History of the WWE DVD

I figured I should catch up on some of the WWE stuff on Netflix in case it gets pulled at the end of the month, and my starting point was the promising History of the WWE documentary.  Watching it free on Netflix is actually the better way to go, because the match selection on the DVD is ridiculously weak, to say the least.  

I will say that the documentary is totally justified by the first 30 minutes, because I sat there in rapt fascination listening to the parade of old stars talking about Vince Sr. and working MSG in the old days and how the company worked in the 60s and 70s.  George Steele and Stan Hansen doing an interview in their normal speaking voices?  Greg Valentine still looking like he's 30 years old?  GIVE ME MORE.  This is what I wanted out of the piece and I would have sat through two hours of nothing but that.  

From there it becomes the usual WWE perspective -- things were great in the 70s, but then got even better in the 80s, but man, did they ever get awesome in the 90s after one rogue doctor single-handedly tried to bring down the company via the steroid trials and blah blah blah.  Honestly, the Hulkamania / Attitude / Monday Night Wars stuff is nothing that hasn't been covered in a dozen other DVD releases.  They do talk about Owen Hart's death in as much as it's related to how bad it made Stephanie and Linda feel while they were watching it, but Benoit and Eddie aren't mentioned at all.  And then at the 90 minute mark it literally turns into a PR film for how awesome the PG era is and I had to shut it off because my eyes were going to roll right out of their sockets.  I was even pretty forgiving of the laughable hypocrisy towards stuff like the steroid trials and killing off the territories up until then, just because it's stuff that's not usually covered in these.  

Anyway, the Capital Wrestling portions are well worth watching and dammit I wish they just did a DVD called "A bunch of old-timers bullshitting about the 60s and 70s and here's some classic matches we haven't aired on a million other DVDs" because I'd buy that shit for $29.95 with a smile on my face. If you haven't already watched the multiple Death of WCW/History of the NWO/Attitude Era/Monday Night Wars documentaries, the rest is also worth checking out, but if you're like me you'll probably get bored by the time they're talking about what a GREAT IDEA the brand extension was and how John Cena would be languishing in the indies without the opportunity that it presented and such.  

Mildly recommended.