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Official DVD/Match/Show Discussion Thread

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#1 ·
#8,581 · (Edited)
Watched the HBK vs Bret greatest rivalries on Netflix, great stuff. I was interested the whole way, JR did a great job. I was :lmao when Shawn was talking about his "knee injury" and Bret's face was like "yeah, this guy's still a bit of a prick". Seriously Shawn, just come clean about your "injury". Very good otherwise, I'd :mark: for an Austin vs Rock DVD like this.

Oh, and them both getting really emotional in about the last 20 mins were strong stuff. I didn't know about some of the stuff that was said here also. For example, I didn't know Vince called Bret in the hospital "10 seconds" after his phone got hooked up.
 
#8,582 ·
Nice thoughts Yeah1993 re Michaels/Taker. Agreed with your comments on Taker's great selling ability, which as you say is made all the more difficult when you consider the gimmick/character he has to work with.

If I may ask, why don't you consider Michaels a great worker? I'd personally put him somewhere in my top 10 or so (North American, anyway).
I'm talking more his 2002-2010 run, seeing as a lot of his first singles run is a blur outside of a few recogniseable matches, but generally I just have issues with his offence, his long term selling and the general layout of a lot of his matches post 2002.

A lot of the matches I used to like no longer hold up, Summerslam 2002, Wrestlemania 19 (that one is all on Michaels, since Jericho puts in one of his best performances), Wrestlemania 21 and Vengeance 05, Michaels/Jericho Unforgiven 08 etc. I've grown to appreciate workers who are more subtle in their craft and really work to not only create stories which dominate the moves in the ring, but also include minor little things which not a lot of other people think/care to do, someone like an Arn Anderson, William Regal or Fit Finlay is definitely better than Michaels in my eyes for this very reason. I don't really care for the played out workover of the back > knip up > finishing stretch sequence in a ton of Michaels matches, and whilst I understand that sort of formula is prevalent with a lot of WWE workers, I don't find him good enough in the workover or selling the match as I do Cena or Mysterio who also have very similar/played out formulas which they rarely deviate from. Shawn's dire acting is also something that really detracts from his matches when he really hams it up, the Unsanctioned Jericho match at Unforgiven 08 springs to mind as far as singles matches go.

Michaels is absolutely amazing in tags though, since it plays to his short term selling strengths and the ability to pull a crowd into his matches, whilst allowing him to tag out to Jannetty and therefore remove the burden of long term selling from the equation as well as keeping his offence to basis bursts rather than dragging it out over 15 minutes. He's at the very minimum a top 10 US guy in tags, hell top 5 really isn't out of the question although I'd have to rewatch the likes of Steamboat, Rhodes, Morton, Eaton, Arn, Tully and others before settling on it.

There are definitely things Michaels can do well, and there are still a few matches post 2002 I'm a big fan of, but at this point his style of working a match and what he'll do inside a ring aren't really what I look for or can get engaged by. I find guys like Mysterio and Cena to be better faces in terms of making me want to watch their matches, and the likes of Regal, Finlay, Arn Anderson, Sgt Slaughter, Bill Dundee, Dick Murdoch and many others are far more interesting characters and performers in the ring to me.
 
#8,583 ·
Upon a lack of sleep I found myself pages back in this thread and stumbled upon Caida's review of the Rock n Roll Express/Jim Duggan vs Midnight Express/Ernie Ladd 6 man and Midnight Express vs Fantastics 4/26/88 matches. Now whenever I get time tomorrow, those are gonna be watched ASAP. Owe it to myself to witness what the rave reviews spoke of.

Plus considering it involves my favorite tag team of all time in both (well, the Eaton/Lane combo moreso) I have to check them out on that basis alone.
 
#8,585 ·
Undertaker is seriously a great seller, think my favorite selling of his is either his return at Summerslam 2010 where he's meant to be just out of the VEGETATIVE STATE and he can hardly sit up and he's hobbling and coughing all over the place, still pisses me off that folk thought that was just him being genuinely old and out of shape, although it does show how good that sell job was. I've also got a real appreciation for when Edge cashed in on him, he sits up from the first spear but he does it really slowly and he's wobbling around and is clearly struggling to get up and its GREAT.
 
#8,586 ·
Just rewatched Austin/HHH 2/3 Falls

....Does anyone not have this match at at least **** 3/4?
 
#8,587 ·
Just rewatched Austin/HHH 2/3 Falls

....Does anyone not have this match at at least **** 3/4?

IIRC this thread is VERY split on that match in general, personally I absolutely love it.

It features the GOAT ... Vs :austin ... What could you NOT love ? :hhh
 
#8,588 ·
I would struggle to give the match **** to be honest, it's good but it's not this be all and end all some make it out to be.

