WWE: WrestleMania XXVI (Two-Disc Edition) – DVD Review

As someone who has a strong affinity for cinema, I can respect professional wrestling. The fondness started in 1993 with my discovery of Monday Night Raw. I saw it morph from dismal feuds and personalities (anybody remember Techno Team 2000?) into the “Man vs. Boss” soap opera that was Austin vs. McMahon. I was emotionally destroyed when my favorite wrestler became the Voldemort of the wrestling world. My aversion to wrestling has passed and now I can enjoy the illusion of sports entertainment just as I enjoy a great action sequence or a remarkable line of dialogue. Wrestling is considered fake in many circles but I look at it as performance art, only with steel chairs and sledgehammers instead of ballet slippers and tiaras.

Slowly catching up to all the wrestling pay-per-view events I missed as a kid, I quickly discovered mega events like SummerSlam and the Survivor Series. But when you think of WWE and mega cards, the biggest show of the year is WrestleMania. Typically occurring the last week in March or the first week in April, the event has been billed as “The Grandaddy of Them All.” “Grandaddy” seems too old fashion for my tastes. In today’s wrestling era, WrestleMania is like “The Cool Uncle.” Meaning he may not always remember you come Christmas time every year – because he’s a rock star and bones a lot of broads – but when he does remember to give you a gift it’s usually something kick-ass. WrestleMania is kinda like that. The events are built up to be World Wrestling Entertainment’s own version of the Super Bowl, but rarely meet expectations. More often than not, it’s one standout performance with some glimmers of promise and a lot of mediocrity thrown into the mix.

Being a native Houstonian I can gloat that my humble city has produced arguably the greatest WrestleMania event in WrestleMania X-Seven, and last year’s event at Reliant Stadium featured a thirty-minute classic between The Undertaker (from Death Valley by way of Houston) and Shawn Michaels (who grew up in San Antonio, TX). In the late nineties and early 2000s we saw WWE surge in popularity, while also putting its closest competitor (WCW) out of business. They did it by hiring a couple of WCW castoffs and cultivating them into main event stars (“Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Triple H) as well as milk the popularity of personalities already on the roster: Shawn Michaels, The Hardy Boyz and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. WCW, instead, went with stars that made their mark with WWE: Hulk Hogan, “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall.

With WrestleMania XXVI, we can finally say that World Wrestling Entertainment celebrated the event’s 25th anniversary. So all of those fans that bought a 25th anniversary T-shirt at WrestleMania XXV got duped. Taking place on my birthday at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Arizona, the event was stacked with wrestlers from each brand show, Raw and SmackDown! WWE gave us multiple championship titles on the line, the traditional “Money in the Bank” Ladder Match (a tradition since WrestleMania 21), a match that has been thirteen years in the making and a Divas’ time-to-go-take-a-pee-break tag match. The biggest match on the card, however, would be a rematch of the WrestleMania XXV contest pitting The Undertaker against Shawn Michaels. To up the ante, Shawn Michaels put his career on the line against The Undertaker’s impressive 17-0 streak at WrestleManias. WWE fans already know who came out the victor, so this review will refrain from spoilers. With that, here’s how the card looked from top to bottom:

On paper it looked like World Wrestling Entertainment was set to have a hell of a show. The only definite going in was that we knew The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels would deliver a standout bout. Combined they have more than forty years of experience. So many years employed in WWE (‘Taker began in 1990, Michaels has been with the company since 1988), it’s astonishing that the two have only faced each other three times before in one-on-one matches on PPV. Compare that to the plethora of matches combining the likes of John Cena/Edge/Randy Orton. Entering the match at WrestleMania XXVI Michaels leads the series 2-1.

Elsewhere on the card, the title bout between John Cena and Batista is surprisingly good. With Batista you’re lucky to see him get paired in a memorable set of matches. He had some good ones with The Undertaker back in 2007 but he often doesn’t gel with most personalities on the roster. However with John Cena, they had good chemistry during their match at SummerSlam 2008. Neither had a title around his waist, so WWE didn’t bother with a program so they could continue feuding. The number of near falls elevates the match and the crowd reacts in kind. The “Money in the Bank” match is the usual spotmoment affair, though its obvious that ten contestants are too much. It also lacked a show-stealing highlight by MitB regular, Shelton Benjamin. A few weeks later he was gone from the company.

