John Cena: Word Life

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 186 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: July 19 2004

It's hard to imagine now, but there was a time when John Cena was the coolest cat in WWE with adult fans, particularly males, lapping up his every word. Yes, in 2003 and 2004, Cena was cooler than the other side of the pillow (Family Guy reference) and a real rising star, which is why WWE released this DVD of Cena prior to his permanent main event ascension.

Unlike most profile DVDs of the era, though, Word Life is based solely on showcasing Cena's rap promos. They would generally involve insults towards whomever is the target of Cena's wrath, a fair amount of swearing (Cena would usually allow the crowd to finish raps with a particularly naughty word) and some sort of references which wouldn't be acceptable in 2016 (although they shouldn't have been then either, if you think about it). In between are some in-character clips of Cena hanging out with friends and discussing aspects of what, admittedly, was a fairly short career at that point.

I'm not going to judge each rap one-by-one, because that would be silly. What I would say is that the content of Cena's raps would usually generate a big reaction from the fans, especially when the lyrics were a bit risqué, but to watch 15-20 or more in a row does mean that they lose their impact from a viewer's point of view. Certain people hated this DVD at the time for that very reason, and it does become repetitive, but there's no denying that if Cena were to go back down this direction in the modern WWE, fans would love it (as they did during his brief "throwback" raps in 2011 and 2012 when feuding with The Rock).

There are five matches included as DVD extras, which is the opposite to the usual WWE formula of a match-based DVD with bonus segments (of which there are some on this release, actually). Those scraps all come from 2003, meaning that Cena wasn't the polished performer that he would later become, but they are still entertaining on the whole. The biggest matches here see Cena face a pre-UFC Brock Lesnar at Backlash in a fairly disappointing battle and Kurt Angle in a great match from No Mercy. Of the other bouts, all from SmackDown, we see Cena take on Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and The Undertaker; surprisingly, the clash with Taker is probably the least entertaining of the three television matches, although I'm confident that if Cena and Undertaker do battle at WrestleMania next year, it will be a far better and more exciting affair.

Whether you enjoy this DVD or not depends on how much you like watching John Cena, or more accurately the "rapper" version of Cena. If you don't care for Cena then you'll obviously hate this release, but even die-hard Cena fans will have preferred a match-and-promo running order, because the main feature being based entirely on promos becomes a bit boring after a while, regardless of the occasionally controversial comments made on the mic by Cena. If you find it cheap somewhere, it's a decent watch, so long as you avoid the embarrassing and out-of-character promo Cena has to cut on Stephanie McMahon which makes him look like a goof, in an early sign of how shows would be booked to undermine talent in order for Stephanie to shine.

But as alluded to earlier, perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the DVD is that, at the time, Cena was as hot as any WWE star and was often the reason why a lot of older fans wanted to watch WWE television. How times would change. If you want to relive a time when Cena had a cool and relatable gimmick, you may wish to watch this DVD, but it is definitely far from a classic release from the Ruthless Aggression era.

Overall Rating: 5/10 - Average

The Best Of WCW Clash Of The Champions

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 393 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: August 6 2012

Clash Of The Champions was the WCW equivalent of Saturday Night's Main Event. COTC was a major television special held a few times per year, showcasing top talent and major main event matches outside of the Pay-Per-View events like Starrcade and The Great American Bash. The difference between Clash and SNME was that the NWA/WCW roster was more inclined to go out and put on a great wrestling match compared to the more entertainment-based action (which I was a huge fan of at the time, by the way) you would find on SNME. Over time, the Clash would reduce in importance, but it was a key WCW occasion for many years.

This DVD, hosted by Dusty Rhodes, showcased more than two dozen of the most memorable Clash matches from its 35 specials, spanning 1988-1997. It's not a factor worth mentioning nowadays, but the DVD was delayed by several weeks in the UK due to apparent issues between Silver Vision and WWE. Whatever difficulties the two parties had must have been significant, because this would be the final year that Silver Vision distributed WWE DVDs for the European market; from January 1 2013, that task went to Fremantle Media.

Anyway, back to the review. Perhaps the most famous Clash bout is the main event of Clash #1, which opens this DVD: Ric Flair vs. Sting is a 45-minute classic (by the standards of the time, anyway), which automatically elevated the less experienced opponent and ensured that fans viewed him as a future World Champion. This was more crucial by the fact that Clash was conceived as a way to compete with the WWF: Clash was broadcast on the same night and at the same time as WrestleMania IV, and not only drew a high rating, but had a knock-on effect on the WM IV buy rate (I should mention that the WWF had already launched Survivor Series on PPV and the original Royal Rumble television special to compete with NWA PPVs Starrcade 1987 and Bunkhouse Stampede 1988, so this was a reaction rather than a new competitive direction by the NWA).

From the same Clash, we get a Tag Team Title bout between Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard and the combo of Lex Luger and Barry Windham. This and the subsequent Arn/Tully vs. Sting/Dusty match from Clash II illustrate how good a team Anderson and Blanchard were; think of the Revival on NXT today, and you'll find the blueprint set by Arn and Tully. After that, we get a fairly short Chain match between Ricky Morton and Nikita Koloff from Clash III, which has some eventful post-match shenanigans.

Strangely, the classic Flair-Ricky Steamboat 2 Out Of 3 Falls match from Clash VI is not here (the Flair-Sting opener does take up a chunk of disc one, admittedly, so a second lengthy bout may not be ideal, even though longtime fans of Clash will have been more than accustomed to long matches), so we jump ahead to a great Flair-Terry Funk I Quit match from Clash IX, rounding off what Ric's fans consider to be his greatest year ever in the ring. After that, we go to 1990 for a double-header to round off disc one: we get a brief match from Clash X between Mil Mascaras and Cactus Jack Manson, during which Cactus takes a sickening fall that sees the back of his head bounce off the concrete floor (read Foley's first book Have A Nice Day! for an interesting account of the details behind this contest), and a tag match pitting The Rock 'N' Roll Express and The Midnight Express from Clash XI, which I found to be disappointing by the standards of this vintage 1980s tag team rivalry due to some occasional, uncharacteristic sloppiness. (Incidentally, can you believe that the decade began with Rock 'N' Roll vs. Midnight and ended with Edge & Christian vs. The Hardyz? Wrestling changed so much in the 1990s.)

Disc two starts strong with a Lex Luger-Ric Flair match from 1990's Clash XII, with Flair unusually challenging for the United States crown. Both WCW and the Clash would take a dip in quality over the next few months, under the management of Jim Herd, and that comes across on this DVD: The Young Pistols and Tom Zenk against The Fabulous Freebirds from Clash XV in 1991 is alright but can't hold a candle to earlier matches here and has a contrived finish. The subsequent Battle Royal from Clash XVI, whilst a change in pace from other matches on this release, is even worse: there are notable botches, and some of the characters included are so bad that they actually made me laugh out loud when they were introduced. (Of note, Kevin Nash makes an appearance as Oz, a character that you should Google if you're unfamiliar with it; we also get one of Steve Austin's earliest WCW cameos.) Sting vs. Rick Rude from Clash XVII, which also appeared on the recent United States Title DVD, is better but doesn't last very long and is more of an angle than a match.

I can't clarify this because I wasn't regularly watching WCW at the time, but it appears that 1992 must have sucked for Clash Of The Champions (which is saying something based on the 1991 bouts that did make it in), because we have to wait more than 18 months for our next match, although thankfully the quality rises again with said match, a Two Out Of Three Falls match between The Hollywood Blondes and the combo of Ric Flair and Arn Anderson from Clash XXIII in June 1993. Flair is unbelievably over here, and the action is very good; not sure why the Blondes lost in two straight falls, even if the latter was on a disqualification, but that's WCW for you, I guess. The Blondes would be forced to split soon afterwards, to their genuine dismay, leading to the next match on the DVD, Steve Austin vs. Brian Pillman from Clash XXV. Disc two ends with two matches from Clash XXVI, held in January 1994: Lord Steven Regal vs. Dustin Rhodes for the Television Title and Sting/Ric Flair vs. Vader/Rick Rude. Bobby Heenan debuted as a WCW commentator on this Clash show, and he comes out with some priceless one-liners during both of these matches, especially during Regal vs. Rhodes.

The seeds of the new WCW were planted at Clash XXVII in June 1994 as Hulk Hogan made his first appearance in a WCW arena (to heavy boos, by the way). That segment isn't here, but disc three does kick off with Sting vs. Flair from the same show, which sets up Hogan confronting Slic Ric in the post-match. After a strong Austin-Ricky Steamboat match from Clash XXXII (which I believe was the match where Steamboat suffered a back injury that ended his career, save for a few appearances in 2009), we once again have a long wait for the next action, which comes from Hogan and Randy Savage taking on Flair and The Giant at Clash XXXII in January 1996. Yes, WCW had now changed a lot, but the biggest change was the introduction of Nitro four months prior. As a result, the Clash no longer held great significance, since Nitro was far more of a priority; for instance, the night before this particular Clash, in the same arena (MGM Grand in Las Vegas), Savage actually beat Flair to win the WCW World Title on Nitro. And yet this show was called Clash Of The Champions, so wouldn't you think ... never mind.

