I loved the format. A nice in-depth interview with both men was a dream come true. Never would have thought this day would come. The at-times intense moments and emotional recalls from both Bret and Shawn was touching.
Bret still seems a little bitter to me though. When he recalled that Shawn brought kids in the ring to do a “strip tease”, I thought that was quite a stretch. And so did Shawn when he defended himself by stating “I don’t remember kids taking their clothes off” and Bret coming back with “Well, they were sticking their thumbs down their trousers and pulling down almost to the pube line”” lmao! For one, I never saw that happen with Shawn bringing the kids into the ring. I thought it was a hilarious account on Bret’s behalf though (and ridiculous).
The Rise and Fall of ECW is still the best EVER!!!! Great storytelling, production values, and it had Paul E…the greatest of all times. Plus, even though it covered mostly everything, it still could have been MUCH longer (typical WWE Home Video lazyness), and also, suffered from some typical WWE i.e. VINCE’s revisionist history. Bottom line, any doc under 3 and half hours will be viewed in my eyes as an EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!! Long live the king – Rise and Fall of ECW!!!!!!ECDub ECDub ECDub!!!!!
Amazing DVD. I only wish the Montreal match had the aftermath and didn’t end as Shawn went up the tunnel. But, having lived through their feud as a fan, the documentary was beyond satisfying and, as Chris Jericho noted, closure for not only Bret and Shawn but us as fans as well. I also dug the “between takes” footage and, at last, a full explanation of the deal with Shawn’s eye.
I understand not wanting to end the set with that so why not put it as an extra on disc 1?
As an example, if this were a Goldberg DVD set you probably wouldn’t want to end it with his Wrestlemania XX match but you would want that match to be included. Put it on the first disc as an extra.
I give this dvd a 6 out of 10, could have been so much better!A lot of things missing like Montreal Screwjob,special features as bonus and other rare matches!
I thought the whole thing was done beautifully. Although it did seem like Bret did most of the talking, it was great to finally hear from them both instead of individually about their account on everything that transpired and went down. And for those complaining about the 1997 Survivor Series “Montreal Screwjob” match, it’s a blu ray exclusive!
I hated that the dvd didn’t have the Screwjob match on it but oh well it should’ve been and how about that what Bret said about why Canadians hate Shawn so much lol.
I hated that the dvd didn’t have the Screwjob match on it but oh well it should’ve been and how about that what Bret said about why Canadians heat Shawn so much lol.
Waiting for this to come in. Really looking foward to watching it. Would like to see a Triple H/Rock,Taker/Mankind,Bret/Austin set. Rock and Austin’s rivalry is pretty much covered on Austin’s upcoming set(it has all their main matches aside from Backlash 1999 which is on the Legacy of Stone Cold) although I wouldn’t mind if they put their promos together on it. But none of those were personal like HBK/Bret. Anyway, I’m sure it’s a good watch!
Best ever? NO WAY! Rise and fall of ECW will always get that award but it sure as hell is a great watch and one of the best of the year along with True Story Of Wrestlemania.
“Wasn’t a big fan of this DVD (the documentary part, anyway. No way in hell am I watching 2 discs of Bret Vs Shawn matches… urgh). Main reason being… there was hardly anything at all that I didn’t already know from watching their individual shoot interviews and WWE produced DVD’s, and from reading their books. The ONLY thing that had me interested in this from the start was the fact they were both sitting down and talking about it TOGETHER. Once you get over that, its nothing new to some of us. ”
THANK YOU!!! At least someone agrees with me. With Bret and Shawn been my two favourite wrestlers of all time, I had high hopes for it. But after watching the blu-ray, I thought it was a very disappointing release. Found out nothing new from it. Just like listening to the condensed versions of stories from their books. But apart from that, my major query/complaint to WWE Home Video/JR/whoever came up with the Qs – where was the discussion about the fight in Hartford, CT? You know the REAL fight they had? It ends up been summarised by Bret in a line (“After that catfight we had…”). HOW could they not include at least 5-10 mins on this? I learned way more about it from the Jim Cornette Timeline 1997 DVD than I did from this! What a joke! I’ll give them props in the extras department though. Loved seeing the full Raw segments from 97 on it. Only wish the had included the ones from the run-up to Survivor 97 as well (especially the one from Oct 6th ’97 where Bret calls Hunter and Shawn “h***s”).
Enough Said. This is the best DVD WWE has produced. It got really interest the whole time listen everything that Bret and shawn talk about during the run in WWE all through the screwjob to making peace with each other. I can’t believe how honest and open these two were. Everything they revealed make sense what happen back in the 97. Also after wrestlemania i thought what Bret said after the match what shawn said to him when he won the WWE title was the reason bret mad at him all this time but guess it a way to build up for Wrestlemania 13 which never took place. Finally all of this made sense over their rivalry. I do hope WWE will continue to do more of these greatest Rivalries set just i hope they will still release the Stone Cold and Rock Rivalry. But overall Awesome DVD.
