Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Match Listing for "History of the World Heavyweight Championship" DVD, October 30, 2009
This is the match listings for the upcoming WWE "History of the World Heavyweight Championship" DVD:
Disc 1: Documentary & NWA Matches
Chapters:
*Origins of Wrestling
*"An American Hero" Frank Gotch
*Ed "Strangler" Lewis
*National Wrestling Alliance
*Lou Thesz
*Buddy Rogers
*New Breed of Champions
*1970s World Champions
*A Flair for the Gold
*Crockett's World Champion
*NWA to WCW
*WCW Withdraws From NWA
*Revolving WCW Champions
*The Undisputed Championship*World Championship Returns
*Legacy Lives
Matches
*Chicago 1961 - 2 out of 3 Falls: Pat O'Connor vs. Buddy Rogers
*Florida 2/11/69 - Gene Kiniski vs. Dory Funk Jr.
*Florida 12/10/75 - Jack Brisco vs. Terry Funk
*Florida 8/21/79 - Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes
*AWA SuperClash - Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA
*Great American Bash '90 - Ric Flair vs. Sting
Disc 2 - WCW
*Clash of Champions XIV - Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner
*Great American Bash '91 - Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham
*Baltimore 8/2/92 - Vader vs. Ron Simmons
*WCW SaturdayNight 10/16/93 - Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat
*Halloween Havoc '94 - Career vs. Career Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
*SuperBrawl VIII - Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
*Nitro 7/6/98 - Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg
*Bash at the Beach '00 - Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T
*No Mercy '01 - The Rock vs. Chris Jericho
Disc 3 - WWE
*Unforgiven '02 - Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam
*Taboo Tuesday '04 - Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels
*No Way Out '06 - Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker
*SmackDown 4/7/06 - Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton
*Armageddon '07 - Batista vs. Undertaker vs. Edge
*Survivor Series '08 - John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
*Extreme Rules '09 - Ladder Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
 
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Over 100 Years Of History Behind One Championship, January 2, 2010
You can call it the NWA Championship, the WCW Championship, and depending on what show it's on...you can call it the RAW/SmackDown Championship but either way, this belt was always the World Heavyweight Championship. This presentation is different than any other "History Of..." DVD set regarding a championship in that you get a documentry highlighting the history of the championship complete with rare archival footage & facts along with three disc of matches highlighting the championships history through it's top three promotions in NWA, WCW, and WWE. Throughout the documentry, you'll hear from current WWE talent/employees such as John Cena, Batista, Edge, C.M. Punk, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton, Triple H, Big Show, Chris Jericho, Ricky Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, and Jim Ross. The special treat is that you'll also hear from people that you normally don't hear from (including some archival interviews) like the former NWA President Bob Sigel, Bill Watts, Mae Young, Larry Hennig, Jim Crockett, Lou Thesz, Jack Brisco, Mike Chapman who is the head of the International Wrestling Institute & Museum, Verne Gagne, Fabulous Moolah, Bobby Heenan, Gene Kiniski, Cheif Jay Strongbow, Dory & Terry Funk, Mike Graham, Goldberg, Jim Cornette, Eric Bischoff, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Ron Simmons, and of course Ric Flair.
The documentry starts off talking about how far back wrestling goes to the point where it's mentioned in the Bible to former U.S. President Abe Lincoln was once a wrestler to the first World Champion in Frank Hackenschmidt. "The American Hero" Frank Gotch was talked about next including stories about how he would wrestle for over 2 hours & was the man who inspired wrestling to be taught in high schools & YMCA's. The championship reign of Ed "The Strangler" Lewis was highlighted by stories of how he was a celebrity in the 1920's and even once wrestled a match that went over 5 hours long (yes, 5 hours...300+ minutes!) that resulted in referees passing out, no audience by the time the match was over, him in the hospitial for two days, and how that started to change the perspective of wrestling at that time into what we would know today as "sports entertainment". The story behind the formation of the National Wrestling Alliance was discussed before going into the great Lou Thesz' record long NWA Championship reign, how he carried himself as a champion, and just how much of a celebrity he was. Buddy Rogers, the original "Nature Boy", and how he set a record for his title victory & what he brought to wrestling that changed the image of what a World Champion was is talked about before discussing the next series of champions & stories about their championship reigns like Gene Kiniski with a funny story of how he lost the championship, the tough Harley Race, Jack Brisco becoming the first Native American NWA Champion & the heavy toll being the champion took on him, and the only brothers to hold the championship in Dory Jr. & Terry Funk. How Starrcade '83 marked a new era in the history of the NWA with Ric Flair becoming champion was discussed next talking about how Flair was in high demand everywhere & his feuds with Dusty Rhodes & Ricky Steamboat before going into the story behind how Jim Crockett Promotions going bankrupt led to Ric Flair showing up on WWE TV with the championship. From there, the talk goes into the various champions during WCW's history such as Ron Simmons being the first African American champion, the big & agile Vader (listen to Jericho's comments about Vader), and WCW's posterboy in Sting. How the Monday Night War with WWE caused the WCW Championship to have more requent changes with some being more dubious than others (Vince Russo, David Arquette, Sid Vicious, Jeff Jarrett) before discussing various WCW Champions during that time like Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Giant winning the title in his first match, how Diamond Dallas Page felt like he was winning the Oscar, Goldberg, and Booker T closing out the company as champion. The story behind the WCW Championship coming to WWE and later being unified into the Undisputed WWE Championship is discussed before closing out the documentry talking about Eric Bischoff bringing the World Heavyweight Championship back and highlighting the various champions in the WWE era such as Randy Orton being the youngest champion, Mysterio being the smallest, C.M. Punk, Edge, Batista, Undertaker, and John Cena.
