DISC ONE - Main Feature
The Beginning
WrestleMania is Born
New York, Chicago, Los Angeles
Bigger, Better, Badder
Influencing a Generation
Battle of the Billionaires
Atlantic City Hotspot
O’ Canada
Hulkamania is WrestleMania
Emotionally Charged
Dream Match…Not a Reality
World’s Largest Toga Party
Back on Broadway
Axxess
Hall of Fame
New Generation
Baddest Man on the Planet
Celebrities
To the New Millennium
Seismic Shift
Mr. WrestleMania
The Crowd Effect
Living Out a Dream
The Music of Mania
Citrus Bowl
Preparing for the Moment
Greatest Match Ever?
Undefeated
The Legacy
DISC TWO
Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper & Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff
WrestleMania, 31st March, 1985
WWE Intercontinental Championship Match
Randy "Macho Man" Savage vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat
WrestleMania III, 29th March, 1987
WWE Championship Match
Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
WrestleMania III, 29th March, 1987
Retirement Match
The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy "Macho Man" Savage
WrestleMania VII, 24th March, 1991
Ladder Match for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania X, 20th March, 1994
DISC THREE
WWE Championship Match
Shawn Michaels vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
WrestleMania XIV, 29th March, 1998
WWE Tag Team Championship – Triangle Ladder Match
The Hardy Boyz vs. The Dudley Boyz vs. Edge / Christian
WrestleMania 2000, 2nd April, 2000
Street Fight
Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon
WrestleMania X-Seven, 1st April, 2001
The Rock vs. Hollywood Hulk Hogan
WrestleMania X-8, 17th March, 2002
WWE Championship Match
Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar
WrestleMania XIX, 30th March, 2003
WWE Championship Match
John Cena vs. Triple H
WrestleMania 22, 2nd April, 2006
***MOVIE REVIEW***
The True Story of WrestleMania has been one of the most anticipated releases for the first quarter of the new year. While I enjoyed the Main Feature on Disc 1 (Running Time 2hrs1min12sec) after all is said and done we still don;t have a definitive look at WrestleMania. Things start off really good discussing the territories and a young, aggressive
Vince McMahon wanting to expand his fathers company into the mainstream of America. I & II are discussed in great detail and even has insight from the Warner Theater owner that was one of the participating theaters to show via closed captioning the early WrestleManias. They really put over
Hulk Hogan and it was nice to see them show their appreciation and realize that from the very first stages that the biggest event of the year would not have lasted without Hulk or vice versa. The documentary runs in linear fashion from I-III but then flips to XXIII to discuss Donald Trumps involvement in the Hair vs. Hair Match then goes back into IV and V hailing from Trump at Atlantic City. From that point on things run non linear which hurts the presentation overall.
What is one of the most glaring flaws is the complete glossing over several years of shows with nary a discussion of the matches that I'm sure fans would have appreciated more insight and feelings. Make no mistake this is the WWE version of history as they still insist that III held 93,173 patrons and VII was moved to a smaller venue due to security concerns during the Iraq war, when it was really because of poor ticket sales and waning interest. They are quite frank though with the fact that the preview matches at house shows between
Hulk Hogan and
Ric Flair just weren't catching on with fans after years of build up and that was the main reason for making two main events at VIII, with
"Macho Man" Randy Savage taking Hogans spot against Flair.
The absolute highlight is an all too brief fly on the wall look at WrestleMania IX including a dancing Vince at the Gorilla position when
Shawn Michaels heads out for his match. It is a candid peek behind the curtain for what is regarded among the worst WrestleManias ever. There are quick little clips of behind the scenes footage from other years but usually there is no audio as there is narration or an interviewee speaking. There are interview segments from
Vince McMahon, Hulk Hogan, HHH, John Cena, Shawn Michaels, Sheamus, The Big Show, Ricky "The Dragon: Steamboat, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Gene Okerlund, Stu Staks - Pro Wreslting Illustrated Publisher, Jerry "The King" Lawlwer, The Rock, William "Refrigerator" Perry, Dick Ebersol, Howard Finkel, Jerry Brisco, Donald Trump, Sgt. Slaughter, and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted Dibiase. I would say this is a definite recommend to fans still but just go in not expecting an extremely open look that we were hoping for.
7.5/10
***VIDEO QUALITY***
The True Story of WrestleMania arrives on DVD with a 480I transfer utilizing in the aspect ratio of
1.78:1. The main feature includes newly shot interview segments that are interspersed with a ton of vintage footage that has been stretched to fill the screen. Despite not using original aspect for the 80's and 90's footage the quality is still very good. The new and recent scenes are abound with crisp, bold colors and strong black levels. Detail was good on clothing textures and close up shots of the rings or crowd. Vintage footage was a little soft in some spots but was always pleasing with nice color saturation coming from some of the more colorful individuals and style choices of those days.
Disc 2 & 3 contain the matches and are presented in an aspect ratio of
1.78:1 with the matches presented with a starry background on both sides of the image to fill out the screen on HDTVs without sacrificing the original footage and stretching it. Colors were were consistently good with deep reds and sky blues being the best. Overall the presentation continues WWE's solid run of work.
8/10
***AUDIO QUALITY***
Audio is provided by a
Dolby Digital 5.1 track on Disc 1, while Disc 2 & 3 hare presented with
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo tracks. These are crisp and clean tracks with solid dialogue reproduction. Music cues and crowd din lightly bleed to the surrounds on Disc 1. Disc 2 & 3 had decent stereo separation and the match commentary was crisp and clean.
7.5/10
