A fatastic DVD featuring some of the greatest title matches.

Good set overall, but personally there is too many old matches on there. For appeal they should have included more classics from the 90's and 00's, after all the 90's were the most exciting part of WWE.
But the matches on the set do provide satisfaction. This DVD is a must in your collection!!!!!!

The 9hr+ set begins with an introduction by Jim Ross, who serves as our guide through the remainder of the program. The opening match is Ivan Koloff%u2019s defence of the title against Pedro Morales (February 1971), a bout which is somewhat reminiscent of an English World of Sport contest.

Bruno Sammartino %u2013 who has the longest reign of any WWE champion, holding the belt for seven years between 1963 and 1971 %u2013 then defended his title during his second run as champion, against Killer Kowalski (April 1974). The match itself isn%u2019t spectacular, but Kowalski`s bad-guy presence is tremendous, and the crowd reaction to Sammartino%u2019s retaliation during the match is nothing short of staggering.

The next two matches involve %u201CSuperstar%u201D Billy Graham, famed in the 70s for his incredible physique and charisma. Unfortunately, his talents did not greatly extend to in-ring competition, which mean that the matches here with Sammartino (April 1977) and Bob Backlund (February 1978, clips only) are hardly the greatest spectacles.

The next bout takes us into the 1980s, as Backlund faces Greg %u201CThe Hammer%u201D Valentine in a steel cage match (January 1982). This is a good match, as is the next Backlund contest, with Sgt Slaughter (May 1983). The latter match is also built to with some excellent clips of Slaughter attacking the champion.

After a clip of the famous Backlund vs Iron Sheik match, Hulk Hogan emerges on the scene, and is captured here in seven consecutive matches. The first is against Iron Sheik in a short but not particularly sweet match (January 1984), although the Wrestlemania 2 bout with King Kong Bundy, inside a steel cage (April 1986), is much better. From there, Hogan engages in another good steel cage outing with %u201CMr Wonderful%u201D Paul Orndorff (January 1987), before the famous Wrestlemania 3 Hogan vs Andre The Giant bout (April 1987), which technically is leagues away from great, but comes across, quite rightly, as a true main event.

Andre is back to trouble "The Hulkster" again in the next match (February 1988), which was watched by an incredible 33 million television viewers in the USA alone, before then battling %u201CMacho Man%u201D Randy Savage at Wrestlemania V (April 1989), in a bout which was possibly the best of Hogan%u2019s entire career.

Moving into 1990 (and Disc 2), the final Hogan match on the compilation is his Wrestlemania 6 bout with The Ultimate Warrior (April 1990), which is another match which feels like a real main event. From there, we skip a full four years to Summerslam 1994, as Bret and Owen Hart contest the third steel cage match of this compilation, and the best one too (Aug 1994).

Next up is the famous Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels 60-minute match, that was the main event of Wrestlemania XII (April 1996). Hart cites this as one of his favourite career moments, but this is certainly not a match everyone will enjoy, as its slow pacing harks more to Japanese wrestling contests, rather than those held in America.

Michaels then defends the title against Mankind at "In Your House: Mind Games" (September 1996), which is a tremendous contest loaded with insane falls. The only downside is the poor finish, which is made to seem all the worse by the quality of what went before it.

In another Wrestlemania main event, Shawn Michaels then takes on %u201CStone Cold%u201D Steve Austin from Wrestlemania 15 (April 1998), in a match which placed Mike Tyson as a ringside %u201Cspecial enforcer%u201D. This match is a disappointment considering the combatants, but was actually much better than it was entitled to be, given that Michaels exacerbated a serious back injury during the match, and would thereafter not be seen in a wrestling ring for four years.

The next bout featured Triple-H taking on Cactus Jack (Mankind/Dude Love/Mick Foley) in a Streetfight match from the 2000 Royal Rumble (January 2000). This was a very violent and bloody encounter, but was excellent nonetheless.

Triple-H returned in the next bout, to take on Kurt Angle and The Rock in a Triple Threat match (August 2000). The match was good, but is particularly memorable for the legitimate knockout that Angle suffered during the match. Watch out for Angle`s head hitting the concrete after a botched Pedigree at ringside.

%u201CStone Cold%u201D Steve Austin and The Rock then returned for a tremendous match at Wrestlemania XVII (April 2001), which was marred only by a horrible finish. Although it wasn%u2019t quite as good, a similar story is true of the Austin vs Chris Jericho match (December 2001) that features immediately after.

Another Triple Threat match kept things moving, as The Rock defended his title against Kurt Angle and The Undertaker (July 2002). This was an entertaining bout which featured a lot of high-impact moves.

One month after that bout, The Rock took on Brock Lesnar at Summerslam in what was a fast, explosive match (Aug 2002), before Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit had probably the match of the entire set (January 2003), the kind of match you want to show your friends who deride wrestling for its silliness.

The final match presented was a Triple Threat match featuring John Cena, Christian and Chris Jericho (June 2005). This was a fast-paced, spectacular match, but unfortunately, no amount of effort could stand this bout side by side with the previous Angle vs Benoit classic.

There is a heck of a lot of action to get through on this 3-disc set, and of course, that can only be a good thing. However, I must say that I was quite confused by the match selection, which featured quite a number of bouts where the title did not change hands. A title change isn%u2019t a pre-requisite for a release of this type, but there are a number of excellent title change matches that were deserving of being used here. Bret Hart`s first and third title wins (October 1992 and November 1995 respectively) come to mind, as do the exchange of wins between Randy Savage and Ric Flair (April and September 1992).

Furthermore, I felt that seven consecutive Hulk Hogan matches was overkill for this set. Hogan may draw a lot of nostalgic appeal, but so many of his matches were un-necessary here.

That said, what is here is generally rather good. I would have liked more information on each title change, perhaps with interviews from the participants on what it was like for them to capture the title. Outsiders may still see wrestling as a bogus sport, but to be the champion means that you are the best in the company, and that%u2019s an accolade that not many are able to achieve.

Overall, this is a pretty good DVD set, which features many matches that are a joy to own on in digital format. This is especially true of the pre-1980s matches which up until this release, were very hard to find (and have never been seen in the UK). Video and audio quality is generally very good, and the lack of extras is made up for by the sheer weight of the main feature.