Hey Scott - wanted to offer some commentary up on this really good piece at WWEDVDNews.com:
The WrestleMania re-releases are out now BUT 1-14 are the exact same discs that were in the WM Anthology from 2005. This is a shame for 14 as it is the last WM that still has blurring (The Silvervision Tagged Classic set that had WM XIV remains the only unblurred DVD + had the DX band's opening number in it) but not surprising given how cheap these are ($10-$15 retail now - i'm sure they'll be $5 post Mania).
The real interesting DVD is WrestleMania XV - which is not the Anthology release and IS unblurred. This is the only one they actually did anything with before re-releasing but there's a big downside as detailed in the link. They went back and edited out the choking - and I'm not talking about Big Bossman's hanging. They cut it out of the title match and in other places, replacing it with b-camera footage from the event. Fortunately XV was released in '99 on DVD (their first) and that is still out there for collectors.
The big deal for me here is the PG editing of matches and how it will impact future releases. I mean, the title match has been on other sets in the last couple years - without those edits. Is this a PG thing for only these Mania sets or will future liberties be taken with past Attitude Era matches?
More importantly, I can finally get DVD copies of 11-14 to complete my set without shelling out for the Anthology set? SWEET.
This also raises the question of what happens to matches like Wargames or the bloody NWA brawls if the Network ever comes to pass (BWAAHAHAHAHAHHA!) because obviously they're not gonna be airing that stuff for the kidz to watch on free TV, and otherwise we'll be left waiting for random DVD releases later. The editing is really a troubling thing for me, even though I grew up in the era of Koko v. Martel at Wrestlemania VI getting cut down to a minute long in order to fit the show onto a 2:40 tape. This is supposed to be the digital age now, where everything is preserved by the last company standing and history is somewhat respected, and now they're altering matches so that people aren't choking other people anymore. Either do it all or nothing -- if you don't want to release it with the matches and presentation intact, then don't release it at all.
They just released a DVD set dedicated to street fights. Was choking edited from that too?
ReplyDeleteI love the fact that the company that put Katie Vick on my tv screen is now trying to be the authority on what is good and decent.
ReplyDelete"They went back and edited out the choking - and I'm not talking about Big Bossman's hanging. They cut it out of the title match and in other places, replacing it with b-camera footage from the event."
ReplyDeleteSo are you saying they edited the choking out of the main event but did NOT edit out the Bossman hanging? Or that they did but that isn't what you were talking about?
Editing out the Bossman's hanging is one things, but worked chokes in a sports entertainment event is just overkill.
ReplyDeletewwe.com was clearing out the anthology sets each for less than what they are asking for these discs individually, what a ripoff! I think I paid $25 total for the first three anthologies which included Wrestlemanias 1-14.
ReplyDeleteI hope WWE realizes that this is only going to lead to people pirating stuff even more than they (or in my case, we) did before. I mean, if we can't LEGALLY BUY what we want to see (and editing out choking is going too far. I mean, fuck, no kids are buying those old WMs anyway), than what other choice do people have?
ReplyDeleteBoring creative and not pushing new people is what lead me to piracy. That and the bevy of ways to watch legally. Seriously, why pay 50 bucks for an entire PPV when I can buy the matches I want to see on iTunes? At 3 bucks HD.
ReplyDeleteI also read Vince decided that Greedo shot first :-P (Rated G editing = no buys)
ReplyDeleteEven Lucas thinks this is going too far.
ReplyDeleteI STILL GOT THE VHS WRESTLEMANIA COLLECTION 1-13. EVERYTHING IS UNEDITTED AND ORIGINAL THEME MUSIC STILL ON TACT
ReplyDeleteSELL IT FOR $400
ReplyDeleteHOLLAH
ReplyDeleteYou can buy matches for 3 bucks? How soon after the PPV?
ReplyDeleteVince going to have Andre screaming "Nooooo!" as Hogan throws Heenan down that shaft at the end of WM III?
ReplyDeleteEditing *stomps friend in the face* the choking in *puts father in a sleeper until he dies* matches out? I can *punches mother in the face?* totally understand *breaks brother's leg with a figure four* the reasoning behind this.
ReplyDeleteI'M LYING. IT'S POINTLESS TO EDIT CHOKING OUT WHILE LEAVING ALL OF THE OTHER SIMULATED VIOLENCE.
Fuck this company.
Me too. I love my Legacy edition. The quality is complete and utter shit, but at least it's intact.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of when 24/7 started going B/W for blood matches. So stupid. *rolls eyes*
ReplyDeleteIm glad its okay when HHH busts Lesnar open and then can brag about all the staples but our childhood memories get raped and pillaged by Vince Lucas and its fine.
