WWE: New World Order (nWo) - Back in Black (2002) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)'N W O: Back in Black' chronicles the rise and fall of the New World Order in WCW in the late 90s and its recent resurgence in the WWF in 2002. The 83 minute feature covers the beginnings of the group very well but is incomplete as glosses over A LOT of ground in between.
THE FEATURE:
The actual feature covers the following:
1.A rundown of the WWF careers of Hulk Hogan, Razor Ramon and 'Big Daddy Cool' Diesel.
2.The origins of the 'Monday Night Wars' and the first appearances of Scott Hall and Kevin Nash on WCW Monday Nitro.
3.The formation of the N W O at the Bash at the Beach 1996.
4.The N W O's running roughshod over the WCW roster during the Summer and Fall of 1996 including the parking lot attacks, in-ring attack on the Horsemen and Dungeon of Doom and the Giant's joining the N W O.
5.From there the feature TOTALLY glosses over the rest of the N W O storyline alluding to the tons of members that later joined and completely ignoring the rest of the angle. It also quickly glosses over what the WWF did during this time.
6.The feature picks up in the present with Ric Flair joining the WWF in November, 2001 and talks about how the Flair vs. McMahon feud led to McMahon brining back the N W O at February's No Way Out PPV. The rest of the feature talks about the N W O's short-lived WWF career up to Wrestlemania X-8.
THE DVD SPECIAL FEATURES:
Once again, the WWE is putting that WCW video library to great use with some GREAT extra matches on here. Here are the DVD extras:
1.Scott Hall and Kevin Nash vs. Randy 'Macho Man' Savage, Sting and Lex Luger from Bash at the Beach 1996: The landmark match and promo that started it all Hogan turns heel and joins the Outsiders to form the 'New World Organization.' 16 minutes. 4 stars.
2.Hall, Nash, Hogan and N W O Sting vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Sting from War Games 1996: The match that started the whole 'Crow Sting' angle. 20 minutes. 4 stars.
3.Kevin Nash vs. Bill Goldberg from Starrcade '98: Landmark match as Nash buries Goldberg, killing his heat and winning streak. 15 minutes. 3 ¾ stars
4.Hogan, Hall and Nash vs. 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin and The Rock from Raw, 3/11/02. Decent Raw Main Event. 9 minutes. 2 stars.
5. Two WWE video promos, one for the N W O, one promoting the No Way Out 2002 Pay Per View.
6.4 hidden promos including one of the original N W O propaganda promos from '96.
THE CRITICISM:
While the feature is okay, the one limiting thing about it (and this applies to just about ALL WWF/E DVDs) is the hour time limit. There is just SOOOO much more that they can include on this but didn't. The beginning of the feature was just awesome with the chronicling of the 3 men's WWF careers and the origins of the N W O. Everything afterward is ALRIGHT but not that great. I REALLY did not like how they just skipped over everything else that happened in between. To me, this chronicling of the N W O storyline is incomplete for it. They fail to discuss the N W O feuds with Sting, Luger, the Horsemen, Piper and DDP and the split of N W O. Sure as the angle dragged on it sucked, but this 'revisionist' history of the angle is just bad. Some of the other things they could have included:
1.More bonus matches. They could have included more WCW matches including the War Games where the N W O killed the Horsemen. What about the Starrcade '97 match between Hogan and Sting which was the big payoff (though how underwhelming it was') to the N W O angle? What about the celebrity matches with Rodman or Jay Leno? Sure they weren't great matches, but they did big business.
2.More WCW footage, less WWF footage. The bonus promos were almost all WWF produced. The N W O was a WCW ANGLE. The focus should have been on the WCW side. More of the WCW promos should have been included including those t-shirt commercials.
THE VERDICT:
Well, the first half of the feature ruled; the second half did not. The included bonus matches were a great extra although that Rock/Austin match didn't really belong, imho.
Overall, the video, while disappointing, is good for historical value as it is an OKAY recap of one of the biggest money making angles in wrestling history. For that reason this is recommended although the product itself could have been WAY better.
Somewhat Recommended

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