WCW had changed even more by August 1996, due to Hogan's stunning heel turn and the official formation of the nWo at Bash At The Beach the previous month. So, there's a weird vibe to Clash XXXIII as fans are adjusting - yet remain incredibly excited - about the new direction for the company. Strangely, whilst Hogan's contribution to that particular Clash is a DVD extra, three other matches from the same Clash are instead in the main feature: a short Madusa-Bull Nakano bout, an enjoyable yet also brief Diamond Dallas Page-Eddie Guerrero showdown and an intriguing yet confusing three-way tag between Harlem Heat, The Steiners and the team of Sting and Luger (which was a few weeks before Sting temporarily left WCW, only to return as the mysterious Crow character).

After that, we have a great Cruiserweight Title match between Ultimo Dragon and Dean Malenko from Clash XXXIV in January 1997; unlike many Cruiser matches from this era, the fans are well up for it, and go insane when fan favourite Malenko comes out on top. Nevertheless, the Clash felt as insignificant as ever since more would happen on a typical episode of Nitro than all of the year's Clashes combined by this point. This probably explains why Clash XXXV in August 1997 was the final edition, and we get two matches from the last Clash to close this DVD: a good Eddie Guerrero-Chris Jericho showdown and a decent DDP/Luger vs. Savage/Scott Hall tag match, followed by a belated birthday celebration for the nWo which ends with Sting looking on at the new World order whilst holding a vulture. What a weird end to the history of the Clash, especially since it appears that alternate audio is dubbed over this moment (that Sting's real nemesis Hogan wasn't present at the Clash for this angle emphasises how COTC was not at the top of WCW's to-do list by the summer of '97). It would be a lie to say that fans really missed the Clash when it went off the air because Nitro had taken the Clash formula (major matches and big angles on free television) and delivered more excitement than ever for WCW fans, every single week. But it's telling that in August 1997, WCW could afford to drop the Clash, and yet by August 1998, it was consistently losing the Monday Night War to the WWF, and just over 2 ½ years later, the company was a goner.

As mentioned earlier, Hogan's match from Clash XXXIII is here as a DVD extra, as he defends the WCW Title against Flair. It's weird to see a Flair-Hogan match where Ric plays the babyface and Hogan plays heel, but even weirder is how Hogan still Hulks Up, as if it were 1991 and the match were taking place in Madison Square Garden. This combined with the poor ending makes one wonder how Hogan's matches attracted such high ratings for WCW in 1996/1997, since many of his bouts had similarly frustrating outcomes. The other bonus match is The Midnight Express vs. The Fantastics from the first Clash, which starts as an unhinged brawl that seems years ahead of its time, only to suddenly turn into a regular tag bout. How strange.

Unusually, the two bonus matches on the DVD are different to the extra matches on the Blu-ray version. They are Flair and Barry Windham vs. The Midnight Express from Clash IV, Sting/Steamboat vs. Rude/Austin from Clash XVIII (ah, a 1992 match is in then!) and a Thunder Cage match pitting Dustin Rhodes and Sting against Vader, Mr. Wonderful and Barry Windham from Clash XXII. It's a reason for you to buy both the DVD and the Blu-ray, you see, since to have all the matches in your collection, you would require both (or the WWE Network, which has been launched since this was released and includes every Clash event in their entirety). Oh, those cheeky scamps at WWE.

Summing this one up, longtime fans of the NWA/JCP/WCW will love this DVD; there are plenty of high-quality matches, especially in the 1988-1990 period. The in-ring highlights are less frequent as the Clash goes into the 1990s, but selected Sting matches, DDP vs. Eddie and the Cruiserweight matches towards the end are well worth watching too. Not to mention that two of the most famous Clash matches ever - Flair vs. Sting and Terry Funk from March 1988 and November 1989 respectively - are included. It's a shame that the epic Flair-Steamboat showdown from April 1989 isn't here, and for unintentional comedy value if nothing else, I would have enjoyed reliving the Pillman-Guerrero match from January 1996 due to Bobby Heenan's genuine "What the f--k are you doing?" reaction to Pillman going off-script under his Loose Cannon persona and teasing that he would touch Heenan's legitimately injured neck. (By the way, this is on the Network, and is completely uncensored, despite that show having a PG rating on the Network.) But you can't have everything.

On the down-side, some of the action from the early 1990s is very hard to watch, and several matches on the final disc either have a phoned-in feel to them or they have annoying finishes. Mind you, they both embody their respective eras: the 1991 version of WCW was the pits, if we're being honest, and the mass interference during nWo matches was a big part of their appeal in 1996/7, as strange as it may see today. And since the Clash is (obviously) the subject of this DVD, these particular encounters almost had to be included in order to cover these periods of the Clash's history. Oh, and Jesse Ventura's commentary and Michael Buffer's ring announcements are dubbed over, which becomes bizarre when we can see them actually on-screen (in Buffer's case, we get full-on close-ups during certain ring entrances).

Although the Clash was never as memorable or as meaningful as its counter-part Saturday Night's Main Event, it nevertheless had a major role in the WCW calendar for almost a decade, and during its peak years, it was probably the best wrestling television programme that fans who appreciated the actual art of wrestling could find. Maybe WWE will live up to this legacy with its Clash Of Champions (what happened to the "the"?) PPV event on September 25, which promises several potentially great matches that would have been right at home on a Clash show back in the day, as the old-timers would say.

So, should you buy this DVD? If you have a fondness for WCW or you just want to watch some great 1980s wrestling, then this is a very good DVD to purchase. It isn't the best by any means, due to the quality drop-off on discs two and three, but there's plenty to savour for longtime fans, and it completes the WCW set, so to speak, if you already own the Best-Of compilations for Monday Nitro and Starrcade.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

WWE Best Pay-Per-View Matches 2011

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 422 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: March 26 2012

The Best Pay-Per-View Matches series returned to DVD to cover the big encounters of 2011. This time, the structure was more logical by focusing on the year as a whole rather than a "season". The downside is that WWE chose to release this collection at the tail end of 2011 in the U.S. (meaning, the very beginning of 2012 in the UK), all of which meant that Survivor Series and TLC, the final two supershows of the year, were held too late to be covered in this DVD. This is a trend that has continued ever since, and hopefully one which WWE will end at some point; if you're recapping the year's best matches, you can't justifiably ignore two major shows that close the annum out.

That aside, the 2011 set is a very good round-up of top-drawer matches. Disc one opens with two great Edge matches: a singles battle with Dolph Ziggler from Royal Rumble, and an Elimination Chamber scrap (at the event of the same name) against Rey Mysterio, Kane, Wade Barrett, Drew McIntyre and Big Show. The Chamber bout in particular is excellent, and an example of how this match can still provide thrills and spills in a PG environment.

We head to WrestleMania XXVII for the next two matches: by most accounts, the 27th Mania was disappointing, but Rey vs. Cody Rhodes (featured here) is alright, and The Undertaker vs. Triple H (which closes out the first disc) is an incredibly dramatic battle; yes, it's slow-paced and it's more a collection of spots rather than a back-and-forth match, but it works, and it puts the Streak in the most jeopardy that it would ever be, prior to Brock Lesnar actually ending it three years later.

Disc two kicks off with a Ladder match from Extreme Rules between Christian and Alberto Del Rio for the vacated World Heavyweight Title, which is pretty good if not the most exciting Ladder bout that you'll ever see. Over The Limit is ignored altogether, which is annoying because Randy Orton vs. Christian from that show was one of the year's genuine best WWE matches. Capitol Punishment makes up for this slightly with a really good Rey Mysterio-CM Punk match, at which point the seeds were being sown for a certain wrestler to suddenly become the centre of attention (hint: he's Straight-Edge).

From there, it's off to Money In The Bank, which gives us a strong Raw MITB Ladder match involving Del Rio, Rey, R-Truth, The Miz, Jack Swagger, Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne and Alex Riley (remember him?). I personally would have preferred seeing the SmackDown MITB clash here instead, but it's still really good. And then we head to that card's main event to close disc two: John Cena (in his first appearance of the DVD, surprisingly) vs. CM Punk for the WWE Title, in front of a red-hot Chicago crowd. It isn't quite flawless, but it is an extremely compelling main event backed up by one hell of a storyline (the match is preceded by the promo video detailing the Punk-is-leaving storyline, the only time such a device is used in this particular set). This is one of the two most memorable matches of the year, alongside Taker-HHH, and the match and the wider storyline is a reason why many fans decided to start watching WWE again. If that isn't an endorsement, I don't know what is.

Disc three starts strong with Randy Orton vs. Christian (at last, one of their matches!) under No Holds Barred rules from SummerSlam, which aside from a subsequent Cage match on SmackDown brought an end to what was the year's best rivalry bar none. After that, the match quality begins to dip as we see Mark Henry challenge Orton for the World Heavyweight Title at Night Of Champions; it plays to Henry's strengths (no pun intended), but it's the weakest match of the DVD up to that point. HHH vs. Punk from NOC is here too, and is a very good, wild brawl, although it gets a bit overcrowded with interference and shenanigans, and the result (a HHH win, with no real follow-up) is one of the reasons why Punk would leave WWE for real in 2014.