ReplyDeleteThat sucked along with matches being halted for an official to close up a wound and stop the bleeding.
ReplyDeleteSo is safe to say that WWE going public was the worst possible thing to happen to wrestling fans?
ReplyDeleteI am seriously thinking that we are getting near the end of the DVD "Golden Age", somewhat like our Golden Ages/Boom periods from the 80s & 90s. The last decade has seen tons of great stuff released, but there are little things being done recently that seem to be making DVDs less fun than they were in previous years.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I know there are still lots of great unreleased matches, there are limited odds of many of them being released for various reasons, usually economic (I don't see a Dean Malenko set coming anytime soon, for example). There is also the fact that they have shortened the size of the sets from 9 to 7 hours in the last couple of years, giving us less wrestling, yet prices are still the same. Then there are the kind of changes that smack of revisionist history, from the no choking (can you imagine if they enforce that one for the upcoming Foley set?), or blurring middle fingers, or going to black and white when blood is seen, though they are far from consistent on that one. They also rarely include easter eggs these days, something that they used to do regularly for a number of years. Just a lot of little things that reduce the worth of these sets.
These are choices that they are making for internal reasons, as opposed to the blurring that they had to do because of a court decision. They are censoring and limiting themselves, and I can't see such an approach improving the quality of their product in the foreseeable future. We may soon look back at this period with wistfulness, and a bittersweet eye.
Id say WCW going under was the worst thing. Vince and Stephanie can do whatever they want with their monopoly.
ReplyDeleteIm pretty sure Dean Malenko's DVD is on backorder right now....
ReplyDeleteI'd still put WWE going public over WCW/ECW closing. Both companies were graveyards anyways and it let to the rise of the indies, cool DVDs, and plus TNA is exactly what WCW would be today.
ReplyDeleteWow...I completely forgot that Marty Janetty bitch-slapped Shawn Michaels before Shawn superkicked him and put him through the Barber Shop window. His actions were justified after all!
ReplyDeleteBrain: Jannetty tried to dive through the window to escape, what a coward.
ReplyDeleteGorilla: ARE YOU BLIND?!
Those two were the best
That, WCW going under, Benoit and everyone else that died, take your pick... The least 15-20 years have been such a clusterfuck that sometimes I'm amazed that there's any wrestling left in America at all.
ReplyDeleteBut the worst possible thing to happen to wrestling fans? I'd say WWE Creative, but I don't think there's really a wrong answer here.
Probably Stephanie McMahon can be added to that list. Strangely, I wouldnt add HHH as I now look at him as Obi Wan, he is our only hope. His old school ways might prevail years from now when Vince is pushing up the daisies.
ReplyDeleteMan, that is a brilliant demonstration on how to avoid answering a question.
ReplyDeleteI do think if WWE had some competition we wouldnt just keep getting the same ol shit but going public wasnt a good thing for the longtime fans.
ReplyDeleteEven if WCW were still around, WWE still wouldn't have any competition.
ReplyDeleteFair enough. OK, no, going public wasn't the worst thing. that happened to the company. They've been a public company since 1999, and they've only started really shitting the bed over the last few years. The worst possible thing that happened to wresting fans is WWE Creative.
ReplyDeleteJannetty saw a half eaten bologna sandwich on the other side of the window.
ReplyDeleteI can't agree with that because something like creative isn't important enough big picture wise like going public. And if they hadn't gone public, I guarantee you, creative wouldn't be the mess it is in today.
ReplyDeleteThe review of the edits to WM XV on that WWEDvdNews link is the work of a maniac. Seriously, it's like the fucking Zapruder film with that analysis. I like how they removed the crowd shot of Big Pun, because it may upset the children to see a dead rapper on their sports entertainment DVD.
ReplyDeleteI like how XV is the only "newly edited" of these releases, the other 14 are just the 2005 anthology discs repackaged individually. I would have loved to have this option back when that set was released (buy the individual releases instead of the whole set or the volumes of 4), but now it's cheaper to just buy those individual anthology release volumes ($18-20 on Amazon), than the $10-15 these new individual releases are going for.
I could question the WWE's logic by doing this, but I think it's just a lazy repackage to try and sell off excess anthology discs. Of course, only a certain part of the fan base are interested in these (a 12 year old Cena fan doesn't even know who Ultimate Warrior is), and really, only 13, 14, and 15 (already edited) would need "PG" editing if they were that concerned. It shouldn't be too hard to just transfer the original PPV broadcasts to DVD now that they can say "WWF" again, but then again.....
