Search - The Best of CM Punk on DVD

Bonus Features makes this DVD great!

Scott Random | Detroit, MI | 01/27/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Like many fans, I wasn't sure exactly what Big Vision's "Best of CM Punk" DVD contained when I first heard about it (& I still haven't seen any updated information). After buying it, I can provide some much needed information. The main part seems to be Best of CM Punk in FIP DVD which contains these matches from 2004: [...]. I haven't viewed this part yet, but will watch it over the weekend.

The thing that makes this DVD great is the Bonus Features.

* Bonus Matches from Ring of Honor:
vs. Bryan Danielson (Guest Referee Ricky Steamboat) ...ROH Reborn Stage 1 4/23/04
vs. Roderick Strong...The Future Is Now 6/12/05

* Bonus IWA-Mid South Career Retrospective:
This is the best part of the DVD which sets it apart from the ROH/FIP version of this release. It is a 40 minute highlight reel on CM Punk and all he has done in the IWA with highlights of many of his important matches throughout the years from 2001 until 2005. It was originally a bonus feature from the DVD version of IWA Mid-South's"No Blood No Guts No Glory 2005" on July 2, 2005 in Valparaiso, IN.

Of course, you'll get clips of many matches against Chris Hero including the famous Tables & Ladder Match & 93 minute 'When Hero Met Punk' match. There's several matches featuring Colt Cabana. As an unexpected surprise, all three of CM Punk's matches against the late, great Eddy Guerrero are added which includes a 3-Way with an unmasked Rey Mysterio Jr., an IWA:MS Title Match, and a 3-Way with Colt Cabana in front of about 100 fans as written about in Guerrero's book.

You'll see highlights from Punk in several annual IWA-MS tournaments. First up is the Ted Petty Invitational tournament from 2002 against M-Dogg 20, "The Fallen Angel" Christopher Daniels, Chris Hero, & BJ Whitmer. Next is the the initial Strong Style tourament in 2003 against Tarek the Great, Stan Dupp (WWE Raw's Trevor Murdoch), & BJ Whitmer. Then you get the Tag Team Title tournament in 2004 w/ Colt Cabana vs Nigel McGuinness & Chad Collyer, Havana Pitbulls of Reyes & Puma and Southern Comfort of Tracy Smothers & Chris Hamrick.

The end features a series of single matches which included the first one on one IWA meeting in over 16 months between CM Punk & Chris Hero, a match from the 8th Anniversary show against AJ Styles, another match against Chris Hero and this highlight reel concludes with a pair of entertianing matches against Delirious, the latter took place at "Dedication" a tribute to Chris Candido that contains Punk borrowing Candido's classic "full moon" spot. This IWA: Mid-South Career Retrospective was worth the price alone.

*Trailers
This section is a series of trailers from Big Vision Entertainment, many of which can be viewed at BVE's YouTube video page: [...].

* Music Video
This is from a southern California band, Five Victims Four Graves, who provides music for this DVD. They remind me of Hatebreed, a band CM Punk used for his entrance theme music in early 2003. Unfortunately, this is just the regular music video for the song "Calling Back This S.O.S." without any footage of CM Punk. This song can be downloaded for free and the video can be viewed at the band's MySpace page: [...]"

PUNL IS THE MAN

Janice Catalano | 03/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I found this on Obsessed with wrestling

C.M. Punk is without a doubt the one and only breakout star of the new WWE brand of ECW. But Punk didn't happen over night, he was carefully molded from several years of intense training and practice in some of the country's top independent promotions. Everybody knows C.M. Punk made a name for himself in Ring of Honor, but he also helped many other promotions grow into bigger and more profitable organizations. During the last few months of Punk's independent run (before signing with WWE) he was one of the impact players in an upstart promotion in Florida called Full Impact Pro. FIP is the baby sister promotion to ROH, using a lot of the same talent, but featuring a unique style influenced by the south (a style that would evolve over time). "Declarations: The Best of C.M. Punk Vol. 1" is a compilation of Punk's contributions to FIP.

Full Impact Pro relaunched on September 24, 2004 with a 1-night show entitled "Emergence" featuring a tournament to crown the first FIP Champion. This DVD features Punk's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd round matches plus the big Finale between he and Homicide. Also included is a crazy No-DQ match against Dan Maff, and the famous Falls Count Anywhere in Tampa match against Homicide which ended up inside of a local strip club surrounded by strippers (nudity not included). The last match on the DVD is a contender for the best match in FIP history which pitted C.M. Punk against James Gibson.


Final Thoughts: If you're a fan of C.M. Punk's ECW work, then you owe it to yourself to experience his pre-WWE stuff and this would be an excellent place to start. FIP is a great promotion and Punk was one of its early stars. He's a star everywhere he goes!"