Matches Include:
NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Magnum T.A. - This was a very competitive match that went back & forth between both men with Magnum overpowering & outwrestilng Flair early before Flair regained the advantage & heavily worked over his arm. Flair ended up bleeding at one point before just squeeking past Magnum.
AWA SuperClash '85
NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Sting - This was the big return of Sting after his leg injury early in the year looking for revenge against the man who kicked him out of the Horsemen & had him get injured later that night. To insure a fair fight, Sting's group of friends called "Dudes With Attitudes" surrounded the ring to ensure the Horsemen wouldn't interfere while Ole Anderson was handcuffed on the rampway to El Gigante. Sting took the fight right to Flair & dominated him in the early going showing no signs of ringrust. Eventhough Flair heavily targeted his knee, Sting kept coming back & fighting off Flair's attack before Sting won his first ever World Championship.
NWA Great American Bash '91
(Bonus match on "WWE Great American Bash '06")
NWA Champion Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner - Over seven years before he became a full time singles wrestler under the name "Big Poppa Pump", Scott Steiner got a one on one match here against the Nature Boy & seriously didn't look out of place one time eventhough he was a full time tag team wrestler with Rick, who was at ringside, at this time. Steiner kept using his superior power against Flair and went the distance here against the champion in this heavily impressive performance.
"WCW Clash Of The Champions" Jan. '91
WCW Championship Match: Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham - This was one of the most famous matches in the history of the World Heavyweight Championship...for all the wrong reasons. This match was to determine the new WCW Champion after Ric Flair left the company a short time earlier and the crowd didn't approve of this as they kept chanting throughout this match "We Want Flair!" There was tons of stalling between both men during the first half of the match and never left first gear until the end with Luger doing unfamilar moves like the DDT & a sleeper while both men tried to come off the top rope at one point. In the end, Luger left with not only the World Championship but also a new unexpected manager & bodyguard.
WCW Great American Bash '91
WCW Champion Vader vs. Ron Simmons - The story behind this match was that this was originally suppost to be Sting's rematch against Vader from the "Great American Bash" but after Sting was attacked by Jake Roberts earlier in the evening, Ron Simmons got the title shot. Simmons in this match was defined perfectly by Jim Ross, "going off power & determination." He went power for power against Vader resulting in the first ever african-american World Heavyweight Champion.
Aug. '92
Human Cage Match: WCW Champion Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat - Eventhough this match was given a fancy name, it's really just a lumberjack match. Steamboat & Vader's different styles clashed her as Vader used his power & weight while Steamboat heavily relied on his martial arts chops & kicks along with various splashes onto Vader's ribs. This was a really average match that wasn't bad but nothing I would honestly concider DVD worthy when showcasing the history of this championship.
"WCW Saturday Night" Oct. '93
Steel Cage Match: WCW Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair - This was the third match in their series as Hogan won at Bash At The Beach while Flair won the rematch at "Clash Of The Champions" by countout so to ensure this was the final match, this was also a career ending match for the loser. Mr. T was the referee while celebrities like Muhammed Ali & Tommy "Hitman" Herns were at ringside along with Sting. Flair worked over Hogan's bad leg while Hogan came off very aggressive to the point where T had to keep acknowledging Hogan to back off which kept causing conflict between those two men. This got real wild in the end with Sherri, Sting, Jimmy Hart, a masked man, and handcuffs all got involved in the match before Hogan overcame the odds to retain the championship. As a side note, the part where the masked man was revealed to be Brutus Beefcake is not shown here.