While I agree this could have troubling implications for the future, I have to admit, I'm glad they cut out 7 minutes from Wrestlemania 15. That thing is a chore to watch.
ReplyDeleteI kind of the like the covers for the most part (not sure how I feel about Shawn Michaels taking up half of the Wrestlemania VIII cover) and this is totally the kind of thing I would just grab one of while I'm doing my Walmart grocery shopping.
I don't see what one has to do with the other. I just think that WWE Creative would still exist the same way it does now if Vince had kept the company private.
ReplyDeleteI don't disagree with your original point though. going public did nothing good for the promotion. If Vince can afford it he should buy those shares back, if he can. Might as well do it now while the stock is cheap.
Because being public makes Vince accountable to a lot of other people. For example that woman from USA network, can't remember her name, who got a lot of power in the WWE and was the main reason WWE started hiring shitty soap writers.
ReplyDeleteYou're gonna have to elaborate a little more on that one.
ReplyDeleteWILL you be serious?!
ReplyDeleteI can't remember if she was the head of the network or what but she was high up there and was responsible for the Guest GM deal and I think the Million Dollar Giveaway. IIRC, she ended up leaving USA and joining WWE.
ReplyDeleteWas it Bonnie Hammer you speak of?
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteOld School is not going to save anything.
ReplyDeleteThere is literally no time in art that peoples refusal to move forward has made things better.
Why is 'Superstars of Wrestling' blurred out on the Hart set?!
ReplyDeleteThere is another promotion (One in Australia I think?) that made claim to rights to the title. Superstars and WWF Superstars are fine, but Superstars of Wrestling is a no go.
ReplyDeleteJust FYI, the Legacy 99 VHS box-set has quite a bit more editing (in most cases minor things) than the 1997 Collection box set. Both are on cheapie EP/SLP tape stock and the 99 set adds XIV, but the 97 set is more complete for those completionists out there.
ReplyDeleteWow...I've gained a Dolph Ziggler-like ability to put everyone over except myself!
ReplyDeletePutting people over imply that they are more over after beating them. Nobody gets over by beating Dolph.
ReplyDeleteI wish they'd release two versions or something.
ReplyDeleteI miss the old days when nobody cared, even if we had to live with cut up releases. WCW ran into this same problem on a few of their later releases after they made the jump from two hour to three hour tapes, most notably the commercial release of the Flair/Savage match at SuperBrawl VI where the editing basically ruins a great match, doing all sorts of pan scan effects that chop off the wrestlers heads, using alternate camera footage, desaturating the image and going to wide shots to hide the blood (and the way too many shots of Flair's ass)
That's a good point -- how often now are we seeing YT clips used instead of official ones or file footage? It's very frequent these days, even on major newscasts. The cat is out of the bag now.
ReplyDeleteThe whole event is a chore to watch. Minus the decent main event, it's about as fun to watch as KOTR 95 or Slamboree 96.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wonder about given the companies apparent mission is if they will continue to maintain the original shows as their main digital masters or if some edited intermediate version will serve as the basis for all future releases and edits. Similar things have happened with music releases for sharp eared listeners, where some "preferred" version of something becomes the defacto standard long enough that the original gets buried in a vault somewhere, unseen until the big anniversary remastered version comes out decades later and the sound engineers go digging the originals out of the vaults.
ReplyDeleteI think the same time DVD is released. They've already got Royal Rumble 2013 on there. $3 for an HD match. Whole shows range from $11-$18. Just go to the store, type WWE and then go to TV Episodes.
ReplyDeleteMs. Hammer decided that the heavy sports emphasis of the wrestling program limited its audience. “I thought it should be male soap opera,” she said."
ReplyDeleteYes just being a quality, classic wrestling company limits it's fans to wrestling fans. Being a shitty male soap opera limits it's fans to whatever fans decide to stick around(like us fools)
When was she around?
ReplyDeleteScott, you bring up a good point on the anthologies. They are actually at Amazon for around $20 now, which. Comes out to $4 a show iirc.
ReplyDeleteOne other note, I believe all of the 1-14 sets still beep out any WWF spoken reference.
Didn't see this before I posted. Exactly!
ReplyDeleteSorry, this was my sumbission. The Bossman choke is obviously edited out; I should have phrased that better.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure that set is TV-14 as are most of the comps.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I was just wondering. Would have been mighty weird if they kept that in lol. They should have just got rid of that entire match. Much more offensive than anything else on the show.
ReplyDeleteI like that you ask a question and immediately discount any answers.
ReplyDeleteRAPED!
ReplyDeleteNot to be a thief?
