Review for BEST OF RAW & SMACKDOWN 2015

2015 was an odd year for WWE. It saw (potentially) the last of Daniel Bryan in the ring, the rise of Seth Rollins as champion, the revolution of the Divas, the tag division grow in popularity, the rise and fall of Rusev and the development of John Cena with the US Championship. The year was bizarre and no more was that the case than every week on Raw and Smackdown.

This three disk set looks at the best matches and moments from WWE during this time and to be honest I always admire whoever it is who has to view five weekly hours of Raw and Smackdown and has to bring it down to the best of that year. Sometimes it is easy, with some moments standing out, but last year was just a blur and maybe that makes this set more enjoyable.

It features 22 matches from across both shows and I must admit that the majority are really good. There are a few that are not really worth watching, but for the most part this is jam-packed with many great, almost PPV quality matches.

Highlights include an excellent Ambulance match between Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose, Daniel Bryan against Seth Rollins, a great rare match from Brock Lesnar on Raw taking on Seth Rollins and a John Cena and Daniel Bryan against Tyson Kidd and Cesaro match which was almost perfect.

The use of John Cena with the US Championship was very clever by WWE as it really did help promote that belt and make it look like it was something worth winning. This also allowed Seth Rollins to opportunity to step into the spotlight and really own the company as WWE Champion. This is something that really needed to happen and I am glad it did.

There is also much focus on the newer stars with the debut of Neville 'The Man That Gravity Forgot', Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and of course the Divas. The Divas Revolution should have been the big thing of the year. I think the problem was of course the loss of AJ Lee meant that it all rested on the shoulders of Paige and Nikki Bella. The Divas that came up from NXT such as Sasha Banks, Charlotte and Becky Lynch had their moments, however the fact that despite the 'revolution' there are only three matches presented here which is such a shame.

There was a great upsurge of the tag division, but again, you would think the WWE forgot about this. The New Day were quite clearly the most entertaining that they had to offer this year and yet they only appear once? This is a shame, though there are some great tag and multi-man matches throughout the set.

It is actually surprising how many matches are on here that could easily have been on a PPV. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship. Charlotte vs. Paige for the Divas Championship. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but at times there are matches that feel like they are being given away on free TV instead of being properly built for a lengthy PPV match.

The Best of Raw and Smackdown 2015 is a great set and one that every WWE fan who doesn't want to watch every episode should pick up. I found that I enjoyed much more of it than I remember doing when it was on. Maybe within a three hour Raw a match or moment may just be a blur, but separate from all the ads, Michael Cole constant shilling of the WWE App or build to a PPV this is a great way to experience the best that WWE has to offer.