Review for WWE Best of RAW: After The Show

Anyone who has ever been to a WWE Live Event will know that what you see on the two or three hours of programming is not everything that happens. You have dark matches before the show to get the crowd pumped up, you sometimes get singing of the National Anthem by Lilian Garcia and at the end you get all sorts of shenanigans. This is a DVD that brings together all those after show moments from Raw and it makes me wish that Raw was in the UK more often so that I could experience more of it.

Hosted by the lovely Renee Young, we get a look at many highlights from a range of WWE superstars both past and present. Many of these moments have never been seen before and that makes this DVD all the more entertaining. The lack of a commentary is a little jarring at times, but after the first few segments you begin to appreciate not having to listen to Michael Cole.

Highlights include Austin drinking beer and stunning people which is always fun to see and it doesn't matter when or who it is with Austin he always gives the crowd 100%. Austin and Hogan in the same ring drinking beer is pretty cool and something that they replicated at this year's Wrestlemania. Seeing them both clean house, Austin give Hogan a stunner and then they still toast a beer was awesome.

A similar one featuring Austin and Goldberg was pretty cool to see and just a shame Austin was more or less retired at that time so we couldn't get the match we always wanted.The whole thing with RVD and Stone Cold is a little depressing in that Daniel Bryan most of 2013 kind of way. If WWE had just put them against each other it could have been magical and seeing RVD frog splash Austin and the crowd chant the 1,2,3 that he would not see for nearly five years is a little sad.

The Rock is also featured heavily and whether it is him with Triple H, Austin and Foley or just being a smartass it is always funny, though as with many they do drag on a bit. The reunion between Rock/Austin and Foley was fun and certainly a moment to remember and one of the few that probably could have benefited from being longer. His moment with John Cena is also great and could have been longer.

One of the great moments on here is the celebration of Ric Flair which was almost as emotional as when he retired. A great showing of respect from everyone in the WWE for one of the true greats. Same for the Moolah's 80th Birthday celebration which is nice tribute to one of the pioneers of women's wrestling.

A lot of the moments on this DVD really could be distilled into maybe 2-3 minutes highlights such as everyone trying to do a spin-erooni including Vince McMahon, Goldust, Triple H and the Rock doing the spinerooni which is great, but the build to it went on far too long. This could also be said of Kane doing the People's Elbow which was insanely cool.

The inclusion of some matches is a nice and with some of them being unseen is nice, though I do feel like they should have recorded some commentary for them because it almost feels wrong. Sometimes you need the commentators to guide you along for the match and make you understand why people are fighting and what certain things mean. This is lost a little and feels almost like if you have ever watched WWE live and you only have the action to react to.

Matches include Triple H & Ric Flair vs. Shawn Michaels & Randy Orton (Did we really need to see Flair's ass?), John Cena vs. Edge, Triple H vs. Randy Orton, John Cena vs. CM Punk, Randy Orton & Big Show & Sheamus vs. Daniel Bryan & Kane & Cody Rhodes. All are pretty good with the Cena/Punk match worth the price for this rare match by itself.

It's not surprising that Cena is featured heavily from 2005 and it includes him posing with Hogan and Batista which is fun in a geeky way. His interaction with DX and his Dad is hilarious. Seeing him celebrate his birthday including Great Khali singing Happy Birthday is just insane. The best moment with Cena is possibly his interaction with the crowd about what they were chanting including 'We are awesome!' This was also a perfect way to end the set and show that all this was for the fans and those who love WWE so much they want to stay behind for more.

Raw After The Show is a great set and I do hope they do one for Smackdown and maybe for the PPVs as this is a nice idea. There are some great moments and some great matches and all in all this is a perfect glimpse at what happens in WWE for the fans in the crowd when the shows goes off the air.