The standard takes a nose-dive when we get to Hell In A Cell. A generally mediocre event, it gives us two matches, neither of which are particularly worth watching: Kelly Kelly vs. Beth Phoenix, in the days when the word "Diva" was of greater importance to WWE than actual female wrestling talent, is lifeless and loses the crowd when Kelly practically cries due to the pain of a submission hold (what the hell?). Cena vs. Punk vs. ADR is okay, but it's a match held inside a Hell In A Cell rather than a Hell In A Cell match, if that makes sense; although the finish makes use of the structure, this really didn't need to be inside that massive cage. (The post-match scenes involving Awesome Truth are fairly memorable, though.) Lastly, it's Henry vs. Big Show from Vengeance; in fairness to the slow, cumbersome giants, the match is better than expected, and the finish (which I won't spoil here, even if the DVD cover for that actual event did indeed spoil what happened), whilst recycled, allows the DVD to end on a high note of sorts.

Other notes: Scott Stanford provides hosting duties, and the box art looks like it has had some effort put into it this year. Again, I wish WWE would have delayed the release to cover Survivor Series and TLC; TLC had plenty of memorable moments, whilst Survivors saw Punk begin his 434-day WWE Title reign at Alberto's expense, and the teaming of The Rock and John Cena against Miz and R-Truth. Partly because of that decision, one would never know from watching this DVD that Rock vs. Cena was a huge part of the WWE landscape in 2011 as they expertly built very slowly to their WrestleMania XXVIII clash the following year (although Stanford does give a slight reference to that match as the DVD ends).

With the exception of there being no Orton-Christian match from Over The Limit here and the lack of action from the year's final two PPV events, the title of this collection is pretty accurate, as all of the year's most exciting, memorable or important supershow battles are here. Some choose to remember 2011 for Cena vs. Punk at Money In The Bank; for others, it's Undertaker vs. HHH; and a few might remember the less credited matches such as the World Heavyweight Championship clash from Elimination Chamber. Whatever the case may be, this is a thoroughly enjoyable collection of action, which maintains a strong standard across the first two discs and has some surprises, twists and turns during some of the less fondly-remembered matches. If you want to relive WWE in 2011, this is a very good set to watch.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

WWE Best Pay-Per-View Matches 2009/2010

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 356 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: August 16 2010

Considering the importance of major supershows to the WWF/WWE, it's surprising that it took so long for them to begin a regular DVD series focusing on the top PPV battles of a given period. Nevertheless, the first such collection covered the 2009/2010 season, which means Backlash 2009 to WrestleMania XXVI in this case. Future editions of the series would take a more logical route of simply covering the year from January onwards. This meant that some events would be strangely ignored - but we'll cover that in a future review.

Anyway, on this DVD, we kick off with an outstanding Last Man Standing (that sounded weird) clash between John Cena and Edge from Backlash, which was their final major showdown against one another. After that, we go to that card's opening match, a fun Jack Swagger-Christian battle for the ECW Title. Then, we have a Judgment Day main event between Edge and Jeff Hardy which is far better than people give this credit for, and this being so different to the Cena LMS bout, yet with both still being of a high quality, illustrates just how damn good Edge really was. (By the way, many of the matches included here have their corresponding video promo packages shown beforehand, which is a nice touch.)

Extreme Rules is strangely omitted from this collection, but the next match is still a treat: Chris Jericho vs. Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Championship from The Bash is a genuine classic, and has plenty of innovative spots and a clever finish, considering the Mask vs. Title stipulation. Closing disc one is a Six-Pack Challenge from Night Of Champions, where Kofi Kingston and company put on a pretty good effort in the face of what amounted to neglect from the WWE creative team on the Raw side at that time.

Disc two only has four matches, but they're all worth watching. We stay with Night Of Champions for an entertaining Triple Threat clash between Randy Orton, John Cena and Triple H in a rematch from WrestleMania XXIV. That it was held when all combinations of this trio had been overdone to death impacted the good work that went into matches like these (and Orton vs. Cena was only just resuming, as we'll see shortly). SummerSlam gives us two fantastic matches: Rey Mysterio vs. Dolph Ziggler is as good a PPV opener as you'll ever see, and the first sign of Ziggler's true potential, whilst Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk under TLC rules is a great main event featuring another insane Swanton Bomb by Hardy. (Unfortunately, the post-match surprise return of The Undertaker isn't included, which is a shame.) Then, co-host Michael Cole talks absolute b-ll-cks when he suggests that the far too long-winded and largely uneventful Orton vs. Cena feud of 2009 was one of the greatest rivalries of all-time, although their I Quit match included here from Breaking Point is very compelling and was the highlight of their lengthy saga from this particular year.

Disc three begins with DX vs. Legacy inside Hell In A Cell from the event of the same name. Although it's a dramatic affair and tells a logical story, one can't help but feel that all of the good work done by Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase is undone within moments by Triple H and his attempts to prove his superiority (certainly not the first time he has committed such an act). Next up, we have the 14-man clash from Bragging Rights which is okay but nothing more; admittedly, the audience looks stunned by Big Show's betrayal near the end which meant that the match did leave an impact (although it shouldn't have been that big of a surprise; it's the flip-flopping Big Show that we're talking about, after all).

The opening 10-man encounter from Survivor Series 2009 (Team Miz vs. Team Morrison) is an enjoyable showcase of younger talent at a time when such a thing was a rarity in WWE, but it's not exactly the best Survivor Series match ever; it's arguably most memorable for Sheamus accidentally kneeing referee Scott Armstrong in the back of the head, causing Armstrong to be concussed and sit out the remainder of the match (to their credit, the official switch was handled so effectively that few will have noticed, besides WWE replaying the moment of painful contact). Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin for the ECW Title in a Ladder match from TLC is an underrated gem, despite some occasional botches. Some observations on this match: the entire front row of the hard cam-side of the ring appeared to be empty (this was the opening match of that PPV, to be fair), and someone hilariously shouted to the then-bleach blond Benjamin "Your hair looks like you've been stung by a bee!"

The running time must have been a concern for the producers at this point, because as we enter 2010, the only contribution from Royal Rumble is a very short Michelle McCool-Mickie James match, and Elimination Chamber isn't covered at all. So we jump ahead to the final match on the DVD, but it's a belter: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels, the main event of WrestleMania XXVI, Streak vs. Career. Having attended this one live, I can tell you that this was awesome; as a matter of fact, it's one of the greatest matches in WWE history. To follow their outstanding WrestleMania 25 effort with something equally as awesome, and even more dramatic and important (Michaels would never wrestle again, as per the retirement stipulation), makes this a monumental encounter which hasn't been topped in WWE since, and a fitting way to end this collection. Also included are some comments, mostly in-character, about certain matches, and a few extra bouts are thrown in on the Blu-ray.

Some additional notes: the box art seems very generic, as do the menus; they feel as if they were knocked up by somebody on Paint. Surprisingly, John Cena isn't highlighted at all on the cover, unless you count his arm dragging Randy Orton (look at the picture and this will make sense). And whilst the links by hosts Michael Cole and Matt Striker are kept short, they're still a bit annoying, especially the awful dialogue by Cole to try and segue from a Striker practical joke to the comedy provided by DX. Finally, Batista doesn't appear on the main DVD at all (he is included on the Blu-ray), which is weird; sure, he left WWE shortly after this DVD was released, but Jeff Hardy had departed for TNA by this point and he is featured fairly prominently.

Those gripes aside, I felt that this was a really good compilation. If you own all of these events on DVD already, then this will be an unnecessary purchase, but even if you do, it's nice to have most of the season's top matches in one straightforward collection. There are some matches that you could argue deserve to be here, and likewise there are some questionable inclusions. But given the criteria to include a wide range of performers and match types, then this is as good a set as you could expect. And with plenty of memorable matches, not to mention that the DVD ends with a bang, this is a great advertisement for the WWE product from 2009/2010.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

WWE Tagged Classics: Austin 3:16 Uncensored, Three Faces Of Foley,Chris Jericho: Break Down The Walls and Kurt Angle: It's True

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 252 Minutes
Certificate: 18
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: September 17 2012

One of the final entries in Silver Vision's much-loved Tagged Classics series was its most packed release yet, as no less than four retro documentaries, all from the Attitude Era, were brought together on one set. The quality varies between each one, but there's a hell of a lot of entertainment to be found across the quartet of Attitude content.

Beginning with Austin 3:16 Uncensored, this 1998 VHS was the second release on Austin's career, and is based around a sit-down with Jim Ross. Austin is largely in character here, although his kayfabe answers are hardly insulting to one's intelligence. As the title suggests, Austin's language - which includes ass, b--ch, b-----d, bulls--t and one use of motherf--ker - go entirely uncensored, which was actually a selling point in 1998 (and would be in the modern PG climate, to be fair). The hour-long feature only recaps Austin's adventures from the first four months of 1998, but this does include his pre-Royal Rumble Stunners on much of the roster, his Rumble win, his confrontations with Mike Tyson, his showing in the eight-man tag at No Way Out Of Texas, his first WWF Title win at WrestleMania XIV and his clash with Dude Love from Unforgiven of that year.

This is a really entertaining profile of Stone Cold during part of his peak on top of a red-hot WWF. The downside is the short timeline; had this extended to cover Over The Edge (where Austin and Dude had a classic rematch), more of his incredible feud with Vince McMahon, his rivalry with The Undertaker and more, this would have been a fantastic feature. As it is, it's a fun snapshot of Austin's reign atop the WWF, but you would need to watch other Stone Cold features for the full story of his rise to the top and the reason why he became so damn popular. It is fun, though, to hear Austin say partially in character, and probably partially in truth, that he disliked how Shawn Michaels would brag about not laying down for anybody.