WCW Halloween Havoc '94
WCW Championship Match: Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan - After the controversal ending of the more famous Starrcade match between these two and the rematch they had the next night on Nitro, this was the match to determine the vacant WCW Champion with the rules heavily relaxed as this was set to be one fall to a finish. This was a very aggressive fight as Hogan was cheating (including using his weightbelt as a weapon) & kept bad mouthing Sting before Sting came back & got his reciepts with the weightbelt. As expected, the nWo members did make an appearence but it was one specific member who would be the difference maker in this match helping WCW gain their championship back & had their own spray painted celebration.
WCW SuperBrawl VII
WCW Champion Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg - This was more about putting Goldberg over as WCW's "superhero" & top star more than anything else as Hogan threw everything he could at Goldberg by either wrestling him & resorting to cheating only for Goldberg to not be effected by it & keep coming back dominating his way to the WCW Championship. With cameos from...
Read more ›
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good but could have been better, December 14, 2009
I think this dvd covers the history of wrestling in the United States and the world heavyweight championship quite well but it does have its short-comings. I wouldn't say the documentary was biased in the same way Monday Night War or WCW dvds were but it did omit a number of not-so-pleasant issues and times in history.
Hang on, this is going to be a long review.
Documentary
The documentary starts off with the history or origins of wrestling, even quoting the Bible. The first so-called world champion was, as everyone is aware of, George Hackenschmidt from Estonia. However, the documentary allocates more time on Frank Gotch, the American Hero. It does not mention that fact that in the 1908 match between Hackenschmidt and Gotch, Gotch was accused of putting on body oil and that right before the 1911 rematch, Gotch paid Hackenschmidt's sparring partner 5,000 dollars to injure Hackenschmidt. This led to the downfall of wrestling in the 1910s.
The documentary moves onto Ed Lewis and Joe Stecher whose 1916 match lasted for 5 hours, only to be stopped by the 5th referee. Then, it takes a leap to the 1948 National Wrestling Alliance, omitting the Goldust Trio in the 1930s who brought the rise and fall of wrestling in the '20s and '30s.
I could understand how the National Wrestling Association was not mentioned at all.
Then again, it leave the '50s and '60's out where Thesz left NWA which led to the breaking up NWA into the original NWA, WWA, Boston, Ohama and AWA. Obviously, it does not address the relationship between the current WWE and NWA of how they kept switching from being separated to being merged.
For obvious reasons, the fact that Giant Bubba is a three-time NWA champion by puchasing it, yes he paid the NWA, from the NWA for a week at a time is not mentioned at all.
The documentary covers the period of Jim Crockett Promotion and WCW well but much of it was covered in WCW, Monday Night War, Ric Flair dvds.
Matches
*Chicago 1961 - 2 out of 3 Falls: Pat O'Connor vs. Buddy Rogers
The only black and white, and 2 out of 3 falls match in the dvd. It's a treasure. To my knowledge, this is the first time any match of O'Conor or Rogers has been released by WWE.
*Florida 2/11/69 - Gene Kiniski vs. Dory Funk Jr.
A historic match except this had been edited to 3 minutes. I don't know whether the 3 minutes was all WWE had or it had been hacked intentionally.
*Florida 12/10/75 - Jack Brisco vs. Terry Funk
Another historic match except the match picks up from the 20 minute mark, leaving us with only 8 minutes. Again, I have no idea whether this had been intentional.
*Florida 8/21/79 - Harley Race vs. Dusty Rhodes
As much as Rhodes was extremely popular in Florida, he was nothing more than a transitional champion on every occasion. Rhodes won his first championship here but lost it back to Race only 5 days later. His other two reigns lasted only 88 and 14 days respectively. Rhodes does deserve all the credit in the world, but his ring ability was no where near that of Race or Flair who were simply better suited for the job as the NWA champion who had to wrestle a different wrestler every day.
Again, this match had been 'edited' (was this all they had?) to only 4 minutes with Rhodes doing his own commentary.
*AWA SuperClash - Ric Flair vs. Magnum TA
This was a standard match. I guess SuperClash does have its place in history as 'the last dying efforts of dying organizations' but nothing more.
