WWE – The Greatest Superstars Of WrestleMania – DVD Review

Wrestling has been a staple in my television viewing schedule for about twenty-four years of my twenty-eight year existence on this Earth. I can remember all the way back to the early days when WCW was showing Thursday night specials called Clash Of The Champions and the WWE had Bobby “The Brain” Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon sitting behind a desk for Primetime. My dad used to take me to some of the live events that weren’t on television (called house shows), and it remains fresh in my mind that those events were still just as special to me as anything I’d ever seen before. Why, Bret Hart even placed his glasses on my head at one of those house shows and I’ve kept them ever since.

Even now as I get older, wrestling will always be a part of my life no matter how crazy the storylines may get. No matter what wrestlers retire and what new names appear in the spotlight, my eyes will remain glued to the tube at least three times a week. Sometimes four if a PPV is coming on. And the first PPV I can ever remember watching was WrestleMania VI. It was held in Toronto and the wrestlers came down to the ring in these awesome little wrestling ring styled motorized carts. Andre The Giant turned on his tag-team partner Haku. The Hart Foundation destroyed the Bolsheviks before the Russians could even take their jackets off. And Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior participated in an unheard of battle where two fan favorites squared off and both the WWE and Intercontinental titles were on the line. WrestleMania was amazing and it still is.

It was made a point in my little life then to try and get copies of the first five mega events and catch up on all that had been missed. Another main goal of mine was to never again miss out on seeing a WrestleMania live as it happened and let me tell you; that goal is still intact. Each spring, the crowning glory of wrestling events for the year is held in some unique and very lucky location. Feuds come together finally and resolutions are made. Careers can sometimes be ended but most times they are made. The greatest superstars in the history of wrestling have heard their names called on that one Sunday a year when they are on the grandest stage of them all. If you’ve heard a name that is synonymous with the word wrestling, then you’re surely heard that name mentioned at the big daddy of all PPVs, WrestleMania.

Every year there are some who are fortunate enough to walk down that aisle before crowds bigger then they could ever imagine. Hulk Hogan, The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, Ted Dibiase, Earthquake, Booker T, Ric Flair, Kurt Angle, Edge, Ricky Steamboat…oh the list could go on for literally days and weeks. There is no end to the vast number of superstars who saw their dreams come true by not only becoming a WWE superstar but getting to wrestle at the event that young fans only can imagine even attending. Perhaps one day I’ll even get to be sitting in a seat at WrestleMania instead of on my couch in front of my television. That is my dream…my goal. But here are some of the matches showcasing the goals of superstars that saw their dreams come true.

This DVD set showcases the greatest WrestleMania matches of some of the most famous superstars in WWE history. Before reliving them all, enjoy a short recollection of each superstar’s career and their history at the greatest wrestling event each year. Witness the triumphs and tragedies that have followed them throughout their careers. Enjoy the hardships and finally the breakthroughs that made them who they are today. Then relive their greatest matches from all the times they’ve appeared at WrestleMania and know what it’s like to feel true greatness.



There will be spoilers (if you can call them that) in this review!



Disc One:

“Superstars and Stripes Forever” was the theme of this WrestleMania and rightfully so as the Persian Gulf war was going on at the exact same time. Hulk Hogan was playing up his real American bit like no other and defending his country against the traitor, Sgt. Slaughter. There was so much hype around this match that it couldn’t be believed. Slaughter had the incorrigible General Adnan in his corner waving the Iraqi flag and just begging the crowd to hate him, and they did. Hogan was their savior and would stick up for all Americans in fighting for what was right. If you’ve seen one Hogan match from the late eighties and early nineties, then you’ve seen them all. But it’s the bigger picture and storyline of this whole thing that made this match so memorable.

This was Batista’s true step up to the main event. He had been a part of one of the strongest stables ever, Evolution. Along with Ric Flair, Randy Orton and Triple H, Batista showcased himself as the enforcer of Evolution and a powerhouse that would be difficult for all of the WWE to contend with. After winning the Royal Rumble, Batista had a choice to make and to his fellow Evolution mates, it was simple. He would go on to face JBL for the WWE title so Evolution could hold both major championships in the WWE and rule over all. And the choice was simple for Batista, but it wasn’t the one Triple H expected.

In a match that shocked me quite a bit, Batista would prove that he belonged in the upper tier with those such as Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, and numerous others. It was his time in the spotlight and to show the world he could hold his own with his former Evolution partner. Both men put on a great test of strength and delivered in a match displaying their huge physiques weren’t just for show. This twenty plus minute match took everything out of both men and delivered much better then I thought it would.

