Raven [RF Video Shoot Interview - 2003]

The Good
Raven is always a very good interview and although he rambles and goes into seemingly unrelated rants. In this one, he looks at his career up to his ECW run (although he was in NWA-TNA at this point). If you've never heard him before, you will probably like this. He talks about growing up as a fan, breaking in with Larry Sharpe and working Memphis, Portland and Florida in his early days. Raven loves to get nostalgic about angles he was in and, I dare say, over-analyze them. In talking about his feud with Rex King that involved a few valets, you begin to think that this was probably turning the area around, when in fact that was not the case. He always makes his angles, companies and such come across as more innovative, more groundbreaking and more popular than it really was, which I think is a charming quality to his storytelling. The one thing I really liked about this was him getting into his drug issues and explaining how messed up he was during his original ECW run as Raven. It seemed to humanize this can-do-no-wrong character. I like listening to Raven, but you've got to recognize that he talks a great game and his delivery has never been as amazing as you'd think or expect.

The Bad
If you've heard Raven a dozen times (like I have), you probably know the score and may even find this redundant. He is a boaster, he is blabbermouth, he is a braggart, but it is plainly obvious. After hearing him in the "Secrets of the Ring" series, I think I prefer to hear Raven talk about pro-wrestling psychology than just reflect upon his career. I was happy that they didn't try to cram in everything in, but the flipside is they should've allowed for more time talking about Memphis, Florida and even Portland. He is such a hilariously entertaining storyteller that it is shame to just let his tales (true or not) go unsaid.

The Rating: ****