ReplyDeleteActually Scott on amazon right now all the wrestlemania anthology sets are under $20! If they were all around $5 I would pick a few of them up, but for $14 I will just get the anthologies.
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of company loses the trademark to its own name and the name of their flagship show?
ReplyDeleteSometimes I shake my head and wonder how they were the winners. Then I remember how inept everyone else was...
I got the Bret Hart Blu Ray for the four extra matches, and they should have been included in the regular set, they were nothing special (maybe the Hakushi match). Also, the Andre the Giant match was a fucking YOU TUBE video? How is that legal? If they had to download it from you tube, who owns the copyright? Finally, the buzz sawyer match looks like it was ripped from a VHS tape where the tracking was never adjusted.
ReplyDeleteMy point is, that shit isn't blu-ray quality, but I had to spend extra to get the "bonus" matches that should have been included in the original set.
I thought there were still cut matches on these tapes given their length?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I appreciate the "maniac" level of analysis that the writer went through. I find it wholly fascinating to see what the McMahons/WWE find acceptable to edit out of a broadcast.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's very much in keeping with their attitude of giving you less for more. That approach does affect the quality of the sets they are putting out (though I'm ok with the Bret set, as I knew it had more of a "rarities" approach, which can sometimes mean lower video quality. See the Jericho-Ultimo Dragon match on the Breaking the Code set for another example).
ReplyDeleteOh god that's awful...
ReplyDeletebetter to be a thief than a serial rapist.
ReplyDeletenot by a longshot.
ReplyDeletedeath of wcw
they should just get out of the dvd business altogether and do a direct download deal from shopzone or whatever have you.
ReplyDeleteI think it's interesting that less than 3 years ago, they released an Elimination Chamber DVD set titled "Satan's Prison", with Benoit in one of the matches and no editing for blood, but now they take the time to edit a WrestleMania re-release from 1999 to take out such insignificant things such as choking and references to the "Ministry of Darkness" Undertaker. But three years ago, Satan and blood and Benoit was fine.
ReplyDeleteI really would like to sit in on the meetings where they discuss editing these past releases, because it's fascinating to think that they feel that one second of Sable power bombing Tori from a certain angle is too suggestive. What Mattel executive threatened to pull their contract if they didn't change it? Are they scared that Bruno will withdraw from the hall of fame if they release the original edit? It's such an odd move, especially when they released the Attitude Era and nWo sets with no changes just 4 months ago.
It's like if a record company released only the edited version of an album without the swear words. Slap a damn TV-14 or TV-MA rating on the cover and if some mom buys it and gets mad when Undertaker hangs the Big Bossman, well, they were warned. But don't force me, a 30 year old, to only have your "edited for children" WrestleMania re-release as an option.
Vince Lucas indeed.
These new 1-14 individual releases are the exact same anthology discs repackaged. So buy them individually for $10-$15, or buy the same discs in an anthology set of 5 for $17-$20. Unless you are dying to have that new DVD cover art......
ReplyDeleteBonnie Hammer is also the one who's been adamant about John Cena being front and center on everything WWE. She's also the reason Michael Cole is lead commentator.
ReplyDeleteSo... if they edited out choking, the early Undertaker matches at Mania must be a lot of crowd shots then.
ReplyDeleteAmusingly, because they didn't make any changes (the VOB files on the new Wrestlemania XIV are dated 2005), the new releases of WM 1-XIV all feature Chris Benoit in the Don't Try This at Home video.
ReplyDeleteI have heard that the Attitude Era DVD (rated TV-14 as is the new WM XV) edited choking in a match, "On the "The Attitude Era" DVD/Blu-ray, the Undertaker/Rock vs. Austin/Mankind match from December 1998 is missing the part where Austin choked Undertaker with a TV cord, but right around the time TAE was released, the episode of Raw with that match aired on Classics On Demand. On that, the choke spot was not removed."
It really is amazing when you think about all that has happened in the last 15 years: the end of the Attitude era, the numerous deaths and their suspected and proven causes and the Chris Benoit situation, that major corporations and their television networks continued to air professional wrestling. I suppose the advertising just never dried up like one would think could have happened. It's surprising that the sport is anywhere other than VFW halls at this point.
ReplyDeleteIt really is sad that people enable WWE's standard edition Blu Ray releases of entirely SD content. Especially when suddenly 9hrs/set becomes 7hrs/set, and then you hear the argument "well they can put a lot more extras on the Blu Ray", and the Blu Ray compilation sets never have more than like an hour of extras, so you're still at a net loss of an hour compared to stuff like the Starrcade set, which was accommodated just fine on 3 DVDs.
