The Top Ten 7.29.08: Wrestling DVDs

Posted by Julian Williams on 07.29.2008

The DVD's that were so good, it made you not give up on wrestling for one more week. Ahh, who am I kidding, you weren't going anywhere. What else would you do with your life silly?

Good day people and welcome back to another fantastical edition of The Top Ten. This week we're going to look at The Top Ten Wrestling DVD's. That doesn't include DVD's for individual shows, but rather specific DVD sets. And I'm only talking about DVD's not VHS because, let's face it, VHS tapes could hold 2 or 3 hours of material tops while most DVD sets nowadays have easily 6 or more hours of content. And most of the VHS wrestling tapes I've seen couldn't touch the jock strap of most DVD sets. So before you email me talking about why did I not include one of the old ECW collections or the Best of SD Jones, that's why. Ok, onto the column.

Random Thoughts Of A Disturbed Wrestling Fan

-So a lot of people have been bitching and how CM Punk has basically been a punk (see what I did there) since winning the World Heavyweight Title and I actually have to agree with the bitchers and moaners this time around. But what I'm hoping for is that this is a foreshadowing of either one of two things. Either Punk gets fed up of everyone treating him like a chump and he goes full blown heel to get some respect or he becomes the plucky underdog ala Bret Hart that everyone underestimates but yet always finds a way to retain the title. I think either scenario would be good, I just hope that they don't "Rey Mysterio" Punk's title reign and actually make him look like a competent champion before he loses the belt.

-Many people have been saying how the new Diva's Title is the ugliest belt ever in pro wrestling, while others have said fuck no, the Spinner Belt is. The truth is that both sides are wrong. The Divas belt is pretty ugly….if you're a dude. The belt was made to attract women by being pretty and girly and the chicks I know seem to like the new Divas Title. Which is good for the WWE because then some of those chicks will fork over money to get a replica of it. And the Spinner Belt is not nearly as bad as people made it out to be. When it was created, the spinner thing was really popular so WWE was actually being modern (for once) by creating a belt that young people would like. I will admit that the belt should have been a Cena special, just like the Smoking Skull belt was only for Stone Cold. But it definitely wasn't the ugliest belt. The ugliest belt ever? That god-awful NWA World Title that TNA was using up to last year. That thing looks less like a World Championship and more like an alien sex toy.

-I recently purchased an HDTV after one of my tube TV's bit the dust and all I have to say about HD is: BELIEVE THE HYPE! I was always one of those people that thought that HDTV's were overhyped and they didn't really make a big difference, but let me tell you, once you watch something on an HDTV, you don't want to watch a regular TV. Me and my girl still have a Tube TV in our bedroom and ever since we've got this HDTV a week ago, we've watched the TV in the bedroom maybe once or twice. After being able to count how many grey hairs are growing on Chris Jericho's chin, I just don't want to go back to regular TV ever again.

-I can't decide who's hotter, the chick from the "Dangerous" video or the chick from the "Flashing Lights" video. You decide:

Dangerous Chick


Flashing Lights Chick


-Greatest Ric Flair Quote of all-time? "You can ask all the girls! When you go to bed with the big boys, you're gonna feel some pain in the morning! WOOOOO!"

The Top Ten Wrestling DVD's

Honorable Mention: The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sports Entertainment
This is a DVD set that many Rock fans have been waiting on for years and it certainly didn't disappoint. This set has pretty much every important match in Rocky's career including his IC Title victory over HHH, his brutal matches against Mankind, his classic matches with Stone Cold, his intense feud with Triple H and great matches against such superstars like Chris Jericho, Booker T, Kurt Angle, Kane, Eddie Guerrero and of course Hollywood Hulk Hogan. In addition, you had some of The Rock's greatest promos and that adds up into one hell of a DVD set.

Honorable Mention: The History Of The WWE Championship
With such rare matches as Morales/Koloff and Sammartino/Kowalski as well as all-time classics like Hogan/Andre, HBK/Hart, HHH/Cactus, and Benoit/Angle, this DVD set is easily a winner. On top of all those great matches, you also have the great Hart/Hart Cage Match, Hogan/Warrior, Hogan/Savage, Rock/Brock, Rock/Austin, and about a half a dozen more fantastic matches. On top of that, there is a cool little feature that showcases every WWE Title change to happen in WWE History. This is the definitive collection to own if you're a new fan as it features pretty much every important WWE Title match in the company's history.

Honorable Mention: Rey Mysterio - The Biggest Little Man
I think this is a very underrated DVD set as many people usually rave about other DVD's, but I rarely hear anyone talk about this one. And that's a shame because this is one of the most consistently entertaining DVD that I've ever watched. It features some of Rey's rare matches against the likes of Super Calo, Jushin Lyger, and Blitzkreig as well as his classic matches against Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Kurt Angle. I can honestly say that there are no dogs on this DVD set as every match is at least mildly entertaining. If you are a fan of Rey, past or present, than there is no excuse not to own this.

