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VIP EXCLUSIVE - From PWTorch Newsletter #996...

Radican's Focus
By Sean Radican, Torch columnist
Headline: Christian Cage DVD Review: Is it an Instant Classic?
Originally Published: October 29, 2007
PWTorch Newsletter #996

TNA doesn't do a good job of producing an entertaining television show that compliments an anticipated monthly PPV on a consistent basis, although to be fair, the last two PPVs have been much better than usual. What TNA does do a good job of is producing home releases spotlighting the biggest stars of the promotion. TNA's latest offering "Christian Cage: Instant Classic" follows in the footsteps of some really good releases spotlighting wrestlers such as Samoa Joe and A.J. Styles. These releases usually include a sitdown interview or documentary packaged alongside several matches.

Christian Cage [artist Grant Gould (c) PWTorch]

"Christian Cage: Instant Classic" follows the same formula, but expands beyond the usual documentary and match package to include several unique bonuses such as footage from Christian's early days in Canada with Edge, along with other footage, including clips of a match between a young Christian Cage and Rhino that are played during the documentary portion of this release. The end result is a mix of more good than bad.

I didn't like that the interview was divided into different segments and each segment had to have a title. The way the entire interview went was Cage would talk about a specific topic. When Cage finished talking, his theme music would play and a title page would come up, along with a title for the next segment of the interview that let the viewer know what Christian Cage was about to discuss.

These annoying transitions made the interview seem disjointed at times, instead of a natural release of information from Cage on his life from his early days all the way through this year. I think a better way to transition through Cage's interview would have been to use other people from within TNA to transition from segment to segment.

Cage doesn't stick to kayfabe during the interview, so there's really no reason that major figures in TNA couldn't appear on this release and add their thoughts on Cage's tenure in TNA. Why they didn't use anyone but Cage on this portion of the release is baffling, especially given the fact that it clocks in at just a shade less than 40 minutes.

Cage begins the interview taking the viewer through his childhood. He discusses how he lived in several different locations in America and Canada because his father was always looking for teaching jobs. The narrative is a little disjointed, as Cage talks about going to college and the different odd jobs he held before back tracking and talking about how he got into wrestling. If the release had been edited differently, Cage's narrative would have come across much better than it did at certain times.

Cage was a hockey player like most other young boys his age in Canada, but he ended up getting hurt, which led him to discover wrestling. As all his friends were out playing hockey, Cage was sitting at home with an injured shoulder when he flipped on the TV and discovered wrestling. Cage talks about how he almost quit hockey once he recovered from his injury just so he could stay home and watch wrestling, but his parents offered to record the shows for him, so he continued to play.

I was looking forward to the story of how Christian met Edge, but Cage doesn't go into as much detail of how their relationship began as I expected. Cage does tell a funny anecdote about an item he had that all the kids at school wanted to buy off of him, including Edge, but he wouldn't sell it to anyone. Eventually Cage did allow Edge to come over to his house to use the item and their relationship grew from there.

Cage doesn't talk at all about going to WrestleMania with Edge in Toronto when they were youngsters. It would have added a great deal to the interview if he had talked about that experience in-depth and related it to both of them getting into wrestling, training, and breaking into the WWE.

Cage quickly expanded his horizons, as he ended up wrestling for Mid-West Championship Wrestling in Detroit shortly after finishing his training. Cage ended up wrestling Terry "Rhino" Richards in what was one of the first few matches for either man in their careers. Cage elaborates on his time in Mid-West Championship Wrestling and discusses how there were a lot of "weekend warriors" wrestling in the promotion, but he could quickly tell that Rhino stood out as something special.

Cage was so impressed with Rhino that he recommended him to a promoter in Winnipeg, and the promoter was so impressed that he told Rhino he could come back anytime he wanted. I think Rhino should have been included during this segment to give his thoughts on wrestling Cage when they were both relatively new to the business, as it would have added another dimension to Cage's narrative, but the viewer is only given one point of view here.

Jim Cornette is the person Cage tabs as being responsible for getting him a shot with WWE, but as was the case with Rhino, Cornette wasn't interviewed here and doesn't give his thought and insight into why he fought to get WWE to sign Christian, so his valuable perspective is missing and it isn't really clear why Cage got noticed by the WWE and moved through developmental so quickly.

Cage only briefly talks about his time in the WWE with Edge. He quickly moves through his time in he brood, only stopping to talk about how he was glad that he eventually got camera time to cut promos alongside Edge.

It seemed TNA was dancing around Christian's time in the WWE several times on this release, which is understandable, but they should get off the fence and have either asked him more questions about his time there or axed the WWE talk entirely.

The segment with Cage talking about life on the road in WWE is the strongest aspect of this release. Christian talks about meeting his wife and how life on the road impacted lives for many years. Cage and his wife never had a regular relationship. Cage met his wife in England, but she was living in Germany at the time and he was living in Canada.

Cage talks about his relationship with his wife always being long distance, which continued once they got married, as he was always on the road. Cage's comments about life on the road are alarming, as he talks about

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