The Monday Night War: WWE Raw vs. WCW Nitro

This is a highly enjoyable wrestling documentary, of the days when WWE Monday Night Raw run by Vince McMahon would clash against WCW Nitro who was led by Eric Bischoff. The two would battle over of course of about five years to try and win the ratings battle each Monday night. This competitive ratings program brought the best out of both WCW and WWE to make and create some of the finest moments in wrestling history. You get to hear from WWE legends and icons, Jim Ross, Shawn Michaels, Cris Jericho and many more. A fairly good documentary, of strategy, performance and determination to win ratings and bound a new winner. Every wrestling fan should give it a watch.

If you grew up a wrestling fan in the 90s then you know the shows on Monday nights made it Wrestling night.

You had the World Wrestling Federation Monday Night Raw that begin in 1993 on the USA Network then in 1995 World Championship Wrestling begin to air WCW Nitro on TNT leading to the greatest time to be a fan of Pro Wrestling.

The DVD itself to give the Monday Night War justice would have been better if it was a 3 disc set with the matches and promos that drew Nitro and Raw to high ratings.

The DVD has interviews with those who lived through the Monday Night Wars.

They went and interview Mick Foley, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Vince McMahon, Eric Bischoff, Big Show, Chris Jericho and many others that lived and survived the Monday Night War it gives us an look at what it was like during the time of the biggest era of wrestling when Monday Nights became the day for Wrestling Fans.

And it's really cool to see early footage of the Original Raw and Nitro episodes and watching the footage of WWF and WCW made you feel like you were back in the day.

It just so cool to relive what is what made Wrestling a great time and to be a fan to boot.

The Monday Night War really does a good job for giving us some history into how the war begin plus hearing many interesting stories about both companies

This is a DVD that would make any fan of Wrestling proud.

I give The Monday Night War: WWE Raw vs WCW Nitro an 10 out of 10

I feel this is without a doubt the most comprehensive DVD covering a time when you were proud to be a wrestling fan. It was a time when you were actually spoiled for choice on which superstar was the best as both WWE and WCW had great superstars. Having grown up watching both shows I knew just about everything that was covered in this DVD but I never expected to see every significant moment in that time period covered in such great detail and in the order they happened in. As they say all good things must come to an end and I certainly miss flicking channels in between to see what was happening on the other show, therefore I'm grateful to get my hands on this DVD. If you're like me and miss the good old days of WWF Attitude, DX, NWO, Rocky Sucks, Goldberg's streak, Austin vs McMahon and the Montreal Screwjob to name a few, get your copy of this DVD NOW!

For all those who criticize this by saying it wasn't comprehensive enough, just be grateful a documentary about this rivalry was made at all. First of all, I'm sure it must have touched on old wounds for everyone involved (don't forget this was an actual ratings war) and secondly if they were to include EVERY significant moment that happened it would have probably ended up like the Kill Bill movies (which was divided into two movies because the final film was too long). With these two factors in mind I think WWE did a reasonable job capturing the rivalry in general. Don't forget the mark of a great film is it leaves you wanting more.

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.