*Great American Bash '90 - Ric Flair vs. Sting
This was supposed to be 'passing of the torch' but Sting could not replace Flair in the same way Ultimate Warrior could not replace Hogan in 1990. Notice the similar timings of 1990 WrestleMania and Great American Bash where the so-called passing of the torch took place in two orginazations?
I would have preferred to see more NWA matches including the Thesz matches. The 1963 match between Thesz and Rogers was where the famous expression 'We could do this the easy way or the hard way' came into existence. Rogers could not outwrestle 47-year-old Thesz.
Disc 2 - WCW
*Clash of Champions XIV - Ric Flair vs. Scott Steiner
Again another standard match. The only thing this match is worth watch for is that Steiner could actually wrestle then. I hated his matches after he develeoped the 'largest forearms in the world'.
*Great American Bash '91 - Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham
All this match symbolized was that the crowd wanted Flair. The match was terrible and people kept chanting 'We want Flair!'.
*Baltimore 8/2/92 - Vader vs. Ron Simmons
A meaningful match as Simmons became the first African-American wrestler to become the world champion, paving the way for Booker T, the Rock and many more.
*WCW SaturdayNight 10/16/93 - Vader vs. Ricky Steamboat
This was a squash match as Steamboat had to make the Vader look like an invicinble monster.
*Halloween Havoc '94 - Career vs. Career Steel Cage Match: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair
This was much better than their Bash at the Beach match. But, really I am tired of 'career' matches when they come back within a year every time after healing their injuries.
*SuperBrawl VIII - Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan
This was Sting's second championship win over Hogan. Sting worked his butt off to work with Hogan but with Hogan, it's always difficult.
*Nitro 7/6/98 - Hollywood Hogan vs. Goldberg
The only match that had been previously released. I liked this version much more than the Monday Night War dvd version since this one had the long entrance and exit included.
*Bash at the Beach '00 - Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T
The documentary called Jarrett and Russo dubious champions but then why include a Jarrett match? I suppoed the Bash at the Beach 2000 does have its own historical importance as Jarrett laid down for Hogan (a work), then Russo fired Hogan immediately (a shoot, according to Hogan and Bischoff). If they put this one for that historic significance, then why not put in that segment as well?
*No Mercy '01 - The Rock vs. Chris Jericho
You could audibly hear that the crowd was divided. The Rock is much better as a heel and people preferred it that way.
Disc 3 - WWE
*Unforgiven '02 - Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam
Triple H was so dominant during this era but really, did RVD deserve to wait another 4 years to become a world champion?
*Taboo Tuesday '04 - Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels
The injured leg of Michaels angle took away the wrestling out of the match. Did they choose this one because all the other post-2002 Triple H/Michaels matches had been released on other dvds?
*No Way Out '06 - Kurt Angle vs. The Undertaker
The best match of disc 3. Angle wanted to wrestle the Undertaker at WrestleMania since WrestleMania 20 and I could see why. This match should have been the main event at WrestleMania 22 instead of Angle/Orton/Mysterio match (we all knew Mysterio was going to pin Orton to win) or Cena/Triple H match (Am I the only one who is tired of Cena/Triple H feud where no good wrestling match ever comes out of?).
*SmackDown 4/7/06 - Rey Mysterio vs. Randy Orton
Any match of Benoit as the champion would have been better but since they decided to treat Benoit as if he never existed, they replaced it with this regular TV material match.
*Armageddon '07 - Batista vs. Undertaker vs. Edge
All previous encounters of Batista vs. Undertaker outshined this one by a large margin. Then of course, most of them had been released on other dvds, so they had to settle for the worst. I like Edge as the ultimate opportunist angle but this one ruined the match.
*Survivor Series '08 - John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
A rare time where I give any credit to Cena for his wrestling ability. Then, Jericho deserved more credit for bringing that out of Cena.
*Extreme Rules '09 - Ladder Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge
I guess Hardy and Edge wanted to show the audience something different from their previous matches as tag teams. Nice efforts but not quite.
Overall, I would have loved to see more old NWA matches. I know they are just sleeping there inside the WWE library and I have no idea what they are going do with them, or even have any plans of using them at all. I noticed they plan to relased a dvd on Johnny Nitro and the Shawn Michaels' 25 Greatest Matches. How about the Best 25 NWA matches before 1988?
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews
|
DVD ~ Kurt Angle
DVD ~ André the Giant
DVD ~ Artist Not Provided
DVD ~ Jeff Hardy
DVD ~ John Cena
on IMDb.com 