ReplyDeleteGotcha
ReplyDeleteThe lack of true competition leads the pack as far as the regression of the quality of the WWE product. Going public did ultimately lead to the hesitation to be too edgy or "in your face" or whatever you want to call it. But there is no real motivation to try new things or shake up the product because there are no consequences if it fails. Sponsors don't have WCW to jump to if WWE takes a ratings dive.
ReplyDeleteThe "choking" edits to this new WM XV release are Bossman choking Taker with his nightstick, and Austin choking Rock with an TV cord. And as Daniel Bryan knows, you don't choke someone with an object. It all just screams Mattel or some sponsor making such a weird demand. Again, they will bow to a sponsor and specifically edit something to make it PG to keep that lucrative contract, but miss out on hardcore fans buying "original" releases.
ReplyDeleteThey're not done milking the DVD market for all it's worth yet. It has to come soon though.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, what is with some of the cover-art choices? Why is Shawn featured so prominently on the cover of "WM8"? Where are Shawn, Diesel, and Bigelow on the cover of "WM11"?
ReplyDeleteAlso gotta wonder about the celebrities like Mr. T, Lawrence Taylor, and Mike Tyson, though that may have been some sort of licensing-fee kind of thing.
As much as we all like to bust on Vince for rewriting history or being out-of-touch, the guy is a brilliant businessman - he MUST realize the advantage and appeal of having two (or more) versions of the same content at his fingertips. When he's doing the PG thing and/or wants to save money on mass-market releases, he'll use the edited versions, and when he wants to release a slightly more niche product ("Attitude Era", DVDs about older promotions) or if/when they eventually go back to a more "mature" product, he has the original version with all of the blood and original music.
ReplyDeleteNo choking? Looks like they'll be cancelling the planed Nailz documentary...
ReplyDeleteIf you can buy censored and uncensored versions of a music CD, it does seem odd that they (WWE) don't at least give you the option of buying the uncut version on their website. Hell, they could even add on a fee for being "premium content", like an extra $2 to get the version with blood and licensed music.
ReplyDeleteNo matter how smart Vince is, he also has a gigantic ego that gets him into trouble.
ReplyDeleteI'd buy it.
ReplyDeleteAlthough, I'd actually suggest "Best of The Cruiserweight Division", instead, as it would certainly have broader appeal. Or just do a follow-up of "Wrestling's Highest Flyers".
Going public gave them extra cash-flow and stability, allowing them to keep expanding into other markets. As bad as the product may be now, they're still making more money.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip-side, let's say that they were still doing things like back in the late-90's, meaning that they're privately-held and employed much better writing, yeah, they'd be more popular in this country (and a few others), but much less popular in other countries.
Bonnie Hammer.
ReplyDelete"She's also the reason Michael Cole is lead commentator."
ReplyDeleteNever heard that. Although, really, why would ANYBODY think that Michael Cole is the best possible choice for that position? Unless they're related or having an affair or something, that just does not compute.
I hardly think we can blame Bonnie Hammer for wanting to make WWE a "male soap-opera" - Vince was doing that years before she came along.
ReplyDeleteMan, am I glad I taped so much stuff growing up and scrounged to find new blanks so I didn't have to record over stuff. Makes this kind of crap a lot easier to deal with.
ReplyDeleteMichael Cole's face isn't fat and Southern like JR.
ReplyDeleteI still don't see what that has to do with WWE being a public company.
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. WCW stopped being any sort of real competition a year and a half or so before they actually closed, and ECW was never really a competitor. More like a farm team for the 2 bigger companies.
ReplyDeleteShit, that's a far better deal than paying $65 or whatever for a PPV.
ReplyDeleteShut up, Meg.
ReplyDeleteI have the VHS collection from the Attitude Era I-XV. Everything is complete to the best of my knowledge.
ReplyDeleteSo I'm not allowed to argue anything?
ReplyDeleteNo, you're supposed to accept whatever answers we give you as truth.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, the worst thing to happen to wrestling fans is Damien Sandow. You can't argue my answer.
I'm not 100% sure that's true. Who knows what could have happened? It seemed like WCW was starting to improve after Russo left, especially by 2001. It still wasn't great or anything but it was definitely better. If they stayed on their upward trajectory while the WWF started their downward spiral with the Austin heel turn (business downward spiral, the Austin heel turn was brilliant), perhaps people start checking out WCW more and more. And maybe Chris Kreski joins WCW after leaving the WWF in 2002. Or Gabe Sapolsky joins WCW instead of helping create ROH. I've heard that WCW was hoping to bring Rob Van Dam in and give him a major push. Everyone remembers how hot RVD was when he debuted for the WWF, if he catches fire in WCW, that probably helps a ton.