Shawn Michaels wasn’t one of my favorites when I was younger but he has grown to be a wrestler I enjoy watching perform in the ring. He is talented and has all the ability in the world to carry any wrestler alive to a great match. Not to mention that he has long put in his dues and has worked his way to where he is today. Jericho has been one of my favorite wrestlers since he was in ECW during the early days and then into WCW where he started to really make a name for himself. This you could say is a dream come true match for me.

The match itself is fantastic. Michaels and Jericho put on a show that can and should be appreciated by wrestling fans all over the world. I’m not 100 percent sure that I would consider this the best WrestleMania for either Jericho or Michaels, but it is awfully close. The near falls and near submission tapouts kept coming and every single maneuver used made you think the end of the match was near only to have it countered and luckily continue. It ended quite abruptly and not exactly the way I could have hoped, but can’t say it disappointed me either.

I’m not sure why this is the match representing the Undertaker in this set because there are plenty others from the dead man’s résumé that could have been showcased either. Alas, this is what we got. Orton was going with the whole “Legend Killer” moniker and we all know the legend that is the Undertaker. Throw on top of that the fact that Undertaker was 12-0 at WrestleMania at the time and it made even more sense for Orton to want to go after him.

The match itself leaves a lot to be desired because it was just that, a match. Nothing extraordinarily special about it but at least better then Taker’s match against Snuka at WrestleMania VII. I don’t know, but never once did I get the feeling that Orton would be the one to end Undertaker’s undefeated streak. The build-up was excellent in the weeks leading up to the event, but the match itself could have been better. I would have even included one of the matches between Undertaker and Kane before this one.

This is far from your run of the mill hardcore match. You know damn well that Mick Foley can take a beating and dish one out as well. Thanks to the millions of ladder, TLC, and cage matches Edge has been involved in, you know the same holds true for him. For fifteen minutes these two battered and bruised each other’s bodies in an effort to prove who the better man was. Even though this was a crowning moment for Edge, I’m not totally sure he felt so good about winning after the match.

Anything and everything you could think of was used in this hardcore match, and it was very different from how things were during the run of the Hardcore Title. Those matches had a lot of comedy and spots that were simply meant to make the crowd go “oooooooooo!” This match was about two men wanting to destroy one another and they did it with cookie sheets, barbed wire, bats, socks, thumbtacks, tables, and even fire. It wasn’t the best match I’ve ever seen, but certainly was one of the most enjoyable and stomach turning.

Disc Two:

Both Bret Hart and Lex Luger were eliminated from the 1994 Royal Rumble at the exact same time. Co-winners meant that there was a problem heading into WrestleMania X and who would main event it against the champion Yokozuna. WWE President (at the time) Jack Tunney decided both men would face the champion. A coin toss determined that Lex Luger would face Yokozuna first and meant Bret Hart would face his brother Owen Hart. Later on in the night, Bret Hart would face whomever the champion would be after the first match.

The first match saw Yokozuna retain the championship by disqualification after Luger shoved guest referee Mr. Perfect. Bret ended up losing to his brother Owen early in the night, but still would get his shot at the champion with Rowdy Roddy Piper as the guest referee. The match is as good as it could be considering how big Yokozuna was and that he virtually had five main moves in his arsenal. The same thing could be said about Bret, but at least he was more entertaining to watch. When all was said and done, it was Bret overcoming the odds and defeating the giant.

This is a match I remember vividly. I was living in Florida at the time and headed to Walt Disney World’s Wild World Of Sports’ complex where all PPVs were shown for a five buck cover charge. They put us all in a huge back room with some giant televisions and let wrestling fans enjoy it together. It was really odd but Hogan was going into this match as the heel and Rock was the face. The crowd was split kind of down the middle, but the longer the match went on, the more fans started cheering for Hogan. The same held true in the room where I was with about fifty other wrestling fans. A dream match-up for the ages was happening before our very eyes and people were torn as to who to root for. Would it be the new face of wrestling or the legendary icon?

That night the cheers were more for the legendary icon. Sure we had all seen a Hogan match before and knew how they usually went. Hogan would have some offense, suffer a great beatdown, hulk up, and then deliver the big boot and legdrop for the win. This night was different though and everyone was 100 percent sure the Rock would win. Yet as the match continued on, we weren’t so sure anymore. Hogan was getting a lot of offense in and every near fall was met with a resounding “OOOOHHHHHHHH!” when the referee’s hand came mere inches from the mat for a three count. In the end, our original speculations were correct but one of the most iconic wrestling matches in history had just been witnessed.

