Blog: A “WrestleMania” Best Buy UK Opening – WWE DVD Coverage?

In my experience the WWE DVD coverage in retail stores across the UK is poor and usually characterised by an inadequate range of stock, blown up prices or a combination of both.

That’s why when I heard last week there was a Best Buy store opening up near me I was eager to go along to see if the United States based electronics giant could offer a better bricks and mortar alternative.

So today I checked out the new Best Buy store in Aintree, Liverpool on its launch day.

I wasn’t naive enough to go in thinking these new stores in the UK would have a big wrestling video section like over in the states, because quite frankly I don’t think there is the same market or popularity, but I kept up hope for an improvement on the usual disappointment felt visting the likes of HMV and others.

I was pleasantly surprised seeing the size of the large DVD & Blu Ray section which was pretty much in the centre of the store with everything else surrounding it. Time to find the wrestling stuff. Same familiar scenario came back now – unable to find the DVDs quickly so I feared the worst. Sure enough though, at the bottom of of the Sport section there was a small row devoted to WWE. Yes, bottom row and yes, small.

First thoughts not much here to choose from, a few WrestleMania DVDs and Tagged Classics. However actually looking closer here was WrestleMania 20, WrestleMania 21, WrestleMania 22, WrestleMania 23, WrestleMania 24, WrestleMania 25 and WrestleMania 26.

The past three years of Mania were not such bargains but marked below the usual retail such as £16.99. The best deals were WrestleMania 20, 21 & 23 though – these 3 Disc sets were just £9.99 each ($15.50), which isn’t bad considering Silvervision and Amazon sell them for £18-22 each. Thinking about it all of these prices are very good for brand new WM DVD sets. It’s a pity I have them all already or I would have picked one of these up at these prices.

What else was here? Quite a nice selection of early WrestleMania events on the Tagged Classics, up to the WM 13/14 set. All of these were £9.99 so again decently priced – you don’t see brand new Tagged Classics DVDs for as low as this on retail websites. Since it’s WrestleMania I had already had already made to buy these in the past for the collection so unfortunately I couldn’t take advantage of the prices, although other people may have.

WrestleMania III: Championship Edition was the last one here. Again this was £9.99 and this price also stood out to me as I know this is a 2 Disc set that sells for at least £14.99 even on the web. Decent deal I’d say.

On to look for WWE Blu Ray’s now. Not a lot here, but they had WrestleMania 24, 25 & 26. First reaction was the prices are a little high but considering it these are priced the same as the web’s best retail sites for WWE BD’s in the UK.

Thinking about it, everything was WrestleMania. Every single WWE DVD and Blu Ray I saw in there was WrestleMania related. The 3 Disc DVD sets, WM3 Championship Ediiton, Tagged Classics and the Blu Rays – everything. I arrived at the store late in the day but surely that can’t be the reason these were the only titles on the shelves, it’s an obvious pattern.

Looking back, you can’t fault Best Buy on the prices here. I’m not sure if the DVD section had offers for the grand opening or not, so can’t say whether these prices will change, but if you need any of these WrestleMania titles and there’s a new store local to you it’s well worth checking it out. As mentioned, these prices compete very well with the web.

I understand that WrestleMania DVDs are amongst the most popular so from a business stand point stocking these may be wise, but I have to say whilst the prices were on the whole very good there needs to be a wider variety to keep me coming back for the newest releases or older ones I may not yet have, rather than picking them up online.

Add some WWE documentary titles, superstar profiles and non-Mania PPV DVDs along with similar competitive pricing and here is the making of a great source for picking up WWE home videos!