Superb Blu-ray and excellent match selections. The interview portion of the Blu-ray was very informative and it was great to see the two legends talking so candidly and emotionally about the whole “screwjob” scenario amongst other things. I would definitely buy further Blu-rays in the “Greatest Rivalries” series. However, as another person has already said, I just don’t see how WWE can top this release.
Am I the only one who has noticed how bad the sound is on the matches on disc 1 of the bluray? The arena volume drowns out the commentary… They have definitely been altered since their original airings/VHS releases… It really makes watching the matches a bit difficult. Truly a shame. This made what was otherwise an awesome release, a major dissapointment to me.
I liked it, but it wasn’t anything that you couldn’t find in shoot interviews from both guys. I guess it was cool seeing them talk about it together. Once again WWE simply used their footage from other dvds and placed it in there. I find that lazy. Since i only watched the actually documentary, i can’t comment on the matches and other features.
I do give credit to WWE for letting them go all out in regards to breaking kayfabe. I enjoyed it but i doubt i will watch it much more than once. I look forward to the matches that aren’t on other releases.
Great Documentary. Probably the best produced DVD the company has EVER done. The feature itself surpasses not only the WWE’s own – True Story of WrestleMania & Rise & Fall of ECW – but even other wrestling docs in general. The content is good to great, the unrealesed stuff is actually pretty good w/ the highlight being a fantastic cage match between them. Would love Brett to review this! 10/10.
Wasn’t a big fan of this DVD (the documentary part, anyway. No way in hell am I watching 2 discs of Bret Vs Shawn matches… urgh). Main reason being… there was hardly anything at all that I didn’t already know from watching their individual shoot interviews and WWE produced DVD’s, and from reading their books. The ONLY thing that had me interested in this from the start was the fact they were both sitting down and talking about it TOGETHER. Once you get over that, its nothing new to some of us.
Great dvd and a lot of insight from both perspectives about WWE in the mid 90’s and the Screwjob and all. Before all the drama went down they got along good and both were telling stories about it, when Bret said that Shawn was going to work with his friends well Hogan did that with Macho Man, Warrior, Andre, Flair, Ricky Steamboat and nobody called them out for that. I disagree with Bret when he said that Shawn was doing strip tease dances with little boys in the rings they were little girls and that would make a kid’s day just like Bret and John Morrison giving them their sunglasses and I want to apologize to Brett Mix and every other Bret Hart fan because I was wrong because I thought my role model could do no wrong in my eyes and I hated when Bret was on mic it was bad but he did improve his mic skills and he would be in anyone’s top 50 greatest wrestlers and Bret was a really great wrestler and just think if the Screwjob didn’t happen what kind of matches we would’ve gotten to see between them, but for me I think the real reason all this happen was because of the direction WWE was going edgier and more attitude and they had to, to compete with WCW and the NWO.
I have two issues with this DVD release… 1) Time… These guys are absolute legends and with all of the photos, montages and segements i am not able to understand why this DVD only came in at 7 hours. The interview should have not been so edited. 2) Future releases… If this does indeed become a release that is going to continue I personally do not see how you could ever top this one. JR said it perfect in the DVD when he mentioned that a lot of the time you really couldn’t tell if their rivalry was fact or fiction. And as fans know as the years went on the rivalry became personal, which is exactly what makes this DVD so interesting, it is a true look at real life. Any Greatest Rivalries set done in the future will probably not be as good as this one. SCSA/Rock, Edge/Cena, Orton/HHH, I simply cannot think of a feud that deserves an entire set, except for this one. Feuds I personally would like to be explained better in future releases are Warrior/Hogan, McMahon/Bischoff, Andre/Big John Studd, Angle/Benoit, Mankind/Rock, but most of these I mentioned are impossible for obvious reasons. I do not see how you can top HBK/Bret solely on the fact that it is not a look at fiction, but rather a look at real life. Besides that, the DVD is nothing short of amazing and gets my vote as DVD of the year.
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I loved the format. A nice in-depth interview with both men was a dream come true. Never would have thought this day would come. The at-times intense moments and emotional recalls from both Bret and Shawn was touching.
Bret still seems a little bitter to me though. When he recalled that Shawn brought kids in the ring to do a “strip tease”, I thought that was quite a stretch. And so did Shawn when he defended himself by stating “I don’t remember kids taking their clothes off” and Bret coming back with “Well, they were sticking their thumbs down their trousers and pulling down almost to the pube line”” lmao! For one, I never saw that happen with Shawn bringing the kids into the ring. I thought it was a hilarious account on Bret’s behalf though (and ridiculous).
Great Blu-ray all around though!