Although I'm generally not a fan of Three Stages Of Hell matches in general, normal 2 out of 3 falls are fine but for some reason I've never saw a good Three Stages Of Hell match apart from one Cactus Jack and Eddie Gilbert had back in the early 90s
 
#8,589 ·
I think I've shared my thoughts on that match enough times in this thread. The first fall is a mess and they dig themselves into a hole straight after and can't pace/structure the rest of the match and it all gets pretty haphazard and dire. Some admittedly nice spots to convey the hatred in the second fall, but a lot of the spots in the second fall should have been saved for the final fall but because of the wayward first fall they go overboard to compensate for the pedestrian opening and by the last fall the crowd are pretty quiet despite both men getting hit with chairs and barbed wire bats. Think I recall them both selling a lot of things like shit in the final fall, like popping up from chair shots but my memory's fuzzy. The finish is excellent though in progressing Austin's character heading into Wrestlemania 17.

Funnily enough the last time I wrote in depth about the match some guy PM'd me suggesting I never speak of it again. That was rather surreal.

Can't stop staring at Craig's sig btw.
 
#8,591 ·
In fairness that was just the best example sans his facial expressions that I could point to as partial reasons for why I'm not really that high on him anymore. I've just grown to be a bigger fan of rougher/physical wrestlers who also are adept at implementing a story and working their character more than I am Michaels' WWE Main Event wrestling style. Guys like Dustin Rhodes, Stan Hansen, Finlay, Regal, Vader, Rude, Wahoo McDaniel, Eaton, Butch Reed, Dick Murdoch, Bill Dundee and Dutch Mantell are just some of the wrestlers who's more physical work just clicks with me in the way Michaels' style clicks with numerous people.

I can totally see the allure, I'm just not currently one of those drawn to it. His tag work can't be questioned however and I probably will try and examine his 94-97 run at some-point to see if he's got some great performances in him that might make me re-evalute how good he is.
 
#8,592 ·
I must say HBK's own variation of the "5 moves of doom" can get boring after a while. Flying forearm > kip-up > inverted atomic drop > a couple of punches > body slam > elbow drop > superkick. If only all the brainless Cena haters would also realize this, HBK is someone most respect, so that should surely show them the "Cena only knows 5 moves" argument is invalid and just stupid.

Also to further comment on my advancement through 2005... the Road to Wrestlemania has been awesome, specially Raw which is fire almost every week. And this Undertaker commercial is awesome:

 
#8,593 ·
I am a fan of those in the laundry list you posted, as well, but I always felt (particularly in the 90s) that Michaels played a babyface in peril extremely well. His singles performances of note in the 90s: vs Perfect 91, vs Hart SS 92, vs Jannetty 93, Ladder match x2, v Jarrett 95, basically his entire 96 title run, feud with Taker (obviously including the GOAT HIAC).

I also think he played a great cocky heel who could take a ferocious beating (see: HIAC). It's a shame he got injured because I was really enjoying his heel run.

Allocate credit wherever you'd like, but he was pretty damn good back then.
 
#8,594 ·
CM Punk : Best in the World DVD Review




Disc 1 : Documentary + Extras

Not going to take up too much time talking about this because I can't really say much that hasn't already been said. Great, GREAT documentary here as we get something that all of us have been waiting for , for a LONG time : WRESTLING TALK. No bullshit entertainment garbage that only blind sheep/children care about, we get wrestling storyline talk from the indies to the top of the mountain of the biggest Wrestling Company in the world. The insight from Punk and company really gives you a gauge of where Punk was at every time during his career (both professionally and mentally) , and it didn't seem like they were holding much back at all for this one...Compelling stuff. I would have liked to hear better input from guys such as Cena, Trips, and a Vince appearance would have been amazing, but what we got from PUNK was so astoundig that it almost makes up for it.

The second thing that makes this documentary so great is the personal touch. Punk lets us in to his life and basically lets us know that he can be an absolute dick sometimes, which is fine given the circumstances of where he is and what he does for a living. We see into the whole "straight-edge" lifestyle, his relationship with who he perceives to be his family, his real BLOOD family, and the trials and tribulations along with the triumphs he gathered over the course of his now 13 year career. This documentary is one of the most inspirational out there for an individual superstar, as it contains quite an amount of introspective and philosophical material for a WWE release. Check this documentary out for sure, as it's a must watch feature on one of the greatest wrestlers of all time (It's what I believe , damnit) , and PROBABLY the best Superstar documentary that the WWE has ever done.

