Search - Takedown Masters: Classic Championship Wrestling on DVD

Well Put Together Classic Footage But Seldom Complete Matche

Blackie - Knower of... well... All | the Void | 03/04/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Classic Championship Wrestling is just what it says it is. It's a trip back to "old school" pre-WWF nationwide expansion regional pro wrestling where the weekly (usually hour long) tv show was used to entice the wrestling fan to pay to attend the arena shows. In those days, they didn't give much away for free on tv, and the dvd reflects that.

What you are getting are packaged highlights just as they appeared on tv. Sometimes grainy silent footage with voiceovers from the announcer, tv matches interrupted by commercials and classic interviews. Very fun, but disappointing if you're looking for pristine footage of complete matches.

These series of dvds appear to center on the classic Florida Championship Wrestling hosted by the legendary Gordon Solie. Each segment is introduced by Mike Graham, the son of promoter and hall of fame wrestler Eddie Graham. He offers a nice overview and sets the stage for the footage well. He is also a bit of a blowhard, but this is forgivable since he does have a lot of knowledge.

The content of Volume 1 is very good, if often brief. A match between the Road Warriors vs. Harley Race and Stan Hansen is cut to ribbons to the point you barely know Hansen was there. A Sheepherders (later Bushwhackers) vs. Cuban Connection TV match goes a couple of minutes, then a commercial break, and when we come back everyone is gushing blood with little explanation!

On the plus side, there is a complete studio match featuring a very young Great Muta (as the Ninja)doing (for the time) remarkable flying moves, including a nearly missed moonsault.

Always great to see Terry Funk, Dusty Rhodes (doing promos and squaring off with Harley Race), Bad News Allen (Brown in the WWF), Very young Ron Simmons & younger Lex Luger and a brief bit of Bruiser Brody.

Overall, if you want a glimpse of how it used to be, this is a great dvd to grab. It's a nice smorgasbord of rasslin' that doesn't stay in one place enough to get boring."