“I also dug the “between takes” footage and, at last, a full explanation of the deal with Shawn’s eye.”
Best piece of footage on the entire set. Seriously. I don’t know if that should be looked at as a good thing though…
The Rise and Fall of ECW is still the best EVER!!!! Great storytelling, production values, and it had Paul E…the greatest of all times. Plus, even though it covered mostly everything, it still could have been MUCH longer (typical WWE Home Video lazyness), and also, suffered from some typical WWE i.e. VINCE’s revisionist history. Bottom line, any doc under 3 and half hours will be viewed in my eyes as an EPIC FAIL!!!!!!!! Long live the king – Rise and Fall of ECW!!!!!!ECDub ECDub ECDub!!!!!
Amazing DVD. I only wish the Montreal match had the aftermath and didn’t end as Shawn went up the tunnel. But, having lived through their feud as a fan, the documentary was beyond satisfying and, as Chris Jericho noted, closure for not only Bret and Shawn but us as fans as well. I also dug the “between takes” footage and, at last, a full explanation of the deal with Shawn’s eye.
I do wish they’d put the Montreal match on there.
I understand not wanting to end the set with that so why not put it as an extra on disc 1?
As an example, if this were a Goldberg DVD set you probably wouldn’t want to end it with his Wrestlemania XX match but you would want that match to be included. Put it on the first disc as an extra.
Great blu-ray! Amazing interview and extras, but I’d be pissed if I got the DVD and found out the screwjob match wasn’t on there.
You people complaining about this DVD are nothing but a bunch of tax cheats!
I give this dvd a 6 out of 10, could have been so much better!A lot of things missing like Montreal Screwjob,special features as bonus and other rare matches!
I thought the whole thing was done beautifully. Although it did seem like Bret did most of the talking, it was great to finally hear from them both instead of individually about their account on everything that transpired and went down. And for those complaining about the 1997 Survivor Series “Montreal Screwjob” match, it’s a blu ray exclusive!
I hated that the dvd didn’t have the Screwjob match on it but oh well it should’ve been and how about that what Bret said about why Canadians hate Shawn so much lol.
I hated that the dvd didn’t have the Screwjob match on it but oh well it should’ve been and how about that what Bret said about why Canadians heat Shawn so much lol.
Waiting for this to come in. Really looking foward to watching it. Would like to see a Triple H/Rock,Taker/Mankind,Bret/Austin set. Rock and Austin’s rivalry is pretty much covered on Austin’s upcoming set(it has all their main matches aside from Backlash 1999 which is on the Legacy of Stone Cold) although I wouldn’t mind if they put their promos together on it. But none of those were personal like HBK/Bret. Anyway, I’m sure it’s a good watch!
i thought it was great. the best blu ray so far this year. a must have for any fan of hart or micheals.
i loved it only thing i disliked about it was it did not have the survivor series 1997 match
No problems with it except you have 3 hours to fill on each disc, use it!
best buy doesnt even have this on there website
Best ever? NO WAY! Rise and fall of ECW will always get that award but it sure as hell is a great watch and one of the best of the year along with True Story Of Wrestlemania.
Great DVD and documentary. I loved every second of it!
I also thought that the documentary failed to live up to the hype. I wrote some rather extensive criticisms in the comments section on this page several weeks ago: http://www.wwedvdnews.com/wwe-shawn-michaels-vs-bret-hart-dvd-review/17665/
“Wasn’t a big fan of this DVD (the documentary part, anyway. No way in hell am I watching 2 discs of Bret Vs Shawn matches… urgh). Main reason being… there was hardly anything at all that I didn’t already know from watching their individual shoot interviews and WWE produced DVD’s, and from reading their books. The ONLY thing that had me interested in this from the start was the fact they were both sitting down and talking about it TOGETHER. Once you get over that, its nothing new to some of us. ”
THANK YOU!!! At least someone agrees with me. With Bret and Shawn been my two favourite wrestlers of all time, I had high hopes for it. But after watching the blu-ray, I thought it was a very disappointing release. Found out nothing new from it. Just like listening to the condensed versions of stories from their books. But apart from that, my major query/complaint to WWE Home Video/JR/whoever came up with the Qs – where was the discussion about the fight in Hartford, CT? You know the REAL fight they had? It ends up been summarised by Bret in a line (“After that catfight we had…”). HOW could they not include at least 5-10 mins on this? I learned way more about it from the Jim Cornette Timeline 1997 DVD than I did from this! What a joke! I’ll give them props in the extras department though. Loved seeing the full Raw segments from 97 on it. Only wish the had included the ones from the run-up to Survivor 97 as well (especially the one from Oct 6th ’97 where Bret calls Hunter and Shawn “h***s”).
Great DVD, one of my favorites of all time. I loved the documentary and the matches were great.
