***MAIN FEATURE REVIEW***
WWE: CM Punk - Best In The World is one of, if not the absolute best produced documentaries of a WWE Superstar yet. We start off in Chicago with CM Punk waking up and starting his daily routine all the way to the gorilla postion at an WWE event later that night. Next we see him casually sitting in a loft space talking about his childhood and how he always thought he was adopted due to the way his family treated him. His own brother even stole from him. He was an outcast and turned that into a positive. CM Punk is very candid and open in these opening moments, as he is during the
1hr 49min runtime of the main feature on Disc 1 and the
30 minutes of additional interview footage.
We see footage of pretty much every promotion he has ever wrestled for. There is a lot of footage provided by
Ring of Honor and it was a pleasant surprise to see Punks friends such as
Chris Hero, Colt Cabana, Ace Steel, and Paul Heyman talk about his runs in
ROH and
OVW. We get an overview of the "Summer of Punk" , the classic series of matches with
Samoa Joe, his emotional farewell to the fans of
ROH and then his disappointment in being treated like a rookie who never done anything before when he had to start in the developmental system for WWE
Ohio Valley Wrestling He credits
Heyman for being the reason he has a career from that point on, because of Paul's belief that he was the next main event megastar for the WWE main roster.
CM Punk made it work eventually in
OVW and has a classic feud with
Brent Albright which is discussed in good detail by Albright, Punk , and Heyman. From there he debuted for the new
ECW and quickly became a fan favorite but they kept holding him back.
John Cena says he thought "Eh" after hearing all the hype about this guy.
Michael Hayes says that Punk can be a "mooody prick" and he didn't at that time feel he was ready when he was added to the team of
DX and
The Hardy Boyz for
Survivor Series 2006. There is just a ton of candid comments throughout here and it is refreshing to see this.
We then move onto his
Money in the Bank wins and cash ins for the
World Heavyweight Champion. Punk speaks openly how he was in limbo due to the fact he was champion yet he had matches in the middle of the show and was an afterthought when it came to being in the main segments until he began his superb run with
Jeff Hardy in the summer and fall of 2009. Punk then gives his thoughts on the Straight Edge Society and his feeling that they were just getting started. We move quickly through 2010 and most of 2011 until the infamous "Pipe Bomb" promo that made CM Punk the hottest name in wrestling instantly. We then get the build up for
Money in the Bank 2011 and a wonderfully edited version of the match with a brilliant score accompanying it. That was one of the greatest nights in the history of wrestling in my opinion. From there WWE made some mistakes of course but CM Punk is now a made guy and has been
WWE Champion for 10 months at the time of this review. Final verdict is you need this in your collection. Click on the link below to purchase.
10/10
***VIDEO QUALITY***
CM Punk arrives on DVD with a 480p transfer in the original aspect ratio
1.78:1 - The "Best in the World" gets the respect he deserves with a solid video presentation. Recent footage and the newly shot interviews for the main feature is close to perfect. No major signs of compression artifacts were noticed. Colors were bold with natural flesh tones. Crisp whites and very deep blacks with well balanced contrast is the icing on this cake.
Vintage footage from
OVW and
Ring Of Honor of course were shot in 1.33:1 and colors sometimes bleed, there were also some instances of softness and blocking in the image during these scenes. Overall thought it is amazing that we have all this great footage to watch during
CM Punks rise to the top.
8.5/10
***AUDIO QUALITY***
Audio is provided by a
Dolby Digital 5.1 track. - The main feature's talking head interviews were crisp and clean. The music tracks and accompanying score had good stereo separation. Surround channel activity was subtle to the point of being barely noticed.
8/10
***SPECIAL FEATURES***
**DISC ONE**
High School Sports
CM Punk - The Name
Scull Fracture
OVW vs. Albright
From Extra to Champion
December to Dismember
The Hat
"The Most Insulting Thing You Could Say To Me"
A Conversation with Liars
Title in the Fridge
Natalie's T-Shirt
"Teenage Anarchist"
**DISC TWO**
Finals Match in the OVW World Heavyweight Tournament
Brent Albright vs. CM Punk
OVW 3/1/06
CM Punk's WWE in Ring Debut vs. Justin Credible
ECW 8/1/06
ECW Championship Last Chance Match
CM Punk vs. John Morrison
ECW 9/4/07
Money in the Bank Ladder Match
Wrestlemania 24
World Tag Team Championship Match
CM Punk and Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase
RAW 10/27/08
No DQ Match for IC Championship
CM Punk vs. William Regal
RAW 1/19/09
**DISC THREE**
TLC Match for World Heavyweight Championship
CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy
Summerslam 2009
CM Punk's Hair vs. Rey Mysterio Joining SES
CM Punk vs. Rey Mysterio
Over the Limit 2010
WWE Championship Match
CM Punk vs. John Cena
Money in the Bank 2011
WWE Championship Match
CM Punk vs. Chris Jericho
Wrestlemania 28
WWE Championship Match
CM Punk vs. Daniel Bryan
Over the Limit 2012
