Review of "WWE: No Way Out 2008"

Introduction
Sandwiched between the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania, traditionally two of the "big four" WWE pay-per-views of the year, it has often been difficult for fans to get excited about "No Way Out".

Not so this year, however, as Randy Orton vs John Cena, a match originally scheduled to be the Wrestlemania main event, was brought forward here. This also meant that a new No.1 contender to the WWE Title was required, a situation which was resolved by an Elimination Chamber match, featuring Shawn Michaels, Triple-H, Chris Jericho, Umaga, JBL, and Jeff Hardy, also on this show.

On the Smackdown side of the coin, there was another 'Chamber match, for the right to face the World Heavyweight Champion at Wrestlemania, between Finlay, The Undertaker, Batista, The Great Khali, Big Daddy V, and MVP.

No Way Out was held 17th February 2008, from the Thomas and Mack Centre in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Video:
Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is very good for a DVD of this genre. Production values are typically high, with lots of pyrotechnics used on wrestler entrances, to enhance the spectacular nature of the event. More importantly, the ringside area is very well lit, making the in-ring action easy to view.

The transfer to DVD is also very good, with only some noticeable digital artefacts.





Audio:
Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1, and is also very good for a DVD of this genre. The increased capability of 5.1, over the regular 2.0, is put to good use, creating more of an "in the arena" atmosphere, with the surrounds offering mostly crowd noise, and the sound of the referee's count. It's a good, clean mix, which allows every part of this busy event to be well heard.

For international viewers, there are also 2.0 tracks available in Italian, German, Spanish, and French. There are also subtitles in Dutch, Portuguese, and Greek.





Extras:
Just one exceptionally short (1:09) extra here, which is a backstage segment with Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels. It's a build for the Wrestlemania bout - at the time unannounced - between the two.





Overall:
For a card which arguably four main-event matches (the Elimination Chamber matches plus the two Heavyweight Title matches), No Way Out 2008 began in the most inauspicious of manners, as ECW champion Chavo Guerrero defended the title against CM Punk. The abrupt ending to the bout seemed to surprise the entire audience, and left them a little flat in doing so.

The second match was the Smackdown Elimination Chamber bout, which was quite reasonable considering the participation of Big Daddy V and The Great Khali. When those two were not actively participating, the bout was quite good, and featured an excellent finish.

Though Ric Flair's career was on the line should he lose to Mr Kennedy in the proceeding bout, the match, squashed in between the other seemingly more important bouts, didn't have the tension that it should have. Still, it was a much more entertaining match than Edge's World Heavyweight Title defence against Rey Mysterio, which realistically had no hope, with Mysterio unadvisedly wrestling with a legitimately torn bicep.

Though it was a better overall match, the WWE Title bout between Randy Orton and John Cena was perhaps even more frustrating, with a horrendous finish marring what was otherwise a good bout. It was the kind of conclusion which makes you wonder why you shelled out your pay-per-view money in the first place.

The main event Elimination Chamber match, at least, was some reward for doing so, with much excitement throughout, in a bout loaded with popular performers. The bout's final moments went from rapturous to silenced, but this was still a good main event, and a memorable way to move in Wrestlemania.





Overall, No Way Out 2008 was an up and down card, in which the up was memorable, and the down was not. In that sense, this is an excellent build to Wrestlemania, which is not only the most high-profile event of the year, but also, by far, the most interesting DVD.

Recommended.