Its the best release the wwe has ever produced, second only to Bret’s own DVD from 2005.
Enough Said. This is the best DVD WWE has produced. It got really interest the whole time listen everything that Bret and shawn talk about during the run in WWE all through the screwjob to making peace with each other. I can’t believe how honest and open these two were. Everything they revealed make sense what happen back in the 97. Also after wrestlemania i thought what Bret said after the match what shawn said to him when he won the WWE title was the reason bret mad at him all this time but guess it a way to build up for Wrestlemania 13 which never took place. Finally all of this made sense over their rivalry. I do hope WWE will continue to do more of these greatest Rivalries set just i hope they will still release the Stone Cold and Rock Rivalry. But overall Awesome DVD.
Superb Blu-ray and excellent match selections. The interview portion of the Blu-ray was very informative and it was great to see the two legends talking so candidly and emotionally about the whole “screwjob” scenario amongst other things. I would definitely buy further Blu-rays in the “Greatest Rivalries” series. However, as another person has already said, I just don’t see how WWE can top this release.
Am I the only one who has noticed how bad the sound is on the matches on disc 1 of the bluray? The arena volume drowns out the commentary… They have definitely been altered since their original airings/VHS releases… It really makes watching the matches a bit difficult. Truly a shame. This made what was otherwise an awesome release, a major dissapointment to me.
just to add. .. this had nothing on the Rise and Fall of ECW. That is still the best dvd ever released by WWE.
I liked it, but it wasn’t anything that you couldn’t find in shoot interviews from both guys. I guess it was cool seeing them talk about it together. Once again WWE simply used their footage from other dvds and placed it in there. I find that lazy. Since i only watched the actually documentary, i can’t comment on the matches and other features.
I do give credit to WWE for letting them go all out in regards to breaking kayfabe. I enjoyed it but i doubt i will watch it much more than once. I look forward to the matches that aren’t on other releases.
Great Documentary. Probably the best produced DVD the company has EVER done. The feature itself surpasses not only the WWE’s own – True Story of WrestleMania & Rise & Fall of ECW – but even other wrestling docs in general. The content is good to great, the unrealesed stuff is actually pretty good w/ the highlight being a fantastic cage match between them. Would love Brett to review this! 10/10.
Wasn’t a big fan of this DVD (the documentary part, anyway. No way in hell am I watching 2 discs of Bret Vs Shawn matches… urgh). Main reason being… there was hardly anything at all that I didn’t already know from watching their individual shoot interviews and WWE produced DVD’s, and from reading their books. The ONLY thing that had me interested in this from the start was the fact they were both sitting down and talking about it TOGETHER. Once you get over that, its nothing new to some of us.
This dvd just might be the best dvd both of em ever did
Great dvd and a lot of insight from both perspectives about WWE in the mid 90’s and the Screwjob and all. Before all the drama went down they got along good and both were telling stories about it, when Bret said that Shawn was going to work with his friends well Hogan did that with Macho Man, Warrior, Andre, Flair, Ricky Steamboat and nobody called them out for that. I disagree with Bret when he said that Shawn was doing strip tease dances with little boys in the rings they were little girls and that would make a kid’s day just like Bret and John Morrison giving them their sunglasses and I want to apologize to Brett Mix and every other Bret Hart fan because I was wrong because I thought my role model could do no wrong in my eyes and I hated when Bret was on mic it was bad but he did improve his mic skills and he would be in anyone’s top 50 greatest wrestlers and Bret was a really great wrestler and just think if the Screwjob didn’t happen what kind of matches we would’ve gotten to see between them, but for me I think the real reason all this happen was because of the direction WWE was going edgier and more attitude and they had to, to compete with WCW and the NWO.
I have two issues with this DVD release… 1) Time… These guys are absolute legends and with all of the photos, montages and segements i am not able to understand why this DVD only came in at 7 hours. The interview should have not been so edited. 2) Future releases… If this does indeed become a release that is going to continue I personally do not see how you could ever top this one. JR said it perfect in the DVD when he mentioned that a lot of the time you really couldn’t tell if their rivalry was fact or fiction. And as fans know as the years went on the rivalry became personal, which is exactly what makes this DVD so interesting, it is a true look at real life. Any Greatest Rivalries set done in the future will probably not be as good as this one. SCSA/Rock, Edge/Cena, Orton/HHH, I simply cannot think of a feud that deserves an entire set, except for this one. Feuds I personally would like to be explained better in future releases are Warrior/Hogan, McMahon/Bischoff, Andre/Big John Studd, Angle/Benoit, Mankind/Rock, but most of these I mentioned are impossible for obvious reasons. I do not see how you can top HBK/Bret solely on the fact that it is not a look at fiction, but rather a look at real life. Besides that, the DVD is nothing short of amazing and gets my vote as DVD of the year.