Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The best of the 90s, almost, April 14, 2009
If you purchased WWE Greatest Wrestling Stars of the 80s and were disappointed with the profiles and match selections on that disc, WWE redeems themselves with the sequel that focuses on the best of the '90s.
First, the main thing that surprised me about this set was how strong they put over Sting. Sting is currently the world champion of their competition, the dreadful TNA promotion, yet they gave him his due on this release. When you open the 3-disc set up your eyes are drawn to a giant image of Sting on one of the DVD art panels. WWE talent and announcers really talk positively about Sting also and do nothing to make the champion of their rival look bad, very surprising indeed.
OK, on with the rest. Disc one is a 3 hour documentary that focuses on who the WWE considers to be the biggest wrestling stars of the '90s, which is without question the greatest decade in the history of the sport. The recently departed Tazz hosts the documentary and introduces each segment that chronicles each wrestler's career from it's beginning thru 1999. All the major players are covered: The Rock, Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Hulk Hogan, Sting, Ric Flair, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Yokozuna, Triple H, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Owen Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin.
The WWE saves Austin for last and Vince himself puts Austin over, and rightfully so, as the greatest star ever in the company. Some may think Bret, Shawn or the Rock are the greatest from '90s, and they're entitled to their opinion, but it's hard to argue with record setting PPV buys, ticket sales and merchandise sales that Austin achieved in the '90s. He's the best, and it's nice to see the company acknowledge it.
If I had to guess, I would say about 40% of the interviews in the documentary are from previous releases, but we do get some new comments from a few guys, most notably from CM Punk (see his comments concerning Lex Luger, he nailed him!). Each wrestler is covered nicely with what they accomplished in the '90s taking center stage.
WWE is famous for taking shots at people in their documentaries, but they really didn't bury anyone here. There are some subtle shots of note though. The most obvious one to me is how during Mick Foley's segment, they showed footage from his "This is Your Life" segment with the Rock from Raw, but failed to say how it was the highest rated segment in the history of Raw, an achievement they've always acknowledged in the past. That was interesting. Also, they take a few digs at Luger, they're fair digs though in my opinion, about how he may have been the total package, but never reached his full potential.
My only complaint with the documentary is that they included Owen Hart and left out a talent like Big Van Vader. I'm sorry, but as nice a guy as Owen was, he was not a main eventer or big draw during his career. Was he good and talented in the ring? Absolutely. Should he be called one of the greatest of the '90s, I don't think so. I would've replaced Owen with Vader. Vader dominated the '90s as a monster heel champion in WCW that helped WCW during a very dismal time in their history. His matches with Cactus Jack, Sting, Ron Simmons and Ric Flair are classics and it would've been nice to see his career highlighted here. That's my only complaint, otherwise it's a very entertaining trip down memory lane. They show a lot of clips and parts of promos during each wrestler's segment that I had forgot about, so there's some great stuff here.
Now, for the match selection. There are some great matches on this set. First, WWE has finally released Flair vs. Hogan from '91 at Madison Square Garden. This feud was going to headline WrestleMania VIII, but Vince scrapped the match after he wasn't impressed with the in-ring work, or the box office results (which I think was unfair because those matches took place during the first steroid scandal and a lot of fans were turning away at this point) from their series of bouts. I have to disagree, this match between Flair and Hogan is great! I never thought Hogan and Flair had good matches in WCW, but they have a pretty good bout here in WWF. It's well worth a look.
Vader is well represented in the match department with a forgotten classic against Sting at Slamboree '94 for the International World Title. For me, this match was worth the price of the set alone.
Other matches of note include: Diesel vs. Razor Ramon for the Intercontinental Title from WWF Superstars (you always knew there was going to be a title change when the belt was defended on Superstars!), Diesel and Shawn vs Yokozuna and Bulldog with all titles on the line from In Your House '95 (great tag match), Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels from Survivor Series '92, Austin vs Undertaker from SummerSlam '98, Sting vs Bret Hart from Halloween Havoc '98 and Triple H vs The Rock in a strap match from Fully Loaded '98.
WWE continues to release one great compilation set after another, and this one's no exception. Well worth a look.
