Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.5

WWE: WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie Review

Great matches, basic WWE Blu-ray.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman March 6, 2014

Newcomers to the world of professional wrestling or those not really old enough to remember might be surprised to know that there was a time when pro wrestling wasn't just a product with the WWE log attached to it. Longtime fans will fondly remember the old days of rivalries bigger than the most ginormous wrestlers, rivalries built on ever-shifting allegiances, wild swings in ratings, "Monday Night Wars," and more testosterone for the wrestling dollar than found in a Big Poppa Pump drug test. The WWE certainly isn't hurting these days without a major rival, but the decade of the 1990s witnessed an explosion of talent on both ends and a feud for viewership quite unlike anything sports entertainment had seen before or has seen since. That struggle for fandom and the fan's wrestling dollar expanded to the burgeoning and lucrative Pay-Per-View market, kicked off with the very first WrestleMania in 1985 and followed two years later by the NWA's (soon to be the WCW) first foray into pay-to-watch services with its premiere event, Starrcade. WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 chronicles 21 of the best NWA/WCW PPV matches, spanning the debut event at 1987's Starrcade all the way through to the WCW's final Pay-Per-View, Greed, which aired only days before the WWE's official acquisition of the WCW brand.

And so it begins.

WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 is hosted by the always-charasmatic Booker T. He chimes in about half a dozen times across the lengthy two-disc set to offer minimal insight into the historic world of WCW Pay-Per-View matches. It's a shame he cannot provide a little more insight, but like he says at the start, fans have probably seen all of these matches before. Newcomers will likely be too captivated by the skills of Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Sting, Lex Luger, Vader, DDP, Randy Savage, and even Booker T himself and won't bemoan the absence of any more of what is largely a few throwaway blurbs that help fill in several blank spots but that don't add much to the larger picture. The matches do all the program's talking, and rightly so. The two-disc set overflows with a roster of all-time greats and some fantastic battles that run the gamut of styles and rules. This is wrestling from its heyday and a perfect jumping-in point for both new fans looking to get in touch with professional wrestling's glory days or for old timers who want to relive some of the most exciting wrestling matches ever caught on film.

The following matches are included as part of WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1:

Disc One:

• Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Ronnie Garvin vs. Ric Flair. Starrcade -- November 26, 1987.
• United States Championship Match: Barry Windham vs. Dusty Rhodes. The Great American Bash -- July 10, 1988.
• Tag Team Championship Match: The Road Warriors vs. Sting & Dusty Rhodes. Starrcade -- December 26, 1988.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Chi-Town Rumble -- February 20, 1989.
• United States Championship Match: Lex Luger vs. Brian Pillman. Halloween Havoc -- October 28, 1989.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Ric Flair vs. Sting. The Great American Bash -- July 7, 1990.
• Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Lex Luger vs. Barry Windham. The Great American Bash -- July 14, 1991.
• Light Heavyweight Championship Match: Jushin Liger vs. Brian Pillman. Superbrawl II -- February 29, 1992.
• War Games: Sting's Squadron vs. The Dangerous Alliance. WrestleWar -- May 17, 1992.
• Texas Death Match: Vader vs. Cactus Jack. Halloween Havoc -- October 24, 1993.
• United States Championship Match: "Stunning" Steve Austin vs. Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat. Bash at the Beach -- July 17, 1994.
• Career vs. Career Steel Cage Match for the World Heavyweight Championship w/ Special Enforcer Mr. T: Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair. Halloween Havoc -- October 23, 1994.

Disc Two:

• Bash at the Beach Match: The Outsiders vs. Sting, Lex Luger & "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Bash at the Beach -- July 7, 1996.
• No Disqualification Match: Diamond Dallas Page vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Spring Stampede -- April 6, 1997.
• Mask vs. Cruiserweight Championship Match: Eddie Guerrero vs. Rey Mysterio. Halloween Havoc -- October 26, 1997.
• Slamboree Match: Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage with Special Guest Referee Rowdy Roddy Piper. Slamboree -- May 17, 1998.
• Cruiserweight Championship Match: Chris Jericho vs. Juventud Guerrera with Special Guest Referee Dean Malenko. Road Wild -- August 8, 1998.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Goldberg vs. Diamond Dallas Page. Halloween Havoc -- October 25, 1998.
• World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jeff Jarrett vs. Booker T. Bash at the Beach -- July 9, 2000.
• Ladder Match for #1 Contender to Cruiserweight Championship: 3 Count vs. Jamie Knoble & Evan Karagias vs. The Jung Dragons.
• Falls Count Anywhere Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page. Greed -- March 18, 2001.

WWE: WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1's 1080i high definition transfer is near indistinguishable from other like compilations released through WWE Home Video. The feature is divided into two segments, the first being the dominant classic standard definition footage that retains its original 4x3 broadcast aspect ratio (with WWE-themed "black bars" flanking either side of the 1.78:1 display) and the second the newly minted Booker T commentary snippets that were photographed in HD video, presented in a full 1.78:1 frame. The vintage material looks quite good for its age, despite the plethora of unavoidable technical issues plaguing it, such as imprecise color and murky detail, jagged edges, lessened definition over HD, and so on. This is a classic case of "it is what it is." It's certainly watchable and far better than the old wavy broadcast-recorded VHS tapes fans may have packed away in their closets. The HD interview clips, few as they may be, look fine, offering crisp details, solid colors, and minimal blocking. There's not much here to grade; the SD material satisfies given its constraints, and the limited HD material is in no way offensive.

WWE: WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 features a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. As expected, it's terribly basic. The Booker T commentary plays with smooth accuracy up the middle, nicely capturing the nuance of his guttural speech patterns. The matches enjoy solid presence though they lack the ambition, spacing, and accuracy of the newer presentations. The oldest material is cramped and rather harsh, with minimal clarity and not much presence to anything beyond ringside commentary. The track opens up a bit the further the program marches through time. By the last matches there's a more open spacing and enhanced clarity to not only dialogue but also crowd ambience and wrestling sound effects. Like the video, there's not much here beyond the basics, but those basics are presented about as well as can be expected.

WWE: WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 features all of its extra matches on disc two under the "Blu-ray Exclusives" tab.

• Thunderdome Match: Ric Flair & Sting vs. Great Muta & Terry Funk. Halloween Havoc -- October 28, 1989.
• Starrcade Match: Jean Paul Levesque vs. Alex Wright. Starrcade -- December 27, 1994.
• Road Wild Match: Dennis Rodman vs. "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Road Wild -- August 14, 1999.
• Slamboree Match: Billy Kidman vs. Hulk Hogan with Special Guest Referee Eric Bischoff. Slamboree -- May 7, 2000.

WWE: WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 foregoes much in the way of oral history and simply dives straight in for hours upon hours of classic wrestling goodness. There's probably not a better jumping-in point for newcomers to the WCW landscape and for longtime fans, this release should find a place of honor amongst the handful of other WCW-themed Blu-ray releases, including The Best of Monday Nitro Vol. 2, War Games, and Clash of the Champions. WWE Home Video's Blu-ray release of WCW's Greatest Pay-Per-View Matches, Volume 1 features WWE-standard video and audio for throwback material ported to Blu-ray. Four Blu-ray exclusive bonus matches are included. Highly recommend to all professional wrestling fans.