Hey Scott, a couple of DVD questions;
1) How come when matches that were originally televised and clipped for commercial breaks are included on DVDs, they don't give us the whole match? Is it just the lack of commentary during the break?
2) I know you've said before that WWE's best use of their tape library would be to offer an a la carte service where consumers could essentially create their own DVDs from a menu of matches. I like that idea, but I have one of my own... What do you think of the viability of a "year in review" type offering for a series of 3 or even 4-disc sets? For example, they could pick a year and have a documentary type feature on all the angles and feuds that ran that year, and also include a selection of the best matches. There's so many ways they could go with it too... Interviews with guys who were around at the time, participants in the feuds, etc. Backstage stuff, real insider stuff, the possibilities seem endless to me. Plus it would be a chance to highlight some of the memorable lower card and mid card guys who just don't warrant a DVD set of their own. They could even go really crazy and do promotion specific sets ("wwe 1987", "wcw 1987", etc.) The stuff they purposely exclude for weird political reasons would even give internet nerds a whole set of things to complain about! What do you think?
1. That is a darn good question and I don't know either why they don't do the full match. There was a period when they WERE including the full unclipped matches on the DVDs (I think the D-X DVD had one example of it) and there was commentary as well, but then they stopped again. Usually, though, the matches don't feature anything exciting during the break, as guys generally stall for a couple of minutes or do a chinlock or whatever, so in some ways it's better to miss it. However, for us completist nerds, I agree it's frustrating.
2. Another awesome idea. Just goes to show that there's an endless well of ideas they could be tapping into with their library, and instead we get stuff like yet another ECW DVD and Best of Falls Count Anywhere Matches. Seriously. Oh, and another John Cena DVD in July.
I'd kill for HQ versions of those bootleg season sets floating around (i.e. Superstars 1987). And more releases making use of all the territories they own beyond Crockett.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing I've always wondered... why don't they release more of the old stuff on iTunes? They have released some of the pay-per-views and movies from 2011, but there's literally no overhead involved in uploading stuff on iTunes, and it would be a great way for fans to create their own "custom DVD" as an iTunes playlist, then watch via Apple TV or on their iPad/iPod/iPhone/computer. At $1.99/$2.99 a match (SD/HD versions), they'd make a killing, even with Apple taking their 30% cut.
ReplyDeleteSeason sets would be a clearance nightmare in terms of being able to clear shit like music, celebrity cameos, cross promotional references to other TV shows, etc.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of shit, the lack of comprehensive "2011 in Review" DVD has bugged the shit out of me, given that you have shit like the Rock/Cena, Bryan Danials, Miz and Johnny Ace ascending, the end of Edge, and CM Punk's roaring rampage of awesomeness that desperately needs to be preserved onto DVD.
Can I assume the Punk/Cena stuff from Punk joining Nexus through is being earmarked for the rumored Punk DVD or said upcoming Cena DVD? Or is Vince purposely sitting on that material because he knows that people would LOVE to see it on DVD (which reminds me, why the fuck wasn't it included onto the Money In the Bank PPV DVD)?
Blame the ECW DVDs on the old ECW mutants who would buy anything they put out, still buy anything involving the company, and continue to support abortions like Shane Douglas' yearly Extreme Reunions. The ECW DVDs generally sell better than most of the company's regular stuff. Hell, didn't TNA's Hardcore Justice PPV do better business than most of the PPVs they'd done over the past few years? As much as we like say ECW is dead, their are morons who will still buy that stuff. And there are new 12 year olds every day who can discover the wonders of Francine's gravity-defying tits.
ReplyDeleteIm eagerly awaiting WWE's Spin the Wheel Make a Deal: The Ultimate Collection.
ReplyDeleteGod forbid people will buy DVDs that interest them over The Life of Randy Orton
ReplyDeleteNot that I would or will buy John Cena's new DVD, I dont think there's any problem with it and I think it's smart. I remember as a kid renting Hulkamania 1, 2, 3, and 4 on a regular basis and those 4 tapes covered 84-89. So WILL SOMONE PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDRED, because i'm sure they'll be able to sell plenty of copies of Cena's new DVD. As for a 3 or 4 disk set of a best of a certain year, thats something I would buy in a second, they need to do that.
ReplyDeleteThey should think about setting up a download service like iTunes where you can just download the matches you want.
ReplyDeleteWhile I have no clue as to what the latest Cena DVD includes, as I mentioned above, the easiest and probably best idea would be to collect the entire Nexus/Punk-Miz/Rock-Summer of Punk-Miz/R-Truth vs Cena/Rock material from 2010-2011.
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, just fucking split the difference and do a Cena/Punk rivalry DVD since you can easily get a decent single disc DVD out of that....
Yeah, it would be neat to get more uncut stuff. I'm sure one reason you don't often see it is that it is common during the commercial breaks of a live production for the commentators to get up to speed on upcoming segments (and discuss it over the air) as well as for some members of the camera crew to test their equipment. Having said that I'm pretty sure the WWE saves almost every camera angle and individual audio tracks for each commentator, so they could probably put something acceptable together.
ReplyDeleteI know there exists some RAW footage from 1998 or so that is basically uncut, captured over an unencrypted satellite feed. There is a series of clips on youtube of it, here is the first one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFJSAXOBFnw&list=UUI0ZDUlihTOZu6m1k2uAGmQ&index=18&feature=plcp
I also loved the Hulkamania tapes as a kid. I like that they've got a new series of single disc releases that are filled with random matches highlighting a specific guy. Reminds me a lot of the old Coliseum videos. I hope they continue to do them.
