Summerslam 2000 & 2001 Tagged Classics

WWE Tagged Classics
 
Summerslam 2000/2001
 
You know what I love about the 'Tagged Classics' series? WWF. No, not the product. The simple three letters. You see, in 2002 WWF were forced to remove all WWF symbols from their products by the real WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and thus gave birth to the WWE that we have today. This has meant that in many re-releases it has involved a lot of blurring of the WWF logo which appears almost everywhere (ring posts, referee shirts, cameramen, stages and so on).
 
For some reason the Tagged Classics don't do this, now I'm not sure why this is, but it's a sight for sore eyes and it's so wonderful to hear the company called WWF and not feel halfway through a match that you are either drunk or need to go back to Specsavers to renew your prescription on your glasses.
 
Summerslam is the second biggest show in the WWE and if I'm honest if I was reviewing Summerslam 2000, I would be marking this a 10/10 and declaring it one of the best DVDs I've ever watched. However, unfortunately this set has Summerslam 2001 attached to it like a hideous wart and if only I could get rid of it.
 
Summerslam 2000
 
This was an amazing PPV. It included such highlights as the first TLC tag team match between Edge and Christian, The Dudley Boyz and The Hardy Boyz which really upped the ante in terms of what tag team wrestling was all about. This also involved a wonderful 2/3 falls match between Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit. In light of the Chris Benoit tragedy in 2007 it's sad that matches like this will be forgotten and just how good he was in the ring is slowly being brushed under the carpet, but this is a clear indication at just how good these two could be together. The main event was a wonderfully entertaining Triple Threat match between The Rock, Triple H and Kurt Angle. With the added bonus of an excellent storyline involving Stephanie McMahon this is one of the highlights of 2000 and a great end to a wonderful PPV.
 
Summerslam 2001
 
For those of you who don't know their history, by this time WWE had purchased both WCW and ECW and this was the middle of what was the horrible 'Invasion' angle which will go down in history as the biggest waste of money ever. Rather than give the fans the matches we wanted to see (e.g. Goldberg vs. Stone Cold, Sting vs. Undertaker) we were left with almost the dregs of WCW and ECW against the best of the best in WWE. The WCW/ECW side was so weak that at this point they had to hire Stone Cold (who was fired by WCW and was the biggest WWE draw ever) to represent them? The only highlight from this PPV was a ladder match between Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam. Both were utilized perfectly and this showed that even at this time, both could hold their own. Sadly, however, the rest of the card doesn't live up to any expectations. The Rock vs. Booker T is a good match, but looking at it in general, you will realise just how badly this affected the whole storyline. Everyone wanted to see WCW and WWE go head to head, when it was finally all over and done with, people had wished they hadn't.
 
As I said at the beginning, if this had just been the Summerslam 2000 PPV, I would have marked this a 10/10, sadly it is brought down by the abysmal second PPV, but even if you never watch that one, this is still a set worth having for the first disk alone.