The rest of the card has matches that would have fared better on other PPVs, but on a show like WrestleMania they just don’t have that “Grandaddy” (or “Cool Uncle”) feel. C.M. Punk vs. Rey Mysterio ends when it should have been moving into second gear; the unified tag match is a wasted effort for all four involved. It’s a telling sign when that match lasts as long as the 10-Divas tag match. Chris Jericho vs. Edge has a similar tone to the feud Shawn Michaels had with ex-Rocker partner Marty Jannetty. Before going down with an injury Jericho and Edge were tearing it up as tag champs. In his place Jericho selected the Big Show as his partner and “JeriShow” was born. After rehab Edge set his sights on Jericho, winning the 2010 Royal Rumble in the process. With a title shot guaranteed at WrestleMania XXVI he selected Jericho as his opponent once Y2J won the World Heavyweight Championship. I may have not have been able to spot Edge in the crowd at WrestleMania VI, but I see him here and I wonder how can the “Rated R Superstar” function in a TV-PG environment.

Probably the biggest waste of time during the PPV was Bret Hart’s revenge match against Mr. McMahon. The segment just goes on and on and the execution of the match is far from excellent. A better alternative would have been to replace John Morrison and R-Truth from the Unified Tag Match with Harry Smith and Tyson Kidd. Stipulate the tag match that, if Smith and Kidd win the titles, then Bret Hart would get five minutes with Vince McMahon. It would have made a world of difference.

Had WWE made that change and omitted the 10-Divas Tag Match – to give more time to C.M. Punk and Rey Mysterio’s match – it would have been a tighter PPV. But with a four-hour telecast, World Wrestling Entertainment included too much entertainment and not enough sports-entertainment.

WWE entertains lively crowds with personalities that walk out to their individual theme songs, followed by pyrotechnics. Too much pyro and fun with lights and it can cause image problems. Presented in a 1.78:1 widescreen aspect ratio and enhanced for 16×9 displays, Wrestlemania XXVI suffers from most of the digital issues present in nearly all of their catalogue titles. This includes pixellation, edge enhancement and compression artifacts during entrances and fast-moving sequences. Basically, general problems that WWE fans have come to accept.

The audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and it fares much better than the visuals. From being able to hear the crowd in the rear channels, which creates a more immersive experience, to the crisp commentary from the play-by-play teams, everything just pops. Viewers also have the option of listening to the Spanish commentators during the event. Optional subtitles and Closed Caption support are not offered for the bonus features, unfortunately.

The menus have a plain-wrap design that allow for easy navigation. The event is spread over two discs and is divided into 14 chapters (10 for matches, four more for “filler” moments). The DVDs come in an eco-friendly hinged keepcase, which includes an insert that has a complete list of contents.

Now the DVD I have in my possession only has two discs, but WWE has also produced a 3-Disc Collector’s Edition (in both DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats), which will surely please fans looking for the complete WrestleMania experience.

For this standard release we get an abridged version of the 2010 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony (37:42). This is the version that aired on the USA Network. The “Class of 2010″ includes “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase, NJPW founder Antonio Inoki, Wendi Richter, Maurice “Mad Dog” Vachon, “Gorgeous” George Wagner (posthumous), Stu Hart (posthumous) and Bob Uecker. Featured on the telecast were induction speeches for DiBiase, Vachon and Uecker.

Another extra is the 26-Man Battle Royal (11:47) which was the dark match that took place before WrestleMania XXVI went on the air. Personalities that wouldn’t normally make it on to the big event at least got to perform in front of 70,000-plus WWE fans. The match is your standard variety battle royal and it featured Mark Henry, Goldust, Chavo Guerrero, Yoshi Tatsu, Santino Marella, Funaki, Great Khali, Carlito, William Regal and seventeen others that aren’t featured in the PPV itself.

In contrast, the Collector’s Edition includes the full three-hour Hall of Fame Ceremony, as well as the complete Raw and SmackDown! shows from the following week and a few bonus matches. It is only $10 more than the standard release, but it is more than lives up to its title.

All bonus materials, like the main feature, are presented in anamorphic widescreen and include no optional subtitles or Closed Captions. Not sure why WWE doesn’t want to acknowledge its fans that are hearing-impaired.

The WrestleMania XXVI two-disc set gives fans more than five hours of total content, if you include the special features section on the second disc. But if you want the entire Hall of Fame ceremony then you’ll want to get the 3-Disc Collector’s Edition instead. Still, the event delivers when it comes to letting the fans leave on a high note. Mildly recommended to WWE fans that don’t care about bonus features.

WWE Home Video presents WrestleMania XXVI (Two-Disc Edition). Featuring: John Cena, Triple H, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker, Chris Jericho and Edge. Running time: 360 Minutes. Rating: TV-PG. Released on DVD: May 4, 2010.