Just a reminder, “Macho Madness” is released this upcoming Tuesday (and yes, review is forthcoming), so if you want to pick it up via Amazon it’d be appreciated if you did so via my link so I can make a couple of bucks off it.
Just a reminder, “Macho Madness” is released this upcoming Tuesday (and yes, review is forthcoming), so if you want to pick it up via Amazon it’d be appreciated if you did so via my link so I can make a couple of bucks off it.
DIGG IT???
You are shameless keith. I thought D-x was bad.
I find myself conflicted on this DVD set. On one hand it’s one of the most anticipated releases in years, but there is no documentary on it, which is the primary reason I buy these things. I’ve always found the matches to be a superb icing on the cake, but I know I’m probably in the minority here.
I’m inclined to agree, and especially in this case, given that we haven’t seen or heard from this guy hardly in years.
Some of the match choices leave me underwhelmed too. Savage/DDP at Spring Stampede is supposed to be a **** affair, while their match at GAB 1997 was marginal and with a terrible ending.
Ventura better be on it. Macho was 20% better with his commentary shamelessly cheering for him.
Chances are that with his recent media appearances, he’s on Vince’s fecal index, and paying the inflated rate for including Jesse’s commentary will be considered an “unnecessary expense” for a non-premium DVD release.
Is a review of Extreme Rules also forthcoming?
In addition to the DVD release, Savage has finally been recognized as a “WWE Alumni”:
http://www.wwe.com/superstars/wwealumni/randysavage/
Hopefully a HOF induction will be next.
How come you haven’t reviewed this yet? Dunn reviewed it like three weeks ago.
I’m actually glad that it’s just matches and promos, because I don’t know how much more WWEvisionist History I can take, and any Randy Savage documentary is bound to be full of it (pun intended). I only wish they’d taken this approach to the Starrcade DVD (which I refuse to buy), as well as the AWA and World Class sets. That way, you don’t get stuff like HHH giving an anti-hardcore rant in the middle of a documentary he shouldn’t be involved with in the first place or Gerry Brisco taking every conceivable opportunity to kiss Vince McMahon’s buttocks.
The AWA documentary makes me think of the WWF in 10-15 years. The AWA was the biggest company in the country, got complacent, were convinced their way (really Verne’s way) was the best and got swallowed up because they wouldn’t push any new stars. Well Vince is the exact same way except his MO is entertainment whereas Verne was so focused on the “real” wrestling. And there’s the whole nepotism thing that’s on display everytime SuperShane is.
Save yourself a couple of bucks off the Amazon price if you’re in the States. It’s listed @ $17.99.
“The AWA was the biggest company in the country”
They might have covered the largest territory (mostly after the decline of territories, as they’d absorbed a few areas with dead NWA members, like San Francisco), but they were never the “biggest company”. The McMahons, Crocketts, Eddie Graham, and even Jack Adkisson controlled hotter, more lucrative promotions even when the AWA was at its peak.
Never let facts interfere with a good WWE bashing.
Im pretty sure the AWA in 60s and 70s was the biggest promotion in the country considering they had the entire Midwest, they owned Chicago and they had the widest distribution of their television show.
Now maybe the other territories were making more money in their smaller areas, but the AWA was the closest thing to a national promotion at that point.
If by biggest you mean by acreage, probably. If by biggest you mean population or attendance, probably not.
And wasn’t the AWA actually made up of lots of local promotions like NWA? If so, NWA would still be bigger.
The AWA was the former NWA Minneapolis office, which eventually absorbed several other booking offices in its own “alliance” of promotions. This evolved out of a federal investigation into the business practices of the NWA promoters, and those promoters found themselves having to allow the recognition of at least one other “world heavyweight champion” in order to ward off any litigation or prosecution.
That said, the AWA was still never the “biggest promotion” in the U.S.
Well, quick thumbnail review:
- The Jesse commentary is intact for all the matches.
- For whatever reason, “American Dream” is still edited out of the Mixed Tag match from Mania 6, which makes me think it was a direct cut-and-paste job.
- They cut off the Tuesday in Texas match just before Roberts slaps Elizabeth! I’m thinking this is because of the whole Benoit thing, but firstly, the moment is what makes it famous and secondly, Woman is front and center in a WCW match on the same DVD set, which reeks on inconsistency.
- Overall, the first two discs are great stuff, but once you get past Savage’s title win over Flair at Mania 8, the set loses steam quickly. Maybe because the Savage/WCW matches they picked expose how incredibly stupid the WCW booking was at the time.
