Guest Bruiser Chong Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 Since the other thread mostly pertains to the controversy surrounding Warrior's recent comments and not so much the DVD itself, I thought a new thread was in order. I opted for the "collector's edition," which features nothing more than three matches. One of them's the Summerslam '92 match with Savage, so I figured it was worth the extra couple of bucks. To get the ball rolling, let's focus first on the feature. Earlier reports had me wondering what in the world is wrong with WWE for ponying up all this time, effort, and coin just so they can bury a guy. But watching it, the moments of WWE-style burying were few and far between. Truth is, few things were said of the Warrior in an unflattering light that weren't factual. The SS '91 controversy is a classic case of there being two sides to every story. Both guys sound convincing in their retelling of the story, so it's a situation left to interpretation. Near the end of the program was the only time it seemed like they decided to go for the full burial, and again, that could just be a result of his time in WCW being the focal point at that juncture. With the program comes some great footage of Warrior's promos, in-ring action, etc. Watching the evolution of his charcter from late 1987 to 1991 or so, I noticed for the first time just how mellow he became in the promo department. His earlier interviews are almost impossible to translate, ranging from talks of the cosmics to raging elephants. But the promos shown from his WWF title reign and thereafter, you get a glimpse of a Warrior who was coherant and fairly interesting. The extras department is somewhat weak. Obviously when it comes to this guy, you don't want two packed discs of his matches, but there aren't any promos or anything outside of the ring included in the bonus department. His WM VI and VII matches are clear inclusions, but with the impending WM sets, they don't feel all that necessary. Some other random observations about the bonus content... - It's almost surreal to see the Ultimate Warrior as the Ultimate Warrior, coming to the ring, sans the trademark music and 100 MPH sprint to the ring. Seeing him slapping hands with the fans as he approaches the ring is an odd visual. - Watching his match with HTM from Summerslam '88, I'm still amazed how crazy the crowd was for the guy. He destorys Honky for the duration of the brief encounter, but the erruption for the pinfall is so intense that it's obvious the fans weren't convinced it was happening until that moment. - The WM VI match is tough to watch because of Ventura's commentary being edited out. Having the Gorilla respond to things that are no longer there takes some getting used to. - I love how Bobby Heenan's in the middle of some babble about the retirement match from WM VII when the Warrior casually pulls Savage to the middle of the ring and pins him with one foot. His reaction to the pinfall coming out of left field is great. - Roddy Piper hates the Warrior. Absolutely hates him. I don't know why I didn't pick up on it before, but he buries him during the entire SS '90 cage match with Rude. Whether it's his attire, inexperience in the ring or intangibles surrounding the gimmick (i.e. him drawing "power" from the fans), Piper's all over him. It's funnier when you remember he was supposed to be a face announcer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Campbell Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 I'm a bit surprised the Warrior's rematch with Rude from SS '89 wasn't included. I've never seen it myself, but from what I've gathered it's their best singles match together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 It certainly is. Often overlooked, and honestly, it's probably a far superior *wrestling match* than Savage/Warrior at Wrestlemania VII. I like Savage/Warrior more for heat, intensity, drama and emotion though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mike Campbell Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 hmmmm between that and the Harts vs Busters, I may have to look into getting that PPV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Bruiser Chong Posted October 2, 2005 Report Share Posted October 2, 2005 You should. I've mentioned it at virtually every board I've posted at, but it's really one of the most undervalued PPVs from the '80s. The only real kinks in this thing are the Dibiase/Snuka and Valentine/Hercules matches. The Busters/Harts is a hot opener; HTM/Dusty is short and to the point; Rooster/Perfect had the makings of a memorable match, but Taylor's injury mid-match caused them to wrap it up early; the pair of six-man tags are fun to watch on their own levels, and the IC title match we already know about. Come to think of it, I don't care for the main event at all and I have traditionally stopped watching a match or two prior to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest SweetMama Scaat Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 Can you elaborate on the difference between the dvd sets? Why would the collectors edition have LESS matches than the other(s)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 THe collectors set does not have less than the regular one. I think what he was saying is that the only addition to the collector set is the addition of 3 matches. That's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goodhelmet Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 From this week's Observer... --- Based on early sales, the DVD will not be a big hit. ---According to Mletz, they were not unfair to him as a wrestler but may have been unfair to him from a business standpoint. Of the three times he left, 2 were accurate and one was misleading. ---It is accurate he was not a good wrestler for the most part. He was a bad interview and he was unpopular with the other wrestlers. However, he did count Kerry Von Erich and Owen Hart as his friends during his time in the company. ---In the DVD, Meltz feels the Fed took too much credit for "making him". ---In the DVD, Gene Okerlund said the ratings were in the toilet for Warrior's interview because it was so bad. The truth is that his 18 minute monologue drew a 6.41 rating which is one of the top 5 highest head-to-head ratings up to that point. ---Speaking of Owen, a funny story about when they roomed together direct from Meltz... Hellwig was offered a starring role in New Japan Pro Wrestling, with the fastest paced in-ring prduct in the world. Yes, the physique was so impressive they wanted him to be Big Van Vader.... Evidently, he didn't comprehend, or didn't care. It wasn't that he was against Japan. In mid-1989, when he was already a big star, he used to room with Owen Hart on the road, when Hart talked about leaving WWF because he thought he could have more fun wrestling and make more money in Japan. Hellwig talked about leaving with him, and Owen politely told him, "Jim, Japan isn't for everyone," and left it at that. ---According to Meltz, the boggest problem with the DVD is the WWF taking too much credit for his success. ---He says that where the DVD fails to tell the real story is the events surrounding Mania 6. The DVD portrays it as "What more could Vince have done than let him pin Hogan to win the title at Wrestlemania." In reality, while it was supposed to be passing the torch, it was Hogan putting himself over in the loss that buried Warrior. The DVD also says Warrior's first reign was a success which Meltz says was not the case. --- THe DVDs biggest credibility issue was his first firing. McMahon claims Warrior held him up for more money. Everyone in the company believed McMahon was held up the day of Summerslam 1991. Warrior got through the match and then was fired afterwards. This is disputed by Warrior in his comments about the DVD last week. ---On the DVD, when Warrior returned for Mania 8 in 1992, Bruce Pritchard said that Warrior looked smaller and different and attributed it to Warrior not training as hard. LOL ---The DVD ignored Warrior's lawsuit after his second firing because it would make the WWF look bad for bringing him back after he sued them. ---On the DVD, about Warrior's final stint with the company, McMAhon and Ross emphasized that if you are advertised to the public, you can't no show. However, Meltz points out that the company has had no problem falsely advertising main eventers and as recently advertised John Cena when they knew he would not be there. ---The DVD doctored a poster for a San Francisco show on July 2, 1996 by superimposing a photo of Warrior over a photo of HBK and advertised Warrior vs. Vader as the main event. However, one of the earlier matches is listed as Sid vs. Bulldog and Sid did not come back until after Hellwig had quit. ---What must burn Vince even more is that the DVD states Ultimate Warrior is the trademark of Ultimate Creations, one of Warrior's businesses. ---Meltz said the DVD may be unfair but that Warrior's repsonse was as classless as can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sek69 Posted October 7, 2005 Report Share Posted October 7, 2005 I wonder why they didn't focus more on his WCW stint if they wanted to bury him. At least WWE could have said "we're making fun of how bad WCW was, not Warrior" and not looked so petty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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