Good to see the Old School ;)

A decent Tagged Classic buy from the WWE team here; it actually is far more entertaining than the matches on the card sound.

As with *all* Tagged Classics, you have to forgive the bad visual / audial quality, as they are transfers from the original VHS tapes. On the other hand, they allow the transmission to be broadcast onto DVD unedited, so you have the original recording at your fingertips. Just up my alley!

Suffice it to say, IYH7 'Good Friends...' is the 'forgettable' PPV between the two. The HBK / Nash (Diesel) match is good stuff, because both men were at their prime (and HBK was just off the scale in terms of the story he told in the ring at that point), so it works. But that doesn't mean a lot for the rest of it. 'Bodydonnas vs. the Godwinns'? It's all to do with Sunny (I guess that's reason alone to watch, but...). The Vader / Razor match is surprisingly good, and I didn't see where it was going to go, so I liked that unpredictability. Otherwise... the rest of the card is *just average*. Oh, except the Warrior / Goldust match. Frankly, this is one of the worst excuses for 'entertainment' in wrestling. The WHOLE MATCH is Ultimate Screwball stealing Goldust's robe, smoking one of his cigars and sitting on his chair, making weird motions. It's... painful to watch. It wastes about 15 minutes of airtime! And there isn't even a move! Or a promo! Or any shred of sense. Utter rubbish, and affects the grade a star all on it's lonesome.

On the other hand, 'Beware of Dog' is perfectly sublime and the card is actually far above the average. It's tragic, because of a power cut, half of the PPV had to be reshot and that tempo loss shows somewhat - the 'main event' between HBK and Bulldog takes place half-way through the show, whilst 'Taker / Goldust is at the end. It's noticeable... but it doesn't stop the event being non-stop quality. The angle into the event was that British Dulldog's wife, Diana, accused HBK of having an affair with her - a somewhat uncomfortable angle - but whilst the angle is as awkward as it sounds, the two wrestlers put on a phenominally paced match, showing everyone why Davey Boy is an underrated mat specialist and why HBK is still going on top form today. The conclusion is really memorable (and is almost inconclusive without being cheap, but I won't spoil here quite what happens!). On the other hand, the 'fake' main event of 'Taker / Goldust, in a Casket Match... well, it's equally as good for different reasons. HBK / Bulldog is a mat-specialists classic... Undertaker vs. the Bizarre One is a lesson in wrestling theatre. Again, a good conclusion which may surprise quite a few (although for the live audience, this kind of twist WAS common at the time, so might not surprise those who knew the storyline of the time). This event has a strong undercard, too (Triple H vs. Marc Mero is decent; the tag team match is more Sunny madness, but it's not as redundant as with 'Good Friends'...).

Lastly, 'Beware of Dog' is a very momentous event for being the last appearance of the Million $ Man, Ted DiBiase, during his WWE tenure. It's slightly underwhelming - he leaves as a result of a (shudder) Savio Vega vs. Stonecold Steve Austin strap match (and I'm not a fan of strap matches anyway), but - again - the workers make it work. Like I hinted, I don't like Savio Vega but he's on his best here, and you don't really have to state that Austin was because he was tearing up the undercard with quality during this time.

One disk... average. One disk, outstanding. It has moments of classic WWE history on it (the conclusion of the Davey Boy / HBK match; Ted DiBiase's farewell). It also has lashings of Sunny playing off tag teams that nobody really cared about at the time. It's half of a good deal, half of a one which you could spend better money on. And therefore, because it's a half/half one, I can't give it higher than three stars, even though if 'Beware of Dog' were on it's own, it'd get a four... and I'd be tempted to 'five' it. Give the disk a whirl - it's certainly worth it, IMO.