The
New And Improved! DX is the latest DVD from the WWE highlighting all of DX's
escapades from last year. This three DVD set contains nine hours of content, from their
appearances on Raw to various PPV matches, it's all here.
Now, I wasn't around for the first incarnation of
DX. Heck, I missed the entire "Attitude" era. So when HBK and HHH reformed DX, I
had a slight advantage - I had no basis for comparison. Therefore, I wasn't
biased one way or another - except on HBK and HHH's characters in a solo
capacity (well, not counting Evolution). However, I have to admit I marked out
like a little schoolgirl when Shawn made the save as HHH was taking on the
Spirit Squad. And, unlike DX's first go 'round, I saw each and every appearance
when originally broadcast - yay me!
DX's appearances on these discs are in
chronological order and, as far as I can tell, complete and unedited.
Additionally, in between some appearances and/or skits, there are comments from
various WWE superstars. Disc one is 3 hours and 13 minutes long and features the
following chapters:
- Spotlight: Shawn Michaels And Triple H
- Mr. McMahon forces DX to reunite?
- "the Miz" (ugh), Johnny Nitro, Carlito, Lawler, Stone Cold, Coach, Mikey
and Nicky talk about how Vince was responsible for DX's reforming, as he
made Shawn and HHH's lives miserable.
- Raw 6/12/06: DX Re-united -
Regardless of the fact that everybody and their cousin knew that DX was
reforming, once Shawn hit the ring and helped HHH clean house, the place
went freakin' CRAZY. The only thing that hindered the reunion for me
was the absence of DX's theme (using HHH's alternate Motorhead theme).
- Raw 6/19/06: Official Reunion Of DX
- Vince is presented with a cock, a penis enlarger and mocked by an alien.
After a stripper-gram, he also fits in a plug for Dusty Rhodes' DVD before
splitting for the possible birth of Steph's baby (it didn't happen that
night - it was a silly DX prank). So, after subjecting us to Coach's naked
ass and treating the Spirit Squad to a new paint job, DX finally hits the
ring...with midgets.
-
Vengeance 6/25/06: 5-on-2 Handicap Match: DX vs. Spirit Squad
- From my review found
HERE: "In
yet another improbable storyline, HHH and HBK who, after quite a few years
of feuding, giving each other dirty looks and basically beating the shit out
of each other, have decided to team up and reform DX. And, MAN does the
audience eat it up. Wonder how long it'll last?"
- Raw 6/26/06: DX Impersonates the
McMahons
- HBK and HHH come to the ring dressed as Vince and Shane and treat the
crowd to some moderately entertaining impersonations (along with Vince's
performance at the Slammy's). However, like most WWE skits, it runs too long
until it reaches its "shitty" conclusion. By the way, unlike the original
broadcast, when HHH says "shit" there's no bleeping present.
- Raw 7/3/06: DX Banned From RAW
- Since they were banned from the area thanks to their fecal escapades last
week, DX decide to throw a juvenile 4th Of July picnic outside before taking
control of the production truck.
- Raw 7/10/06: Mr. McMahon & Shane vs.
Eugene
- We don't see the entire match between Vince, Shane and Eugene, just a
brief package of all the torture inflicted upon Eugene.
-
Saturday Night's Main Event 7/15/06: Elimination Match: DX vs. Spirit
Squad
- This SNME is, as of this writing, still unreleased. However, what made the
inclusion of this match interesting, was that it was the entire match
- including what took place during the commercial break (without commentary
from Lawler or JR, though).

- Raw 7/17/06: Shawn Michaels vs. Shane
McMahon
- Once DX gets done pimping their new merchandise, Vince decides to have
Shane take on HBK. Along the way, there's also some shenanigans with the
Highlanders.
- Raw 7/24/06: Shawn Michaels vs.
Jonathan Coachman
- Since HHH wasn't around (because Steph gave birth), Vince (via cellphone) orders Coach to
fight HBK. Of course, the deck is stacked against HBK.