Three Faces Of Foley is more comprehensive in showcasing Mick Foley's highlights thus far in the WWF, as of summer 1998. They include Mankind's initial feud with The Undertaker, the in-depth interviews between Mankind and Jim Ross from 1997, Dude Love teaming with Austin in the summer of 1997, Cactus Jack's WWF debut against Hunter Hearst Helmsley and the infamous Hell In A Cell war with The Undertaker from King Of The Ring 1998.

Foley explains each situation out of character in a conversational manner to The Hardy Boyz, who at that point had yet to make their mark in the WWF. There's also trivia notes and funny stories, such as one from Ric Flair's 40th birthday party (Foley jokes how Flair was already 40 back then, which would have been 1989). There's also clips from the brutal King Of The Death Matches tournament, which Cactus participated in (and won) in Japan in 1995.

The Foley feature is a good one, but even better is the Chris Jericho documentary, Break Down The Walls. An early example of the in-depth career retrospectives that are now a WWF/WWE trademark, this covers Jericho's first year with the company in great detail: his iconic debut in August 1999 (and the story behind his Millennium Clock), his Jerichoholics, his feud with Chyna, his battles with Chris Benoit and his great matches opposite Triple H from 2000. As well as comments from other wrestlers (such as The Rock, Edge and Christian and Triple H), we get a brief history of his pre-WWF adventures (although references to his WCW run are omitted), a tour of his house and a feature on his band Fozzy (at this point, Jericho was maintaining the gag that he had Fozzy frontman Moongoose McQueen were different people, despite the obvious similarities).

This is an excellent documentary for Jerichoholics, and is good enough that it would probably convert non-fans into Jerichoholics. Fortunately for Chris, his star would only continue to rise in the future, and many years later, we would get an even better documentary on Jericho's career in 2010 (Breaking The Code).

Lastly, It's True focuses on Kurt Angle's first year in the WWF. We see his introductory vignettes, his debut against Shawn Stasiak from Survivor Series 1999, his European and Intercontinental Title wins, his 2000 King Of The Ring triumph, his love triangle storyline with Triple H and Stephanie McMahon and his first WWF Title win over The Rock at No Mercy 2000.

Unfortunately, this is the weakest of the four features here, because it's produced from an in-character standpoint. Angle maintains his on-screen persona rather than acting normal, and the contributors maintain that he's arrogant, unlikeable, nerdy etc. A few minutes of this approach may have been sufficient, but a full hour is too much; and whereas Austin's real-life character mirrored his on-screen persona (making the kayfabe approach more acceptable for his feature), Angle on TV and Angle off TV are (mostly) very different. This is still enjoyable, but not as much as the other profiles on this set. Making matters worse, the WWF/WWE has yet to release another Angle compilation (although TNA did release Kurt Angle: Champion in 2008).

Overall, though, this four-part Tagged Classic is a great trek through the Attitude Era, and at times a fascinating glimpse into how much the WWF/WWE, and their home video/DVD releases, have changed since 1998-2000. If WWE ever allows John Cena to say "motherf--ker" completely uncensored on a future DVD, I will be very surprised (but totally amused, nonetheless). If you loved the Attitude Era, you'll really enjoy this two-disc set.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

Undertaker 15-0

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 183 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: March 17 2008

The undefeated WrestleMania Streak of The Undertaker was truly legendary. Before Brock Lesnar ended it after Mania XXX, the record had turned into one of the true highlights of each WrestleMania, mainly due to the outstanding performances by Undertaker and his opponent. In 2012, WWE released a DVD covering the first twenty matches of the Streak, and the final six matches of that release are almost all classics, illustrating just how vital a part of WM that the Streak was. (You can read my review for the 20-0 DVD by clicking here.)

It's easy to forget, though, that The Streak wasn't always a priority for WWE and, in fact, it wasn't until Taker's 13th Mania match with Randy Orton that the undefeated record was first used as a selling point. Therefore, this DVD, the first on Taker's then-perfect WM record, charts his first fifteen battles on the grand stage, and the combination of the reduced importance on his winning run for so many years and the limitations of the original Undertaker character's ring style, not to mention his generally large and cumbersome opponents, make this less of a guilty pleasure than 20-0.

Beginning with a near-squash win over Jimmy Snuka at WrestleMania VII, the second bout against Jake Roberts from WM VIII is alright, though by no means a classic. (There's a story behind that match: Jake really wanted to leave the WWF and Vince McMahon said no, so Jake said he would no-show Mania VIII unless he was guaranteed a contract release afterwards, which is what happens - and Jake regrets that stance today. Also of note is how he was asked to allow Taker to kick out of his usually-devastating DDT, so Roberts ensured that he took a long pause before covering him after DDT #1, and he went after Paul Bearer after hitting DDT #2, before Taker recovered and beat him. Well, you know what they say: never trust a snake!)

Match three is Taker's worst WrestleMania match ever, although that's down to the extremely limited Giant Gonzales being his opponent. It's a cool spectacle, but as a match it is pretty poor (some say it was the worst match of what they consider the worst WM ever, which is an unwanted honour to have), and the finish sucks too; it's the only WM match that Taker won on a technicality. Taker vs. King Kong Bundy from WM XI is slightly better, and it's worth pointing out how Vince McMahon, on commentary, is the first to acknowledge Taker's unbeaten record at that stage.

Taker vs. Diesel from WM XII is very good by the standards of the time, and shows that despite criticisms of Kevin Nash and his work, his performances were strong as he was preparing to leave the WWF (Diesel would have arguably the Match Of The Year with Shawn Michaels at the subsequent In Your House). Taker vs. Psycho Sid for the WWF Title at WM 13 has its moments but is a substandard main event overall; not helping its cause was having to follow the classic Bret Hart-Steve Austin Submission match, and the craziness involving Shawn Michaels "losing his smile" which partially led to this happening (Shawn on commentary buries Bret Hart more than he focuses on the match itself). Side notes: Jim Ross on commentary also acknowledges Taker's perfect record thus far, and this is the last occasion where Undertaker wore his original black-and-grey attire.

Moving into the Attitude Era, Taker vs. Kane at WM XIV culminated the superb storyline between the two brothers, and their match is a strong big-man affair. Taker vs. Big Boss Man at WM XV, on the other hand, is the worst Hell In A Cell match ever; a plodding affair which didn't even come close to matching previous HIAC classics (Big Boss Man being hung afterwards is thankfully removed). Much better is Taker vs. Triple H from WM X-Seven: it's a great brawl, and part of the reason why WM X7 is considered the best WWF/WWE supershow of all-time. Afterwards, JR emphasises that Taker is now 9-0 at Mania.

Taker himself acknowledges his winning run after he vanquishes Ric Flair at WM X8 in a fun No Holds Barred match. That being said, it still felt like Taker had passed his prime, which explains his low-card position for a Handicap match against Big Show and A-Train, which is okay but nothing more. Taker was meant to team with Nathan Jones (who?), but WWE took him out of the match due to his lack of talent, although he pops up just before the finish here. Taker vs. Kane at WM XX marked the return of his Phenom persona (I should have pointed out that Taker's character morphed into the American Bad Ass, a biker, from 2000 to 2003) and has a great entrance, but the match itself is an anticlimax, lasting less than ten minutes.

The Streak finally becomes official at WM 21, due to Randy Orton (the Legend Killer) vowing to beat Taker at the 2005 WrestleMania so that he would have killed the winning record. The match is really good, but had it been given a few more minutes, it may have ended up being a contender for Match Of The Year. Which is more than can be said for Taker vs. Mark Henry at WM 22 under Casket rules; Taker's performance is typically strong and he pulls off some jaw-dropping moves, but the generally-dull Henry is too much of an obstacle to overcome, and this ultimately ends up being unmemorable. The DVD ends with Taker's first classic WrestleMania encounter against Batista from WM 23, which surpassed expectations by a wide margin.

Despite Taker going 15-0 at this point, the great match with Batista and his superb 2007 in general meant that the Streak, really, was just getting started. Unfortunately for owners of this DVD, this release was brought out before WM XXIV, meaning that his phenomenal main event there with Edge, and his future Match Of The Year contenders/winners with Shawn Michaels, Triple H and CM Punk are obviously absent. Consider this DVD to be the beginning of The Streak's rise to importance, even though nearly three-quarters of Taker's winning record are covered here.

If you're an Undertaker fan, you'll enjoy reliving his evolution on the biggest stage of them all, but those seeking high-quality wrestling action probably won't be satisfied. That the 20-0 DVD includes all of the action here plus five classic matches obviously makes that a more enticing prospect to own (and WWE also released a 21-1 version in 2015 which included Taker vs. Punk and the Streak0breaking bout with Lesnar), but it's still a nice little compilation to own if you're a collector, or if you're a longtime fan of the Dead Man.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10 - Okay

Twist Of Fate - The Matt & Jeff Hardy Story

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 342 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: June 16 2008

Following Leap Of Faith, it would be several years before another Hardyz DVD. By the time Twist Of Fate came out, both Matt and Jeff had left WWE and returned, having gone through numerous trials and tribulations, but both seemed to have real potential in singles competition as 2008 began.

Intriguingly, we have two documentaries, one for each brother. Matt's is better as it recaps the TLC era of Hardy matches and runs through their Teenage Wrestling Federation and Omega in more depth than Jeff's feature does; plus, his documentary is around 15 minutes longer. The highlights of Matt's feature come as we go through the Version One character, his feud with MVP and, between those, a lengthy look at the real-life controversy involving Matt, Edge and Lita.

