WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie Review

War is more raw in War Games.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman July 10, 2013

Imagine a merging of two of the WWE's most grueling, hard-hitting, and fan-cherished events, the Hell in a Cell and the Elimination Chamber. The end result would probably look a lot like Superstar Dusty Rhodes' own creation, War Games. Take two rings, one cage, and a handful of angry, feuding, musclebound combatants and let them go at it in an arena with practically no breathing room and no means of escape except for defeat. The result was some of the most electrifying matches in professional wrestling history and featuring some of the top names ever to be called "Superstars." Rhodes, Arn Anderson, The Road Warriors, Ric Flair, The Steiner Brothers, The Nasty Boys, Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page, Roddy Piper, Bret Hart, Sting, Goldberg, Booker T, and Steve Austin are amongst the names that helped make War Games an unforgettable chapter in pro wrestling history. WWE's War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches captures the spirit, magic, brutality, and excitement of the event with a wide selection of the best of the best matches, featuring the best of the best wrestling talent, and hosted by none other than Dusty Rhodes himself, a veritable fountain of knowledge and an endlessly enthusiastic host who, like his brainchild's biggest fans, can't get enough of wrestling nostalgia.

Two rings, a cage, a handful of wrestlers...let's have some fun!

So War Games is a creation of wrestling legend Dusty Rhodes. It was one of those "eureka!" moments of inspiration, a sudden vision of a decade's worth of high energy entertainment that would forever influence the professional wrestling landscape, right? It had to be something born of Rhodes' own extensive experience in the ring, a way to make it better, more intense, more satisfying for the fans, more challenging for the wrestlers, more palatable for advertisers, right? How about the truth that a movie and a hockey game helped bring it all together? In War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches, Dusty Rhodes recalls finding inspiration in the post-apocalyptic world of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and hockey's penalty box. What seemed like a crazy idea -- two rings? one cage? ten wrestlers? -- quickly became a fan favorite and a staple of professional wrestling for well over a decade. Rhodes' baby debuted to the world at the The Great American Bash on Independence Day 1987 with Rhodes and nine of wrestling's best dazzling audiences with a new way to wrestle. The rest, as they say, is history, but it's history relived in WWE's excellent War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray release.

Rhodes brings a bubbly, infectious personality to the program and captures the spirit of the event in his telling of its history. Rhodes is the hands-down proper choice to host, not only because of his role in building the event but his unmatched passion for it. But all the talking in the world doesn't matter without the wrestling content, and the WWE has selected a fantastic match roster that both captures the base essence of War Games while also bringing home the excitement, energy, and novelty of the event. The cross-section of stars is most impressive. Even if some repeat and participate in several matches, the list reads like a who's-who of professional wrestling from the late 1980s and 1990s. Technically, the disc is typical WWE, though Rhodes thankfully chimes in much more frequently than is usually the case with some of these releases that only offer broad, common-knowledge sort of fill-in commentary from a random host. Rhodes' involvement is a highlight, not a bullet point feature. The technical quality is on par with these "classic rewind" Blu-ray releases, too.

The following matches are included as part of War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches.

Disc One:

• War Games Match: The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering vs. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and J.J. Dillion. Great American Bash -- July 4, 1987.
• War Games Match: The Road Warriors, Dusty Rhodes, Nikita Koloff and Paul Ellering vs. Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard and The War Machine. Great American Bash -- July 31, 1987.
• Tower of Doom Match: The Road Warriors, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Ron Garvin and Jimmy Garvin vs. Kevin Sullivan, Mike Rotunda, Al Perez, Russian Assassin and Ivan Koloff. Great American Bash -- July 10, 1988.
• War Games Match: Dusty Rhodes, Lex Luger, Nikita Koloff, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Paul Ellering vs. Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Arn Anderson, Tully Blanchard, and J.J. Dillon. Great American Bash -- July 16, 1988.
• War Games Match: The Road Warriors, The Midnight Express and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams vs. The Fabulous Firebirds and The Samoan Swat Team. Great American Bash -- July 23, 1989.
• War Games Match: Ric Flair, Sid Vicious, Barry Windham and Larry Zbyszko vs. Sting, Brian Pillman and The Steiner Brothers. Wrestlewar -- February 24, 1991.
• War Games Match: Sting's Squadron -- Sting, Nikita Koloff, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat and Barry Windham vs. The Dangerous Alliance -- Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko and Rick Rude. Wrestlewar -- May 17, 1992.
• War Games Match: Sting, Davey Boy Smith, Dustin Rhodes and The Schockmaster vs. Sid Vicious, Vader and Harlem Heat. Fall Brawl -- September 19, 1993.
• War Games Match: Dusty Rhodes, Dustin Rhodes and The Nasty Boys vs. Terry Funk, Arn Anderson, Bunkhouse Buck and Colonel Robert Parker. Fall Brawl -- September 18, 1994.

