The Top Ten WWE DVDs
10. Eddie Guerrero – Cheating Death, Stealing Life
This superstar spotlight DVD was released about a year ago amidst Eddie Guerrero’s climb up the main event scene on Smackdown!. The two disc combo features an in-depth documentary on the life and career of Guerrero and a load of extras including matches and vignettes. The documentary originally aired on the UPN network and if you haven’t seen it before, it goes from the historic Guerrero family to Eddie’s days in Mexico, Japan, ECW, WCW and the WWE. His tragic story of nearly dying from alcohol and drug abuse is touched on including his remarkable recovery and eventual return to wrestler
superstardom.
There are 11 complete matches in this set. Two from AWA, his final ECW match versus Dean Malenko, three WCW matches (including one of the best WCW matches versus Rey Mysterio) and the rest are WWE matches. The RAW ladder match with RVD for the intercontinental championship and his only World title victory is on the disc.
A great DVD for Eddie Guerrero fans or just wrestling fans, period.
9. From The Vault – Shawn Michaels
Released about two years ago, this is the main archive of Shawn Michaels’ career available. This is a two disc set with seven full length matches and discussion and insights from Michaels himself on the chosen matches.
The main attractions of this set are three specific matches. Wrestlemania 10, the historic ladder match versus Razor Ramon (Scott Hall), Wrestlemania 12, the one hour iron man match versus Bret Hart and the first ever Hell in the Cell versus the Undertaker. The first match on the disc is a 1986 tag title match in the AWA, teaming with Marty Jannetty as the Midnight Rockers going against Buddy Rose and Doug Summers.
Three other matches include a WWE In Your House No DQ match versus Diesel (Kevin Nash, from Good Friends, Better Enemies), the Summer Slam 1996 classic with Mankind and his return bout in 2002 at Summer Slam versus Triple H.
The extras included consist of a number of interviews, pictures and alternate commentary with Kevin Nash himself on their battle.
Although this DVD isn’t as lambasted with material as other projects, it is still the best HBK DVD on the market. The fact that it has some legendary matches is enough to be a MUST buy.
8. Best of RAW vol. 1 & 2
This will be a tough DVD to find in retail stores as it was released over four years ago. However, I strongly recommend you search a site such as eBay for this set. This is a DVD consisting of both editions of the Best of RAW series which covers the Monday Night show from 1997 to 1999.
The timeline highlighted on disc 1 (or volume 1) is the end of 1997 leading up to late 1998. Over the course of the year, you’ll watch Stone Cold Steve Austin grow into the superstar he is. Also included is the emergence of D-Generation X, the Rock and Kane as premiere talents during the Attitude era.
Disc 2 (volume 2) picks up at the end of 1998 and ends towards the latter part of 1999. Some of the superstars highlighted on this disc are the Hardy Boys, the Rock and Triple H, Kane and Edge and Christian. All of the intense RAW action leading up to Wrestlemania XV are included here, which means the Beer Truck incident and all the corporate ministry sightings are right here.
The extras on this special set include the ability to watch most of the RAW promo’s from a menu. Stone Cold throwing the IC title into a river, the zamboni incident, the debut of Mr. Socko and Mick Foley’s first World Title win are all captured here.
7. The Monday Night War
This is all about the famous Monday Night Wars between the WWE and WCW (RAW and Nitro, respectively). A tremendous look at how it all began from WWE creating RAW and then Eric Bischoff and Ted Turner creating Nitro to the nWo and WCW’s success to it’s downfall and eventual bankruptcy are all covered here. Speaking of Bischoff, he is a integral part of the documentary as he is among the interviewees. It’s fascinating hearing him speak about all of his evil maneuvers when he controlled WCW (revealing RAW’s results, trashing the WWE Womans Title on Nitro, etc.).
The extras include four matches and some clips from RAW and Nitro. The matches are Goldberg v. Hollywood Hogan (Nitro), Chris Benoit v. Booker T (from their best of 7 series), Steve Austin & HBK v. Owen Hart & British Bulldog and HBK & HHH v. LOD.
Some of the clips shown include Vince McMahon’s infamous “Bret Screwed Bret” comments, how Rick Rude appeared on RAW and Nitro on the same night, as well as DX invading WCW and much more.
This is the premiere DVD concerning the hottest period in pro wrestling history. It may be a bit tainted (with what being from the WWE perspective) but it is still a fascinating reminder.
6. Tombstone – History of the Undertaker
Just released this week, this three disc, 10 hour Undertaker celebration features 21 matches of his WWE career. There is no documentary accompanying the matches however if you have not seen most of the Undertakers more than 10 year run, this will be a terrific set for you.
However, if you’ve already seen all of these matches and have them on tape then there’s not much incentive to purchase the set. Questions from consumers regarding the packaging of the three disc set and match selection are what hurt this set the most.
With all that said, a lot of history is shown here including some legendary moments over the past 10 years. Three hell in the cell matches (versus HBK, Foley, Brock Lesnar), a buried alive and inferno match are the highlighted specialty matches. Historic feuds with the likes of Mankind, Kane and Shawn Michaels can be relived.
The list of opponents is tremendous: Hulk Hogan, Yokozuna, Diesel, Mankind, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Steve Austin, Triple H, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, John Cena, Mr. McMahon, Kane and Kurt Angle.