For those unaware, Matt and Lita had been an item since 1999, and Edge was longtime friends with both. While Matt rehabilitated a knee injury in 2004-2005, Lita and Edge had an affair (Edge was married to another woman too). When Matt discovered the truth, he ended his relationship with Lita and told fans what had happened online. WWE then very harshly sacked Matt, leaving Lita and Edge unpunished. As fans justifiably slated WWE, Edge and Lita, the company decided to firstly put the devious duo together on-screen, and then to bring back Matt for a worker shoot feud with his former friend and girlfriend.

This section does a good job of covering the situation from start to finish, and whilst it's fair to say that the feud didn't quite meet expectations (largely because Matt lost), it was undeniably gripping to watch. Some argue that Matt never truly recovered from the real-life break-up, with his regrettable incidents in later years partly being attributed to the pain of his split from Lita. But he is now happily married to another lady (and a wrestler too, Reby Sky), and they have a son (as TNA fans will know), so at least he is now in a better place. After covering the Hardyz reunion in 2006/7, the first doc ends with Matt going through his feud so far with MVP, and his plans to win the United States Title and, eventually, the World Title. Why WWE didn't wait until after Matt beat MVP for the U.S. Title to release this DVD, I don't know.

As for Jeff: their shared history means that his feature only stands out due to a section on his music and his home (which would soon burn down, incidentally), his drugs-related exit from WWE in 2003, a brief mention of TNA as he talks about his stint away, his 2006 return to WWE after proving he was clean (which ignores his 2007 Wellness Policy violation), and his rise up the ranks in late 2007/early 2008 which made him the hottest star in the company and a sure-fire future WWE Champion.

The two main features are entertaining, but it probably would have been better to present this as one long documentary with occasional shifts to Matt and Jeff, due to the level of shared content. They are still worth watching, although WWE would have been better waiting another year to release this set because, by then, both Hardyz had won three singles titles between them (Jeff would win the WWE Championship at Armageddon 2008).

Matt's disc largely features singles matches. His Vengeance 2004 No Holds Barred clash with Kane, occurring at the height of a bizarre storyline also involving Lita, is decent; better is the superb Steel Cage battle with Edge from Unforgiven 2005 as part of the aforementioned reality-based love triangle storyline. We then get two SmackDown bouts with Joey Mercury (a qualifier for the 2007 Money In The Bank Ladder match, which features hilarious guest commentary from King Booker) and Mr. Kennedy, which is a really good match. The only doubles clash on Matt's disc is a 1999 bout from Omega, as The Hardyz face The Serial Thrillers, complete with commentary from both Hardyz, Gregory Helms and Shannon Moore.

Jeff's disc has two Hardyz matches: the great Royal Rumble 2000 Tables scrap with the Dudleyz and a strong outing against Lance Cade and Trevor Murdoch from Judgment Day 2007. In singles, we see him face and beat Triple H twice (SmackDown circa 2001 and Armageddon 2007), although neither bout holds a candle to the matches they would have in the future. We also see Jeff face Johnny Nitro in a thrilling Steel Cage match at New Year' Revolution 2007, against Shelton Benjamin in his MITB qualifier (during which Shelton nearly breaks his neck) and opposite Umaga in an exciting bout with an amazing finish, back in the Cage from the 2008 Raw Roulette (exactly a year after the NYR Cage match, funnily enough).

There are some notable omissions here: none of the Ladder/TLC bouts are included (although they have admittedly been released many times before), and the WrestleMania 23 MITB bout is also absent (bear in mind that both brothers' qualifying matches for the 2007 MITB scrap are here). What's more, the Jeff-Umaga bout helped to promote Jeff's big WWE Title showdown with Randy Orton at Royal Rumble 2008, but that major encounter has also been left off the set. On the whole, though, the matches are pretty good, despite not being a definitive history of their careers by any means.

There are some bonus segments (such as a tour of Matt's house), and a couple more are hidden by pressing arrows at certain points on the menus (these are known as Easter Eggs). One involving Matt, Jeff, Helms and Moore is noteworthy because it's about toasting their friendship with beers, and during this Helms unnecessarily slags off CM Punk (who hadn't yet become a main eventer in WWE), calling him a dweeb for not drinking, which is backed up by the others in the room. It's a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, but it's an insight into how certain wrestlers treated Punk due to his Straight-Edge lifestyle. Not that Punk would be bothered, to be fair. Ironically, Punk ended up becoming a bigger star than all of those in this segment, and certainly a much bigger star than Helms ever was.

Twist Of Fate is enjoyable but by no means a classic. It does perfectly illustrate the potential that both Hardyz had in singles around the spring of 2008. For Matt, a United States Title win would indeed come, and would be followed by an ECW Championship later that year. But a heel turn on Jeff in 2009 would end up harming his career in the long-run, for despite beating Jeff at WrestleMania 25, he would never come close again to achieving his full potential in WWE, and left under acrimonious circumstances in 2010 following a suspension and some baffling online videos. Jeff, meanwhile, would achieve great success as a solo star; because the rest of his WWE run is covered on My Life, My Rules (which I will review soon), I won't go into what came next for him, only to note that by the time this DVD was released, he had lost much of his momentum due to a (second) Wellness Policy violation.

I'll conclude the Hardyz tale in the My Life, My Rules review, but I'll just say that despite its flaws, Hardy fans should really enjoy this particular set, and it's hard to believe from watching this that Matt never did get to ascend to the main event level in WWE. Mind you, had Matt not left WWE, we wouldn't have ended up having the Final Deletion in TNA, so I suppose that's a positive.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable

WWE Tagged Classics: Hardy Boyz - Leap Of Faith & Lita - It Just Feels Right

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 309 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: March 19 2012

With the Hardyz having generated plenty of buzz recently for their feud in TNA (which so far has included an unusual contract signing and the bizarre yet undeniably compelling Final Deletion match), it seems like a good time to provide a retro DVD review based on Matt and Jeff/Brother Nero.

Leap Of Faith, originally released in late 2001, largely focused on the careers of the Hardy brothers during the TLC era, along with some coverage of their upbringing and their early days in the WWF. Since their pre-WWF adventures are also covered on the 2008 DVD A Twist Of Fate, which I will also be providing a review of shortly, I'll just mention here that this release does a decent job of telling the story of the Hardyz prior to them becoming famous, as well as detailing some of their passions outside the ring, like Jeff's fondness for dirt-biking (which actually left him with a broken leg not so long ago).

Onto the crux of Leap Of Faith, then: we're guided through the Hardyz' biggest matches from 1999 to 2001, which included their first WWF Tag Team Title win over The Acolytes in July 1999, their breakthrough Ladder match opposite Edge and Christian at No Mercy 2000, their Tables scrap with the Dudleyz from Royal Rumble 2000, the three major matches in the Hardyz/Dudleys/E&C feud (Ladder match at WrestleMania 2000, TLC at SummerSlam 2000 and TLC II at WrestleMania X-Seven), and their second WWF Tag Team Title win over E&C in a Steel Cage match from Unforgiven 2000. These battles get plenty of coverage, some more than others, as the Hardyz talk through their memories of each big match and the impact on their careers where applicable, along with comments from Edge, Christian, Mick Foley, Bubba Ray Dudley (where is D-Von?), Jim Ross and others. Lita also provides comments throughout the presentation; I'll come back to her a little later.

Since this was before the era of three-disc DVD compilations and the Hardyz were still young in the wrestling business at this point, Leap Of Faith is as good a one-hour feature on Matt and Jeff as you could have asked for at the time. Adding to the appeal of LOF are some bonus matches, with the aforementioned Hardyz-Acolytes bout, the No Mercy 1999 Ladder match and the first two TLC matches shown in their entirety; the first of these is a basic doubles bout, but the Ladder-related scraps are simply amazing. It's hard to say one is better than the other, because they are all fabulous and each one set a new bar for the next one to follow, making it unfair to say, for instance, that TLC II is superior to the No Mercy scrap because of the additional bodies, tables, chairs and stunts. I would say, though, that much of the commentary for the original Ladder bout centred on Terri Runnels' "services" going to the winner and Jerry Lawler getting horny at the prospect, which weighs the presentation of that particular match down a little.

Also acting as Hardy extras are Matt and Jeff's Unforgiven 2000 championship win over E&C in full (I never noticed until this viewing that one side of the cage has a platform, making it safer for Jeff to fling himself off in death-defying fashion), and a peculiar inclusion of The Hardyz and Lita vs. Steve Austin, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon. The result is a surprise but, coming early in Austin's heel run, the post-match scenes are shocking, and not necessarily in a good way. The theory is understandable - build heel heat on Austin, who fans still wanted to cheer - but having Lita take a clothesline and a Pedigree from HHH, and then multiple chairshots to the back and a Stone Cold Stunner by Austin is pretty hard to watch nowadays. The WWF of 2001 had a very different attitude on violence towards women than WWE does today, and whilst many fans complain about the PG rating nowadays, this is one area where the WWF/WWE has definitely improved. Chyna was perhaps understandable since she competed with male wrestlers, but having Lita take a beating like this is hard to justify, and ends disc one on a sour note (well, besides some home video footage of the Hardyz from over the years).