ReplyDeleteI get that my scenario has a lot of maybes and what ifs, but that's my point. I don't think it's fair to automatically assume WCW wouldn't represent any competition to the WWF/E.
I remember getting super fired up when they started all the editing a few years ago. I ended up cancelling the On Demand service when I tried sitting through WM X7 and between the logo blurring, music overdubbing and black and white video for blood, just gave up. I ended up resubscribing and as I type this (I am home sick) I am watching X7 again and there is original music (most of it), scratch logos and red blood.....
ReplyDeleteJust like everything else, it will all change depending on the voices in Vin-Mans head
Can anyone tell me if the Wrestlemania III Championship Edition DVD that came out before WM23 has the same version of the event from the Anthology DVDs? I know that the championship edition had the pop-up video thing and other special features; I'm just curious if the actual event had the same edits.
ReplyDeleteNot reading through all comments to see if this has been posted buy you can buy the anthology sets pretty cheap on Amazon right now.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.com/WWE-WrestleMania-Complete-Anthology-1995-1999/dp/B000BDH6IA/ref=sr_1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1362340585&sr=1-5&keywords=wrestlemania+anthology
and yeah its been posted. Oh well. I should buy one of these before the price goes up. I really should.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it sells for much. I have the same set but the WrestleMania 13 box is missing. I bought it off a friend in 2002 for like 20 bucks. Best deal ever.
ReplyDeleteI actually saw the Wrestlemania 13 box that I needed to complete the collection but the dude at the flea market wanted 30 bucks for it rofl.
^
ReplyDeleteThis.
Not to mention Luger at WMX, they'd have to skip the ending of the match.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen the WM13 re-release? I wonder if they edited out the part of Bret vs. Austin where Austin is choking Bret with the cable, before Bret hits him with the bell? That move led right to the finish.
ReplyDeleteWhen you buy movies, "director's cut" and "unrated" versions are all the rage amongst fans of certain films, so this is certainly not the worst idea ever for WWE to consider.
ReplyDeleteAnd every Ryback main event since Hell in a Cell.
ReplyDeletethey didn't edit of any of the first 14, including not removing the blurred .logos and bleeped out "Fs"
ReplyDelete2 thoughts. The first is about releasing 1-14 the same. My guess is they used the blurred version of 14 and the bleeped versions of 1-14 because they didn't want to go back and edit the music from the original masters. The whole process probably saved Vince a few bucks, customer be damned.
ReplyDeleteAs far as editing matches and the like, wrestling fans are like an abused partner that keeps going back to the abuser. After a few times, you have to start putting some blame on us as the abused for continuing to run back to our abuser thinking they have changed.
And to piggyback on my ealier rant about the fucking You Tube video, you're telling me that they couldn't have tracked down the guy who put up the video in the first place and got ahold of his 1989 VHS or Betamax or whatever he recorded the show from television in the first place and used THAT to make the DVD, instead of file that was uploaded to Youtube? Wouldn't that have made a much-higer quality video than what the WWE did, essentially stealing the You Tube video and making me pay for it?
ReplyDeleteI'm not at all clamoring for these things on Blu-Ray, unless they are going to CRAM THAT MOTHERFUCKER FULL OF CONTENT. According to about.com, that's 20 hours of content. So if you want to re-release WrestleMania III on Blu-Ray, that's a three hour show and 17 hours of extras.
Even with the bullshit "high definition" transfer they do (where the basically wrap the SD video with HD bumpers), that's still 9 hours of data. These two- and three- discs Blu-Rays are a huge con, aren't they?
Wow. I was always under the impression that the 1999 Legacy box set was supposed to have less editing than the 1997 Collection set. Because weren't the original Coliseum Home Video releases super edited (I'm referring to the ones that were released the same year as the actual event themselves)? I assumed that the 97 Collection was also super edited since it was still Coliseum Home Video where as the 99 Legacy set was done by WWF Home Video.
ReplyDeleteSo is the 97 Collection less edited than the original home releases? Reading through some of Scott's older reviews, I recall him noting about different edits (even in the great Savage/Warrior match from WrestleMania 7) and always assumed he was using the '97 Collection for his reviews. Interesting.
1997 was from Titan Sports, not Coliseum Video. It's the release that's most faithful to the PPV broadcasts.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wrestling-news.net/bearer-attend-tonights-wwe-raw/26153/
ReplyDeleteThe headline was "son of Paul Bearer to appear on Raw," and I thought, "No big deal, Kane is on Raw all the time!"
