Search - WWE Wrestlemania - The Complete Anthology, Vol. 1 - 1985-1989 (I-V) on DVD

WWE Wrestlemania Anthology ... Worth the Money!

Mark A. Friel | 03/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I waited a long time for the WWE to release WrestleMania I-XIV on DVD. I must say that overall I was not disappointed. Each WrestleMania is shown in its entirety (with the exception of WrestleMania XI). The WrestleMania DVDs show the original television broadcasts. I owned just about every WrestleMania in their original VHS format. The older tapes of the shows they released were heavily edited in order to fit the program on one cassette. They even edited some matches to make them shorter. The only way you could see all these matches in their entirety was to watch the original television broadcasts ... until now!

Now, here is what is what is wrong with the DVD sets:

-Entrance music for a lot of Superstars is dubbed over with crappy, generic music so the WWE would not have to pay royalties to use these songs.
-Any verbal reference to WWF is edited out
-WrestleMania XIV-X8 blurs out the WWF scratched logo
-The Salt N' Pepper performance at WrestleMania XI was completely taken out so the WWE would not have to pay them royalties
-There are no extra features whatsoever ... just the event itself for every WrestleMania

I hated that all this great entrance music was taken out. The edited out the entrance music to Slick's "Jive Soul Bro," HillBilly Jim's "Country Boy," Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Demolition, Big Boss Man's "Hard Time," and Ric Flair's original entrance music to name just a few. I really miss "Jive Soul Bro!" I would have shelled out more dough for these DVDs if they ensured all the old theme music was included. The blurred out WWF scratched logo is annoying but bearable.

Personally, I only purchased the first three box sets of WrestleMania I-XV because I already owned WresteMania XV-21 on DVD. If you would prefer to own copies without all the WWF references edited out, I recommend you do the same and try to buy the original WresteleMania DVD releases off of Amazon or eBay for XV-21. Plus, you miss out on a ton of DVD extras that the original DVD releases are packed with.

Regardless of the gigs I give this box set, I highly recommend to add these DVDs to your collection if you are a professional wrestling fan. Every single match and interview is shown in its entirety. Plus, it is the only way you will get these classic WrestleMania's in DVD format."

Piper's Pit on Wrestlemania V is edited

Pat McCurry | Wilton, NH United States | 05/03/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Just to let everyone know, the Piper's Pit on the Wrestlemania V DVD in this set is edited. When Roddy is dealing with Brother Love, it immediately cuts to him talking to Morton Downey Jr. So you won't see Roddy pulling Brother Love's skirt off and humiliating him. It's really too bad since I find it amusing.

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A slice of my childhood

Darren Mart | Bellevue, WA | 01/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I haven't watched wrestling for 15 years, but from 1985 through 1989 it was a major part of my life. Hulk Hogan was the primary reason but it went far beyond one athlete. The awe surrounding Wrestlemania was very real, very tangible, in the late eighties. The WWF was embraced by the entire world, not just a particular demographic. Don't believe me? Compare the number of people who know names like Hogan, Andre, and George the Animal Steele versus Cena.

This box set is the only segment of Anthology I intend to buy. It captures perfectly the essence of my childhood and I have thoroughly enjoyed watching these magical events all over again. As another reviewer mentioned, Wrestlemania III alone is worth the cost of the set. 93,000 people gathered to watch wrestling? Pure magic. Wrestlemania V is probably my favorite in terms of pure wrestling -- the match between The Rockers and the Twin Towers has the most memorable clothesline in wrestling history. Hogan versus Savage and Ultimate Warrior versus Rick Rude are two classics.

I am especially pleased that the WWF/WWE managed to keep the original material intact, at least to the fullest extent possible. The interviews, backgrounds, Jesse Ventura's commentary and the original WWF logo are preserved (though there's at least one case where Hogan's voice is clearly dubbed to say "WWE" instead of "WWF"). Make no mistake -- this was a huge achievement considering all the name, personality, and logo trademark hurdles WWE had to overcome. Not to mention their battle with the World Wildlife Fund (who, by the way, will never receive a penny of my donations after their ridiculous crusade that ultimately forced the name change to WWE).

If you're part of the new wrestling generation, the one that prefers explosions and half-naked women over graceful and physical entertainment, you'll likely find these DVDs a bit dull and unpolished. If you're roughly 25 or over and remember the pure energy generated by the earliest Wrestlemanias, you need to buy Anthology: Volume I immediately.
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The Beginning Of An Era

D.P. | California | 09/04/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The first five WrestleMania's for me were the 5 best WrestleMania's as far as in-ring wrestling since that was more of a focus in the early years than storylines & entertainment that it would be in it's later years. Now I'll be honest, I didn't buy the DVD set (I have the WM 1-13 VHS set from almost 10 years ago) so I don't know what's been edited or changed as far as theme music or anything of that nature.

WrestleMania I - The event that started it all with many memorable moments...including Mean Gene singing the National Anthem. There wasn't a bad match there (unless you want to count the King Kong Bundy squash of S.D. Jones) based on the type of wrestling/sports entertainment they were doing at this time. Just me but you can't have the rest without having the baby that started it all.

WrestleMania 2 - This year, they tried having it from three different locations in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York with each having it's own main event...interesting concept but it didn't work out so well that they didn't do it again. The standout matches here were Paul Orndorff vs. Don Muraco, the WWF vs. NFL battle royal, Tag Team Champions Dream Team vs. British Bulldogs, and the Hogan vs. Bundy Steel Cage match.

WrestleMania 3 - The event that to this day still holds the world's largest indoor attendance records of 93,000+ fans. Bob Uker did commentary and was really hilarious all night. They had the ultimate dream match in sports (not just entertainment) at that time. The standout matches here were the mixed tag match involving Hillbilly Jim & King Kong Bundy (seeing Bundy squash the midget like that was really something to see), JYD vs. Harley Race, Roddy Piper's retirement/hair match vs. Adrian Adonis which lead to the birth of Brutus "The Barber" Beekcake, Bulldogs & Tito Santana vs. Hart Foundation & Danny Davis, Jake Roberts vs. Honky Tonk Man, the memorable match between Hulk & Andre and the wrestling classic between Randy Savage & Ricky Steamboat.

WrestleMania 4 - This was the first ever WWF Title tournament and was about to usher in a new era of WWF since for the first time since WM, Hogan wasn't the champion or even in the main event (at least not wrestling). The only negative I can say about this was that they tried to squeeze alot this one PPV (there were 16 matches) making the event more about "quality instead of quanity" & alot of great potential matches being real short on time to be anything memorable. Standout matches were the 20 man battle royal, Jake Roberts vs. Rick Rude, Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware vs. Islanders & Bobby Heenan, Tag Team Champions Strike Force vs. Demolition starting the longest tag team title reign in WWF history, and the finals of the tournament with Randy Savage vs. Ted Dibiase.

WrestleMania 5 - The Mega Power's Explode was the PPV where you really start to see the "sports entertainment" take effect here compared to the previous four WM's. Standout matches were Brutus Beefcake vs. Ted Dibiase, Blue Blazer (a young Owen Hart) vs. Mr. Perfect, Tag Team Champions Demolition vs. Powers Of Pain & Mr. Fuji, Jim Duggan vs. Bad News Brown (just for those who like brawls), and WWF Champion Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan. Also on here, Roddy Piper returned to the WWF with his classic Piper's Pit segment where he had guest Brother Love & Morton Downey Jr...your either gonna love or hate that one.

Basically, this was the beginning of sports entertainment here but this collection gives you the best WrestleMania's as far as "professional wrestling" goes.
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