Focusing properly on Lita now: the second disc, It Just Feels Right (what a crap name), is based around her career. Unlike most female profiles during the Attitude Era, this one (released in 2001 as well, before the Matt and Jeff set, funnily enough) actually focuses on her as a human being and a competitor, rather than as merely a sex object. Yes, sexuality is covered in a lengthy section near the end as we go behind the scenes of some photo shoots, but the majority of this looks at how she wanted to become a wrestler after seeing the "Mexicans" (WCW goes uncredited at this point despite it being the real source of interest for Amy Dumas to become a fan; weirdly, WCW is briefly mentioned later on), her intriguing journey from an oblivious girl looking to somehow become a wrestler and actually achieving her goal within a year or so, her short tenure in ECW as Miss Congeniality (no footage is shown, since WWE hadn't yet acquired the rights to the ECW video library), and her eventful first eighteen months in the WWF as - yes! - Lita.

The chronology is all over the place during this documentary, at least within the WWF section: after covering her early days alongside Essa Rios (who provides comments, in Spanish) and her alignment with the Hardyz, we suddenly jump ahead to her involvement in TLC II at Mania X7, before going back to her first Women's Title victory over Stephanie McMahon from August 2000. This would presumably have ended the feature, but instead we cover some more highlights of her career, from a tough match with Ivory at Survivor Series 2000 that saw her receive a nasty cut to her title challenge against Chyna at Judgment Day 2001 (which would prove to be Chyna's last ever WWF match). There's also footage of her filming commercials alongside Matt and Jeff, and a section on her friendship and on-screen romance with Matt. Strangely, though, while this love story (which on-screen came out of a way-too-long and not believable plotline whereby Dean Malenko was trying to seduce Lita, which is also covered on this documentary) obviously mirrored the real-life relationship between Matt and Lita, but their actual relations are not referred to. This is a weird decision, since diehard Hardy and Lita fans (who will have bought the original DVD) would obviously have been aware of this.

That aside, the documentary is worthwhile, and the most flattering feature yet on a female during the Attitude Era. The bonus matches cover that fine line between Lita as the fearless performer and Lita as eye candy: an intergender bout from Fully Loaded 2000 (Team Extreme vs. T&A and Trish Stratus) is pretty good; Lita vs. Jacqueline under Hardcore rules is alright; and Lita vs. Molly Holly is decent. Then, there are the matches that provide sex appeal, like Lita vs. Trish under Strap and (of course) Bra & Panties rules. A six-person match from Armageddon 2000 (Team Extreme vs. The Radicalz) isn't as good as the Fully Loaded bout, and again raises questions as to how the WWF willingly allowed females (Lita in this case, obviously) to take such a beating from male performers. Lita vs. Malenko exists to set up Lita and Matt's first on-screen kiss, and for some reason a Jeff Hardy-Big Show match is thrown on here, despite Lita's only real involvement being a moonsault to Show. (This bout has an interesting finish: all three members of TX pummel Show, cover him at once - with Jeff's shoulders also down - and the referee Jimmy Korderas providing a fast three-count. It all makes no sense in a regular bout, until Michael Cole provides the missing piece by saying that Korderas wasn't happy with Show shoving him moments earlier. Suddenly, it all makes sense, by WWF standards, and is a little reminder of the mini-moments that are missing from WWE television today). There's also more clips from behind the scenes of photo shoots, a picture collage and more home video clips.

Lita fans will have loved this at the time, and probably would do today, as well. That being said, the biggest thing I took from it is just how much the WWF based its female division from 1998 right up to around 2007-2008 on sexuality. That's stating the obvious, I know; but comparing it to today's WWE, whereby Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Bayley are putting on genuinely great matches that steal the show and are threatening to main event PPV events, and with all being treated as real athletes and women with integrity, the WWF's portrayal of females back then is questionable at best and almost offensive at worst (I haven't even mentioned storylines where rape was implied and where a woman's sexual services were quite literally at stake for the winner). Of course, all of this seemed normal back then, but it does show how times have changed. By the way, I don't have a problem with the sexual, raunchy side of WWF television during that era - you won't see me complaining that Lita's thong was popping out of her trousers - but comparing how females were treated back then to how they are today is like night and day.

However, the decreased emphasis on sexuality on this feature indicates that Lita was amongst the women who would force a change in WWF philosophies (along with Trish Stratus a little later on). Women like Sensational Sherri and Alundra Blayze had been straight-up wrestlers, but few took real notice. Women like Sunny, Sable and Debra were merely there for sex appeal. And Chyna was a ground-breaker, but no female has followed her path since then. However, Lita was one of the first ladies to actually get people out of their seats because they were amazed at her athleticism and her ability. The balance between ability and eye candy was perfected by Lita and Trish, and whilst it took WWE to go PG and Sara Del Ray to become a trainer at NXT before things truly changed, it is true to say that Lita and Trish really did pave the way for the likes of Sasha and Charlotte today to be respected because of their in-ring ability.

As it turned out, this period marked the peak of Lita's career, at least in terms of popularity. After suffering a serious neck injury in 2002 on the set of a non-wrestling show, she only returned in September 2003, and after an extended feud with Trish Stratus and a second injury (this time to her knee), the rest of Lita's WWE tenure was spent as the valet to former rival Edge, before her retirement at Survivor Series 2006 and well-deserved WWE Hall Of Fame induction in 2014. Of course, the partnership with Edge was instigated by a major series of events off-screen - but we'll cover that in the next Hardyz DVD review, where that particular topic receives extensive coverage.

Summing up this DVD set, then, the link between the Hardyz and Lita makes the two features an obvious companion set. If you were a fan of the Hardyz in 2001, chances were that you also supported Lita, and vice versa. By the standards of early 2000s DVDs, the features are very good, and the matches were logical selections and provided suitable evidence as to why Matt, Jeff and Lita were so popular and had achieved their respective success. Their stories were far from over, but this arguably represented the peak of both the Hardyz tandem and Lita as a performer. Any fan of Team Extreme back then will thoroughly enjoy this recap of their most memorable moments from 1999-2001. Just try not to think too much about the extent of the man-on-woman violence during the Attitude Era.

Overall Rating: 8/10 - Very Good

John Morrison: Rock Star

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 168 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: May 10 2010

With three-disc sets being the norm nowadays, even for compilations undeserving of the extended treatment, it was good to see a change in the formula for this single-disc release on John Morrison, at a time when he was one of WWE's top rising stars. This DVD brings together eight Morrison matches, along with comments from Morrison about his career and about his passions outside of the ring, such as parkour (which would later be used as part of his character) and surfing. The DVD tries to show Morrison's sense of humour in segments on The Dirt Sheet and answering fan questions, although the clips from the Dirt Sheet (which he sued to host on WWE.com with The Miz) are mostly embarrassingly unfunny, and the humorous answers only provide mild chuckles.

The real purpose of this is to demonstrate Morrison's wrestling ability. We aren't really enlightened into his career prior to becoming John Morrison (he co-won Tough Enough in 2003, trained in OVW after that for around a year, had a short-lived run as Eric Bischoff's assistant Johnny Nitro on Raw before returning to OVW, came back to the main roster alongside Joey Mercury and then-girlfriend Melina as part of the dynamic MNM act in 2005, had a decent solo run from 2006-7 and after becoming ECW Champion at Vengeance 2007, as a replacement for Chris Benoit on that fateful weekend, he shortly renamed himself John Morrison in a segment on ECW which is included as a DVD extra), so the first bout comes from Morrison's ECW Title reign; or, more accurately, the end of this run. His title-losing effort to CM Punk is a tremendous match, though, and probably the best ever match on WWE's ECW show. Given that he originally became champion due to Benoit's absence, which led to a raid of Benoit's doctor Phil Astin's surgery and the enquiry into what would become the Signature Pharmacy scandal, it is slightly ironic that Morrison was amongst those caught up in the scandal, meaning that this title loss was necessitated by his resultant suspension (and Punk, the noted straight-edge wrestler, was the man who beat him).

On a lighter note, Morrison rebounded by overachieving with his team alongside Miz, which went so well that it prepared Miz for an unimaginably successful solo run. The match from their double tag title-winning run comes in a non-title clash with D-Generation X leaders Shawn Michaels and Triple H from the Raw episode that celebrated 800 episodes (note that this wasn't the 800th episode; it's too long to explain). Right after the 2009 Draft split up Morrison and Miz, Johnny boy had his final ECW bout with Evan "Air" Bourne, which is the next clash featured here, and is an underrated gem of a match, and a sign that Bourne should be amongst the names that WWE could have looked to rehire ahead of this year's Brand Extension (come to think of it, WWE should rehire Morrison too, if they are legally able to do so given his Lucha Underground status).

After that, the focus for the remainder of the DVD switches to Morrison's SmackDown tenure. From May 2009 onwards for a good few months, SmackDown was a fantastic wrestling show; each week, it had one or two great wrestling matches, generally consisting of two or more from Rey Mysterio, Jeff Hardy, Edge, Chris Jericho, CM Punk and Morrison himself. The final five matches of this eight-bout DVD see the former Johnny Nitro take on each of the aforementioned names, with mixed results when it comes to wins and losses, but with each one of them being a strong wrestling encounter.

Morrison vs. Chris Jericho from Superstars is very good, and note how Y2J makes sure to remain the heel and cheats to win, which is picked up by announcers Jim Ross and Todd Grisham (the latter is an area where WWE does not succeed today). The episode of SmackDown which aired the next night featured the following match on the DVD, Morrison vs. Edge, which is superb; if not for another encounter later in the DVD, it would have been the best WWE television match of 2009. Edge makes Morrison look great, and even though the veteran comes out on top, the match greatly enhanced the younger Morrison.

