WRESTLING
Pro wrestling is a unique hybrid form. “Sports-Entertainment” is the preferred coinage of World Wrestling Entertainment, who market most of these videos, and it’s not such an poor description. Among those who are not all physique, verbal bluster and colorful gimmicks in this world, there are qualities of physical performance, technique and execution, not to mention the concept of “working hurt”, which are readily analogous, if not indiscernible from their “real sport” equivalents.
Wrestling isn’t ballet, or musical theatre, or the circus, or stunt-work or any other form of entertainment with a physically demanding aspect to it. It’s something that falls in between those and sport. It’s a non-sport whose practitioners – good, awful, legendary, or journeymen – are indisputably athletes, which cannot be said about those in the aforementioned fields of the arts and entertainment, regardless of the talents or techniques of those in the aforementioned fields.
Most of the DVDs cited here are produced by World Wrestling Entertainment, the great survivor of 100 years of pro wrestling territorial wars in the USA and Canada. To the victor goes the spoils, and WWE has bought out the tape libraries of most of their significant former opposition, the fruit of which is heavily in evidence on these video releases.
In addition to copious match footage, many of these releases also include a WWE-produced documentary on the wrestler/s concerned, which are mostly movie-length, detailed, and laden with interview material featuring the subject and his/their peers. The level of frankness varies, but the attention to detail in the production is pretty amazing, by and large.
“HARD KNOCKS – THE CHRIS BENOIT STORY” (WWE/Shock)
Now in his mid-late 30s, Chris Benoit has been generally considered one of the finest in-ring performers in worldwide professional wrestling for around ten years. He’s worked all styles, in Japan, Mexico, the US and his native Canada, and excelled at all of them. The DVD features an extensive selection of matches which prove it, from high-flying, hard-hitting junior-heavyweight style in Japan, to old-fashioned European style on an independent show in the US, to the “hardcore” style (brawling, blood, foreign objects), to both the technical and more contemporary, punch’n’wrestle main event style of US heavyweight pro wrestling.
He has the intensity (or as they say in Japanese pro wrestling, the “fire”) and the combination of cardio and precision of movement, to make viewers feel that he’s not insulting their intelligence, and it’s a privilege to suspend disbelief and watch him work a match.
The documentary feature on Benoit is another matter, however. It tells you that this guy always wanted to be a professional wrestler, and then he became one. Tells you that over and over again at considerable length, because that’s all there is to the story. Anyway, you buy this for the matches, and there’s plenty of them.
August, 2007 Note - In the wake of Chris Benoit and his family’s deaths and the circumstances of these, this DVD was withdrawn from sale both here and overseas at the direction of WWE. The comments above were obviously written well in advance of the later bizarre and tragic occurrences.
“REY MYSTERIO 619” (WWE/Shock)
The former Rey Misterio Jr – they anglicised his name for US consumption – is a very muscular, and very short, lighter-weight, masked performer, renowned for his flying moves, who adapted from the more overtly acrobatic Mexican style to a more conventional US one, and has become a long-term mainstay as an attraction in WWE. (Incidentally, the “Junior” was in deference to his real-life uncle, the first Rey Misterio in Mexican wrestling.) His Mexican career is cited in the documentary feature, but not included in the match selection. However the latter includes some of his most dazzling performances – and those incredible moves – against his best opponents, in both junior-heavyweight, and heavyweight styles. A bit of a feast, this one.
“MICK FOLEY’S GREATEST HITS AND MISSES” (WWE/Shock)
One-time wrestler, now author Foley remains one of the more controversial figures in pro wrestling history. Detractors say he’s a fat slob, non-athlete and masochistic pain-freak who “exposed the business” every time he went out for a match. Defenders claim that he incorporated his trademark crazy, brawling, stunt-laden style into memorable pro wrestling matches, was a brilliant microphone performer, and captured the crowd’s imaginations. The proof is probably in the pudding, and whether or not you like it, most of the matches here are fascinating in at least a car-wreck sort of way. If you’re a wrestling fan, there’s no argument – Foley was an incredible, unique performer, and it’s difficult to think of anyone who’s given more of himself –literally, in terms of pieces and contents of his body – in the name of any form of sport or entertainment.
Foley hosts and introduces the matches, in his breezy, often hilarious trademark manner, but clearly delineates the physical prices he paid along the way. The intensity of this is probably best not underrated, and this stuff isn’t for unsupervised kiddie viewing. I’m not kidding.
He’s a funny guy, but you may want to get Granny and the youngsters out of the room.
‘THE MONDAY NIGHT WAR” (WWE/Shock)
To the victor goes the spoils, as we mentioned earlier. The “Monday Night War” was a contest fought between two pro wrestling companies, the Vince McMahon-owned World Wrestling Federation (later WWE) and the Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling, and their two flagship cable TV shows, respectively “Monday Night RAW” and “Monday Nitro”. At their peak, they had upwards of ten million people flicking between the two of them in the US every week, hurt the previously impregnable network TV ratings of “Monday Night Football”, and dominated cable TV ratings.
