WWE Corporate has revealed a list on Documentary/Compilation DVDs set to come out in 2009. Some PPV’s have been included as well, but not all of them have release dates set yet. Now take this information as a grain of salt, because for 2008 the list included compilations for Sting and “Macho Man” Randy Savage, neither of which came to fruition.
January 13th: Starrcade
January 27th: WWE Legends of Wrestling
February 10th: Best of Saturday Night’s Main Event
February 24th: Royal Rumble 2009
March 17th: History of Interview Shows
April 14th: Wrestling’s Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches 2
April 21st: No Way Out 2009
May 12th: Wrestling Technicians, Wrestlemania 25
May 19th: Patriot: The Best of Sgt. Slaughter, Backlash 2009
May 26th: Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be: 4 disc re-release
June 9th: Animal: The Story of Batista, Judgment Day 2009
June 25th: NWO
August 11th: Hispanics of Sports Entertainment History
August 18th: Andre the Giant
September 22th: Summerslam 2009
October: Tag Team Championship 3 disc set
November: Jeff Hardy
November: Survivor Series Anthology
December: Casket Match
Looking over the list, for one thing the Greatest Superstars of the ’90s release is not listed. That title is slated for April 14. And some of the titles (as taken from Wrestling Observer) seems speculative. Most notably, Patriot: The Best of Sgt. Slaughter (see related story) and Bret “Hitman” Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, and The Best There Ever Will Be: 4 disc re-release. WWE did a similar tactic with Mick Foley’s Greatest Hits & Misses, re-releasing the two-disc set with a bonus third disc featuring matches against Randy Orton, Edge, and Ric Flair. But if it is a simple repackaging it would include footage of Chris Benoit from the Owen Hart tribute match from Nitro.
And about Benoit, any DVD title labeled “Wrestling Technicians,” one would expect him to be featured in some capacity, right? But there’s plenty of other workers to highlight: Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Rick Rude, Curt Henning, Dean Malenko, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle to name a few.
Titles that need to be included for 2009:
A Best of Chris Jericho release (preferably three discs) – he was the first Undisputed Champion in WWE after all
Best of SmackDown – it’s been on the air since the fall of 1999 for crying out loud; it needs a compilation at least
Best of WCW – if the Starrcade release is a success, you could pencil this one for a late 2009/early 2010 bow
Sources: Wrestling Observer, Koch Entertainment