Next up, Morrison scores an unlikely win over then-World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk (who was in the middle of a slow-burn heel turn) in a match which is exciting, but is inferior to Morrison vs. Edge. Morrison vs. Jeff Hardy five weeks later for the title is excellent; it's hard to envision a better situation when you have a rising star losing his big World Title opportunity, because it didn't harm Morrison one bit. (Although it has no relevance to Morrison, it's a minor disappointment that the post-match capers, where Punk completed his heel turn on Jeff, aren't included here.) The DVD ends with a bang; a genuine classic between Morrison and Rey Mysterio for the Intercontinental Title. Morrison's biggest triumph in WWE is a flawless battle, the best of many great SmackDown bouts in 2009, and had this not been the year when The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels ascended to new heights at WrestleMania 25, this would have been the undisputed Match Of The Year. (As an aside, this result was instigated by Mysterio violating the Wellness Policy, making it the third title change scenario involving Morrison that was caused by a suspension or an absence of some kind.)

Watching this, I tried to work out why SmackDown in 2009 felt better than Raw does today, even though both boasted or currently boast great matches every week (and Raw had the full roster prior to the latest Draft). Besides the superior creative for SmackDown seven years ago, and two top bouts in two hours being better than one or two great matches over the course of three hours, the main thing I noticed here was the selling. Matches start fast-paced but slow down as the competitors have taken a visual beating, and the wear and tear is evident in the final few minutes of each match. Wrestlers looked strong, even in defeat, and results had an impact on future developments. Selling is the key, whereas today Dean Ambrose or Seth Rollins will have a great 20-25 minute match but won't look any worse for the wear at the end, meaning that the matches have less of an impact. If wrestlers today did a better job of selling, the product would seem a lot better. And matches today have that 50/50 feel to them, rather than being a case of who is the best on the night wins, and goes on to achieve bigger things.

Returning to the DVD subject: this is a fantastic look at part of Morrison's career, especially the 2009 bouts. There isn't one weak match on the DVD, and besides the good-but-not-great tag bout, they are all either very good, excellent or, in the case of Morrison-Mysterio, classic. It's hard to believe from watching this that Morrison ultimately did not end up capturing either the WWE or World Heavyweight Titles. Certainly, a 2010 push for the gold seemed assured, and Morrison becoming champion of the SmackDown brand would have been greatly welcomed by fans. Somehow, it didn't happen, and so Morrison's fans are left hoping for a day when he might return to WWE, having left in late 2011, and become World Champion then. Otherwise, fans of the current Johnny Mundo can still enjoy his work on Lucha Underground.

Nevertheless, considering that the single-disc nature of this DVD makes this seem less important than most DVDs released around the same time, and despite the disappointing absence of any pre-Morrison content, this is an excellent wrestling DVD that provides a nice look back at a great time for wrestling action on SmackDown, and a look at someone who seemed destined to achieve great things. Who knows whether he will in future?

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 539 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: July 21 2009

While the likes of Hulk Hogan, Roddy Piper and Bret Hart would made WWE returns after their WCW stints, one legendary figure who never did resurface in WWE was Macho Man Randy Savage. For reasons that have never been publicly confirmed, Savage remained an outsider to WWE, with even a hint of a return seeming unthinkable. So, when WWE announced that it would release a Randy Savage DVD in 2009, there was a fear that it would not do the great man's career justice, and even that it could be a burial to resemble the Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior DVD.

Fortunately, the compilation was mostly a fitting tribute to the career of the Macho Man. No, there isn't a documentary (this wouldn't come until 2014, several years after his tragic death), and Matt Striker and Maria were a bizarre choice to present the DVD (actually just Maria, playing that confused little girl character, since Striker's knowledge of wrestling history and topnotch Savage impressions make him a tolerable host), but this collection of matches does display why Savage was and is held in such high regard.

Ignoring Randy's pre-WWE adventures in several territories, Macho Madness (which, incidentally, has superb colourful artwork which the Macho Man probably would have been proud of) opens with Savage's Madison Square Garden debut against "Quick Draw" Rick McGraw. Bouts with Ricky Steamboat and Hulk Hogan from late 1985 are a cool preview of his future rivalry with those men, before Savage's WWF tenure begins proper with his enjoyable Intercontinental Title win over Tito Santana from February 1986. Since this was the era of one PPV event per year, Randy's year-plus reign, which got him over huge with fans despite his heel status, is remembered for one match, which had to be included here: his classic WrestleMania III battle with Steamboat, which was the greatest WWF match in the first few decades of its history. Before this, though, we get a bout of historic curiosity as he battles Bruno Sammartino, then approaching the end of a phenomenal career himself.

From there, we get clips of the formation of the Mega-Powers (featuring a ludicrously hammy expression by Hogan and their legendary quasi-handshake), before a battle with The Honky Tonk Man on The Main Event, the same show which saw the infamous "twin referee" hullaballoo that unseated Hulk as WWF Champion. Speaking of main events, that takes us to the main event of WrestleMania IV, where Savage (in the final of a tournament caused by said scandal) won his first WWF Title from "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase, and a rematch inside a steel cage from MSG, the latter of which is very good. We then see The Mega Powers face The Mega Bucks (DiBiase and Andre The Giant) from SummerSlam 1988. It all seemed that things were rosy between Savage and Hogan.

But in reality, the seeds were being sown for one hell of a break-up, with the paranoid Savage believing that Hulk wanted to take away his beloved Miss Elizabeth. That brings us to their great WrestleMania V main event, which is nostalgic fun all the way. We later see them clash again in a SNME bout that includes a cameo by Smoking Joe Frazier, and after that we get a forgotten Savage match from WrestleMania, as he and Sensational Sherri face Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire at WM VI (Dusty's music is inexplicably replaced by the UK Wheel Of Fortune theme, which spoils the presentation).

Savage, by now known as the Macho King, would then direct his attention towards The Ultimate Warrior, and here we get to relive their classic Career match from WrestleMania VII, with the post-match scene (a Savage-Liz reunion) providing a true WrestleMania moment. This leads to their on-screen wedding ceremony from SummerSlam 1991 (which is included as a DVD extra), but hold on! Their fabulous day was ultimately spoiled by the evil Jake Roberts, and after clips of Jake's shocking snake bite attack on Savage, we see Macho get revenge against Roberts at This Tuesday In Texas, which is intense and exciting but could have benefitted from lasting a few minutes longer.

After that match, Savage's retirement had officially been overturned, leading him to face Ric Flair in an underrated WWF Title bout from WM VIII, which was also preceded by a great plot-line as Flair suggested a past relationship with Elizabeth ("She was mine before she was yours!"). The next few matches are rare bouts from 1992: a very good European Rampage showdown with Shawn Michaels, and a fun tag bout as Savage and Bret face Shawn and Flair. The last WWF bout here is an unsuccessful WWF Title challenge against Yokozuna from February 1994. I was hoping that Randy's final high-profile WWF match - his WrestleMania X Falls Count Anywhere battle with Crush - would be here, but it wasn't to be. Instead, the collection moves onto his WCW tenure.

The first WCW bout is a forgettable bout with Flair from Bash At The Beach 1995, the Lifeguard stipulation for which is quite confusing (no surprise for a WCW match). After a later Savage-Flair bout from an early 1996 edition of Monday Nitro, we then revisit what was arguably Savage's best WCW feud with Diamond Dallas Page, as he and DDP collide in stipulation from The Great American Bash 1997. The DVD culminates with Savage and Sid Vicious facing Kevin Nash and Sting at Bash At The Beach 1999, which has another confusing set of rules (whomever gets the fall leaves as WCW World Champion, meaning that Nash could lose the gold to his own partner; this scenario was used to instigate David Arquette's risible reign as titleholder the following year). The DVD extras include plenty of classic Savage interviews, and the cheesy-but-great tribute video before the Macho-Liz wedding from SummerSlam 91.

Although the WCW selections are hit-and-miss, the WWF choices are as good as they could be (incidentally, Randy's last ever match, a one-off six man tag appearance in TNA, is unsurprisingly not even mentioned), resulting in as good a Savage DVD as one could expect from an in-ring standpoint (and some of the matches are absolute classics). It does have its flaws and some minor omissions but on the whole, WWE took the high road and provided Savage fans with a worthy retrospective for the legendary, one-of-a-kind Macho Man.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

The Self-Destruction Of The Ultimate Warrior

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 186 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: October 17 2005

This DVD was and is one of the most fascinating ever released by WWE, largely because of the decidedly negative tone towards The Ultimate Warrior and his career. It is perhaps more intriguing to watch this years later because of how much WWE has changed its attitude towards Warrior's legacy in recent times.

The 90-minute documentary covers Warrior's in-ring career - but with a twist. Around 80-90% of the comments by a pretty star-studded cast of talking heads (Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Triple H and many more) are negative, at times almost cruel. After covering his early years in various territories (during which Jim Ross suggests that Warrior couldn't cope in Bill Watts' Mid-South group), it jumps to his first WWF run (1987-1991), with chapters on his name change (he was previously known as The Dingo Warrior), his iconic theme tune, his Parts Unknown hometown and his unique interview style (this section is hilarious, by the way), as well as his in-ring adventures.

