VIDEO REVIEW "WWF RAW ATTITUDE," Copyright 1998

Originally Written: February 28, 2002

Here's my first review, and it's for a WWF Home Video published in 1998 called "WWF RAW ATTITUDE." For some reason, they don't sell it on WWFShopzone.com or Amazon.com, but it's an official WWF video made by WWF Home Video in 1998. It's got Stone Cold, L.O.D., Shawn Michaels, Kane, The Undertaker, Vader, and The Headbangers on the video cover. It's only about 30 minutes, so I thought that, before I go to bed for the night, I'd review it quickly. The video boasts the best highlights from WWF RAW in 1998. I got it for like $9.95 at "TOYS R US," so it was a pretty good deal (at least, at the time, I thought so). So here we go...

WWF Home Video, 1998: "WWF RAW ATTITUDE" Video Review

- The video starts out with some ads ffor some old WWF action figures of Jimmy Snuka, Andre the Giant, Classy Freddy Blassie, Captain Lou Albano, etc. DX (Triple H, Chyna, X-Pac, Billy Gunn, & Road Dogg) is shown introducing the video. They say that DX is on this tape all the way through to the main event, and, with that, the highlights begin...

WWF COPYRIGHT INTRO

"TAG TEAM ATTITUDE" segment

-- The New Age Outlaws' music hits andd out come Road Dogg and Billy Gunn. This is the night after WrestleMania 15, where Cactus Jack and Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk) unseated the Outlaws in the Dumpster Match to win the Tag Titles. Road Dogg says that if those "old hardcore pieces of <BEEP> wanna think they're the champs, then they got another thing comin'.

WWF World Tag Team Title Steel Cage Match (Pinfall only win): New Age Outlaws vs. Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie (a.k.a. Terry Funk) (c)

The Outlaws enter the ring and the match begins and the teams brawling. Cactus on Road Dogg, while Funk's taking on Billy. Outlaws in control. Billy Gunn hammers on Funk. Cactus attacks Bily, and here comes Road Dogg to attack Cactus. Double Suplex on Billy by Cactus and Funk, and they don't drop him, but instead hang him up on the cage rungs, so he's hanging upside-down. Cactus nails him with a running leaping forearm smash. Billy falls down to the mat, and Funk begins hammering
him. Cactus throws Road Dogg into the steel mesh structure, and he tries to climb out of the cage, but Billy climbs up and attacks him. Cactus hammers him and Billy falls crotch-first on the ropes. Here comes DX, and as Cactus' trying to get out, X-Pac (then "The Kid") climbs up on the ring steps and hammers Cactus, whose trying to escape the cage (even though the match must end in pinfalls only) with a steel chair until he falls backward back into the ring. X-Pac then tosses the chair over the steel cage structure into the Outlaws, and they place it down on the mat. Road Dogg lifts Cactus up, while Billy leaps off the top-rope, and the two drop him in a Spike-Piledriver right onto the chair. Road Dogg does Scotty Too Hotty's worm and then crawls over Cactus for the easy 1-2-3 win, and the Outlaws regain the titles. The Outlaws are now offiically memberes of DX, as, after this match, they began coming out with DX. So, I guess you could say there is some historical value here. The match was about one and a half minutes, which is REALLY short. 1/4*

After the match, DX opens the door and comes in, just as the screen fades to black, signaling a new match

-- L.O.D. vs. Los Boriculas (Jesus &ammp; Jose Estrada)

This is also the night after WrestleMania 15. L.O.D. is up on the turnbuckles showin' off to the fans, getting a huge pop as their top faces at the time. Sunny (Tammy Lynn Sytch, who's Chris Candido's wife, is their manager, and she debuted the previous night at WM) is shown in the ring in a skimpy bikini. L.O.D. had returned the previous night at WM to win the 15-team tag team battle royal. They're opponents are Los Boriculas.

