The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man in Sports Entertainment

OK.

First of all, I was the biggest Rock fan imaginable. To me he brought everything that the WWE needed during the Monday night wars and the Attitude era. He managed to bridge athleticism and entertainment in subtle ways, and helped to elevate some of the most memorable names: Owen Hart, HHH, Steve Austin, Booker T, etc.

So...if I'm such a fan, how could I dare give this anything lower than a 5?

I'll tell you why. It's because this DVD set, being 3 DVDs, is severely disappointing. It's almost like WWE did the bare minimum they could rather than really showcase this man and his many years in the company. Geez, where do I begin...

1: The man's promos are scarce. Where are his various promos and exchanges with Farooq, like when Rock gave him the portrait? Where's the Nation of Domination's parody of DX? Where's the faux funeral for Stone Cold? Where's the "die die die" promo? Where's the promo he cut on Paul Wight (Big Show) when he first debuted? "Know Your Role Michael Cole"? The Rock's interaction with the first Diva Search contestants? The Thanksgiving where we learned about the Rock's love of pie (and the fact that Michael Cole never had any)? The infamous Trish kiss? His interaction with Taijiri (sick freak)? The Stephanie McMahon birthday jingle? Rock/Austin singing together? Rock's promo on Brock Lesnar? "Sing along with the Rock"? The legendary Rock concert of 2003 "...when the Lakers beat the Kings in May~!" None of these are here, and it really pisses me off.

2: The matches are the bare basics. Where's the Undisputed Championship match with him, Austin and Jericho? Where's his single matches with Taker? Why only two matches with Austin (but yet 4 matches with HHH)? Where's his match with Ric Flair? Chris Benoit (need I even ask...)? What about Rock, Austin and the Hardyz vs. DX? The Brahma Bullrope matches (ok, they might have been some crap, but I still wanted to see them!!)? Rock vs. Lesnar? Why didn't they show the WHOLE "I Quit" match with Mankind, including the controversial ending?? Ugh, I could go on and on.

3: None of the matches show Rock losing, even though he lost some of his greatest matches.

4: Way too much blurring of the "F" in the old WWF. I mean, it's not like they're profiting off of the logo anymore, is it really necessary to have so much blurring? I mean all the blur spots really do detract from what you see.

5: Why was this not released on Blu-ray in remastered HD quality like Wrestlemania 24?

6: Not published in widescreen. Come on Vince, give me a break. We're in 2008; get with the times please.

7: The whole DVD is organized as though it were trying to tell someone 50 years from now what "The Rock" was about. I don't agree with that approach - 1, because it wasn't done very well with all of the stuff missing that I mentioned above, and 2, this should cater to fans or former fans. That means it should be as thorough as it can be, not barebones.


Bottom line - there's a lot missing, and as a result, I can't justify giving this any more than 3 stars.

Absolutely nothing on this DVD set. The glaring omission of commentary from The Rock himself diminishes the quality of the final product with the narration provided being subpar at best.

In terms of match selection, the matches were for the most part good selections. Some of my personal favorites did not make the DVD, and even arguably his best matches were left out. The promos included as extras were also very hit or miss. Some of his best were included, but at the same time some of my personal favorites were also left out.

On the whole, I would recommend this to any WWE fan, but be aware this is not the best release the company has made this year.

I picked up a copy of this this morning and just finished watching. Not only a great trip down memory lane, but a great, great dvd. It really makes me miss The Great One and I guess I never appreciated him as much as i should have back in the day. I am going to sit down a watch it again right now because I am Rock (hard).

There is no denying that The Rock is one of the best performers the WWE will ever see. But what sadens me on many of the WWE DVD releases, and this one in particular is the constant need to put matches on it that were already on PPV's. I read a few reviews on here about the same thing, so I know I am not the only one that feels this way.

It makes no sense to place PPV matches on these compilations. Assume that only die-hard WWE fans are the ones buying these DVD's. Don't you think that many of us already paid for the Pay-Per-View, or bought the DVD of the event? I can undertand some of the earlier Rock matches that were on some of the lesser pay-per-views, but WrestleMania, Royal Rumbles, things like that, as fans we have seen.

