‘WWE Live in the UK: November 2014’ DVD Review
Last Novembers UK stay at Liverpool for the WWE came at a particularly tumultuous time leading up to Survivor Series. The Authority had just been told the week prior by Mr McMahon that if they lose then they lose their power, so they continue to set about building the most dominant team they can after the loss of Randy Orton. Meanwhile, Team Cena is still heavily outnumbered but struggling to get members not afraid of the Authority, meaning we have get to see John ‘I’m still the underdog even though it’s pretty much guaranteed I’ll come out of top because merch sales’ Cena play the defiant underdog leader while we wait for the Big Guy Ryback to decide where his allegiance lies.
SmackDown follows along the same lines but in a much more subdued and SmackDown fashion, with Dolph Ziggler being forced to defend his Intercontinental Title in a triple threat elimination match against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, a match that rightly made it onto the Best of Raw and SmackDown 2014 DVD box set. We also see the return of the Highlight Reel at the start of the night, with Jericho bringing out Triple H and Stephanie to talk about their plans.
Other storylines from the main two shows including the violent and deranged rivalry between Dean Ambrose and the twisted Bray Wyatt, intent on trying to get Dean to let him fix him, and the bizarre storyline with Adam Rose and the Bunny from his posse who seems intent to involve himself in his matches whether good or bad. Main Event features a brilliant match between Sami Zayn from NXT and Tyson Kidd, as well as a nasty looking ending to a match between Alicia Fox and Cameron. Oh, and there was Superstars, which was pretty much just a waste of disc space.
Overall some pretty solid wrestling TV, although it really, really bugged me that they didn’t just cut out the ad breaks, rather than fill it with WWE commercials for the WWE Network (FREE FOR THE FIRST MONTH AND THE JUST £9.99 WITH NO COMMITMENT), or repeated segments for The New Day. Even better, they could’ve shown use what happened in the break. Also, I don’t think I can overstate how weird the Adam Rose/The Bunny thing was, and how much meaning the phrase ‘The Bunny’ lost after every match. Worth buying? Probably not, unless you’re a collector. Worth watching? I’d say so, but mostly if you just want context for Survivor Series.
***½ 3.5/5
WWE Live in the UK: November 2014 is out now on DVD from FremantleMedia International.