I really don't think any other home video company would be as shameless as WWE is with these SD Blu Rays, and if they were they would be very heavily criticized. The way people talk about how they want (wrestling show shot on SD videotape) on Blu Ray is so annoying, because it's like if you understand the technologies involved, the variance in resolutions, etc, you see how silly an idea that is. But WWE has found a way to make it a profitable enterprise and you can't blame carnies for being carnies so much as just kind of shudder at people being marks.
ReplyDeleteSee the "WWF" fiasco as proof of that. Vince can really be a moron sometimes.
ReplyDeleteAlso of note (somewhat), the quality control folks in Titan Towers didn't catch that the picture on the spine of the WMXV cover is of Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels (the same pic that is on the front of the WM12 cover). That's a pretty gross oversight!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wwedvdnews.com/photos-wwe-wrestlemania-dvd-re-releases/36825/
Another line of thought is that they had a surplus of Anthology discs (1-14). The discs in this set are blank - no disc art or anything (just like the anthology).
ReplyDeleteBut the Anthology discs had Wrestlemania Anthology on the inner rings and these do not, which is why I personally don't buy the overstock/surplus theory.
ReplyDeleteWM X7 is unwatchable because of the turnbuckles. It sucks but at least there is a real x7 DVD release that you can hunt down. It's gone up in price of late though.
ReplyDeleteLOL. I swear, when did they fire their home video department guys and replace them with student interns? They have been a mess of inconsistency ever since that first anthology box set came out.
ReplyDeleteIf there's a no choking mandate you can pretty much exclude most Undertaker matches from 1990-1996.
ReplyDeleteYeah no doubt. I'm sure they already have an original version with all the music in it, but it also has other things they'll still need to edit out -- small and large technical gaffes. In ring swearing, promotions for other events (although they've been inconsistent about this), things that clash with current company policy, things legally questionable (the Richard Beltzer comment by Jessie at WM 6 took a long time to appear in a commercial release).
ReplyDeleteThe weird one they used to do with the VHS tapes, but don't anymore (WCW did it too at times) is edit out all graphical references to the word "live", especially on wide shots of the arena or during openings. Sometimes they'd remove references to the event being on PPV too.
I'm sure when it's all said and done they'll be about 10 different versions of each event, with weird alternate angles and strange editing choices. Already there are like four different cuts of the Roddy Piper/Morton Downey Jr. segment at WM V depending on which VHS or DVD release you have.
ReplyDeleteEspecially with easy software to move your tapes to DVD. I have a bunch of original VHS tapes (specifically the great 2000 shows NOT released on DVD) specifically for this.
ReplyDeleteI love that Shawn is on the spine of Wrestlemania VIII, didn't he wrestle the opening match against Tito?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that. Thanks for the info to both you and nwa.
ReplyDeleteYeah he has a giant picture. Reminds me of when a small video distribution company would release obscure movies when one of the actors made it big years later, but they have the rights to that older title. They always plaster the cover with their names and pictures hoping people will rent it on that basis alone.
ReplyDeleteBut to put Shawn when you could have easily put Hogan, Savage, or Flair just seems odd to me.
ReplyDeleteWow, really the Andre match is from a YT video?
ReplyDeleteThat's insane about the YT thing and takes some serious nerve to include it on a commercial release like that. Frankly I'm surprised they don't have a copy since it was filmed for TV and the WWE saves damn near everything, including alternate camera feeds for events 20 years ago that still sneak into releases or commercials occasionally.
ReplyDeleteThe WM XI cover is interesting too. By his own admission, one of Bret's least favorite matches. I guess Lawrence Taylor was a no-go but Nash could have been featured more (I'd think).
ReplyDeleteI'm all for the BR discs if they actually took advantage of the format. They certainly max out resolution wise with the DVD format for these older shows, but some of the shows (especially once the pyro and signs start appearing) have problems with artifacts due to not having enough bitrate -- the ceiling of which goes up with the BR format and the better compression schemes available would further benefit the image quality. They dont utilize it though, not even filling up the discs to their max capacity.
ReplyDeleteIn essence, they are taking what they already have, resizing the video, slapping some logos in the pillarbox area of the screen and calling it HD.
I must have missed this at the time but WM 14 is referred to WM Xraided? I'm specifically referring to the spine shot picture here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wwedvdnews.com/photos-wwe-wrestlemania-dvd-re-releases/36825/
They kinda screwed it up on the spine. It's supposed to be D-X Raided. It was a thing they did at the time, yknow, 90s xtreme and DX being so controversial. If you look at the picture of the logo there's a tiny tiny d to the left of the giant X.
