‘WWE Live in the UK: November 2013’ Blu-ray Review
It’s fair to say that the WWE is going through a tough time right now whether certain events are to do with storylines or actual business issues. With the release of WWE Live in the UK: November 2013 it allows us to look back to Raw and Smackdown back in 2013 before Survivor’s Series and in some ways see where all its troubles were being formed. In truth as a fan I call them troubles, I dare say the crowds and their cheering don’t really mean much to WWE unless the ratings change.
Looking at Raw first, other than Randy Orton and his usual whining promo which was as boring as ever it was a strong episode, especially with the ending. This actually had one of my favourite moments of Raw in it with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs. The Shield where the Wyatt Family inadvertently starting a brawl with the heels instead of their intended target. This ended up in total chaos with the Usos, Cody Rhodes and Goldust coming out to join in the fun. A nice segment to hype up the audience for Survivor’s Series it’s very telling that the lack of inclusion of the two champions in this wasn’t missed at all.
Moving onto the smaller shows Main Event and Superstars the fact the undercard wrestlers were part of the matches actually brought more entertainment as these usually ignored wrestlers had time to put on a good show. Tyson Kidd and Justin Gabriel showed that they can put on more technical matches that weren’t hindered by storylines, and Natalya and AJ Lee put on a wrestling match showing that they are arguably the best wrestlers in the diva group. It’s a shame that the same can’t be said about some of the other diva matches which didn’t seem to flow so good, though as usual there were some impressive moves on show.
Smackdown was a continuation of what was seen on Raw, but was the weaker of the two which is a shame. The re-integration of both Raw and Smackdown rosters seems to have made Smackdown less important, or at least in the episode shown. Saying that there were a few good segments, especially CM Punk and Daniel Bryan vs. Axel Curtis and Ryback with the inevitable attack from the Wyatt Family, but with yet another unexpected ending.
As I’ve said in past reviews of the WWE Live In The UK releases though I’d much prefer them to not focus just on what we’ve seen on television and maybe feature some footage from the tour itself. Actually seeing the Main Event matches which at that time we didn’t get in the United Kingdom showed that actually seeing something different is very welcome. I remember in the past when the United Kingdom used to get its own special pay-per-view event, which I think would make much better content for these releases than what we get with WWE Live in the UK: November 2013 just re-hashing the televised shows feels just a little lazy.
Getting past the fact these are episodes that have been on television already, this release does at least have some good moments and it’s interesting to take a look back at storylines from last year and see how much (or little) has changed. Hopefully by the time we get another release the few issues that the WWE have at the moment will be fixed, but I tend to get the feeling we’ll have the same old champion (or champions) we’ve had before, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing for “business”.
WWE Live in the UK: November 2013 is released on DVD in the UK on February 3rd.