Future sets I would love to see them make: The history of the World Title (and please go all the way back to when it was the NWA title), history of the ECW world title, a rise and fall of WCW set, a greatest gimmick matches set and 3-disc sets for the following wrestlers - Jerry Lawler, Big Show, Terry Funk, Chris Jericho and Ricky Steamboat.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Official Match Listing, January 30, 2009
Disc 1
Tazz - Introduction
Shawn Michaels
From the Smallest Champion to the Largest
Yokozuna
Samoan Culture
The Rock
Drawing the Casual Fan
Women of the 90s
Tough and Sexy
Kevin Nash
Battle for Superstardom
Owen Hart
Fun Filled Memories
Ric Flair
Infamous Figure
Mick Foley
The Quest for Success
Not So Great Stars of the 90s
The Reinvention
Hulk Hogan
Attitude and Controversy
Triple H
Technical Savvy
Bret Hart
Pop Culture Phenomenon
Vince McMahon / Eric Bischoff / Paul Heyman
The Total Package
Lex Luger
The IT Factor
Sting
The Bad Guy
Razor Ramon
Respect
The Undertaker
A Rebel
Stone Cold Steve Austin
Tazz - Close
Extras
* Razor Ramon - Restaurant Vignette
July 11, 1992
* The Undertaker Builds a Coffin for Yokozuna
December 1993
* Bret Hart - New Generation Vignette
July 1994
* Owen Hart Inside a Steel Cage
August 20, 1994
* Shawn Michaels Press Conference Before WrestleMania XI
February 28, 1995
* Hunter Hearst Helmsley - "Riff Raff"
April 15, 1995
* Mankind - "And God Created Mankind"
January 6, 1996
* Scott Hall & Kevin Nash N.W.O. Vignette
August 19, 1996
* The Hart Foundation Reunites
March 31, 1997
* D-Generation X Reenacts the Montreal Incident
November 24, 1997
* The Rock Reads Steve Austin's Eulogy
April 19, 1999
* Steve Austin remembers the Shockmaster
Disc 2
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan
Madison Square Garden - November 30, 1991
WWE Championship Match
Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
Survivor Series - November 25, 1992
WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna
King of the Ring - June 13, 1993
Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart
WrestleMania X - March 20, 1994
Intercontinental Championship Match
Diesel vs. Razor Ramon
Superstars - April 13, 1994
International World Heavyweight Championship Match
Sting vs. Vader
Slamboree - May 22, 1994
WWE Championship Match
Bret Hart vs. Diesel
Royal Rumble - January 22, 1995
WWE Women's Championship Match
Alundra Blayze vs. Bull Nakano
Monday Night Raw - April 3, 1995
Disc 3
Triple Header Match
Shawn Michaels & Diesel vs. Yokozuna & British Bulldog
In Your House - September 24, 1995
#1 Contender Match
Owen Hart vs. Shawn Michaels
In Your House - February 18, 1996
WWE Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Vader
SummerSlam - August 18, 1996
Steel Cage Match
Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
SummerSlam - August 3, 1997
WCW Championship Match
Lex Luger vs. Hulk Hogan
Monday Nitro - August 4, 1997
WWE Championship Match
Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker
SummerSlam - August 30, 1998
United States Championship Match
Sting vs. Bret Hart
Halloween Havoc - October 25, 1998
Strap Match
Triple H vs. The Rock
Fully Loaded - July 25, 1999
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Era Butchered With the New PG Ratting., May 16, 2009
The 90's was probably the greatest wrestling era due to the sever competition that made the writers and performers to out do them selves.
But let's face it after The Monday Night Wars there was no real competition for The WWE and TNA doesn't have the right tools and resources to compete at the same level of the old WCW.
So what's the best business logic for the WWE ... appeal to even a larger segment of audience by reintroducing The PG era again makes since right; while I do respect the company's business logic I don't like the method that they are applying it.
History is history regardless if it was good or bad however the WWE is being so protective of their new PG ratting that they are trying to rewrite their own history!
In this DVD The Rock's classical phrase of taking an object and shining it real nice turning it sideways ...ect wasn't even mentioned, Austin finger gesture is blurred , while if someone bleeds the screen turns into gray shades of black and white ... and so on with the censoring.
Older students of the game will know what I'm talking about and will be disappointed with this new product and if this is an indication of what's the future DVD releases of retro materials will be like then God help us all.
For the new generation of fans note that I won't talk on who should or shouldn't be on this list due to being subjective however the DVD presentation it self is not appealing cramming so many wrestlers into just one DVD set makes the experience unenjoyable just when you get into a wrestler the clip ends just like that ... not as good as a Documentary as WWE Greatest Wrestlers of The 80's which had fewer wrestlers but at least gave each and every one the rightful amount of time.
The other Two DVD's features matches however I won't call them as the greatest 90's matches I'll say good but not great, and if you own other WWE Greatest or Best DVD Collection then you probably have seen most of them.
Bottom-line this DVD doesn't appeal to either old or new generation of fans and I hope this would be a wakeup call for the WWE otherwise the integrity of the product will be destroyed and pro-wrestling fans will be left with an empty feeling inside.
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