WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.5

WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 29, 2016

The WWE once again returns to the well for another outing in the popular Attitude Era series that looks back at the business' biggest boom, and most popular era, in its storied history. Filled with name-brand superstars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Mankind, and Shawn Michaels, and featuring countless memorable rivalries and moments, it's a natural for a multi-pronged journey into the archives to showcase sports entertainment's best and brightest. Following up on the well rounded narrative driven volume one and the match compilation of volume two, volume three takes a slightly different route, piecing together a collection of never-before-seen matches, matches that didn't air on TV and haven't been dropped onto home video, until now.

The Texas Rattlesnake.

WWE's Corey Graves, who is now color commentating on Monday Night RAW, hosts the program and brings with him an honest sincerity and enthusiasm for the material. He does little more than introduce segments and offer a little backstory to what the audience is about to see, or has just seen. The program itself is comprised almost entirely of vintage matches, some of which are seen only from the perspective of a single amateur or, maybe down by ringside, semiprofessional cameraman, while some other matches enjoy a more fluid broadcast-quality feel, particularly those sourced from Pay-Per-View events. Viewers will find a wealth of vintage WWE wrestling that comes from a diverse cross-section of venues: the famed Madison Square Garden is home to several matches, another takes place down the road, and outside in the sun, on Wall Street, while a number take place overseas in places like Germany and Kuwait. It's a fascinating hodgepodge that Graves describes in good enough detail, but the real magic of this is time traveling backwards in time not only see the superstars, but to take in some great wrestling from a number of unique perspectives and in a number of unique places.

The following matches comprise disc one, the "main program" that also includes the Corey Graves interludes. Disc two features more matches, all of which are billed as either "Special Features" or "Blu-ray exclusives." See the Supplements section below for more.

• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart. Germany -- April 1996.
• Non-Televised Match: Undertaker vs. Mankind. In Your House: Good Friends -- April 28, 1996.
• Attitude Era Match: Undertaker & Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. Owen Hart & British Bulldog. Kuwait -- May 12, 1996.
• WWE Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels. Kuwait -- May 12, 1996.
• Attitude Era Match: Ultimate Warrior vs. Owen Hart. Madison Square Garden -- May 19, 1996.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Undertaker. Madison Square Garden -- August 9, 1996.
• Non-Televised WWE Championship Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Goldust. In Your House: Buried Alive -- October 20, 1996.
• Non-Televised Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind. In Your House: It's Time -- December 15, 1996.
• Non-Televised Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. Sycho Kid. RAW -- February 3, 1997.
• Non-Televised Match: Nation of Domination vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin, Undertaker, Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie. RAW -- December 29, 1997.
• WWE Intercontinental Championship Match: The Rock vs. Ken Shamrock. Anaheim, CA -- March 13, 1996.
• Falls Count Anywhere Match: Cactus Jack vs. Billy Gunn. Madison Square Garden -- March 22, 1998.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H. Madison Square Garden -- March 22, 1998.
• Attitude Era Match: Triple H vs. Big Show. Madison Square Garden -- June 26, 1999.
• Attitude Era Match: The Dudley Boyz vs. Test and Albert. Wall Street -- October 25, 2000.

WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

WWE: The Attitude Era Vol. 3 - Unreleased features a 1080i transfer that varies wildly in quality. The only true HD segments come in the occasional Corey Graves interludes. Here, image clarity is fine. Skin tones push a bit warm, but detail on his leathery jacket is fine, as are the basic textures seen in the objects behind him. The SD footage, which retains its original 4x3 shape, comes in all sorts of delivery methods. Some matches, like those form the In Your House Pay-Per-Views, enjoy greater diversity in camera angle and a sharper, clearer, more stable imagery. Certainly, various source flaws abound, particularly in the consumer-level handheld recordings (Hi8!) that are the only source of visuals for some matches. If nothing else, this is a veritable time travel machine down the road of crummy-to-acceptable video quality. The Blu-ray score is based only on the Graves segments; trashing the rest for presenting the source as-is would be a disservice to the scoring system, and the release.

WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

WWE: The Attitude Era Vol. 3 - Unreleased features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, but don't expect much more than basic center channel delivery. Intro music and beats in scenes returning back to Corey Graves to introduce the next match push a little out to the sides, with decent enough clarity, even as it plays more underneath than front-and-center. The track occasionally does spill into the sides, and surrounds, during matches. Listen to the match in Kuwait that begins at chapter eight. It drops in and out of various speakers around the stage. Crowd cheers emanate from the back, but with an unkempt, muddled, and mushy presence, not to mention uneven delivery and fluctuations in volume and positioning. The track is borderline inaudible and borderline undefined at times. In-ring introductions can sometimes barely be deciphered. It's certainly a unique way to hear WWE. Fans need to be prepared for the uneven quality but understanding that what's presented here is all one can hope to hear.

WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

WWE: The Attitude Era Vol. 3 - Unreleased contains a few additional matches on disc two. Also included is an attractive, full-color, 48-page book from DK that covers the Attitude Era in some detail by highlighting some of the classic matches from the time. The book is the same height as the Blu-ray case and about half as thick.

Special Features:

• Attitude Era Match: Yokozuna vs. The Sultan. Sun City, South Africa -- September 14, 1996.
• Non-Televised Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Goldust. In Your House: It's Time -- December 15, 1996.
• Non-Televised Match: Undertaker, Goldust & Ahmed Johnson vs. Nation of Domination. RAW -- March 17, 1997.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Undertaker. Toronto, Canada -- June 14, 1997.
• Attitude Era Match: Shawn Michaels & Triple H vs. Legion of Doom. Uniondale, NY -- October 24, 1997.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin & Cactus Jack vs. The Rock & D-Low Brown. Madison Square Garden -- January 10, 1998.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin, Cactus Jack & Chainsaw Charlie vs. The Rock & New Age Outlaws. Meadowlands, NJ -- February 22, 1998.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H. Anaheim, CA -- March 13, 1998.
• Attitude Era Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Undertaker. Madison Square Garden -- June 26, 1999.
• Attitude Era Match: The Hardy Boyz vs. Lo-Down. Wall Street -- October 25, 2000.

Blu-ray Exclusives:

• WWE Championship Match: Shawn Michaels vs. Mankind. Madison Square Garden -- January 25, 1997.
• Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: Undertaker vs. Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Anaheim, CA -- June 28, 1997.
• Long Island Street Fight: Dude Love vs. British Bulldog. Uniondale, NY -- October 24, 1997.
• Attitude Era Match: Ken Shamrock & Owen Hart vs. Faarooq & D-Low Brown. Meadowlands, NJ -- February 22, 1998.
• Dog Collar Match: Road Dogg vs. "Mr. Ass" Billy Gunn. Meadowlands, NJ -- July 31, 1999.

WWE: The Attitude Era: Vol. 3 - Unreleased Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

WWE: The Attitude Era Vol. 3 - Unreleased feels a little thin on content. Disc one features some quality matches and low-visibility pieces of WWE history, but it's a pretty thin package considering that most other compilation discs contain additional main program content on disc two. This release contains only "bonus" matches on disc two instead. Still, it's a nice little slice of Attitude Era history, but it feels like the series is starting to grasp at straws for content. The inclusion of the pocket-sized book does make the package a bit more palatable. Video and audio are about as expected of a release of this nature. Technically, it's rather comical by today's standards, but charming as it hearkens back about two decades. Indeed, picture and sound alike are reminiscent of old, wavy, VHS quality, or worse. This is a nostalgic trip to be sure, in both video and audio. Recommended only to hardcore WWE Home Video collectors.