I like that there are several matches from RAW on this collection, but not nearly enough. There should be matches that you just can't find in DVD quality anymore, like matches from Smackdown and RAW. We see the Royal Rumbles, we have all the PPV matches scattered on all sorts of DVD's for other superstars. I want the rare stuff that as a fan would really make me want to purchase this and truly walk away with the feeling that I have something special, as a fan. How many times have we all seen The Rock vs. Hogan? Like a million? You can easily replace this match with something else from 1999 when the attitude was at it's best. Where is the Rock concert stuff he did when he was asking the fans if they wanted to cheer or boo him. Or the night he says the Lakers are going to kick the Sacramento King's a%$es. Here is some great stuff there. How about the night Chris Jericho debuted? I understand there is so much to include, but there is just way to much pay-per-view matches here.

The other thing that bothers me is that The Rock does not get to talk about his influence in wrestling, that's simply the WWE being pissed off that he's moved on. I like it better when the guys get to tell their own story.

Needless to say I'll be there tomorrow to buy it.

I'm not even going to bother with the impact The Rock has made. If you're a fan of wrestling then you already know. If you're a fan of both The Rock and wrestling, than this is a must by. The matches and the promos were well picked. Of course others will have a different take. Even I have my list of what could have made it.

Well, it's time to talk about what's on this 3 disk set. Now this is the biggest problem for me and got me steamed in the beginning. The narration is not done by The Rock. The narration is done by someone but it's not him. You will not hear from Rock or any other superstars at all. I don't care what anyone says in defense of that. There is no excuse good enough for it. Since The Rock is alive.

Now the presentation does have a documentary feel and is ok at best. It begins by talking about The Rock's wrestling roots. His rise and big breaks. The heat from the fans and his heel turns. It also speaks on his biggest rivalries. The format follows the same pattern as Hogan and Austin's. A rivalry or match will be spoke on briefly and goes into the match. All of the matches are in it's entirety. Every match except for one is complete with full entrances. You also get a good portion of The Rocks promos. For those who would like to know, there is no reference to Chris Benoit at all.

This is the match selection for all 3 disk;

Thursday RAW, 2-13-97
WWE IC Title
vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley

RAW 4-6-98
IC title
vs. Owen Hart

RAW 6-22-98
King of the Ring Quarter Final
vs. Triple H

Survivor Series 11-15-98
WWE Championship(Final Round)
vs. Mankind

St. Valenines's Day Massacre 2-14-99
Last Man Standing Match for WWE Title
vs. Mankind

RAW 2-15-99
Ladder Match for the WWE Title
vs. Mankind

Wrestlemania XV 3-28-99
WWE Championship
vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Disk 2
RAW 7-5-99
Steel Cage
vs. Triple H

RAW 8-30-99
WWE Tag Team Titles
w/Mankind vs. Undertaker & Big Show

Smackdown 12-30-99
No Holds Barred Match
vs. Kane

Backlash 4-30-00
WWE Championship
vs. Triple H

RAW 5-1-00
Steel Cage Match for the WWE Championhip
vs. Shane McMahon

No Way Out 2-25-01
WWE Championship
vs. Kurt Angle

Summerslam 8-19-01
WCW Championship
vs. Booker T

Royal Rumble 1-20-02
WWE Undisputed Championship
vs. Chris Jericho

Disk 3
Wrestlemania X8 3-17-02
vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan

Vengeance 7-21-02
Triple Threat Match for the Undisputed Championship
vs. Undertaker vs. Kurt Angle

RAW 7-22-02
vs. Eddie Guerrero

Wrestlemania XIX 3-30-03
vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

The extras are loaded with some of the funniest promos and The Rock's oneliners. This set definitly delivered and anyone who is not familiar with The Rock would get a very good idea on what he's about. Fans will more than likely love the material on this set. But I know some are going to be just as steamed as I am, knowing The Rock doesn't even speak on his own set. Still, I'm glad I bought this set and feel my money was well spent.