The match begins when LOD attack them, and Animal whips Jose off the ropes and drops 'em with a huge powerslam. Animal clotheslines him out of the ring, while Hawk hits a great running leaping shoulderblock on Jesus. They set up an opponent for the Doomsday Device, where Hawk gets a Los Buriculas member up on his shoulders and Animal leaps off the top-rope and clotheslines the opponent out of their wits, as Hawk falls back, too. The Los Buriculas member is clotheslined so hard he backflips off of Hawk and hits the mat. This makes the easy 1-2-3 win by Hawk, and their music hits. Tammy announces. the winners: LOD 2000. 1/8*

-- Next up: Cactus Jack & Chainsaww Jackvs. Quebeccers

Funk misses the clothesline, but tags Cactus, who hammers Pierre and then runs off the ropes and punches him down. Jacques Rougeau then comes in and hammers Cactus, but instead, he gets hammered. Cactus clotheslines him out of the ring, and hits a running knee smash on one opponent, who's in the corner. Funk knocks the other out of the ring, and misses the Top-Rope Twisting Moonsault Splash. Meanwhile, Pierre Frankensteiners Cactus off of the top-rope. Two count. Cactus gets up, and is doubleteamed. Quebeccers mess up and Cactus hits a Double Arm DDT on Jacques for the pinfall. 3/8*

-- Next match: Midnight Express (c) vss. Headbangers for the NWA World Tag Team Titles

Express is managed by Jim Cornette, who's bashing his tennis racket at ringside. Express hits a double dropkick as the feed comes in. Mosh tags in Thrasher, who punches each oppponents down and whips Martin into the ropes and nails him with a Sideslam. He goes for the pin, but Gibson breaks up the count. Mosh tosses him out of the ring, and the match continues (NWA rules say that when ones thrown out of the ring, the opposition wins, but apparently the match is under WWF rules, as Jim Ross pointed out). Cornette bashes Thrasher with the racket as he's going off the ropes, and it causes him to land on an Express member. He can't kick out, and The 'Bangers win the NWA Tag Team Titles. Cornette thinks he knocked out Thrasher and his team retained the titles, but he soon learns he's wrong when he turns around. He's mad. DUD

"Stone Cold Attitude" segment

- Austin kicks Goldust's ass, who's inn his underwear, only. This is the famous RAW segment where there's an actual blue and white portipotty in the middle of the ring. Goldust's in his underwear, and Austin whips him into the ropes and back bodydrops him. When he gets up, he's nailed with a clothesline. He punches him down on the ground. Austin then tosses him into the portipotty and closes the door. He gets on the mic: "That's exactly where 'ya go when 'ya mess with Stone Cold, and that's the bottom line, 'cuz Stone Cold said so!" With that, Goldust, w/ underwear only mind you, opens the portipotty and comes stumbling out, only to receive a Stone Cold Stunner. Austin then puts him back in, and then pushes over the portipotty, with Goldust inside. Fade out.

- Austin sneaks up on British Bulldog,, and when he steps off the top turnbuckle and turns around, he's hit with a Stunner. Austin runs out into the crowd, with security following close behind. Fade out.

- McMahon tells Austin to show some reespect to Sgt. Slaughter who's in the middle of the ring, but he says "I ain't respectin' nobody in this ring and that's the bottom line." He says that Slaughter says "this is an order, that's an order," but the only thing that he's (Slaughter's) "been orderin' is a whole lot of cheeseburgers," prompting a laugh from the crowd. "You sit there and watch you're little doctor's report and 'ya say 'ya can't wrestle 'cuz 'ya hurt your little neck. Like your supposed to be concerned with my welfare! Son, you haven't been in my house. By the way they're payin' me, I will be on welfare!" With that, he hits Sarge with a Stunner and gets down on the ground and taunts him with his middle fingers. Sarge rolls out of the ring. Fade out.

- McMahon says that they can either doo this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way. STUNNER! Jim Ross does a classic line: "Stone Cold will never be employee of the month." Austin: "What you've just seen is how to do things the hard way. If you want Stone Cold to continue doing things the hard way, gimmee a hell yeah!" Crowd: "Hell Yeah!" Fade Out.