Honorable Mention: The Best Of Raw – Vol. 1 & 2
No, this isn't the 15th Anniversary set that was recently released (although that one was pretty good), but rather a 2-disc set that was released in 2001 and featured action from RAW between late 1997 to late 1999. This set featured all the pivotal moments of the attitude era including The Beer Truck Incident, Austin stunning Vince for the first time, The Rock throwing Austin off a bridge, Mankind winning the WWE Title, Zamboni 3:16, DX invading WCW, Sable and her painted tits, DX mocking The Nation, and the debut of Y2J. On top of that, it also contains rare Raw matches like Rock vs. X-Pac, Mankind vs. Undertaker, HHH vs. Rock (I Quit), and Edge & Christian vs. The Hardyz (T.I.T. Tournament). This was my first wrestling DVD and I watched it so many times, that I have it pretty much memorized. Because of this, I may be a bit bias towards this set, but all-in-all it is a very entertaining DVD.

Honorable Mention: Unstoppable – The Best Of Samoa Joe
Well let's see. Joe/Sabin, Joe/Dutt, Joe/Delirious, Joe/Styles, Joe/Styles/Daniels, Joe/Liger, and Joe/Daniels. Yea, this set is awesome. It features 11 matches and more than half of them are over 4 stars. No more words for this, it is awesome, you must own. Next!

Honorable Mention: ROH Presents Bloodstained Honor
I was hyped for this DVD set once I saw the match listing and it certainly did not disappoint. I had seen a few of the matches on the set, but the rest I hadn't but had heard great things of. Out of the 8 matches on this set, only one of them (in my opinion) is under 4 stars. That is unbelievable. I cant wait to pick up future ROH releases to see if they can match the quality set by this fantastic compilation.

10) Foley Greatest Hits & Misses: The Hardcore Edition
I love this DVD set because it features Foley presenting some of his best….and worst matches. It's pretty funny to see Mick ragging on himself and even the bad matches were fun to watch in a trainwreck sort of way. But there are a lot of good matches and they certainly deliver to make this one of the better DVD sets I've ever seen. Matches like Jack/Vader, Jack/Whipwreck, Jack/Sting, Love/Austin, Mankind/Rock, Mankind/HBK, Foley/Funk, Mankind/Undertaker, Jack/HHH, Jack/Orton, Foley/Edge and Foley/Flair make the match quality on this set unbelievable. On top of that, you had some additional great matches like Jack & Maxx Payne vs. Nasty Boys, Jack & Raven vs. Funk & Dreamer, Foley & Edge vs. Dreamer and Funk & Jack vs. Chris Candido. If that weren't enough, you also have some of the greatest promos ever in the biz as Foley's Anti-Hardcore promos from ECW are shown in their entirety. Damn, fuck this column, I'm going to watch this set again now.

9) Phenomenal: The Best Of AJ Styles Vol. 1
This was (I believe) TNA's first DVD offering and they couldn't have started off with a better subject than AJ Styles. This was a great set that featured such fantastic matches like the Double Elimination match to crown the first X-Division champ, a couple of the Styles/Lynn/Lo-Ki classics, a fun ladder match between AJ and D-Lo Brown, and other great matches against the likes of Abyss, Amazing Red, Syxx-Pac and Jeff Jarrett. This was just a wonderful package from start to finish and one that I still get great enjoyment from watching even to this day.

8) The Shawn Michaels Story: Heartbreak & Triumph
HBK had a previous DVD released on him (From The Vault) in 2003 which was great in its own right, but many fans wanted to see a complete story on HBK. Their wishes were granted when this set was released last year. The biography given on HBK's life was fantastic as it blended early childhood stories of Shawn with stories that we've heard a million times as well as stories that we never knew about, including his bouts with drug addiction. This set also featured some great matches like The Rockers vs. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers, The Rockers vs. The Brainbusters, The Rockers vs. The Orient Express, HBK vs. The British Bulldog, HBK vs. Jeff Jarrett, HBK vs. HHH, HBK vs. Kurt Angle and HBK vs. John Cena. This is just a phenomenal set that is the type of DVD presentation that HBK deserves.

7) The Ladder Match
Do I really need to explain myself? Ok, fine. Michaels/Ramon, HHH/Rock, Hardyz/Edge & Christian/Dudleyz, Benoit/Jericho, Guerrero/Van Dam, Guerrero/Mysterio, Edge/Hardy, Edge/Flair, Edge/Cena, MITB 1, and Hardy/Nitro (or Morrison if you prefer). In addition to that you have underrated matches like Hart/Michaels, Edge/Christian, Jericho/Christian and London & Kendrick/Hardys/MNM/Regal & Taylor. It's rare that there is a set with no bad matches, but this is definitely one of them.

6) Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story
This was perhaps the most uplifting, and heartbreaking, wrestling DVD to ever be released. Uplifting because of all the trials and tribulations that Eddie had to overcome to achieve his dream of becoming a World Champion. Heartbreaking because although Eddie overcame his demons, they eventually caught up to him and ended his life far too early. Eddie talks candidly in the biography section about his past addictions and how he nearly wasn't able to overcome them. One of those seemingly uncensored moments come when Eddie is told for the first time that Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn went behind his back to tell Jim Ross about Eddie's addiction. It's obvious that Eddie feels a little betrayed, but I think that he even realized that was what probably saved his life at the time. To add to the great biography section (probably the best of a single wrestler on any WWE DVD), there are some great matches included such as Eddie & Art Barr vs. El Hijo Del Santo and Octagon, Eddie vs. Dean Malenko, Eddie vs. Rey Mysterio, Eddie vs. Chris Jericho, Eddie vs. Chris Benoit and of course Eddie vs. Brock Lesnar. This is a fantastic set that is kind of heartbreaking to watch nowadays, but still terrific nonetheless.

5) The Legacy Of Stone Cold Steve Austin
Stone Cold has had a bunch of DVD sets released for him, but none have been as definitive as this set. From his early days in WCW to his brief stint in ECW to his mega success in the WWE, this covers Austin's career pretty nicely. The set features such great matches like Austin/Steamboat, Austin/Vega, Austin/Taker, Austin/Hart, Austin/Rock, and Austin/HHH. This is one of those sets where it seems like its going to take forever to finish watching, but it is so entertaining that it doesn't feel tedious at all.

4) Hard Knocks: The Chris Benoit Story
Well this certainly is a heartbreaking inclusion on this list. This DVD set featured a great biography on how Benoit toiled for years in the lower card into becoming one of the most respected workers in the biz to being a World Champion. The matches included were tremendous and included rare Japanese matches against the likes of The Great Sasuke, Jushin Liger and Black Tiger (aka Eddie Guerrero). It featured some of his memorable WCW matches against Kevin Sullivan, Eddie Guerrero, 2 Cold Scorpio, Booker T, Bret Hart as well as his classic bouts against WWE stars like William Regal, Kurt Angle, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels. This was easily one of my favorite DVD sets ever and it saddens me that I'll probably never watch it again because I honestly don't think I'd be able to enjoy it.

3) The Ultimate Ric Flair Collection
This set is pure, unadulterated awesomeness. The only thing it was missing was a biography section and a couple more matches as that would have easily made this the greatest wrestling DVD of all-time. I think that if they would have combined this set with the newly released Definitive Collection, that there would never be a greater DVD set ever created. On its own, though, this collection is certainly not slacking. It features some of Flair's most classic matches against the likes of Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes, Barry Windham, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, Sting, and Triple H. It also features his unforgettable 1992 Royal Rumble win as well s some legendary Flair promos. The Definitive Collection comes close, but in terms of overall quality, this is easily the superior Flair release.

2) Bret Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was & The Best There Ever Will Be
This DVD set features 18 matches and 13 of them are easily 4 stars or more. That is freakish. In terms of match quality, no other DVD set is even close to touching this one. The biography section is pretty damn good as well as Bret speaks openly about different topics including the Montreal Screwjob and the death of his brother, Owen. Some people love Bret, some people hate him, but I don't think anybody can deny that this set is absolutely phenomenal.

1) The Rise & Fall Of ECW
This DVD single handedly brought about the resurrection of ECW. That alone could explain its position at #1, but on top of that it was a FANTASTIC set. To my knowledge, this is still the highest grossing DVD (non-Wrestlemania) in WWE history and it was met with such an overwhelming response that the WWE wanted to cash in my creating the first One Night Stand. That event was so successful that they decided to bring ECW back full-time (granted, much more watered down) and the rest, as they say, is history. This is the only WWE DVD set to ever be rated TV-MA and it certainly deserves it as the curses fly all over the place in this set. The in-depth biography section covers pretty much every major event to ever happen in ECW from the early days as Eastern Championship Wrestling to Shane Douglas throwing down the title to the emergence of Raven to the Taz/Sabu feud to the rise of RVD to the death of the promotion. The extras feature such ECW classics like Raven & Stevie Richards vs. The Pitbulls, Too Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu and RVD vs. Jerry Lynn. The biography (which is easily the best I've ever seen) was honestly enough to make this number 1, but when you factor in the matches that are included, how could you choose anything else as number 1?

The Sign-Off

Yup, I'm done. But be sure to leave your feedback and come back next week when the topic will be The Top Ten Wrestlers EVER. Until then, go wash your ass!