A bland compilation with some frustrating omissions and content. The most ludicrous segment was the Hogan-Piper recap with Dibiase Jr. where they totally omitted any mention of their continued feud in WCW. They acted as if the rivalry ended at WM 1. That’s the kind of thing that ails WWE product. Also in the Hogan-Savage recap you’d think they fought each other for the first time at WM V. Anyone with some knowledge of WWE history knows Savage and Hogan were wrestling each other in 86, it’s even on some of the DVD’s. People have already documented the missing feuds that should be on here, but leaving out Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer is a joke. I know footage is limited, but that was one of the most famous and brutal rivalries of all time.
“Not the blow-off to a feud that Hogan and Piper should have received.”
It wasn’t the blow-off to the feud nor was it supposed to be, it was the final angle going into the first WrestleMania. Think of it was the last segment of the go-home Raw/Nitro before a PPV. Watch it with that mindset and you’ll enjoy it a lot more.
Nice review, but you didn’t really mention which rivalry packages were good or bad. Like when I watched I thought Punk was great for the Hogan and Savage one cause he’s a huge fan and remembered like every detail. And some of then like the Michael Hayes one for Shawn and Undertaker was very inside, which was cool. Not just like storyline stuff. But then Flair’s Freebird one was kinda dull and all he did was say they were great and the crowds were nuts. And I know you mentioned Miz for a bad choice, but Ted DiBiasse junior was the worst by far! He was the only one that really bothered me. He was probably like 2 years old during the first Mania but was talking about Piper and Hogan. Plus everything he said was generic crap, nothing insightful. Overall the program was very enjoyable, especially the few that went more inside. But those few random crappy ones like Hogan/Piper and the Freebirds held it back a little.
I know a lot of fans complain about repeat matches on sets, but I think that sometimes, depending on the subject matter of the release, repeat matches make sense, especially now with the WWE’s ability to include classic matches unblurred and enedited. I applaud their choices in some of the cases of choosing lesser known matches, but to me what really would have put the set over the top would have been to include some of the more iconic matches from feuds, regardless of being repeats or not. Include Austin/Rock at X-7. Include Rock/Triple H at SummerSlam 98. Include Undertaker/Mankind in Hell in a Cell. If you’re counting down the top rivalries, include their top matches. It just makes sense to me, and this is coming from someone who buys each release, so I have them all already.
A “Greatest Rivalries” DVD and not a single Ric Flair match? No thanks… I might check out the countdown on Netflix when it comes on… or buy this when it hits the clearance bin.
Yeah I agree with you. How can you not have Flair on here. Yet we get Guerero-Mysterious because it just wouldn’t be a WWE without cramming Eddie down our throat. Here is a great rivalry…Benoit-Booker T….2 seperate best of 7 series. But it would be blasphemy!
They could have shown one of there early tv matches or a tv match with Dusty and im sure nothing would need to have been left as these releases are getting shorter all the time
The documentary part was cool. I enjoyed it but am really bothered by 3 rivalries that were left out, which me personally, a fan of 25 yrs, would have in my top 15. How was Bret vs Austin not included? Maybe they felt too much Austin being he had 2 of the top 5. Also just as bothersome is no HBK vs HHH. This is the feud that got Michaels back into wrestling for another 8 years. Their rivalry went from Summerslam 02 through Badd Blood 04. They had street fights, 3 stages of hell, last man standing, and hell in a cell matches. Not to mention Michaels taking the title from HHH in the first ever Elimination chamber!! Also Bret and Owen should have been on here but WWE may not have been ready to feature Owen on a dvd yet. The match selection was terrible. There is only 12 or 13 matches, and many have already been released. The best match on the dvd is Rock vs HHH from Backlash 2000.
Great point. Personally, Bret vs. Austin was one of my personal favorite. It could be that Bret has be emphasized much as of late with his latest “Dungeon” release. But easily should have made top 3.
You gotta remember aswell is that matches like rock vs hhh from backlash 2000 are being released unblurred with the wwf logo intact for the first time for you american fans since the orginal vhs, so no point in complaining repeats because your better off having rock vs hhh from backlash 2000 then some crappy match, how many times has that match been released beside from the rock 3 disc dvd back in 2008, if rock vs hhh ladder match from summerslam 1998 was released again on this set you would have complained that is been released 2 previous sets,
Your getting Rock vs Austin from rebellion 2001 which is pretty underated match from their rivalry and has never been released before on any other set yet if rock vs austin match from wrestlemania 17 was included you would have complained that match being 4-5 previous sets,
Your getting really good matches on this and another fact is that these matches are on blu-ray which is even better, so i think this set is worth release with some of the best matches!!