Disc two runs 3 hours 14 minutes and contains
the following:
-
Strong Personalities
- Raw 7/31/06: Shawn Michaels vs. Umaga
- After hitting the ring on top of the world thanks to the birth of Steph's
daughter, Vince and Shane utilize Armando's Cuban connection to get HHH
throw out of the arena so Shawn can face Umaga one-on-one.
- Raw 8/7/06: Triple H vs. Umaga -
Once again, Vince & Shane find a way to divide and conquer DX, leaving HHH
to face Umaga all by his lonesome.
-
Raw 8/14/06: DX Talks About SummerSlam - Basically, ten minutes of
HBK and HHH going back and forth with Vince. Captivating stuff.
- SummerSlam 8/20/06: DX vs. Mr. McMahon
& Shane McMahon - Despite the
McMahon's best efforts - including Finlay, Big Show, Kennedy, William Regal
and the Spirit Squad - DX triumphs against all. Surprise, surprise.
- Raw 8/21/06: DX Vandalism
- Though they don't make a ring appearance, they spend the entire episode
vandalizing a few of Vince's favorite things - namely his lear jet, his limo
and WWE headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
- Raw 8/28/06: DX vs. William Regal,
Finlay And Mr. Kennedy
- As Vince recovers in a nearby Atlantic City hotel, Shane schedules this
mini-rematch between DX and three of their opponents from SummerSlam - along
with some unexpected guests.
- Raw 9/4/06: DX Confrontation With Mr.
McMahon, Shane McMahon And Big Show -
Technically, their confrontation isn't with the McMahons or Show - it's with
a bunch of WWE security.
- ECW 9/5/06: DX vs. Big Show
- Further cementing the fact that this ain't your daddy's ECW, DX show up to
take on Show.
- Raw 9/11/06: Triple H vs. Mr. McMahon -
After roughing up DX ten minutes earlier, Vince takes on HHH in this "No
Holds Barred" match.
- Unforgiven 9/17/06: Hell In A Cell: DX
vs. Mr. McMahon, Shane McMahon And Big Show
- From my review found
HERE:
"There's a rumor going around that Show's on
his way to retiring due to heath problems. While I hope that's not true
(both, his retiring and his health is bad), I was paying particular
attention to him during this match and he looked pretty winded. To be
honest, I think Vince is overusing him. I mean, he's the ECW champ, he's
been on SmackDown! god knows how many times and he's been on Raw even more.
Give the guy a break!" Okay, so I didn't mention DX. Nor did I mention Vince
taking a dive between Show's cheeks. However, immediately after this replay
Vince comments on his impression of an anal speculum.
- Raw 9/18/06: DX Address Mr. McMahon
Disc three wraps up DX's 2006 appearances with
the remaining two and a half hour of matches and skits:
- Raw 10/2/06: DX Takes Over Raw
- But before they do, they have to go through a Texas Tornado match. After
winning that (didja have any doubt?) they make the Spirt Squad dress up the
way cheerleaders normally do, before a funny plug for Eric Bischoff's new
book that leaves them wondering if they truly were a rip-off of NWO as
Bischoff stated in his book. Lawler, Austin, Cena, Coach and Murdoch also
comment on this.
- Raw 10/9/06: DX vs. Lance Cade & Trevor
Murdoch
- Speaking of Murdoch, after a skit where DX apologizes to everyone they
offended last week (while taking a moment to shill more merchandise), he and
Cade have a match against them.
- Raw 10/16/06: Edge & Randy Orton
Impersonate DX - The show begins
with a "major announcement" from DX - well, Randy Orton and Edge dressed as
HBK and HHH.
- Raw 10/16/06: Triple H vs. Randy Orton
- Orton and HHH battle (with HBK, Edge and eventually Lita at ringside).
- Cyber Sunday 11/5/06: DX vs. Edge &
Randy Orton
- From my review found
HERE:
"Even though, as of this writing, I am
officially sick of seeing these guys wrestle each other, this was a pretty
entertaining match - made moreso by the participation of Bishoff."
