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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Perfect But A Worthy Tribute, October 3, 2008
Curt Hennig is one of those people in wrestling who never had a major promotional machine behind himm (Hulk Hogan), wasn't always put in a position to be the top draw of the company (Ric Flair), or even the most popular wrestler (Sting) but was always over with the fans as either a face or heel, had some of the biggest respect & love from the wrestling industry today, and as without a doubt on of a kind weather he was in the ring wrestling or pulling a classic prank outside of it to the point where Michael Hayes at one time called him wrestling's version of "Dennis The Menace." The name given to him in the WWE just describes him at whatever he did in the wrestling business, PERFECT!
The documentry stars off talking about Hennig growing up, how he started wrestling young, and hung around his father (Larry "The Ax" Hennig) when he was training with Verne Gagne before meeting his future wife in high school. How Curt started wrestling for Vince Sr. before moving onto the AWA to team with his dad & Scott Hall (if you haven't seen him outside of his "Razor Ramon/nWo" look then you'll be suprized) was discussed before his feud with Nick Bockwinkel & becoming AWA Champion. How the feud between Curt & Greg Gagne spilled into a family feud with their fathers getting involved before losing the AWA Title to Jerry Lawler & leaving was brought up next. How he got the name Mr. Perfect & the truth behind the "Absolutely Perfect" sport skits was talked about with hysterical footage to go with the story before Wade Boggs tells a story of how Hennig saved his life. Curt's Intercontinental title reign was heavily talked about in terms of how he elevated the championship along with the SummerSlam match with Bret Hart. Stories of Curt's classic pranks were talked about next before talking about his back injury led to him being an announcer, how Curt did in his role in that position along with being advisers to Ric Flair & Triple H before moving on to WCW. The story behind Hennig's involvement with the Horsemen & the nWo was discussed along with Wade Boggs telling a story behind what he had to do with the "nWo Wolfpac" before moving on to the infamous "Rap Is Crap" song. The effect his Royal Rumble performance had on his career & his "role" within his last WWE run was profiled before closing out the documentry talking about his death, his Hall Of Fame induction, and legacy left behind with his son Joe training to be a 3rd generation wrestler.
DVD extras include several bonus matches including a match from his first WWF run in 1982 in Madison Square Garden (MSG) vs. Eddie Gilbert, an AWA tag team match with Scott Hall vs. Jimmy Garvin & Steve Regal (different wrestler than the current William Regal), his classic 1 hour match vs. Nick Bockwinkle which Nick said on the AWA DVD was one of his greatest matches, a match vs. Terry Taylor with commentary by Mick Foley & Michael Cole, a MSG match vs. Bret Hart, another MSG match vs. Hulk Hogan that saw Hennig pull out one of the best inring performances in Hogan's career, another MSG match vs. Texas Tornado with Roddy Piper as the special referee, the classic SummerSlam '91 match with Bret Hart, his SummerSlam '93 match vs. Shawn Michaels, and a match against Bret Hart at WCW Uncensored which was one of Bret's best WCW matches. Also included are all of the Mr. Perfect sports vignettes featuring such celebrities as Wade Boggs, Steve Jordan, Felton Spencer, and Mike Modano along with his Hall Of Fame induction, the "Rap Is Crap" music video, and bonus stories on how Curt loved karaoke, and the funny truth behind his appearence on "Lifestyles Of The Rich & Famous" told by Brock Lesnar. Hidden DVD extras include bonus stories of pranks Curt did by Wade Boggs & Chris Jericho, a live performance of "Rap Is Crap" on WCW Thunder, a promo Hennig did as AWA Champion, and the infamous segment where Curt Hennig destroyed the WWF Championship with a hammer...which would later become the famous WWF Hardcore Championship almost a decade later.
In the end, the only negatives I could state is that I think something could have been said for his close friendship with Rick Rude & while I didn't think the Terry Taylor match wasn't anything special, the commentary with Foley talking about Hennig made up for it. Eventhough his SummerSlam match with Bret was a classic, it was already on Bret's DVD (which they advertised during the documentry) & on the upcoming Intercontinental Championship DVD so it wasn't really necessary here & could have been easily replaced by the tournament final were he actually won the Intercontinenal Championship from Tito Santana or a Ric Flair match from their feud in WCW. Besides those minor issues, this DVD is fits the name for the late Curt Hennig who was one of the greatest inring wrestlers & personalities for his generation...PERFECT! I recommend.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not exactly perfect, November 19, 2008
Great documentary, i just wish Mr. McMahon could have been involved. However, what idiot put together the match selection? He loses every one of them in the WWE, no sign of the great loser leaves wwe match with Ric Flair or his first wrestlemania and summerslam appearances where, god forbid, he actually won. Far from perfect...
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Curt Hennig, near perfection, September 12, 2008
Some may wonder why WWE decided to release a DVD featuring Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig, but I welcome it. I wish WWE would release more DVDs like this. Not every feature star needs to be a main event legend to get his own DVD in my opinion.
This release features one of the best documentaries WWE has produced on any wrestler. It's very informative, entertaining and moves at a fast pace. The story of Curt Hennig is told by his family, friends and his fellow wrestlers. All of Curt's career highlights are featured and those who only know him as Mr. Perfect from his debut in the WWF in the late eighties, will get to see all of Curt's prior accomplishments in wrestling before becoming Mr. Perfect, and there are a lot of them! For example, Curt was the AWA World Heavyweight Champion before his stint in the WWF, and this is talked about in great detail.
Most are complaining about the match selection, and with good reason. There are some good ones in this set, but not many. I was shocked when WWE decided to include the classic one-hour draw AWA World Heavyweight Championship match between Hennig and champion Nick Bockwinkel from Nov. of 1986. This is pro-wrestling at it's best, with the last 10 minutes being just as good, or better, than any championship match you'll see today. Both men bleed and push each other to the limit. One thing to look for, is when Bockwinkel blades, there is a fan near the front row, who excitedly pantomimes Bockwinkel blading to his friends, letting them know how smart he is to the business. When Bockwinkel places the blade back into his wrist tape, this same fan also pantomimes this to his friends too. It's pretty funny to see.
The matches with Bret Hart are the best, but the inclusion of the match from WCW Uncensored between these two is perplexing, since it's so terrible, at this point Curt just wasn't the worker he once was and Bret was uninspired in WCW. The match from SummerSlam '91 is a classic, but has been released three times on DVD now, so chances are you've already seen it. The MSG match is interesting, because both men perform both their signature spots from their future SummerSlam '91 encounter as well as their classic King of the Ring match from '93. However, due to it's slow pace (most of those MSG shows were slowly paced) the match really isn't something you'll want to see over and over again. So, the highlight here is Curt's work in the AWA.
One match was included, simply to make a point and that's the match from WrestleFest between Hennig and Terry Taylor. Michael Cole and Mick Foley, who recorded new audio for this match, explained that these two were in the running for the Mr. Perfect gimmick, and Curt ended up receiving it. Couldn't they have just said this in the documentary and shown a few clips from this match instead of wasting a match selection on it? Poor decisions like this hurt the release.
One match I wish they had included, you only see highlights of it, is the AWA World Title match against Jerry "the King" Lawler. In the documentary, Lawler said this was his favorite match ever, so it would have been nice to see all of it.
So, I recommend this for the excellent documentary, vignettes and Curt's matches from the AWA, but don't expect much else that you'll either enjoy or have already seen on DVD before.
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