I can never take a countdown set for what they are worth. I just think of this set as a collection of rivalries instead of ranked rivalries. I hope there is a volume 2 because WWE missed a ton of great rivalries.
This is a set where I actually wouldn’t be opposed to a volume 2 at all. Some “lesser known” rivalries could make for a nice additional volume is this one sells well enough.
I enjoyed this wwe release. Granted almost all the matches were previously released, but I made the purchase more for the countdown. It did not disappoint as it served as a great refresher as far as rivalries are concerned (Rock n’ Roll express vs. Midnight Express should have made the cut-Sorry, but it was far stronger than Guerrero vs. Mysterio). The Chemistry theme was cool, but the girl host seemed out of place and not because she is a woman. She just seemed like she had no connection to the world of “sports entertainment” in the least. She seemed more like some part of a morning news cast. She was well spoken- didn’t even look like she needed cue cards, but as far as relating to the product she just didn’t have it. But if she slept with Vince Mcmahon, i guess it’s a spot well deserved.
Renee Young for years was on Aftermath, a show in Canada that discusses Raw and Smackdown. She knows her wrestling. She definitely has a connection to Sports Entertainment.
To be clear, I don’t think he said she was IN WWE. I took from it that she worked on a show up in Canada that discussed Raw and Smackdown. Not necessarily a WWE-produced show.
And what’s wrong with Sean Mooney?! He’s better than 99% of the announcers/commentators in the company today! Then again, so is Todd Pettengill!! What a scary comment THAT is!
Nice review. Although a question needs to be answered in all of your future reviews of the new DVD’s because it is one that many people like to know
Does PG come in the way with this set? No bleeps, blurs or censors? Bloody matches? No edits? I know you said it’s TV-14 but WWE is sneaky sometimes and cuts parts out that isn’t “PG”
So my question is basically did you see any edits of any kind in the release of this set?
The only clear edit I noticed (besides music), was that on a few occasions (but not all) they edit the announcers referring to the Attitude Adjustment as the F-U. This was the case on last year’s Edge DVD too.
There also were some pretty clear edits during one of the ECW matches due to profane language (you can say some things with a TV-14 release, but not EVERYTHING)
The documentary wouldn’t qualify as a “best doc” by any means, but it’s definitely a fun one. I too enjoyed having one narrator per rivalry. It reminded me a lot of the NFL doing that whenever they do one of their Top 100 Players of Whatever Time Period shows. I too enjoyed Bret Hart talking Lesnar-Angle (and he’s right about how difficult the transition from amateur to pro is). Vickie Guerrero talking about Eddie-Rey and Dominic’s role in things made me smile (I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels the kid played his part so well).
Vince Russo normally annoys me, but I was actually relieved that he was the one talking about Austin-McMahon. Was really scared that someone like Cena was going to be talking about it, especially with other modern stars talking about older rivalries just before that (Miz with Austin-Rock, Ziggler with Hart-Michaels, etc.).
I also thought Renee Young did a fine job with the material she was given. Someone, she appeared more straight-laced and less corny than the Todd Grishams and Jonathan Coachmans of years past.
The extras, as mentioned before, aren’t anything to write home about, but the ones that appear on DVD/Blu-ray for the first time (or for a while) aren’t bad. I dug the Von Erichs-Freebirds match surprisingly, since it wasn’t during the prime era of their feud. Austin-Rock from Rebellion is a nice companion piece if you have all their other matches. The less said about Bruiser-Abdullah, the better, but I usually feel that way about those two anyway (simply not a fan).
I really enjoyed the documentary on this dvd. This one exceeded my expectations, as well. Although I think I had lower expectations just because of the last couple Top Whatever countdown dvds. I do not necessarily agree with the list, and I don’t think anybody expected everyone to agree, but I did enjoy it. This dvd could serve as a history lesson to a lot of the younger fans who aren’t familiar with the older stuff.
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What about Edge vs Matt Hardy????
A bland compilation with some frustrating omissions and content. The most ludicrous segment was the Hogan-Piper recap with Dibiase Jr. where they totally omitted any mention of their continued feud in WCW. They acted as if the rivalry ended at WM 1. That’s the kind of thing that ails WWE product. Also in the Hogan-Savage recap you’d think they fought each other for the first time at WM V. Anyone with some knowledge of WWE history knows Savage and Hogan were wrestling each other in 86, it’s even on some of the DVD’s. People have already documented the missing feuds that should be on here, but leaving out Tommy Rich and Buzz Sawyer is a joke. I know footage is limited, but that was one of the most famous and brutal rivalries of all time.
“Not the blow-off to a feud that Hogan and Piper should have received.”