This amazing documentary would have been unimaginable from a pro wrestling company as recently as five years ago. The principals behind the scenes speak with sometimes astounding candour, and sometimes are playing a part, theatrically-speaking, although that’s a McMahon trademark. Eric Bischoff, who ran WCW for Turner, makes no bones about the fact that he’s REALLY like that, which some unfamiliar with the history might find harder to swallow than McMahon’s act on face value.
The extensive interview comments from the performers who were there at the time are telling, particularly in the case of the WCW ones. On one level, it’s a fascinating story of how a company which was so big could go out of business so soon after its peak. It’s also an interesting case study of McMahon’s company, outgunned for money, beaten for 85 weeks straight in the ratings, and pushed to the brink, had to innovate to survive. Two matches from each show are included as bonuses, as are many skits and segments, but in this case, the lengthy documentary feature is the whole show.
“THE ULTIMATE RIC FLAIR COLLECTION” (WWE/Shock)
The closest thing there is to a consensus choice as pro wrestling’s greatest ever performer is the perennial “Nature Boy” Ric Flair.
The proto flashy bleach-blonde “heel” outside the ring, and a legendary cardiovascular freak and brilliant workman in it, started his career in the early 1970s, survived a broken back from a plane crash in the mid-70s, was already a regional star by the end of the decade. From the early 80s on, he was one of wrestling’s biggest stars, and still features prominently – and sometimes wrestles, invariably to delighted crowd reaction – on WWE television to this day.
This triple-disc set features Flair from his early 80s days as the last significant champion of the old National Wrestling Alliance, through his peak period as a performer in WCW in the 80s and early 90s, as well as his later days both there and in WWE. The matches with Ricky Steamboat and Barry Windham are simply a textbook of the best US pro style work possible. Whether you classify pro wrestling as a clown-act by definition, or an athletic, storytelling craft, or mere entertainment, this is as good as it gets, whatever it is. The Western-style unabashed brawling style match with fellow-legend Terry Funk is as good in a completely different way.
Copious amounts of Flair’s “promos” – his set-up work on microphone to promote the matches – are included as well, which is as it should be, as he was and is a galvanising TV performer, often hilarious, and sometimes moving. Beautifully packaged, and carefully programmed, oddly enough for a triple-disc set, about the only thing a fan could ask for is more.
“FROM THE VAULT – SHAWN MICHAELS” (WWE/Shock)
Not necessarily wrestling’s most universally loved figure, Michaels is considered by some as the best performer of the modern era, and by all but his most vehement detractors as one of the most reliable performers in terms of turning on a memorable performance for a big occasion. This two-disc set features all the expected big matches from his WWE run as a solo star, against all the major big-name opponents, plus another extended profile piece/documentary.
Michaels’ propensity for near-perpetual motion, as well as pinpoint physical precision, and superior psychology in controlling a crowd’s reactions, are inescapably on evidence all over these discs, both with the best of co-workers, and often, with “opponents” of markedly inferior in-ring talent.
The doco section is light, but fun. He was a military brat and high school jock who got a bee in his bonnet about pro wrestling and decided to pursue it. The contrast between Michaels’ lifestyle-choice and flashy characterisation and his extremely straight-arrow US Army dad – who nonetheless encouraged junior in his unusual career choice – is entertaining in itself.
However, references to the more controversial aspects of Michaels infamous backstage politicking and game-playing are studiously minimised as much as possible.
“BLOODBATH – WRESTLING’S MOST INCREDIBLE STEEL CAGE MATCHES” (WWE/Shock)
Traditionally, the cage match was used as the “blow-off” match, meaning to the fans it was meant to promise the end of a long-running feud between (mostly) good guy and bad guy. It also traditionally meant blood.
This double-disc doesn’t have the carnage level of the Mick Foley set. However, by way of fair warning, it’s reasonable to point out that when it became more or less the industry standard to no longer pretend the matches were real, they also didn’t have to keep up the pretence that the blood wasn’t. There’s plenty of blood here, and that’s your fair warning.
Classic feuds and memorable cage matches from a period spanning 15 years from the late 70s to the mid-90s are included, from both the then-WWF and the old NWA. Old names to conjure with include Sammartino, Snuka, Backlund, Hogan, Orndorff, and even Pat Patterson, who headlined out here as a youngster in the late 1960s.
Moral issues to one side, cage matches tend to follow a pattern, and most sane people would find 5 ½ hours of people’s heads rebounding off metal fencing somewhat repetitive. However, for fans, taken in limited doses, it’ll bring back some memories, and some of the matches are better than just nostalgia.