ReplyDeleteI would buy a DVD of nothing but clips of Francine coming down to the ring in all her slutty glory.
ReplyDeleteI'm watching the King of the Ring DVD now and my god Booker T is terrible as the host. Might be the worst ever.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's crazy that you have to go to sketchy download land to watch Stampede...or WCCW...or any of the old territory stuff, really.
ReplyDeleteI wish they'd release box sets of PPVs for a year, or even 6 months. I'd imagine there's a market for stuff like "PPVs of 1997".
ReplyDeleteThat is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI still think they should rivalry or storyline related dvds covering all the segments and interviews of a particular rivalry are the way to go.
ReplyDeleteHell most of the big matches have been covered on other sets but I'd still pay money for an all in set covering the Hart Foundation/Austin feud from Stone Colds first on air challenge of Bret right up until the Canadian Stampede 10-man.
Of top, the set would include things like,
Austin calling out Bret at Summerslam 97 I think? Memories a little fuzzy but I think the pillman incident happened here as well,
Bret/Austin MSG, Bret's return match,
The 97 rumble from the point of Austin's entry, which leads to,
The awesome final four war,
Which leads to Austin's interference in the cage match on raw the next night between Sid/Bret, which leads to,
WM13 submission match of course, which leads to,
A vastly underrated and essentially forgotten rematch at Revenge of the taker,
Then give us all the stuff that culminates with Bret in a wheelchair, the reformed Hart Foundation and Bret declaring war on America,
Leading to hart foundation interference in Austin's matches with Shawn and Taker leading to ,
Some absolutely classic tag matches on raw between various combinations of Bret/Owen/Davey vs Austin/Shawn/Foley/Taker leading of course to,
The epic Canadian Stampede where Bret gets his moment and Austin still comes out looking like a boss.
I know so much of this stuff is already out there, but it just isn't the same viewed in isolation and out of context, and there's so much stuff, promos, angles. etc, not listed here that hasn't seen DVD treatment. And damn the black and white video packages around this time with Todd Pentangail doing the voice-overs are fucking epic.
Just present the feud over the course of the feature and save the talking heads and the retrospective, kayfabe breaking interiews for a bonus feature.
Be fair. Everyone is interested in The Life of Randy Orton.
ReplyDeleteOf all the wrestling chicks to do nude photos, porn, or some combination thereof, I'm amazed Francine is one of the only ones to NOT go that route. In fact, I almost expected it since she was a part of ECW.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of DVDs, the Edge DVD is fantastic. The doc is great, although they skip some parts for whatever reason. Would have liked to see them hit on the Rated RKO run but it's not even mentioned. Then they devote a lot of time to his feud with Batista which I didn't even remember.
ReplyDeleteso you're basically talking about this?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.silvervision.co.uk/products/The-Best-of-Raw-SmackDown-2011-DVD-4-Discs.html
Yeah, that is funny- though I think more WWF women than ECW ones did Playboy and the like- I don't recall ever seen Kimona Wana Laya's boobs either, nor Dawn Marie's.
ReplyDeleteI'm watching that too, on Netflix. I really wish they would have dug up footage from the early, non-ppv KOTRs if they have any. Doesn't even have to be full matches, but that's at least stuff I don't have, unlike everything else on this set.
ReplyDeleteLoved the first Hulkamania tape. The match that always stands out to me is Hogan vs Dr D David Shultz. I wish they had included that on one of the Hogan DVD's that came out but politics are what they are.
ReplyDeleteYeah that had me scratching my head. Haven't they been doing Years in Review DVDs since 2008 or so?
ReplyDeleteWell since the ECW DVD was one of their best selling ever, and John Cena is their best merchandise mover, can't say I really blame them for going to that well over and over again.
ReplyDeleteSadly bootleg is the only way we're ever gonna get complete episodes of Superstars/Challenge/Prime Time, etc. I finally downloaded all the episodes of Superstars from 86-95 + Challenge 86-89, Prime Time 87 and Championship Wrestling 84-86. It's great to see all the old shows/storylines and builds to Wrestlemania complete. Some even have the original commercials from the episodes. If WWE ever released these shows on DVD they'd clip stuff, remove music, etc.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of DVDs, they're supposedly going to start putting out low-price "niche" DVDs as part of a series, that will just be single discs featuring 5 matches of a given wrestler. It's notable because Daniel Bryan is said to be one of the first ones they're going to make. I think this is a great idea because it's low-risk and they can make a lot of money with the lower price point without much risk.
ReplyDeleteRE: Point No. 2. The UFC's Best of (YEAR) DVDs are basically that already: documentary style looks back at the year, focusing on key fighters and/or storylines, with exclusive backstage footage, plus the best matches. Those discs are AWESOME and totally worth buying.
ReplyDeleteI think the reason why WWE wouldn't do anything like that is because they couldn't explain their storylines over the course of a year because they change their minds so often on things.
I'd bet there is probably not a market for that considering that WWE did, in the 2000s, put out box sets of every PPV over the course of a year, and then stopped doing it.
ReplyDeleteThey do that?!
ReplyDeleteIm not an apple supporter of any kind but WWE would be retarded for not doing that.
OMG Dawn Marie in her heyday naked... I would of ... idk... but I woulda... She was my thing til Trish got hot and then Layla came around.
ReplyDelete