If you’re an Undertaker fan, a MUST buy.
5. Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 1980s
This is one of the first major releases by the WWE under the new Legends Brand. This is a three disc set which highlights the careers of Greg Valentine, Dusty Rhodes, Junkyard Dog, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ricky Steamboat, Cowboy Bob Orton, Rowdy Piper, Paul Orndorf, Bobby Heenan, Sgt. Slaughter, Iron Sheik, Hulk Hogan, Jerry Lawler and Jimmy Snuka.
The outlined style is five bio’s on each of the discs and a plethora of matches and clips from such historic shows as Tuesday Night Titans and Saturday Nights Main Event.
The match selection could’ve been better but you still get some classic matches including, Valentine v. Piper from Starrcade 1983, Ultimate Warrior v. Bobby Heenan from 1988, Dusty Rhodes v. Ric Flair from Starrcade 1984, Jerry Lawler v. Kerry Von Erich from Superclash III and much more.
If you’re a fan of the old days of pro wrestling or just want to get a history lesson, this is the DVD for you.
4. WWE Hall of Fame 2004 Induction Ceremony
The night prior to Wrestlemania XX, the first WWE Hall of Fame ceremony was held since years and years earlier. It was a special night to say the least with ten new members being inducted. The inductees included “Superstar” Billy Graham, Jesse “The Body” Ventura, Sgt. Slaughter, Harley Race, Bobby Heenan, Pete Rose and Greg Valentine (among others).
The ceremony itself is worth the purchase of this two disc DVD set with emotional and hilarious speeches from men themselves (and in two cases, their families).
After you’re done watching the ceremony, you can then turn to the extras which feature matches that the new inductees made famous. Two matches in particular are a Greg Valentine/Tito Santana cage match and a Pat Patterson/Sgt Slaughter back-alley fight.
This was truly one the most extraordinary nights in wrestling, even without any in-ring action. Whether you know these guys by name or not, you need to find this DVD and watch it. You won’t regret it.
3. Wrestlemania X-Seven
April 1st, 2001 in Houston Texas, Wrestlemania XVII took place. Many people consider this to be one of, if not THE, best ‘Mania ever. The night was electric with matches between Austin/Rock, HHH/Undertaker, Shane/Vince McMahon, Kurt Angle/Benoit and a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match between the six men themselves (Hardys, Dudleys, Edge and Christian).
You should own this DVD just for the event itself but you get some extras on the second disk. Highlights from Sunday Night Heat, Wrestlemania Weekend and superstar interviews are highlighted on this set.
This Wrestlemania tends to be the toughest to find in stores so always keep an eye out if you don’t already own it.
2. Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Hulk STILL Rules
Countless hours of footage on two discs, this documentary is based on the most popular wrestler ever, Hulk Hogan. The documentary discusses his entire career from getting into the business, to working for the original WWWF, the AWA and eventually joining forces with Vince McMahon, Jr. Everything from his feuds with Piper, Orndorff, Andre the Giant and Randy Savage are well spoken about.
Hogan speaks candidly about his cautions with turning heel to form the New World Order in WCW in 1996 which is very interesting in itself. Once you’re done with that, time to turn to all the extras. Some of the lesser seen items are on here such as Hogan’s WWWF debut in 1979, his Shea Stadium match with Andre in 1980…which all leads to the birth of Hulkamania versus the Iron Sheik in 1984. Wrestlemania III, Royal Rumble 1990 and Survior Series 1988 are all here with legendary Hogan moments and matches.
The only negative I can see is not a lot of WCW matches, in fact, only his debut versus Ric Flair in 1994 is seen on this DVD.
Still, whether you’re a fan of Hogan the man or not, you must be a fan of his work. This DVD set shows us how the media frenzy of Hulkamania took over the world and put pro wrestling in the “big time.”
1. The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection
Without a shadow of a doubt, the best WWE DVD available is the three disc, 10+ hours of Ric Flair. There is no need to introduce you to Ric Flair or anything like that as he is viewed by some as the best wrestler, ever.
This DVD is separated into portions throughout his career. For example, it begins early in his NWA career feuding with the likes of Harly Race, Dusty Rhodes and Barry Windham over the NWA World Championship. Disc two concerns Flair’s battles with Ricky Steamboat (nothing short of classic), Terry Funk and the history behind the Four Horseman. Disc three is about his original short stint with the WWF in the early 90s, and his classic feud with Sting in WCW and then as he returns to the WWE in 2002.
There’s atleast one match available from each feud in the set (for a complete listing, view Amazon.com). Flair v. Harley Race from Starrcade 1983 in what literally made Ric Flair a superstar is the first major match here. One of the big selling points is on Disc three as the ENTIRE Royal Rumble from 1992 is there. Regarded by most as the best rumble match in history, Ric Flair won after drawing as the third entrant.
This DVD is probably the most complete collection of such a star as Ric Flair. Any wrestling fan needs to own this and watch what made Flair so good. His ability to remain on top for nearly 20 years can’t be duplicated so easily.
Obviously, some quality DVD works have been left off. It was hard forming the back end of the list but I believe what I have down as the truth. Thanks for reading and do yourself a favor, go do whatever you have to do to watch this DVDs. You’ll be a better wrestling fan because of it.