JOE v PUNK II (ROH/Import)
“Ring of Honor” is, of all things, a boutique wrestling promotion from the North-East of the United States. The “boutique” aspect is a greater focus on the notion of pro wrestling as a stylised simulation of athletic competition, and an avoidance of insulting its audience’s intelligence with the more circus-oriented character and storytelling trappings of WWE. The simplest way of describing the product is to say it’s old school pro wrestling of a 50s/60s/70s approach, but with modern (i.e. quicker) pacing, and moves.
In practise, this means fervent, loyal and knowledgeable crowds numbering in the hundreds rather than thousands, and a lot of skinny guys who look like minor college basketballers on too much caffeine, flying all over the joint to sometimes wayward and sometimes entertaining effect.
While there’s hours of wrestling on this disc – which records one of the ROH live shows from suburban Chicago late last year – it’s a one-match show. The one match features their two best performers, long-term heavyweight champ Samoa Joe, and hometown hero C.M. Punk, in a match that, in old-fashioned style, tells a story. Joe is the tough, proven “World champion”. The lighter, gutty but “less-skilled” Punk has previously taken him to a one-hour draw and has vowed to capture the title in front of the hometown fans.
That’s the background scenario, and then they go out and tell the story with their bodies, old-school pro wrestling style, right down to the extended side-headlock/escape sequences, for a full hour. It’s pretty great too. Joe might have all the wrong physique for WWE stardom – he looks like a short, tough thick-set truck-driver – but he’s a gun worker, and C.M.Punk keeps up and plays his role as the gutsy, outgunned, but indefatigable challenger really well. Kids – this is how it used to be done. And it still holds the attention when it’s done as well as this.
(ROH discs are available on import, from the company itself, at www.rohwrestling.com)
“THE LIFE AND DEATH OF ECW” (WWE/Shock)
Philadelphia’s Extreme Championship Wrestling, depending on the point of view taken, was either the third wheel, or the only genuine alternative, during the final war for US wrestling dominance between WWE and WCW.
It was certainly “alternative”. Paul Heyman’s renegade promotion turned low-budget production values, a lot of ideas, its rivals more conservative approach, and a sharp ear for exploitation of genuinely contemporary music to a set of advantages. In ECW, the language was fouler, the foreign objects were crazier, the storylines were adults-only, the comedy hilariously inappropriate for any network, the characters were more like a Tarantino movie than a wrestling show, and the wrestling shows delivered mayhem in quantity, and “mayhem” is not hyperbole in this case. The contrast with the product of the “Majors” gave them focus, an identity, and a fiercely loyal fan-base.
This ultra-long and fascinating documentary traces the history of ECW as a company, and also its relationship with its rival companies. The principals are Heyman, Eric Bischoff (WCW) and Vince McMahon, and sorting out the home truths (which there’s plenty of here) from the role playing/grandstanding (ditto) is part of the entertainment. (Basically, Vince is playing Vince, Heyman probably believes a lot of this but can’t switch the character off, and once again, Bischoff, as difficult as it may be to believe or stomach, is probably pretty much being himself.)
However performers who worked in ECW are also interviewed in detail, and their frankness is patently unimpeded in the majority of cases. The story of the volatile, innovative, but endlessly cash-strapped company from the inside in their words makes this alternately funny, inspirational and sad. Some guys obviously gave a great deal for what others would contend was a very strange cause.
Anyway, the innovations speak for themselves and changed the industry, as they were plagiarised, or at least adopted wholesale, by ECW’s larger rivals.
A number of matches and other ECW TV content is included, which supports everything good and bad said in the documentary. Best bonus features – the many stories, particularly from wrestlers Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit, about the sometimes jaw-droppingly ludicrous extremes Paul Heyman would go to, to save money on transport and other costs. These have to be heard to be disbelieved.
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BOXING
Boxing is one of the more blessed sports, as far as moving picture archives go. Footage exists of great champions plying their craft all the way back to the first-ever gloved world heavyweight champion, James J. Corbett, at the butt-end of the 19th century.
That term is used advisedly by the way, as surviving film of “Gentleman Jim” suggests he routinely competed with the greatest recorded wedgie in sporting history.
Film preserved at least moments, and sometimes entire fights, of the legendary boxers up to the 1960s, thankfully with less indecent arrangements in the area of boxing trunks. In the videotape era, many significant fights of the more celebrated champs of the last thirty years survive in full.
This legacy, combined with the latter-day stampede to release pretty much anything ever shot on film, tape or Box-Brownie to DVD, has recently led to a pleasing minor avalanche of local boxing disc releases.
Let’s catch up with some of the relatively recent additions to retail boxing Valhalla.
FIGHT NIGHT VOL.1 (Siren)
“The Thrilla in Manila” and “The Rumble in the Jungle”.