9.5/10

Disc 2 : Matches

vs Brent Albright OVW : ** 3/4
vs Justin Credible ECW 06 : **
vs John Morrison ECW 07 : ****
MITB IV (Wrestlemania XXIV) : **** 1/4
w/Kofi Kingston vs Priceless Raw 08 : ** 1/2
vs William Regal Raw 08 : *** 1/2

This disc was OKAY , but I don't think it was as good as it could have potentially been. First of all, what the hell was up with the inclusion of the OVW match on the disc ? That match was pretty good, but it's kinda fucked with this whole injury angle that the match completely stops for a LONG fucking time. Everything else I believe earns it's place on the DVD for being a significant moment in the career of Punk (he wins a major match in every match on the disc besides the first one). Match of the disc is MITB IV , which just so happens to be one of the best pure spotfests in history and the second best match on the WM XXIV card. The Morrison match happens to be an underrated damn near classic encounter as well that's required viewing.

7/10

Disc 3 : Matches

vs Jeff Hardy SS 09 : ****
vs Rey Mysterio OTL 10 : **** 1/4
vs John Cena MITB 11 : *****
vs Chris Jericho WM XXVIII : **** 1/2
vs Daniel Bryan OTL 12 : **** 3/4

OH. FUCK. YES. Do I even need to describe how amazing this disc is ? AT ALL ? This is easily a top 5-10 disc of matches EVER IMO (up there with the 4th disc of "The Streak" DVD , the 2nd disc of "The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection" DVD, and the 3rd disc of the "Best there is......" DVD), featuring NO matches under **** , that is IN-FUCKING-CREDIBLE. We get an AWESOME TLC match with Jeff Hardy (Hardy's third best singles match ever btw, his best being the Cage match with Punk) , the third best WWE MOTY for 2010 IMO with Rey, one of the greatest matches EVER (MITB 11) , the match of the year for this year (OTL 12) along with the third best WWE championship match in Wrestlemania HISTORY IMO. I know this sounds like an incoherent rambling, but FUCK! This disc features potentially THREE of my top 50 WWE matches ever and is the second best disc of the year (besides the 4th disc of The Streak DVD, which features 2 ***** matches, 1 **** 3/4 matches, and 1 **** 1/2 matches) by far. I'm not giving it the PERFECT score (which I've only given to like 5 discs ever) , but it's DAMN close.

9.5/10

Final Rating

This DVD is a must buy (if you're a DVD buyer anyways) as two of the three discs are almost PERFECT. The second disc could have used a little more polishing and some better matches, and I wish that they included some classic Punk moments and promos on the first disc (that would have gotten it a 10 IMO). The documentary is a top 3 WWE Doc ever, while the third disc is one of the best modern collection of matches that I have ever seen. LOVE this DVD. I've rambled on far enough, go out and get this shit, or download the entire thing.

9/10
 
#8,595 ·
Michaels getting the shit kicked out of him (particularly his back) then knipping up would bother me from time to time, but not enough so that it ruined the match. I still consider him one of the best of all time, even if that means I'm in the minority.
You're definitely not in the minority on that one. I don't call him an all timer (any more), but Michaels isn't a wrestler who has a lack of Best Ever supporters.
 
#8,596 ·
Just finished the Raw where Benoit and HHH have their first 2005 match together. Exactly one year after Wrestlemania XX so it was a nice call-back to the greatest Wrestlemania ending of all time. For the match, it was absolutely awesome! Benoit does a great job selling all the hard Irish whips that affect his back and he also looks strong in defeat. The 9 German Suplexes look brutal and the recall of the WM20 ending looked epic with Benoit countering the Pedigree to a Crossface. Although this made the entire 2004 look redundant with all the "HHH HAS YET TO BEAT BENOIT!!" hype, at least it was not a clean job and Benoit was protected as he took a lowblow and had to release the Sharpshooter due to Flair's distraction. There's something about Benoit that makes his opponents motivated to work with him as HHH does a hell of a job here too. ****1/4 from me. Can't believe it's neither on youtube nor dailymotion.

This very same show (14/3) also included an awesome Highlight Reel with Chris Jericho, Randy Orton and JAKE THE SNAKE, a great Edge/Shelton Benjamin match, The Rockers reuniting and a couple of nice backstage segments. Easily best Raw of 2005 so far and maybe the best one I've ever seen. (not gonna talk about the Attitude Era ones since I'm yet to watch them)
 
#8,598 ·
Yeah I remember that Trip/Benoit being really good. Without thinking too hard it's probably the best Raw match I've seen from 2005.

S'on dailymotion, btw; http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7t1k0_chris-benoit-vs-triple-h_sport
I'm yet to see Shelton/HBK, but this and the street fight with HBK/Edge are the matches of 2005 so far into it. Also liked a few others like Orton/Christian, Orton/HHH, Benoit/Batista and Benoit/Jericho.

And I must have missed the dailymotion link. I remember finding it a while back when searching for their Eddie Guerrero tribute match but my recent search an hour ago only gave me the Gold Rush Tournament match.
 
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