Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.0

WWE: Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century Blu-ray Movie Review

Not the greatest WWE Blu-ray of the 21st century.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 19, 2014

It's a little early, isn't it? The 21st century isn't even old enough to drive, and yet here it is, a list of the greatest stars of the new millennium, fresh off the advent of HDTV and Blu-ray and not a whiff of wrestlers like Daniel Bryan or CM Punk (not in any capacity as a members of the list, anyway). Best of the decade? Sure, why not. Century? It's a wee bit premature. Semantics aside, the point of the release is simple: highlight most of the best and brightest from the decade that was, pump up their brand, and inflate the WWE universe. Simple enough, but does the execution warrant a watch, or will the material prove too soft and too brief to amount to anything more than wrestling fluff?

Smell it.

Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century features a fairly straightforward yet not really interconnected string of wrestler biographies and overviews, taking brief looks at their total bodies of work, career highlights, and in some cases life before and after their time in the ring. The presentation's flow isn't particularly exciting, and there seems to be no real order to the lineup. For example, Steve Austin is separated from The Rock by eight wrestlers when their careers largely paralleled one another in terms of time in the ring, ascendancy to stardom, rivalry, and impact on the professional wrestling landscape as the main pieces of the attitude era. Edge and Chris Jericho are listed side-by-side, but Kane and The Undertaker are not. Fans will appreciate the smattering of classic and iconic moments but seeing them only in a few short glimpses will only whet the hardcore fan's appetite for a more substantial, in-context retrospective or full-length match. The program features bland narration that conveys information but doesn't engender much excitement, but a number of current and former superstars, such as Kofi Kingston and Arn Anderson, do chime in with newly created interview clips to fill in a few more gaps.

The release is mostly aimed at newcomers. Many of the stars already have their own Blu-ray release that obviously provide a significantly deeper insight than what is presented here, which amounts to little more than a highlight reel of each wrestler's career best moments and turning points. At only a few seconds over 99 minutes, and with 20 wrestlers highlighted, that's not much time to do anything but offer the most basic overview that will point relative newcomers in the right direction or aid them choosing a favorite or two, not provide the longtime fan any sort of comprehensive background information or career retrospective. It's a decent enough little jaunt through the top end of the WWE roster, but chances are longtime fans and veteran WWE Home Video viewers will find the material dull and redundant.

The following wrestlers are highlighted in the release:

• Chris Jericho
• Edge
• Triple H
• JBL
• Kane
• Kurt Angle
• The Rock
• Randy Orton
• Brock Lesnar
• Decade of the Divas
• Jeff Hardy
• Big Show
• Eddie Guerrero
• Shawn Michaels
• Booker T
• Stone Cold Steve Austin
• Undertaker
• Rey Mysterio
• Batista
• John Cena

WWE: Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century features an adequate high definition transfer. Normally, the WWE reformats older 4:3 material to a 1.78:1 aspect ratio when it's inserted into a main program to match newly created HD video interview clips framed at 1.78:1. That's, thankfully, not the case here. Older material is presented in its original aspect ratio throughout the program, retaining the 4:3 shape and featuring purple vertical bars on either side of the image to preserve its original appearance. With the older standard definition footage comes the usual array of technical flaws, but it's not graded on the Blu-ray scale. What little new material there is looks good enough. Interviews offer crisp, well-defined clothing and facial details and even, generally bright and natural colors. Newer material featuring wrestlers who performed in the HD era are presented with satisfactory clarity in the 1.78:1 frame. Light ringing, noise, and compression artifacts are occasionally evident. The digital-live action hybrid wrestler intros are soft. Though not a showstopper, WWE's Blu-ray satisfies in every major area of concern and within the context of the material it has to offer.

WWE: Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century features a basic Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. It's rather lively, at times, playing with a fairly large, electric presence. Clarity isn't the greatest, but listeners will enjoy the raw enthusiasm on display. Background music underneath narration plays at a low volume, understandably, but kicks up when it's front-and-center. Music, at every level, is well spaced across the front and enjoys a light, but healthy, surround element through the back. Dialogue, likewise, isn't booming, but narration and clip highlights play with solid front-center presence. This track won't redefine wrestling audio on Blu-ray, but it suits the material well enough.

WWE: Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century contains the following matches and moments. Matches and moments are found on both included Blu-ray discs.

Disc One:

• WCW Championship Match: Booker T vs. The Rock. SummerSlam -- August 19, 2001.
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Rob Van Dam. RAW -- September 16, 2002.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Triple H vs. Kane. RAW -- June 23, 2003.
• 60 Minute Iron Man Match for the WWE Championship: Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar. SmackDown -- September 18, 2003.
• WWE Championship Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. SmackDown -- March 18, 2004.

Disc One Blu-ray Exclusives:

• RAW Moment: Everything Evolves. RAW -- February 3, 2003.
• SmackDown Moment: Kane's Eulogy for Undertaker. SmackDown -- November 20, 2003.
• SmackDown Moment: JBL Is Not Afraid of Undertaker. SmackDown -- August 5, 2004.

Disc Two:

• Fatal 4-Way Match for the WWE Championship: JBL vs. Undertaker vs. Eddie Guerrero vs. Booker T. Armageddon -- December 12, 2004.
• Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: JBL vs. Big Show vs. Kurt Angle. Royal Rumble -- January 30, 2005.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Triple H vs. Edge. RAW -- February 7, 2005.
• Women's Championship Match: Lita vs. Trish Stratus. Unforgiven -- September 17, 2006.
• Triple Threat Match -- Winner Faces John Cena For the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 23: Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton vs. Edge. RAW -- February 5, 2007.
• 8-Man Tag Team Match: John Cena, Batista, Shawn Michaels & Undertaker vs. Randy Orton, Edge, Mr. Kennedy & MVP. RAW -- February 15, 2007.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Batista vs. Undertaker. WrestleMania 23 -- April 1, 2007.

Disc Two Blu-ray Exclusives:

• Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match for the WWE Championship: Randy Orton vs. John Cena vs. Triple H vs. JBL. Backlash -- April 27, 2008.
• Championship Scramble Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Batista vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Kane vs. JBL vs. Chris Jericho. Unforgiven -- September 7, 2008.
• Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk. SummerSlam -- August 23, 2009.
• SmackDown Moment: Every Man for Himself. SmackDown -- January 27, 2005.
• RAW Moment: Kurt Angle Does Not Suck. RAW -- November 7, 2005.
• SmackDown Moment: The Coronation of King Booker. SmackDown -- May 26, 2006.
• Backlash Moment: John Cena & Randy Orton Get Together. Backlash -- April 19, 2007.
• RAW Moment: Chris Jericho's Highlight Reel. RAW -- June 9, 2008.

WWE: Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century is more superfluous than it is disappointing. This is a decent overview for relative wrestling newcomers, but diehard fans will only want this to round out their WWE Home Video collections, not to discover any sort of groundbreaking new information. There's no ranking or any semblance of order to the listings, just a perpetual highlight reel that changes names and faces every few minutes. It's a decent enough time killer, but most every other WWE Home Video release has proven significantly more substantial. This Blu-ray release of Greatest Superstars of The 21st Century delivers adequate video and audio and a healthy assortment of bonus matches. Recommended only to newcomers interested in some of the biggest current and former stars or hardcore WWE Home Video collectors and enthusiasts. Anyone falling in the middle ground is advised to skip this one.