That’s what this DVD contains. In full. Just the fights, ma’am, and no spurious or unnecessarily explanatory documentary duh-rama.
Every minute of every round of Muhammad Ali regaining the heavyweight title against a young, homicidally powerful George Foreman, decades away from the avuncular, born-again George we now know, love, and cook snags on the grill of. And every minute of every round of the rubber-match between Ali and his first-ever professional conqueror, Smokin’ Joe Frazier. The men are legends, and the confrontations epic.
“It’s great”, and “Buy it”, in that order.
CHAMPIONS FOREVER (Arrow - European Import)
THE five iconic boxers from the greatest heavyweight division in boxing history – the 1970s – sit down in the one studio with baseball Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson, and chew the fat about their fights with each other, with ample illustrative footage, plenty of good-humoured banter (excepting Joe Frazier’s comments on Ali), and more than a few moments of poignant reflection. It’s Ali, Frazier, Foreman, Ken Norton and Larry Holmes, and whether hardcore boxing fan or not, it’s pure gold. Oh, hell, it’s better than that. This is as good as you’ll ever see on the subject, including “When We Were Kings”. Expanded version available on import – needs local release.
FIGHT NIGHT VOL. 2 – BOXING’S BEST PART 1 (Siren)
Three 50-minute documentaries made for US cable TV, each covering one of the legendary heavyweight champions. There’s Joe Louis, the longest-reigning heavyweight title-holder, Rocky Marciano who was never beaten and whose record as a heavyweight remains unequalled, and Jack Dempsey, the brutal punching machine who could be described as the Mike Tyson of the 1920s, except that people quite liked him out of the ring. Given program duration and orientation, you don’t expect depth or probing analysis and you don’t get any. Plenty of film, though.
FIGHT NIGHT VOL. 3 – SUGAR RAY LEONARD (Siren)
Arguably the most famous non-heavyweight series of fights ever featured four monumental boxing names – Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, Thomas Hearns and Roberto Duran.
The Hagler-Leonard fight was the culmination of the series, and is the pick of this DVD. Both had beaten their other two great rivals. No-one really thought Sugar Ray could beat all-time division great Hagler at middleweight. Hardly the most explosive bout of the four-way super-series, but a key moment in boxing history.
The other fight, also featured in full, is Sugar Ray vs Tommy Hearns – unfortunately the 90s rematch, not the incandescent, long-unavailable early-80s original. The rematch? Well, even Sean Connery had given up making James Bond comebacks by the 1990s. Better than Duran-Leonard III, though.
TOE TO TOE
Subtitled “30 of the Toughest Rounds Ever Fought”, this disc contains whole rounds of big-name fighters from the last 30 years locked in action which resembles those idiotic fight sequences in old Hollywood boxing movies, except this stuff is for real.
The picks of an astounding bunch are one round apiece of the first two Mickey Ward-Arturo Gatti fights which make the Colosseum scenes from “Gladiator” look like inflatable-pontoon battles from “Almost Anything Goes”.
Some material strongly resembling tenth-generation video dupes, which adds a seductive air of mystery to the enterprise.
Still pops up in some video and discount stores.
FIGHT NIGHT 4 – BOXING’S BEST PART 2 (Siren)
Another three 50 minute shows from the cobwebbed vaults of US cable TV. There’s a passing brush with Ali’s career, and I guess we needed another one of those. It’s watchable enough, despite the late-breaking revelation that Ali’s Olympic opponent Tony Madigan hailed from Argentina. Right hemisphere, wrong country.
There’s also an antique debate between sport journos on the greatest boxers in each division, mostly notable for hilariously stilted delivery, dated point-of-view, some rarely-seen vintage fight movies, and one of the participants being slowly strangled into submission by his own waistcoat. Also, Jim Corbett’s legendary wedgie is documented one more time for posteriority (sic).
Finally there’s all the usual footage of Jack Johnson that used to turn up in every single doco on him, here surrounded by windy “expert” stabs at social significance. Overall, boxing hardcores may want it for the film clips.
EVANDER HOLYFIELD – THE REAL DEAL (Shock)
Evander Holyfield was a tremendous fighter and always seemed like a lovely bloke. It’s difficult to imagine what he ever did to deserve this.
Almost 60 minutes of documentary poop, with no fight footage to speak of, and no extras whatsoever. Research, visual, script/narration and general production concerns vie with each other for jaw-dropping cack-handedness. Basically, this is the “Robot Monster” or “Plan Nine From Outer Space” of sport documentaries.
A brief example, from many worthy candidates. At one point, it’s alleged that, on winning his Olympic bronze medal in 1984, Holyfield received recognition as a Golden Gloves champion. Those would be two separate competitions there. The IOC may have shouted him a free ice-cream, but they don’t hand out Golden Gloves titles as a general rule.
Viewers may end up in tears, one way or another. Purchasers definitely will.
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