- Raw 11/6/06: DX Gets Revenge On Eric
Bischoff
- Deciding to kill two birds with one stone - putting DX over and pimping
Eric's book - Vince makes Bischoff "Acting General Manager for one night
only". I only have three words to describe this chapter - Big. Dick.
Johnson. Oh wait, make it four - Ugh.
- Why Do the Fans Like DX?
- Coach, Shane, Mikey, Cena and some overseas fans talk about why fans like
them. Turns out it's because they're fun-loving rebels! Whodathunkit?

- Raw 11/13/06: Jonathan Coachman Puts
Bounty On DX
- Over in the UK, Coach puts a $10,000 bounty on DX. Cade & Murdoch and Haas
& Viscera are the first to try to claim it, but they're certainly not the
last.
- Survivor Series 11/26/06: DX, Jeff
Hardy, Matt Hardy And CM Punk vs. Edge, Randy Orton, Johnny Nitro, Gregory
Helms And Mike Knox
- From my review found
HERE:
"This is another match that subtlety
demonstrates where Vince's head is as far as ECW is concerned. Not five
seconds after Knox hits the ring, Michaels superkicks him and gets the pin.
That's right. FIVE seconds. If this doesn't demonstrate what Vince thinks of
ECW, then I don't know what does. It's not like Knox was an original
ECW wrestler, but he still gets squashed here during his first PPV
appearance. In addition, he continues to ignore the pop the CM Punk gets
every single time he enters the ring. It seems no matter how often HHH
refers to him as "the future of wrestling", he'll never get an adequate push
and eventually ECW will go the way of WCW - once again making the WWE the
only game in town. That said, this wasn't a bad match. Heck, any time the
Hardys are together, i'm happy. And I have to say, even though I haven't
seen him since he abandoned his "Hurricane" persona, I thought Helms did a
pretty good job.
In addition to all of the previous material,
we're also treated to the following "extras" on disc three. Most of these
chapters are basically recaps of the various DX "storylines":
- Cyber Sunday 11/5/06: DX vs. Randy
Orton & Edge Highlight Package
- Unforgiven 9/17/06: DX vs. Big Show,
Shane & Mr. McMahon - Hell In A Cell Highlight Package
- Vengeance 6/25/06: DX vs. the Spirit
Squad Highlight Package
-
SummerSlam 2006: "Hot Dog" Vignette
- A one minute skit involving Viscera, Kane, DX, Lita and a hot dog.
- SummerSlam 8/20/06: DX vs. Shane & Mr.
McMahon Highlight Package
- New Year's Revolution 1/7/07: DX Promo
- 30 second promo for WWE's "New Year's Revolution" PPV.
- Home Video Exclusive: DX Vandalism
Package
- 7 1/2 minutes of footage from the Vandalism
Video:
the New And Improved! DX's picture was colorful and vibrant. However,
upon closer inspection (read: standing close to my 36" screen) I noticed some
wicked compression artifacts whenever the duo hit the ring. From a distance, it
wasn't nearly as bad, but I honestly didn't feel this was a deal-breaker and
only pointed it out to be thorough. It's presented in the WWE's standard full frame 1.33:1 ratio.
Audio: The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound
was crystal clear and enveloped my living room while I was watching it.
Conclusion: the New And Improved! DX will definitely satisfy
fans of the current incarnation of DX. Though they quickly gloss over the
long road it took for Shawn and HHH to reunite, you'll find every single WWE
appearance in this set. Watching it made me wish that Vince released the
weekly eps of Raw and SmackDown! (for its fans) on DVD. Sure, you might be
looking at two double disc sets a month, but would that really be so bad?
Besides, not every WWE superstar/super team would get this sort of
treatment. Anyways, back to DX. Originally, slightly disappointing picture
quality aside, I was going to give this highly comprehensive set a "highly
recommended" rating. However, the more I thought about it, the more I
couldn't deny that the completeness of this set, coupled with the
presentation and packaging, is something that deserves DVD Talk's highest
rating - DVD Talk Collector Series.

"And if you didn't like this review, i've got
two words for you..." |