It wasn’t the blow-off to the feud nor was it supposed to be, it was the final angle going into the first WrestleMania. Think of it was the last segment of the go-home Raw/Nitro before a PPV. Watch it with that mindset and you’ll enjoy it a lot more.
Nice review, but you didn’t really mention which rivalry packages were good or bad. Like when I watched I thought Punk was great for the Hogan and Savage one cause he’s a huge fan and remembered like every detail. And some of then like the Michael Hayes one for Shawn and Undertaker was very inside, which was cool. Not just like storyline stuff. But then Flair’s Freebird one was kinda dull and all he did was say they were great and the crowds were nuts. And I know you mentioned Miz for a bad choice, but Ted DiBiasse junior was the worst by far! He was the only one that really bothered me. He was probably like 2 years old during the first Mania but was talking about Piper and Hogan. Plus everything he said was generic crap, nothing insightful. Overall the program was very enjoyable, especially the few that went more inside. But those few random crappy ones like Hogan/Piper and the Freebirds held it back a little.
I know a lot of fans complain about repeat matches on sets, but I think that sometimes, depending on the subject matter of the release, repeat matches make sense, especially now with the WWE’s ability to include classic matches unblurred and enedited. I applaud their choices in some of the cases of choosing lesser known matches, but to me what really would have put the set over the top would have been to include some of the more iconic matches from feuds, regardless of being repeats or not. Include Austin/Rock at X-7. Include Rock/Triple H at SummerSlam 98. Include Undertaker/Mankind in Hell in a Cell. If you’re counting down the top rivalries, include their top matches. It just makes sense to me, and this is coming from someone who buys each release, so I have them all already.
The picture of the Butcher/Brody match is not the actual match on the set. Is that right?
Correct, that shot it taken from the feature.
A “Greatest Rivalries” DVD and not a single Ric Flair match? No thanks… I might check out the countdown on Netflix when it comes on… or buy this when it hits the clearance bin.
Yeah I agree with you. How can you not have Flair on here. Yet we get Guerero-Mysterious because it just wouldn’t be a WWE without cramming Eddie down our throat. Here is a great rivalry…Benoit-Booker T….2 seperate best of 7 series. But it would be blasphemy!
A Flair match? So you can co,plain you have it already? Yea, they should have done that.
Flair matches with Ricky were all like an hour long. You can get 2-3 other matches instead so they went that route.
They could have shown one of there early tv matches or a tv match with Dusty and im sure nothing would need to have been left as these releases are getting shorter all the time
The documentary part was cool. I enjoyed it but am really bothered by 3 rivalries that were left out, which me personally, a fan of 25 yrs, would have in my top 15. How was Bret vs Austin not included? Maybe they felt too much Austin being he had 2 of the top 5. Also just as bothersome is no HBK vs HHH. This is the feud that got Michaels back into wrestling for another 8 years. Their rivalry went from Summerslam 02 through Badd Blood 04. They had street fights, 3 stages of hell, last man standing, and hell in a cell matches. Not to mention Michaels taking the title from HHH in the first ever Elimination chamber!! Also Bret and Owen should have been on here but WWE may not have been ready to feature Owen on a dvd yet. The match selection was terrible. There is only 12 or 13 matches, and many have already been released. The best match on the dvd is Rock vs HHH from Backlash 2000.
Great point. Personally, Bret vs. Austin was one of my personal favorite. It could be that Bret has be emphasized much as of late with his latest “Dungeon” release. But easily should have made top 3.
You gotta remember aswell is that matches like rock vs hhh from backlash 2000 are being released unblurred with the wwf logo intact for the first time for you american fans since the orginal vhs, so no point in complaining repeats because your better off having rock vs hhh from backlash 2000 then some crappy match, how many times has that match been released beside from the rock 3 disc dvd back in 2008, if rock vs hhh ladder match from summerslam 1998 was released again on this set you would have complained that is been released 2 previous sets,
Your getting Rock vs Austin from rebellion 2001 which is pretty underated match from their rivalry and has never been released before on any other set yet if rock vs austin match from wrestlemania 17 was included you would have complained that match being 4-5 previous sets,
Your getting really good matches on this and another fact is that these matches are on blu-ray which is even better, so i think this set is worth release with some of the best matches!!
I can never take a countdown set for what they are worth. I just think of this set as a collection of rivalries instead of ranked rivalries. I hope there is a volume 2 because WWE missed a ton of great rivalries.
This is a set where I actually wouldn’t be opposed to a volume 2 at all. Some “lesser known” rivalries could make for a nice additional volume is this one sells well enough.
I second that notion!
I third.
