DVD Review : Immortal Forever

Posted in In My Head by Jack at 05:11, Jul 24 2011

By EasyE

People have been skeptical about TNA ever since Hulk Hogan arrived. And this is where the DVD begins, Madison Square Garden, as we re live the moment that the Hulk blustered and boasted that he would take TNA into the future. And so far, Hogan's changes to the company have ingrained the company more in its wrestling footsteps, rather than taking it to the new and fresh ideas. And this DVD basically takes you through the "accepted" company timeline. The DVD tries to make sense of the last couple of years in TNA, which still accentuates failures in story lines. For example, Hogan's first appearance on TNA's show, they feature Scott Hall and X-Pac in the crowd, but fail to mention their attempt to try to restart their group "The Band." But, like I said, they are trying to keep confusion to a minimum. They then move on to the arrival of Ric Flair, and the build up of Hulk Hogan's group, Immortal, and Ric Flair's group, Fortune. These two sides seem to be the main characters of the entire DVD. At around this time, they explain why Abyss went rouge, taking out certain people for the rise of Hogan and Bischoff's take over plot. However, these events take up a near total of 3 hours. From the fights between Fortune and Hogan's team that would become Immortal, all the way to Abyss's rouge actions. The hours are filled with interviews and appearances from the like of Jeff Jarrett, Sting, Hogan, Bischoff, and even Dixie Carter herself. Now, I could sit here and walk you through every single event and you could sit here for about an hour to read it, but I figured I would not want to spoil the DVD, just give you the highlight moments. Then we start looking back at Abyss and the "10/10/10 They're Coming" act. It is amplified as a key moment for Abyss, because he ultimately helps Bischoff to take over the company under false pretenses.

From there the DVD moves on to Dixie Carter elaborating on the EV2 angle, and the ECW Reunion shows and pay per views. Then Hogan and Bischoff basically come out and bash her for the entire EV2 angle, that they were no good, that Hulk was selling out the MSG more than Micheal Jackson, and he beat Vince for 2 years in WCW. The DVD goes on to elaborate how Abyss went crazy, and Bischoff used false pretenses to get her to sign over the company, Immortal's formation and Alliance with Fortune, Kevin Nash and Sting's disassociation with the group, and Jeff Hardy's reign as World Champion. Then we are taken through the events that lead to Hardy's title loss, Anderson's title run, and Crimson's ramblings and the split between Hogan's Immortal and Ric Flair's Fortune, which moves to Jeff Hardy's ladder match against Anderson, and the break up of Fortune. The dvd follows this up with the reformation of Fortune without Ric Flair, Dixie's loss of the company in court, and finally, the showdown between Jeff Hardy and Sting. And of course they leave out the shameful match at the pay per view between Sting and Jeff Hardy, and replace it with the match they had on Impact TV.

Now lets take a closer look at the stars involved with this DVD. Obviously we can start with Jeff Hardy, who is now suffering with legal drug charges, so he's out of action. Matt Hardy was suspended for the stupid YouTube video he put up of shocking one of his girlfriends with a tazer, so he's suspended. Most of the EV2 members, the most notable being Tommy Dreamer, have been let go by the company. Scott Hall and X-Pac parted ways with TNA, with Scott Hall touring the indies and being involved in JCW, and X-Pac doing his own internet radio show. Kevin Nash is off doing his own thing on the independent circuit. Ric Flair is in hot water with the company over the walkout in New York. So a lot of the talent used to sell this DVD are either gone, suspended, or on their way out of TNA. Scott Stiener has joined Immortal recently, kind of making his past role of defiance defunct. The entire group of Fortune was kind of been disbanded unofficially, but has recently rallied behind Sting. And we are still left waiting for the return of Dixie Carter's comeback.

So, in my opinion, for most of the DVD we are stuck with Hogan and Bischoff telling us how it is going to be, and Dixie crying over the loss of her company, her husband Surge, or however you spell his name, getting beat up a bunch of times, and just about every big match in TNA that has ended in a jumble. It helps progress the major theme of the DVD, which is called "Immortal Forever?" for a reason. It leaves you questioning the motives of Immortal, their rise to power, and whether or not they can withstand the test of time in TNA. It also puts the past in perspective in order to help fans understand the timeline of events that have lead up to current plot of TNA. It also leaves us asking questions like "Is Immortal going to last forever, or will Sting's side prevail?" and "Who else will come to the aid of the Icon Sting?" But recent plot tells us that Sting's side has shown that it is not coherent, when Angle challenged Sting for the title. So basically, the DVD leaves you asking what will happen next. But it also leaves you a bit more confused about the current plot by explaining the past events and trying to make sense out of them.

I like to rate a DVD on a scale of 1 to 5 stars, 1 being "I wouldn't piss on this thing if it was on fire" to 5 being "I have got to have this." I would give it a steady 3 stars. It does offer some insight to past events, footage from memorable matches, and gives you the opinions of some of the other wrestlers in the company. But the focus of the DVD is the feud between Dixie and Hulk, with a bunch of other stuff thrown in the way. But while it is nice to hear everyone's point of view about last year in TNA, the DVD focuses on last year's business plan for the company, which turned every major billing match that TNA had in 2010 into a political shit show of stars just thrown together in the ring, with few exceptions. However, some of the best commentaries I have seen come out of Steve Borden's camp is on this DVD. While factions like ECW, NWO, and WWE are censored out of this DVD, they are still mentioned and understood by the educated fan. Steve pushes the fact that TNA resembles WCW too much, and that TNA should try to separate themselves from the company that had a great start, but a bleak and depressing downfall. And that he is trying to steer the company in the right direction. Meanwhile Hogan pushes his side, that he's the real deal, he sells seats, and he is in control. Overall, the DVD is more of a two sided coin, and the viewer is left trying to pick a faction, Hogan or Sting. And it really makes you want to side with Sting, being the hero who is trying to help Dixie overcome her mistake and save TNA as a company.


List of Complete* Matches On the DVD:

Hulk Hogan and Abyss vs. AJ Styles and Ric Flair March 8th 2010

Team Hogan vs. Team Flair Cage Match Sacrifice 2010

Sting vs. Jeff Jarrett Sacrifice 2010

Abyss vs. Rhyno No Surrender 2010

Jeff Hardy vs. Mr. Anderson vs. Kurt Angle Bound For Glory 2010

Mr. Anderson vs. Jeff Hardy Genesis 2011

Jeff Hardy vs. Sting March 3rd 2011

(*These matches are complete, from start to finish. The DVD also contains footage from several other matches, but these are the matches that are on the DVD that contain all the footage from start to finish.)



Look it over, take some time for some constructive criticism. It's kind of hard approaching writing with TNA, because most of their plots come undone on the long term, and how to cope with talent leaving the company and just plain stupid talent, but i'm trying not to offend anyone Strictly the facts, jack, then give your opinion. Plus i think the match list is nice, because people then know what they are buying, even though i've left out a bunch of match footage, as it says in the footnote most of the matches that they cram into the DVD end up being either one or two minute finishes or end in a total shit show that cuts into some flair or hulk promo, which is basically what TNA does. But the matches i have listed are complete matches, from ring entrance starts till the bell rings and the match is over.