Disc Two:

• War Games Match: Hulk Hogan, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting vs. Kamala The Ugandan Giant, The Zodiac, The Shark and Meng. Fall Brawl -- September 17, 1995.
• War Games Match: "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and a Mystery Partner vs. Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Lex Luger and Sting. Fall Brawl -- September 15, 1996.
• War Games Match: Kevin Nash, Buff Bagwell, Syx and Konnan vs. Ric Flair, Steve Michael, Chris Benoit and Curt Henning. Fall Brawl -- September 14, 1997.
• War Games Match: Diamond Dallas Page, Rowdy Roddy Piper and The Warrior vs. "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Stevie Ray and Bret "Hit Man" Hart vs. Kevin Nash, Sting, and Lex Luger. Fall Brawl -- September 13, 1998.
• War Games 2000 Match: Sting, Booker T, Goldberg and Kronik vs. Kevin Nash, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and The Harris Brothers. Monday Nitro -- September 4, 2000.

WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches isn't very pretty by today's standards, but this is the original elements as they were photographed and broadcast years ago. The native standard definition material is presented in its original 4x3 aspect ratio, flanked by "black bars" (with a little dark red) on either side of the 1.78:1 display. The image quality ranges from abysmal to acceptable. The first match is a disaster, visually, appearing wavy, absent any perceptible definition, and lacking stability and crispness. Things pick up from there and the last matches on disc two reveal significantly improved textures and colors while also gaining some much-needed sharpness and stability. As usual, the transfer rates highly because there's no improving it. The material appears as it was created, and there's really no way around that. The Dusty Rhodes interview segments, however, do appear in high definition. There's solid details and coloring, but backgrounds do show some occasionally aggressive but usually reserved blocking elements. Note that during his monologues, older SD footage has been reformatted to fill the entire 1.78:1 frame.

WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As with its video, the War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches lossy audio isn't at all spectacular, and it can be downright awful. But considering the source, there's little room for legitimate complaint and only a few grumbles. The first match sounds puny, with almost no volume at reference level. The entire thing is shallow and focused directly in the center. Everything blends together in the background with only the commentary barely reaching over the uninspired din. It does find a little more energy and presence as the set goes on, though not always gaining with each consecutive match. Things stay largely in the middle with limited clarity and stage presence until the more "recent" of the matches begin to play. By the last match, the stage has widened significantly, with greater depth, clarity, volume, and separation between elements. Ringside commentary dominates, but crowd cheers, music, and in-ring sounds aren't lost and jumbled together. The Rhodes commentary plays with a crisp, well-defined evenness from the center. The track won't dazzle, but it works well enough from a contextual perspective.

WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches contains the following bonuses on disc two:

• Rage in the Cage Match: Brian Lee, Jimmy Golden, Ricky Morton, Robert Fuller and Robert Gibson vs. Kevin Sullivan, Killer Kyle, The Tazmaniac, Stan Lane and Tom Prichard. Smoky Mountain Wrestling -- May 1993.
• Ultimate Jeopardy Steel Cage Match: Tommy Dreamer, Public Enemy and The Pitbulls vs. Raven, Stevie Richards, The Eliminators and The Heavenly Bodies. ECW December to Dismember -- December 9, 1995.
• Ultimate Jeopardy Steel Cage Match: Buh Buh Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley and Mustafa Saed vs. New Jack, AXL Rotten, and Balls Mahoney. ECW Cyberslam -- April 3, 1999.
• War Games Fantasy Booking with Dusty Rhodes: Rohdes shares his fantasy roster for a War Games matchup with current superstars.

WWE: War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches is another crowd-pleaser from WWE. It comes jam-packed with two discs of mayhem and plenty -- but not too much -- of War Games legend Dusty Rhodes filling in the story behind the cages and canvases. The release sports an excellent match roster that features some of the best names in the history of professional wrestling, and that they're participating in one of the most unique and exciting events in pro wrestling history makes this set a must-own for wrestling fanatics. WWE's Blu-ray features the best video possible, audio that gets the job done, and a few bonuses. Highly recommended to wrestling fans.