WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.0

WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie Review

Nothing to brag about.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 19, 2014

Can one truly "brag" when he or she emerges victorious from a pre-scripted athletic competition? Do -- should -- wrestlers believe themselves to "be all that?" when they secure that final pin, pull down that briefcase, or "force" an opponent to yell "I quit!"? These are the question that must be on everyone's mind as they sit down to watch Bragging Rights 2010, the final presentation of the now-defunct Pay-Per-View event that lasted a whopping two outings in 2009 and 2010. It's no wonder, considering the silly name and the fairly generic presentation that makes this event more or less superfluous or, at the very least, one offering little new beyond its name. The wrestling is fine -- typically entertaining and featuring a broad roster of top-end performers -- but as far as the PPV goes, it's nothing to brag about.

Don't brag on Vicky...

In all fairness, it was a pretty good idea. Outside of these pay-per-view spectaculars, the WWE is best known for, identified through, and earns ratings with its Monday Night RAW and Friday Night SmackDown programs. What better way to really find out which is superior than by allowing the best of the best of the red and blue factions to duke it out on a big stage? Eh, other than the whole "winner determined ahead of time" thing, anyway. Let the stars do the wrestling, don't let the numbers do the talking. Simple enough, and it's a fun concept but one that probably wasn't necessary in the grand scheme of things. If nothing else, it was one big faction versus another, boiled down to allegiances formed on the simplest terms, and allegiances that, like most all of them throughout the course of wrestling history, would run afoul of internal strife along the way to the ring.

Unfortunately, and despite the heavy promotion and matches featuring one side versus another -- including a fourteen-plus-man tag match between the red-shirt RAWs and the blue-shirt SmackDowns -- the event ultimately just felt like any other WWE pay-per-view extravaganza, featuring wrestlers at the top of their games but hardly bringing anything to the table worth, well, bragging about. The wrestling action is fine, some of the rivalries work well in terms of amping up drama that's settled sometimes in the ring and sometimes outside of it, but one cannot help but feel like this is an event that's been played time and time again, just with different faces in different slots through the course of the show. Even the highlight "Buried Alive" match never really gets off the ground. It's solidly fun -- Kane vs. The Undertaker matches normally are -- but produces no true defining moment in either Kane's or The Undertaker's careers.

The following matches comprise Bragging Rights 2010:

• Champion vs. Champion Match: Daniel Bryan vs. Dolph Ziggler.
• WWE Tag Team Championship Match: "Dashing" Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre vs. John Cena & David Otunga.
• Bragging Rights Match: Goldust vs. Ted DiBiase.
• Divas Championship Match: Layla vs. Natalya.
• Bured Alive Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Kane vs. Undertaker.
• SmackDown vs. RAW 7 on 7 Tag Team Elimination Match: Team RAW (The Miz, Sheamus, CM Punk, John Morrison, R-Truth, Ezekiel Jackson & Santino Marella) vs. Team SmackDown (Big Show, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston, Jack Swagger, Alberto del Rio & Tyler Reks).
• WWE Championship Match: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett (with John Cena).

WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bragging Rights 2010 features a 1080i, 1.78:1-framed transfer. The transfer, in typical WWE fashion, presents a nice looking surface but features a few underlying flaws. First, the good. Colors are bold and precise. The red and blue coloring on the apron looks magnificent, as do all the colors that appear on digital and handmade signage and wrestler attire alike. Black levels are satisfactorily deep, and skin tones appear normal. Details are crisp and well defined. Wrestler skin is complexly presented and trunks, t-shirts, and other bits of apparel enjoy adequately textured lines and seams. Image clarity is excellent, with even the furthest back rows up near the rafters visible and shapely. Yet there are a few issues of note. Ringing is evident at times. Graphics in particular suffer from unclean lines. Light noise is apparent in spots, and minor to moderate compression artifacts are visible throughout. Overall, this is a fairy typical WWE HD transfer.

WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bragging Rights 2010 features a good-enough Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. There's a nice, airy, wide spacing and surround element to the opening montage music. Much the same follows throughout the evening in terms of overlaying music. Wrestler intro music is equally well pronounced and defined, enjoying a rich, enveloping spacing that's perhaps nowhere more evident than Daniel Bryan's entry theme. Crowd ambience circles the listener very well. Smacks and thuds and other sounds of wrestling mayhem play well enough. Commentary and backstage chatter both flow effortlessly from the center.

WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Bragging Rights 2010 contains a few extras.

• Home Video Exclusive: Josh Mathews Interviews Team SmackDown (1080i, 1:41): Bragging Rights -- October 24, 2010.
• Undertaker's Last Ride? (1080i, 1:14): Bragging Rights -- October 24, 2010.
• RAW Episode (1080i, 1:20:25): The lead-up episode to the PPV, divided into the following chapters: Tedy Long Is Taking Over RAW, Hart Dynasty vs. "Dashing" Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre, John Cena and Randy Orton in the Locker Room, Goldust vs. Zack Ryder, Wade Barrett Gives John Cena Instructions For His Match, RAW Guest Host Bobb'E J. Thompson in His Office, Randy Orton & John Cena vs. Husky Harris & Michael McGillicutty, Vickie Guerrero and Dolph Ziggler Address the WWE Universe, Natalya vs. Alicia Fox, Josh Mathews Interviews Tedy Long and Big Show, John Cena Tries to Leave the Arena, and SmackDown Captain vs. RAW Captain: Big Show vs. The Miz. From October 18, 2010.

WWE Bragging Rights 2010 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bragging Rights 2010 isn't a terrible PPV -- few of them are -- but it's just sort of there, a pay event that produces the goods without much in the way of dramatic flair, flavor, or anything even remotely memorable. Certainly WWE wasn't going to save the best of the year for the second outing of a new event, but a little spice might have saved it, though it may be a case of too little, too late, seeing that viewership dropped by 44,000 from one year to the next. This event won't be missed, largely because something else (Vengeance) would take its place without anyone really blinking an eye. The product features good video and audio along with a few extras. Notably absent is the SmackDown prior to the event and the RAW following the event. In short, this is solid wrestling fun and a good example of the generic PPV structure, but otherwise it's not much more than something to round out the WWE on Blu-ray collection.