I posted my review on the Official DVD Thread.... here it is....
Flair Forever's DVD Review
WWE - History of WWE
I had high hopes for this Blu Ray - even though I found the match listing to be somewhat average, when it should have been a blockbuster. I realize they tried to put matches on that are important to the history of the company, but if that is the case - there are a LOT missing - and I'm very surprised they didn't make such an important set 3-disk, and not omit so many great matches.... but I certainly hoped the documentary would be worthwhile....
And for the most part, it is.... it provides a candid view of the events that led to a modern-day WWE from personalities we don't hear from too often (including Undertaker talking somewhat out of character, and Larry Zbysko speaks a lot). The steroid scandal is covered in-depth, and Linda McMahon speaks about that and a variety of other interesting topics... they seem to whitewash the Vince/Linda buyout of WWWF from Vince's father - I thought I remembered it had been a little more sneaky/underhanded than they made it seem on this documentary....
But perhaps my hopes were too high, I was left wanting just a little more. At times, it felt like the entire documentary was put together as a Public Relations advertisement for WWE, the Monday Night War gets a chapter, but they spend gobs of time covering Make-A-Wish, Anti-Bullying, and Tribute To The Troops programs.... I don't think "Primetime Wrestling" or the old WWF Superstars show (two programs that WERE WWE in the 80's) are even mentioned, but there's a whole Chapter about WWE Studios and the movies they make....
And this sure would have been the perfect place to put one of those old "WWE Desire" videos.... sadly, they're nowhere to be found. Those things always inspired me to LOVE WWE and Wrestling in general.... they don't do as many cool musical montages as they used to.
Would have been nice if they'd included a section about some of the great feuds that the company was built on.... sadly, there's not much emphasis on the great storylines WWE has told over the years. This is more about the nuts and bolts of how the WWE Corporation became a huge company....
I had hoped the documentary would take us behind the scenes, and show us some rarely seen footage and insider stuff - and there IS some of that.... but there's also a lot of the same footage and stories we've seen reused over, and over again....
In my opinion, too much PR fluff - not enough substance. I consider myself a collector of wrestling DVD's, so I bought this right away on Blu Ray, but if I was a casual fan I'd wait for it to show up on Netflix...
I belive I'd give it 3 stars out of 5.