They include Warrior's initial feud with Hercules (which are slated), his memorable Intercontinental Title win over The Honky Tonk Man at SummerSlam 1988, his feud with Rick Rude (Rude is praised), his battles with Andre The Giant (slated; Andre isn't held accountable) and his career-making WWF Title win over Hulk Hogan from WrestleMania VI (the significance of which is acknowledged in full, although the breakdown of Hogan "passing the torch" is questioned by those who know the inner workings of the business and who realise how Hogan operates; hell, even Hulk explains his true motives about this moment in his autobiography).

Warrior's WWF Title reign is only briefly covered, as is his incredible Career match with Randy Savage from WrestleMania VII, before we tackle the circumstances of Warrior's firing after the Hogan/Warrior vs. Triangle Of Terror main event from SummerSlam 1991. In short, Warrior supposedly demanded a certain amount of money or he wouldn't compete; Vince complied, but fired him after the bout (I'll refer back to this later).

Then, we jump to Warrior's surprise return at WrestleMania VIII (one of the best returns ever in my opinion) and his bizarre feud with Papa Shango (Mean Gene Okerlund praises the storyline but slams the resultant matches), before his second firing in late 1992 is explained simply by Vince: "We had a stringent drug-testing policy, and there was a violation." Beforehand, the confusion over whether the "real" Warrior was back due to his muscle shrinkage is discussed superficially, but this provides the true reason for Warrior's drastic change in appearance.

After covering Jim Hellwig changing his name to Warrior in a condescending fashion (I assume that Warrior did this so that he could use the Warrior name for merchandising and other projects), we come to his third and final WWF run from 1996, which didn't last long. After HHH and Jerry Lawler explain their difficulties with Warrior (I'll come back to this, too), we're told that Warrior was fired again because he no-showed several dates, although the graphic used to illustrate this was apparently doctored to suit WWE's point of view. Hmm ...

Then, it's onto his best-forgotten WCW run, beginning with a counterproductive and lengthy Nitro interview and culminating in a comically bad match with Hogan from Halloween Havoc 1998 (Hulk refreshingly takes the heat for this), which existed solely for Hogan to get revenge for WrestleMania VI (seriously). After covering his lawsuit win over the WWF concerning the Warrior trademark, and his work as a public speaker (again condescendingly), the main feature closes by examining his legacy, with some running him down a bit more (Ric Flair comes across as abrupt and rude here), whereas others do praise him for his good qualities.

The DVD has some bonus segments, as well as five complete matches: an early WWF squash win, his IC Title win over Honky, his WM VI main event with Hogan, his Steel Cage battle with Rude from SummerSlam 1990, and his Career match with Savage from WM VII (disappointingly, the post-match scenes which elevated the impact of this moment aren't shown here).

This DVD essentially exists to inform people of what The Ultimate Warrior was really like, at least according to WWE. The tone is almost always negative, from The Brooklyn Brawler counting his concussions to Bobby Heenan repeatedly slating Warrior as if he had committed a murder. Nevertheless, it is presented in an entertaining and often light-hearted manner, and at least when it came to his firings, the documentary is telling the truth. Yes it may be negative, but the content is truthful.

However, the impact of this DVD would take an unexpected turn.

Warrior was (understandably) unhappy with this DVD and after some controversial remarks about some past and present WWE personalities, he sued WWE once again. Details of the settlement are unknown, but needless to say Warrior remained angry, turning down an offer to be the star inductee in the 2010 Hall Of Fame class. But after extended communication with HHH and Vince, following his appearance in the WWE 2K14 game (which came after other videogame appearances, by the way), Warrior would end up accepting a 2014 HOF induction, thus returning to the "WWE Family". Sadly, as most will know, Warrior shockingly passed away just days later.

It is nevertheless fascinating to watch this DVD after Warrior ultimately returned to WWE (one condition of his comeback was for a new DVD to cover his true legacy, which I will review in the near future). For instance, Vince McMahon says he "couldn't wait to fire" Warrior in 1991, and HHH called him the most unprofessional person he ever worked with. Plus, the DVD essentially portrays Warrior as a negative influence, almost a cancer, on the company. Now, though, Warrior has a Hall Of Fame award named in his honour and is presented as an all-time great? Not to mention that WWE never disclosed on the DVD why they kept bringing him back despite their troubles with him (in a nutshell: business was struggling).

Overall, this DVD is undoubtedly fun to watch, and is largely an honest account of how difficult Warrior could be. However, its rating drops due to WWE changing tack once Warrior "came home" and presented an alternative history of his career, with the negativity trimmed way down. (Would the DVD have been so negative if Warrior hasn't been at odds with the company?) What is The Ultimate Warrior's true legacy? I guess it's up to the fans to decide that.

Overall Rating: 7/10 - Respectable

Triple H - The King Of Kings

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 359 Minutes
Certificate: 18
Number Of Discs: 2
Studio: Clear Vision Ltd/Silver Vision
Released: May 19 2008

By 2008, three-disc DVDs covering the entire career of a top name had become the norm, so when it was announced that Triple H would be receiving the profile treatment, there laid the potential for an outstanding release, considering the number of great matches he has had.

As it turned out, though, The King Of Kings would be a two-disc compilation with only eleven bouts, and in an early example of WWE trying to avoid repeating content, several key matches were omitted. This means that whilst this DVD is an entertaining release, it doesn't come close to achieving its potential.

Accompanied by pre-match comments from HHH, King Of Kings (I can't use the DVD acronym in this case) opens with his official WWF debut as the blueblood Hunter Hearst Helmsley, defeating John Crystal in a squash from a 1995 episode of Raw. In terms of the significance of particular matches on H's career, this starts promisingly enough with his first Intercontinental Title win over Marc Mero (Raw, 1996), his 1997 King Of The Ring triumph over Mankind and his WrestleMania XIV battle with Owen Hart for the European Title, all of which are enjoyable to watch and which allowed HHH to take another step up the proverbial ladder.

Speaking of ladders, though, his famous IC Title Ladder scrap with The Rock (SummerSlam 1998) is not here, which is bizarre as that bout was arguably the first true sign of his main event potential, nor is the rest of his initial DX tenure covered. Instead, we jump to him capturing his first WWF Title over Mankind from a 1999 episode of Raw (there's an interesting back-story to that if you believe the rumours, namely, the title went from Steve Austin to Mankind at SummerSlam to HHH the next night because Austin allegedly refused to directly lose to Hunter; either that or Austin's knee injury necessitated those events or that special ref Jesse Ventura had to endorse a babyface winner, so make up your own mind). Then, it's HHH vs. Austin from No Mercy 1999 in an underrated brawl (the outcome may dispel one of the aforementioned theories), and a superb HHH vs. Cactus Jack Hell In A Cell war from No Way Out 2000 (although their previous Street Fight at Royal Rumble 2000 was arguably more pivotal to H's career and thus should have been here too).

Many HHH fans regard 2000-2001 as the peak of his career, so it's a questionable decision that we get no further matches from that era. Instead, we see HHH win the 2002 Royal Rumble (but not the resultant WrestleMania X8 title win over Chris Jericho, which speaks volumes about the quality of that match) before we get a chapter from the epic HHH-Shawn Michaels rivalry. Strangely, their least memorable match is the one featured here; whilst their Three Stages Of Hell battle from Armageddon 2002 isn't as bad as some would have you believe, it's definitely the weakest PPV encounter of their series.

I mentioned 2000-2001 as being HHH's artistic peak, but 2003 arguably marked his career low, with virtually no memorable matches besides a year-closing scrap with Shawn. Perhaps realising this, WWE chose to jump a whopping 2 1/2 years ahead (skipping the entire Evolution run) to Vengeance 2005 and a fantastic Hell In A Cell war with Batista (arguably The Animal's best ever match). Since HHH and Randy Orton have fought so often, it's ironic that he's the only Evolution member who isn't featured here, as we next see H battle Ric Flair at Survivor Series 2005 in a compelling yet unnecessarily violent Last Man Standing match (the amount of blood that Flair loses here is ludicrous). Finally, we get a forgotten gem as HHH takes on John Cena and Edge at Backlash 2006, which sees H spill a ton of blood himself towards the finish.

No, the DX comeback isn't covered, and the release date means that there are no bouts from 2008, which would be a great year in the ring for The Game. The DVD is rounded off by some bonus segments, including a rare indie bout from 1992 (HHH, then competing as Terra Ryzing, and Jim Ross commentate on this one as he faces Flying Tony Roy; by the way, what a ring name that is) and a Hog Pen bout with Henry Godwinn from In Your House 5 (Hunter suffers a nasty cut to his back at the end of this one).

Triple H is amongst the divisive wrestlers you will find, with some admiring his all-around talents and others expressing disgust at his (alleged) political manoeuvrings. Regardless of your opinion, though, nobody can deny that this had the potential to be fantastic, and the end product is only adequate. HHH does add insight with honest comments (he notes how he once told John Cena that everything he did in the ring looked terrible), and it includes the first acknowledgement of Chris Benoit on a WWE product after his 2007 tragedy. But on the whole, this is a case of "What might have been", because it only covers some of his greatest or most important matches, and leaves out many more suitable choices. Why a third disc wasn't added which would have partially resolved this issue is unknown.

Fans of Triple H will enjoy The King Of Kings, but it is an incomplete profile of HHH's career.

Overall Rating: 6.5/10 - Okay