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I was under the same impression for a long time until I bought the 1997 a few years back. The 1997 set was initially sold as a mail order product and left in a lot of extra stuff like the closed circuit TV intermission ads and such for the early WrestleManias as well as some of the goofs that were later edited out (though not all of them). There are some other differences between the two sets, but I'd have to pull out both to see if I can pinpoint some. Also it has the proper (or lack of) the logo in the left hand corner of the screen.
ReplyDeletehttp://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p32/RobRob1_2006/WrestleMania-TheCollectionBoxSetAd_zps8672d1a2.jpg
I will say though, they are still not 100% faithful to the original broadcasts, but as kidglov3s mentioned they are the most faithful of the available versions. I've been working on converting mine to DVD, but you want a relatively unused set and a very stable VCR with a big tracking range to do it without tracking lines, because the tapes are so cheap (even for EP tapes).
Also -- I've never actually seen the edit Scott has referred to in that Warrior/Savage match on any version I've seen -- always been curious about that.
LOL. Good grief. That's what happens when 19 year olds who never saw the event are putting these things together.
ReplyDeleteWell they could have put Savage, I doubt they would put Flair or Hogan because both are with TNA.
ReplyDeleteand most Andre matches from his heel turn until retirement
ReplyDeletejust to play devil's advocate, maybe the discs were recorded but not stamped? Just tossing it out there
ReplyDeleteIn either case, I guess it's way less work to do by just reusing the last release. Also, I suppose the WM 15 set would have less work to do with to begin with, since they already released that as a proper DVD back in 1999, so they may have used whatever version of that as the basis for the new version instead of the anthology.
ReplyDeleteWrestling is untouchable. It's part of American pop culture.
ReplyDeleteI mean, how many dead or brain-dead ex-NFL players are there? Is anybody surprised they'e still on TV?
Yep. We've been HAD!
ReplyDeleteI think that might be something of a red herring. The new WM XV is pillarboxed in the style of WWE DVDs 2011(ish) and onwards, where its like they prepare a 16:9 master that's HD compatible and then downconvert that for DVD. Also, the edits made on the new one are completely different from the edits on the 1999 DVD (Bossman's entrance, Rage Party).
ReplyDeleteYeah, may be the case. I don't actually own the 1999 DVD, so it was just hunch.
ReplyDeleteBonnie's also the same person who completely destroyed the Sci-Fi Channel and turned it into the horrible clusterfuck that it is today, not to mention as soon as she became the head of the USA Network, she made the supremely stupid move to cancel "The Dead Zone".
ReplyDeleteIs there any chance we can ever get Rod Perth back? You know, the one USA Network head who actually knew how to run the channel?
The turnbuckle blurring is going... Mind you, as soon as I wrote this, I realized that they just skipped the Angle V Benoit match (not getting in to the whole argument, just talking about selective editing) and then at the end, replaced "My Way" with some generic bumper music... SMH
ReplyDeleteWWE's home video and marketing departments in general have been a mess ever since David Sahadi jumped ship to TNA.
ReplyDeleteThey don't even have clever commercials anymore. Literally every PPV commercial now is a bunch of shots of the city the show will be held in set to ultra-shitty dubstep music.
Whatever happened to the clever ideas like having a bunch of Amish guys battling in a ring in the middle of a cornfield (Awesome Royal Rumble 2003 commercial, BTW)?
Flair's back with WWE now.
ReplyDeleteAnd come to think of it, how did they manage to release an ECW DVD in 2012? Didn't they lose the trademark on that name a couple of years ago?
ReplyDeleteWCW could have survived if they hadn't cancelled the TV on the Turner Networks. Bischoff was set to buy the company with some financial backers but once the TV was cancelled the company was pretty much worthless.
ReplyDeleteThen when WWE was going to try to revive the WCW brand during the invasion none of their networks wanted to broadcast a WCW only show and we had the Buff Bagwell/Booker T disaster that killed any hope of a WWE ran WCW.
nwa88 is crazy about his video quality, we've traded and everything I get back from him is top notch.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the endorsement, both of my standards and of my nuttiness haha
ReplyDeleteI want to check the original anthology disc vs. the '99 one now and see what is different. While the Rage Party may not be a part of the main show, it is an extra on the '99 DVD. I was also surprised that the Bossman hanging is complete in the '99 version. And while his entrance is cut, they actually show snippets of it in the rotating screen caps for the match on the match select menu.
ReplyDeleteI did record the PPV broadcast of that show, is it substantially different from the DVD release?
ReplyDelete