"Attitude of Acheivment" segment

-- Aguila (Essa Rios) vs. Brian Christtopher (Grandmaster Sexay)

Joined in progress. Aguila holds onto Christopher's hand and springboards up from the apron onto the top ring-rope, and then does a somersault Twisting modified Armdrag. He then nails Christopher with a dropkick, sending him out of the ring. He does a running Twisting Corkscrew Plancha to the outside on Christopher! He then gets up on the apron and springboards off with an Asai Moonsault, but he kinda' overshoots Christopher and lands a foot behind him, so he turns it into a Inverted Reverse DDT on the entrance ramp. It was a great reversal. He turned the Asai Moonsault into the Reverse DDT, and it didn't even look like he had screwed up. That's how good Essa is. He was able to turn that mistake into what looked to be what he had meant to do. About 14 seconds, but thanks to the top-notch athletecism, it's gonna get a 3/8*. Fade Out

WWF European Title Match: Jeff Jarrett (w/ Jim Cornette) vs. Owen Hart (R.I.P.) (c)

Joined in progress. Owen getse Jarrett in a backslide crucifix for two, but Jarrett clotheslines him down. Jarrett goes for the suplex, but Owen lands in the back and turns it into a rolling back rollup. He's slingshotted off into the ropes (and Jarrett springs off, too) and the two crash into eachother and hit a perfectly timed double shoulderblock, hitting both down. They get back up eventually and Jarrett punches Owen. Irish whip to the opposite turnbuckle, but Owen reverses. As he's coming toward it, he ducks Jarrett's attempted double-leg kick and baseball slides to the outside and catches Jarrett as he comes. He trips him, and crotches him on the turnbuckle. He climbs back into the ring and Owen goes up top and comes off with a picture-perfect double leg missle dropkick. He springs up like RVD and hulks up and whips Jarrett, who reverses it. Jarrett leaps up, but Owen catches him and drops him with a picture-perfect Inverted Atomic Drop. Owen goes for a kick, but Jarrett catches his leg. Owen hits his trademark enziguri (back head kick). Owen locks him in the Sharpshooter, and Cornette comes in and swings the racket, but Owen ducks and punches him down. He then locks Cornete in the Sharpshooter. Jarrett grabs the racket and is about to hit Owen, but Owen sees this and releases the hold and charges him, thus scaring Jarrett out of the ring. Owen retains the European Title via DQ. About two minutes, and these two athltes put on a 1/2* match. Great selling, good emotion. Fade out.

-- Kama (The Godfather) vs. Steve Blacckman

Blackman hits a Slingshot Crossbody Block to the outside on Kama. He tosses him back in the ring, where he goes up top and hits a beautiful flying crossbody/shoulderblock combo. Two. He gets up and runs the ropes and Kama catches him and drops him with a 360 degree spinning spinebuster. OUCH...He kicks him a few times and then picks him up and whips him into the ropes, but Blackman ducks a clothesline, but gets eye-raked. Kama hits the Mafia Kick (Armtwist Sidekick). He scoopslams him down and goes up top, where he comes off, but eats one foot of Blackman courtesy of a sidekick. Blackman hits some sidekicks and whips Kama into the ropes and drops him with a Pendelum Backbreaker. He whips him again and catches him with a great Pumpkick. He tries to lock in a submission, but the Nation of Domination comes in and attack him. Faarooq hits him with the Spinebuster and Rock follows it up with the Rock Bottom. As they're hammering him on the ground, Ken Shamrock, who was Rock's opponent at the then-upcoming WrestleMania 15, runs down and scares them all away. Kama does a terrible job of selling, as he just stays in the ring kicking Blackman, showing no signs that he even realizes Blackman's there. Shamrock punches him in the stomach and lifts up the big man and drops him with a trademark of his, the Belly-To-Back Suplex. 1/2* Fade Out.

- Kane, with Paul Bearer by his side, does his fiery routine in the ring. He and Bearer just interrupted WWF official Wink Collins, who was hyping that year's WrestleMania (15). Bearer immediately got on the microphone and threatened Collins, saying that Kane was gonna teach him a lesson. Kane's massive hand then locked around the neck of Collins, ready to deliver his trademark Chokeslam from Hell. As he's about to lift him several feet above his head, the music of the 458 lb. "Rocky Mountain Monster," Vader, hit, signaling that it was "Vader Time!" Vader walks toward the ring and gets up onto the ring apron, microphone in hand. "Kane, you stuck your nose in my business. You drew first blood. Come February 15th no way out, your big <BEEP> (ass) is mine," he yelled straight at "The Big Red Machine." Bearer and Kane nodded their heads in compliance, agreeing to the challenge. Vader proceeded to grab a fire-extinguisher from ring-side, and sprayed it straight at Bearer at Kane until the two eventually high-tailed it to the backstage area, as Vader's music hits. Fade out.

