After hearing some of your comments and feedback about the match listing for “The History of WWE” which was revealed earlier this week, it’s evident some of you were disappointed with the selections which were made. I do feel that the choices were relevant to the subject and it was inevitable that some repeats were going to be featured.
My feeling from the time when we first confirmed this particular release was going ahead, was that it deserved to be more than a standard 3 disc set. To properly highlight their history at least one more disc would be required. As a result, this Mini-Fantasy Concept will look at what I think should be featured on “Disc 4”.
So for the purposes of this particular concept, I will consider all of the planned footage for discs 2 and 3 to be a given and I will look for enough content to fill an additional 4th disc.
My biggest disappointment with the match and moment selections for The History of WWE (a view shared by others) was with the earlier years of the company and a number of the key players of the earlier days not being represented fully. In fact the early era is only represented with one match, and granted it is a very historic match – the end of Bruno Sammartino’s championship reign, but just one match none the less.
Unfortunately WWE didn’t begin broadcasting their Madison Square Garden shows on the MSG Network (and even HBO at the time) until the early 1970s and I am not sure what or how much footage actually exists from prior to this time, however all of the matches and moments which I have included do exist.
There were also a number of individuals who I felt needed representation in superstars such as: Gorilla Monsoon, Lou Albano, Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Pedro Morales, Bob Backlund and The Fabulous Moolah. Additionally, I felt other events and historic moments should be spotlighted including the likes of: Saturday Night’s Main Event, MTV & The Rock n Wrestling Connection, The New Generation stars and of course the Austin vs. McMahon feud. As a result I came up with content for “Disc 4” which comprises matches and moments that I feel would better help tell “The History of WWE”.
| “DISC 4” |
Gorilla Monsoon vs. Capt. Lou Albano
Madison Square Garden • June 30, 1973
Boxing Match
Andre The Giant vs. Chuck Wepner
Shea Stadium • June 25, 1976
Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko
Championship Wrestling • February 2, 1980
Best 2 out of 3 Falls Match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
The Wild Samoans vs. Pedro Morales & Bob Backlund
Showdown at Shea • August 9, 1980
Piper’s Pit with Jimmy Snuka
Tuesday Night Titans • July 17, 1984
WWE Women’s Championship Match
The Fabulous Moolah vs. Wendi Richter
Brawl to End It All • July 23, 1984
WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. Bob Orton
Saturday Night’s Main Event • May 11, 1985
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Macho Man Randy Savage vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat
Maple Leaf Gardens • July 26, 1986
“Stand Back”
The Slammy Awards • December 17, 1987
The Wedding of Macho Man Randy Savage & Miss. Elizabeth
SummerSlam • August 26, 1991
The Barber Shop with Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels
Wrestling Challenge • January 12, 1992
Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid
Action Zone • October 30, 1994
“The cure for the common show”
Raw • December 15, 1997
Corporation Gauntlet Match
Raw Saturday Night • February 13, 1999
Six Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship
The Rock vs. Mankind vs. Triple H vs. British Bulldog vs. Kane vs. Big Show
Unforgiven • September 26, 1999
Vince McMahon’s Address
SmackDown • September 13, 2001
You will probably have your own opinions of what should and shouldn’t be included. Of course some will also argue that the matches and moments I have selected aren’t “unreleased”. However I don’t feel this is particularly important providing that a balance is achieved between unreleased and previously-released content.
Many of the matches which I have listed here can be found online, including sites such as WWE.com, YouTube and DailyMotion – check them out.
It’s great to hear your feedback, so comment below or tweet me @_MarkD_.
You can pre-order The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment DVD (sadly without “Disc 4” included) for November by clicking here or with the buttons below.
Wow!!!! GREAT JOB Mark D!!! Love it… I wish they would release a disc 4 like this! This would be so sweet!!!
Can you make a Kevin Nash fantasy concept?
I really like your list. If you are covering 50 years you should have some older stuff on there even if the video quality may not be the best.
One match I would like to see would be the Backlund-Snuka cage match from 1982. I don’t think that one has been released before.
The cage match is on Greatest Stars of the 80s, Greatest Cage Matches, and the Backlund/Hogan Legends of Wrestling.
I agree with you Mark Foster! Yes, too many matches over n over again n Like I said, I dont really like older matches than WMIII, though Bob Backlund would be interesting since he had the title for 5 years!
This collection is good,but most of them have already have been on put on dvds.I would have liked to have seen roddy piper vs superfly snuka,bob backland who held the wwe title for five years vs jhon studd,a earlier match between hogan and andre,since the wrestlemania 3 match has been released on about 20 dvds.Why keep putting the same matches on new dvds.But maybe everyone isnt a wwe dvd collector like me i own 60 wwe dvds of history
Im not too happy with all the old, old matches 🙁 They actually get me bored 🙁 I actually prefer matches from after WMIII & more from the time of the Attitude Era.
Although, yes I would like to see the following which you had added in the Concept:
• The Wedding of Macho Man Randy Savage & Miss. Elizabeth,
• The Barber Shop with Marty Jannetty & Shawn Michaels,
• Corporation Gauntlet Match
Raw Saturday Night • February 13, 1999,
• Six Pack Challenge for the WWE Championship
The Rock vs. Mankind vs. Triple H vs. British Bulldog vs. Kane vs. Big Show
& my own Definites! ;
• Sweet Chin Music scene from Commissioner ‘HBK’ to Boss ‘Vince McMahon’ on RAW,
• First Hell In A Cell – Shawn Michaels Vs The Undertaker – Bad Blood 1997.
Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat and 123 Kid & Razor Ramon vs. Diesel & HBK are must buys for me if this existed. Great selection, which would please me at least.
I would want this
too little matches bro
What 10?
I suppose this would be disc 2 if they had actually done a 4-disc set. Very good selections, and I think you’re right. The early days and golden era are very under-represented!
I like many of your choices here.
I am also one of those who feel if they can gather footage from the early-late 60s, it would make the collection invaluable.
I also feel tag teams and women wrestlers are undervalued on the actual set , and you’ve alleviated that.
I was thinking of your SNME comment and while I don’t disagree, I would probably choose a great tag team match in place of a meaningless Hogan match. Maybe Bulldogs vs Harts 2 of 3 falls or Rockers vs Brain Busters?
I like the Savage-Steamboat rarity from 86. As well as Monsoon-Albano.
The match selection should compliment the main program and I think most of yours do.
Imagine if the doc itself was 4 hours instead of 3. Disc 1 would cover 1963-1988 and Disc 2 would cover 1989-2013. Giving each era equal value
Yes, wwe needs to release loads more of the b and c shows. Shotgun superstars……. I remember one night when raw aired at 11 or 12 and it was so cooool it involved Jericho and chyna in the beginning of the show…. but basically they need to show off less shown shows and odd time slotted shows… those had a great feel to them. Daniel send me a rare we dvd
No- this forth disc is not great- not until you include the one superstar we are all dying to see on wwe home video: Sean Mooney! He was the icon behind the mic!
I think the reason why the old footage is not on their is because of the Billy Graham dvd that did poorly and that wwe thinks that old stuff wont sell when now I think fans are more likely to buy a old school dvd. I guess the Bruno dvd possibly next year will show if vintage content can still sell.
Very cool, two of my suggestions made the cut.
Great job! This is a perfect compliment to the set.
Nice selection! We definitely needed another 70s/80s match in the mix. This would be a great special edition version of this set. I’d additionally include Bryan/Kane/Taker vs The Shield as BR exclusive to give it a glimpse into the future of the business.
Yes, the Action Zone match!