Here is another case which makes me wonder who picked some of the matches to be included in this set. Not the match I would have chosen for Cena, but alas it has its points. Cena and JBL were pitted against one another virtually by the process of elimination. Batista and Cena almost won the Royal Rumble at the same time calling for more controversy leading into WrestleMania. Due to Vince McMahon making sure there was only one winner and then Batista turning his back on Evolution to face Triple H, it was kind of obvious who would face JBL for the title.

Cena and JBL had a decent enough match which was mostly dominated by the hulking Texan. He battered Cena around the ring from one post to the other, but the up and coming star was never ready to concede defeat. And thanks to one of the sorriest finishing maneuvers in history (the lazy man’s Death Valley Driver), Cena was able to reign supreme. This is another match though where the ending kind of came out of nowhere.

Now why this match is included in this set is evidently obvious. It was Rey’s big moment in the sun and it showed that the biggest little man could prevail in a land of giants. I didn’t like the build-up leading to this match as Rey had lost his title shot fair and square to Randy Orton at No Way Out. That result irritates me because it renders the ending of the Royal Rumble useless (like the 2008 Rumble…a-hem), but still it’s the way it should have been. Rey was placed back into the match and therefore causing a triple threat with Orton and the champion Kurt Angle.

If ever there was an abrupt ending to a match this was it. I’m not a fan of Rey’s but he is talented then more then half the wrestlers actively participating today. Throwing him in the ring with Angle and Orton makes for what could be at least a twenty minute match between three great athletes. And it certainly started out that way. The guys were all over the place and hitting moves left and right making for some exciting and interesting situations. Then all of a sudden Rey’s big win just shocked everyone. I don’t think it shocked them because he won, but how quickly he won.

Triple H had just come back from a quad injury that many thought would put him on the shelf forever. But he came back strong and won the Royal Rumble earning the right to take on the undisputed champion at WrestleMania. Coming out with a hell of a lot of tape around that left quad and knee, Triple H was determined to take what he thought was rightfully his. Jericho had become the first ever undisputed champion ever unifying the WWE title and World Heavyweight titles by defeating both Steve Austin and the Rock in the same night.

This is a classic heel versus face match and it was just phenomenal. Jericho did the traditional heel tactics of exploiting the injury that Triple H had and trying to use it to his advantage any chance he got. Triple H suffered a lot throughout the match and needed to use everything he had inside of him to fight through the pain and prevail; proving that his time had come. This is a great match and one that I could watch over and over again due to the chemistry between both wrestlers and the sheer strategy used throughout.

This was not the first and was also far from the last time we’d ever see these two in the ring together. Mankind took his place in the ring with the two superstars as the guest referee of this no disqualification match. Austin and the Rock have had so many matches together; that it’s kind of hard to determine which was their best one but this one is close. The crowd was extremely hot for both men and it was just an electrifying feeling watching them duke it out for close to thirty minutes in a battle we’d all be graced with again.

The event is shown in 1.33:1 Full Screen format and the matches really do look great. Some of them aren’t that old considering how somewhat recent Manias 21 and 22 are, but those like Mania VII and X were eons ago so it seems and they look just as good.

The event is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and all be heard well. The commentary takes precedence over everything else coming out of the center speaker while entrance music and crowd noise emanates from around the room.

Trailers – Triple H The King Of Kings: There Is Only One, and The Legacy Of Stone Cold Steve Austin

Already having the entire WrestleMania Anthology and having seen each of these events a couple of times anyway, these matches weren’t anything new to me. But it’s been quite some time for a lot of them and it was nice reliving the Hogan/Slaughter match and the Jericho/Michaels match as well. Some of the choices for particular superstars and their representing matches had me scratching my head a few times, but they were still all great matches. Just not the particular ones I would have chosen. No special features accompany the main course in this DVD set but that’s not really a big deal since you do get some extra footage and such in the little autobiographies before each match. If you don’t have the Anthology or the separate DVDs for each Mania, then I’d recommend picking this set up. It’s a nice collection and has some insightful information you may not have known or at least remembered. For those owning DVDs containing four or more of the matches included here, don’t waste your time.

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WWE Home Video presents The Greatest Superstars Of WrestleMania. Featuring: Hulk Hogan, Sgt. Slaughter, Bret Hart, Edge, Mick Foley, Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Yokozuna, and many more. Running time: 360 minutes on 2 discs. Rating: Not Rated. Released on DVD: March 25, 2008. Available Exclusively At Wal-Mart