- Undertaker's music hits and the arenna goes completely black and purple. DX is in the ring, and had just called out Kane, but got The 'Taker. 'Taker does his usual great entrance. This takes place a few weeks before the '98 Royal Rumble, where 'Taker and Shawn Michaels fought over Michaels' WWF Title in a Casket Match. Michael Cole reluctantly holds the microphone for 'Taker to speak. He and Michaels are face-to-face. He says that he'd appreciate if DX didn't involve Kane. If he were HBK, he'd be worried about The Undertaker punching a six-inch hole right in HBK's forehead. With that, he grabs HBK's neck for the Chokeslam, but then settlees for Chyna. He has her up, but Triple H hits him with the crutch. As he turns around, Michaels hits him with the Sweet Chin Music. They continue double-teaming him. Fade out.

"Ultimate Attitude" Segment

- HBK tells Michael Cole that he hasn''t gotten the right welcome from the The Kliq. So, courtesy of The Kliq, here's his welcome: Chyna and HHH hold him up and Michaels gives him a huge "sophomoric wedgie, as McMahon said. "I don't know if I should say anything, but that, my friends, is gonna leave a mark!" Fade out.

- Triple H and Michaels are in the rinng with Sgt. Slaughter, but they can't stand his smell, so they grab some GAS MASKS from a nearby paper bag!!! HILARIOUS!!! McMahon asks what these "two degenerates" are up to, and J.R. responds: "It's a sophomore class field-trip." Sarge continues talking, they once again realize that the smell is too strong, so they grab two of those wooden clothesline holders (I can't think of what they're called)! Hilarious segment. Fade out.

- Here's a historic segment: Mike Tysoon on RAW. HBK and Tyson tell their respective peeps (Tyson's bodyguards and Michaels' DX cohorts and McMahon) to get out of the ring (which they do) so they can "handle this man to man." HBK (cowboy hat and all) and Tyson get in eachother's face and Michaels gets really physical, pushing him and shoving him. He's got his fist clenched. HBK grabs Tyson's shirt as if to hold him in position for a punch, but...he rips off Tyson's "WWF ATTITUDE" shirt to reveal a..."D-Generation X" shirt!!! Tyson joins DX!!! "Break it down!!!" The DX music hits and Michaels and Triple H each hug Tyson. Fade out.

- Undertaker lifts HBK up in the Tombsstone, but he's attacked from behind by Triple H and Chyna. HBK fights off Brisco and Patterson, including with a Superkick. Undertaker Tombstones Triple H, but Michaels comes from behind and attacks him, keeping him at bay. Fade out.

Backstage, Michael Cole is being pushed back and forth (literally) by Triple H, Chyna, and the late Rick Rude (R.I.P.). Cole's looking to conduct an interview w/ Michaels, but he says that he doesn't have to. DX, though, says that that's fine, and calls out to Shawn, who comes out of the shower with only a towel wrapped around him (although they don't show THAT low). HBK puts Cole in the shower and rubs the soap all over him. Fade out.

End of video

That will probably be the worst video I will review in this section. All it had were highlights, and each match or segment was featured for more than two minutes. The only historically significant clips were the cage match, Tyson joining DX, and the 'Bangers winning the NWA Tag Team Titles. However, the matches were pretty bad. If they had played the entire Aguila/Christopher and Jarrett/Owen match, they undoubtedly would have been great, but, instead, they only showed about 12 seconds of the high flyers and two mintues of Jarrett and Owen. There was a lot of comedic segments on the tape featuring Austin (w/ Goldust and Slaughter), Michaels (in the shower), DX (together, such as doing the wedgie on Cole and the segment with Slaughter), and others, but it otherwise was rather bad. I will very rarely say that about a video that I'll review in this section, but this was pretty bad. If you ever see this tape (which I doubt you ever will), don't buy it, unless it's for less than three or so bucks. This was from '98, when the WWF was still experimenting with their new videos. This video is proof of that, as it's pretty below average. It's so short, and it goes by so quickly.