Timeline: The History of WWE 1997 - DVD Review

In life there are always things that go well together, sausage and mash, fish and chips, cheese and biscuits, Morecombe and Wise. Another thing you could add to this particular list is Kayfabe Commentaries and Jim Cornette, because once again these two ingredients have come together for the latest in the Timeline: The History of WWE series.

The year in question is 1997, a year packed full of drama throughout. WCW is killing the WWF in the ratings with the New World Order, and inside the company itself Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels look like they want to kill each other every time they’re in the same room together, while a certain Steve Austin continues his journey to mega stardom and a young Rocky Maivia morphs into The Rock.

With Sean Oliver guiding our journey and with help from his personal journal Cornette paints a brilliant picture of just what the WWF was like back then, and what it was like being a member of the creative team.

There certainly are some wild stories coming out of this, too many to mention here, and Cornette proves once again that he’s the perfect person to tell these stories. Although he comes across as a cranky old man at times he’s also passionate about the business he’s served so well all of these years.

Of course, there’s the usual diatribe towards a certain Vince Russo and how he became such a prominent player in professional wrestling, but there’s also some great insights into the events leading up to the screw job at the Survivor Series in Montreal. With Hart refusing to put Michaels over and Michaels refusing to put Hart over it makes you wonder how things would have played if they’d gone with his plan of putting Ken Shamrock in the main event instead of Michaels.

Even though this two disc set lasts for more than three hours time just seems to fly by while watching this, it’s that good as Cornette and Kayfabe Commentaries have once again proved to be a winning combination.

So it’s for this reason that this release gets the big thumbs up. This is the best in the series so far, so let’s hope Sean and the boys get Cornette back quickly for the 1998 version.

With thanks to the powers that be for supplying a copy of this release. Timeline: The History of WWE 1997 is available to buy online at www.kayfabecommentaries.com.