Good to see the pro wrasslin’ on this release didn’t confuse ol’ Joe here….
I never thought i’d see the day that Shane Douglas would participate in a WWE production.
He has been on good terms with WWE over the last few years.
I really wish wwe would make a dvd of all Shane M matches and stuff he did in the wwe that would be the one I would get day one for sure .
Wish this dvd came out when I had to learn the periodic tables I would’ve gotten an A+
I know, right!
Here is another good review
http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Reviews/2013/05/23/20845061.html
I enjoyed this wwe release. Granted almost all the matches were previously released, but I made the purchase more for the countdown. It did not disappoint as it served as a great refresher as far as rivalries are concerned (Rock n’ Roll express vs. Midnight Express should have made the cut-Sorry, but it was far stronger than Guerrero vs. Mysterio). The Chemistry theme was cool, but the girl host seemed out of place and not because she is a woman. She just seemed like she had no connection to the world of “sports entertainment” in the least. She seemed more like some part of a morning news cast. She was well spoken- didn’t even look like she needed cue cards, but as far as relating to the product she just didn’t have it. But if she slept with Vince Mcmahon, i guess it’s a spot well deserved.
Renee Young for years was on Aftermath, a show in Canada that discusses Raw and Smackdown. She knows her wrestling. She definitely has a connection to Sports Entertainment.
The woman has a history in wwe? This I did not know-thanks for the knowledge. Well, I guess they could have done worse by going the Sean Mooney route.
To be clear, I don’t think he said she was IN WWE. I took from it that she worked on a show up in Canada that discussed Raw and Smackdown. Not necessarily a WWE-produced show.
And what’s wrong with Sean Mooney?! He’s better than 99% of the announcers/commentators in the company today! Then again, so is Todd Pettengill!! What a scary comment THAT is!
Thanks for the review. I think I’m going to wait to purchase this and watch it when it pops up on Netflix.
No Bret vs Austin !
What feud does Shane Douglas speak about on this DVD set??
Taz vs. Sabu
Thanks for the info! I am a huge Shane Douglas fan so I may have to buy this JUST for that. Any time Shane is on a WWE DVD it’s worth getting.
I bought this last night. I have been waiting for this since I heard the listings.
Shane Douglas on a WWE set? Oh hell yeahhhh
Nice review. Although a question needs to be answered in all of your future reviews of the new DVD’s because it is one that many people like to know
Does PG come in the way with this set? No bleeps, blurs or censors? Bloody matches? No edits? I know you said it’s TV-14 but WWE is sneaky sometimes and cuts parts out that isn’t “PG”
So my question is basically did you see any edits of any kind in the release of this set?
The only clear edit I noticed (besides music), was that on a few occasions (but not all) they edit the announcers referring to the Attitude Adjustment as the F-U. This was the case on last year’s Edge DVD too.
There also were some pretty clear edits during one of the ECW matches due to profane language (you can say some things with a TV-14 release, but not EVERYTHING)
The documentary wouldn’t qualify as a “best doc” by any means, but it’s definitely a fun one. I too enjoyed having one narrator per rivalry. It reminded me a lot of the NFL doing that whenever they do one of their Top 100 Players of Whatever Time Period shows. I too enjoyed Bret Hart talking Lesnar-Angle (and he’s right about how difficult the transition from amateur to pro is). Vickie Guerrero talking about Eddie-Rey and Dominic’s role in things made me smile (I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels the kid played his part so well).
Vince Russo normally annoys me, but I was actually relieved that he was the one talking about Austin-McMahon. Was really scared that someone like Cena was going to be talking about it, especially with other modern stars talking about older rivalries just before that (Miz with Austin-Rock, Ziggler with Hart-Michaels, etc.).
I also thought Renee Young did a fine job with the material she was given. Someone, she appeared more straight-laced and less corny than the Todd Grishams and Jonathan Coachmans of years past.
The extras, as mentioned before, aren’t anything to write home about, but the ones that appear on DVD/Blu-ray for the first time (or for a while) aren’t bad. I dug the Von Erichs-Freebirds match surprisingly, since it wasn’t during the prime era of their feud. Austin-Rock from Rebellion is a nice companion piece if you have all their other matches. The less said about Bruiser-Abdullah, the better, but I usually feel that way about those two anyway (simply not a fan).
I really enjoyed the documentary on this dvd. This one exceeded my expectations, as well. Although I think I had lower expectations just because of the last couple Top Whatever countdown dvds. I do not necessarily agree with the list, and I don’t think anybody expected everyone to agree, but I did enjoy it. This dvd could serve as a history lesson to a lot of the younger fans who aren’t familiar with the older stuff.