great stuff.

WWE VS WCW
The Monday Night Wars video is not by any means bad or unentertaining but it could have been so much more. The actual "feature" is about 90 minutes but it could have (and should have) actually been twice that long. They also put too much focus on excerpts from the programs that can be found on other DVDs and videos instead of on the interviews which carry the story.

I also felt the producers went way too easy on BOTH WCW and WWF in terms of the lowball tactics the companies would pull (where was the fake Diesel/Ramon? The Million Dollar contest? Rena Mero's appearance on Nitro strictly as an "audience member"? The Pillman/Austin gun angle?).

The DVD is also a complete letdown as the extras are thoroughly disappointing, the "highlight" being the axing of the entrances from the Hogan-Goldberg match and dubbing in Goldberg's inferior WWE music at the end of the match. Some of the choices for extras are completely baffling as they choose matches that little impact on the "war." Why not show the Rock-Foley match in full? Show more of the nWo angle (instead of the lame "invading the production room" clip they chose)? And hey, how come this feature acts like Sting didn't exist?

And of course, the most annoying feature of the presentation is the WWE's continued insistence on referring to WCW as "Ted"-- as in Ted Turner, the corporate giant whose role in running Time Warner was DRASTICALLY reduced by the time WCW went under. The WWE did beat Turner the entity but Ted Turner the person barely figures into it post-1997. Ted barely mattered in the AOL-Time Warner picture by the time WCW finally capitulated. If anything, if Ted still had serious hand in AOL-TW affairs, WCW still would have been propped up for the sake of cable ratings. It's seriously time for Vince to forget about his long-gotten-old vendetta against Ted. It certainly tarnishes the perspective of this "documentary."

The real highlight of the presentation is the perceptive commentary of Jim Cornette and Mick Foley. Bischoff and McMahon's takes on the situation are also interesting but not because they perceptive. Contrarily, they are often downright laughable (Vince calling down WCW for predatory tactics while completely ignoring that that's how he put Jim Crockett out of business in the late 80s. Eric acting like he was still "making money" when he was fired ignoring that he was foolishly spending money on Master P and The Demon).

In all, the Monday Night Wars is an interesting tale of two companies in conflict but it doesn't capture the full spirit of the ratings war. I only wish that the WWE-owned footage could be used as public domain for an impartial and competent documentary filmmaker. It's a fascinating story that deserves justice.