So, on the plus side, some of the matches are REALLY good, but the interview selection is kinda… out there. Striker and Maria make a cute team for the overview and they’ve left off enough to make me hope that a second set may come down the pike at some point. Oh, interesting moment: as Savage comes down the aisle for the RAW match with Yoko, Vince very clearly calls Savage “a future Hall of Famer.” Trust me, if he didn’t have a hope in Hades, Vince would have cut that line.
Now the negative: I’m sorry, the WCW stuff was way too random and made me wonder what the heck was up with the booking at the time. I also wish they had done more around Savage/Roberts since the feud was SO hot at the time.
All and all, thumbs up for me, be beware the third disc.
Savage did some amazing work in WCW.
I agree the match selection from that period is … strange, but the matches are damn good except the tag one.
Savage/DDP was always great stuff.
Ok they cut out the part of Roberts slapping Elizabeth, but yet earlier in the year Randy Orton RKO’S Stephanie McMahon before WM.
It has nothing to do with Benoit. Just WWE playing corporate politics with sponsors so they wont lose a deal. I will never forget Man on Women violence in WWE history. Anyone remember when Austin and Triple H laid the beat down on Lita in 2001?
Well, Elizabeth is also no longer with us, so maybe that’s why? To be honest, I gave up trying to figure out WWE’s motivations a long time ago.
Anyhow, my copy of this should be arriving tomorrow, and host issues aside I’m looking forward to it (at least Striker’s a wrestling nerd, but was Maria even alive during Savage’s run? Or am I think of Double Kelly?) and besides I’ve got the McAdam comp to fill in the gaps.
I’m sorry you’re stuck with the McAdam comp. Better quality and more comprehensive comps have come out since McAdam’s heyday.
“once you get past Savage’s title win over Flair at Mania 8, the set loses steam quickly. Maybe because the Savage/WCW matches they picked expose how incredibly stupid the WCW booking was at the time.”
WCW was as clueless about how to use Randy Savage as they were Bret Hart. The only difference was that Savage came with a promotional deal with Slim Jim that effectively canceled out most of the expense involved with paying him a big contract. Bret didn’t come with such a luxury.
How so? They brought him in as an ally of Hogan, got him involved in a World title feud with Flair, eventually put Savage in his natural role as mortal enemy of Hogan, and then put him in a great feud with DDP. Bret was definitely wasted, but I don’t think WCW used him badly at all.
And by “him” in that last sentence, I mean Savage.
After rehashing his WWF angles with Hogan & Savage, the only interesting thing they really did for him was the feud with DDP. He was mostly lost in the shuffle, especially as WCW imploded in 1998/99.
I’m just getting started with this set. First of all, Maria as one of the hosts of the DVD? FAIL. Jesse Ventura not being edited out? Outstanding.
I’m inclined to agree — I think Savage was booked just fine by WCW, a LOT better then Bret. You have to keep in mind that Elizabeth has NEVER got enough credit for how over Savage was in the WWF and the influence it had on his (their) storylines. Savage’s WCW run was sans Elizabeth (for the most part) and he was certainly getting up in the years, so I think they did a good job in his twilight years. Bret was still pretty much at the top of his game in 1997, so dropping the ball on him was much egregious.
I do agree about the match selection though. Flair and Savage had better matches in WCW (SuperBrawl VI for example) and they picked a bad match from the Savage/DDP feud (should have picked the Spring Stampede 1997 one). They should have kept the Snake/Liz stuff intact as well — that was a HUGE moment at the time and Jake and Savage gave great interviews afterward.
I would have liked to see the Flair match from Starrcade ‘95 where Ric bled all over the place, but I guess that match involves the Benoit/Pillman version of the Horsemen, and we must still pretend that Chris never existed.
And let me state that the Benoit/Pillman Horsemen had a chance to be pure gold, had Brian not left the company. You had the old veterans in Flair and Arn, the wrestling machine in Benoit, and the arrogant punk in Pillman. That quartet could have raised hell and kicked ass for years.
Just finished the 1st disc, I really wish they would’ve used Macho’s promos to set up the matches instead of Stryker and Maria, what a waste. Most entertaining match IMO was NOT WM3 Macho-Steamboat but instead Macho-Honky Tonk Man from the Hogan-Andre NBC Main Event, smoking hot! I also really liked the Macho-DiBiase cage match from MSG, never saw that one before.