Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions Blu-ray Movie Review

"No chance in hell" wrestling fans should skip this release.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman May 25, 2014

In numbers, there is strength.

When one considers the wider world of professional wrestling, it's oftentimes individuals and individual rivalries that immediately spring to mind. Whether The Rock or Randy Savage, whether Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon, whether Mankind or The Miz, whether Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant, whether Randy Orton or Rey Mysterio, whether Undertaker vs. Kane, there are plenty of huge names and bigger rivalries to take center stage, dominate headlines, sell toys, print on trading cards, and move tickets and Pay-Per-View orders. Yet sometimes it's the collective that can make the largest impact, a gaggle of wrestlers joined together for the common goal of obliterating opponents and seizing control of the entire wrestling landscape, not simply dominating a single corner of it. Greatest Wrestling Factions examines, and pays tribute to, some of professional wrestling's most interesting, longest-lasting, and most dominant factions. From The Four Horsemen to the Straight Edge Society, many of the biggest factions are included in this action-packed retrospective.

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions obviously features a heavy emphasis on tag matches and multi-participant contests, as evidenced by the match list included below. The WWE has created a fairly interesting cross-section of groups and eras, obviously leaving behind some fan favorites (Ministry of Darkness) and including some more obscure, at least to the casual fan, factions (Blue World Order) but perhaps saving some bullets for another volume or hoping to generate chatter by frustrating fans. Nevertheless, this is a solid overview and includes all of the factions fans will expect to find, including DX, nWo, Nexus, The Four Horsemen, and The Corporation. The set isn't ordered either chronologically or numerically; there are no rankings (The Horsemen are presented last, nWo somewhere in the middle, and DX first) which itself staves off a little controversy and saves it entirely for which factions are included and which are not. The program is comprised of a basic presentation structure in which interviews and clips shape the narrative behind the faction, which is followed by a single match representing that faction. It flows well and offers a quality amount of information from a well constructed roster of interviewees.

The following matches are included as part of WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions:

Disc One:

• Corporate Rumble for #30 Spot in Royal Rumble Match: D-Generation X vs. The Corporation. RAW -- January 11, 1999.
• Tag Team Match: Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd vs. Big Machines, Super Machine & Captain Lou Albano. The Big Event -- August 28, 1986.
• SummerSlam Match: Right to Censor vs. Too Cool & Rikishi. SummerSlam -- August 27, 2000.
• 8-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Von Erichs & "Iceman" King Parsons. World Class Championship Wrestling -- May 1983.
• 5-on-5 Tag Team Elimination Match: The Nexus vs. John Cena, Randy Orton, Sheamus, Chris Jericho & Edge. RAW -- August 20, 2010.
• Tag Team Match: Stunning Steve Austin & "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton vs. Sting & Marcus Bagwell. WCW Championship Wrestling -- January 18, 1992.
• Flag Match: Bret "Hit Man" Hart, Owen Hart & The British Bulldog vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Dude Love & Undertaker. RAW -- July 21, 1997.
• War Games Match: Team WCW vs. Team Hollywood vs. Team Wolfpac. Fall Brawl -- September 13, 1998.
• Six-Man Tag Team Match: The Brood vs. Job Squad. Rock Bottom -- December 13, 1998.
• Tag Team Match: Million Dollar Team vs. Guts and Glory. Survivor Series -- November 23, 1994.
• Tag Team Match: Owen Hart, Kama Mustafa & D-Low Brown vs. Triple H & New Age Outlaws. Over the Edge -- May 31, 1998.
• Hardcore TV Match: Big Stevie Cool (W/ BWO) vs. Axl Rotten. Hardcore TV 194 -- January 7, 1997.
• Handicap/Gauntlet Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Corporation. RAW -- February 8, 1999.

Disc Two:

• Tag Team Match: Evolution vs. The Dudley Boyz. RAW -- July 14, 2003.
• Tag Team Match: Kurrgan & Golga vs. Too Much. Shotgun -- October 17, 1998.
• Tag Team Match: Shane Douglas & Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Rob Van Dam & Sabu. CyberSlam -- February 21, 1998.
• Tag Team Match: Legacy vs. Triple H, Batista & Shane McMahon. Backlash -- April 27, 2009.
• War Games Match: Hulkamaniacs vs. Dungeon of Doom. Fall Brawl -- September 17, 1995.
• 3-on-1 Handicap Match: CM Punk, Luke Gallows & Joey Mercury vs. Big Show. SummerSlam -- August 15, 2010.
• Tag Team Match: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard vs. Barry Windham, Lex Luger & Sting. NWA Main Event -- April 3, 1988.

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions features the same sort of basic WWE transfer that frequent WWE Home Video viewers will expect. The image is comprised of both 1.78:1 high definition and up-converted 1.33:1 standard definition footage, with the latter dominating the two-disc content. There are two parts to the SD footage. One is the material interspersed with interviews that tell the story behind each faction. Here, the material has been reformatted to fit a 1.78:1 frame and match the accompanying natural 1.78:1 interview footage. Next are the matches themselves, which are preserved in their original broadcast 1.33:1 ratio. The material varies greatly in quality, from the fuzzy, poorly defined Blue World Order match to more polished WWE content from late in the SD era. The HD footage in the modern matches looks fine, with good, vibrant colors and stable details. The interviews, however, vary wildly in quality, from stable and sharp to fuzzy and poorly defined. Moderate background blocking, particularly across darker backdrops, plagues most every HD sequence, but most of the time viewers will have to look hard to see it. In essence, this is every other WWE Blu-ray release that's a mix of materials. It satisfies but doesn't push the format to its limits.

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions features, like the video, the basic WWE effort. The included Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack satisfies base requirements. The new interview footage is sonically put together well enough, yielding clear, accurate dialogue. In-match ringside commentary likewise plays nicely enough, though the accuracy varies between eras and formats. Likewise, in-ring crashes, screams, and other sounds of wrestling mayhem are suitably produced for the given origin. Crowd ambience and intro music grow increasingly clearer and fuller the closer the matches come to the modern era, with the HD matches offering the widest range and greatest sense of immersion.

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions contains the following, marked as "Blu-ray Exclusives," on disc two. The supplements are sort of like "deleted scenes" from the main program, featuring an overview of the faction followed by a single highlight match.

• The Wyatt Family.
• Handicap Match: The Wyatt Family vs. Daniel Bryan. TLC -- December 15, 2013.
• Spirit Squad.
• World Tag Team Championship Match: Spirit Squad vs. Kane & Big Show. RAW -- April 3, 2006.
• The Shield.
• Tag Team Match: The Shield vs. Ryback & Team Hell No. TLC -- December 16, 2012.

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

WWE: Greatest Wrestling Factions is bound to cause a bit of controversy, considering both the inclusion and exclusion list as well as the absence of any sort of order to the presentation chaos. Yet it's also bound to entertain. Anyway one slices it, this represents a fairly solid cross-section of WWE entertainment, spanning several eras including some of the biggest stars the wrestling universe has ever seen banded together for a common goal of domination. Most of the matches are fun and the presentation finds a good balance between narrative and action. WWE Home Video's Blu-ray release of Greatest Wrestling Factions features the average WWE video and audio presentations. A few more factions and matches are presented on disc two as bonus features. Recommended.