Disappointed in WWE Wrestlemania Anthology (1 Viewer)

I've always had a fantasy of being able to own some of the older Wrestlemanias on DVD, and when I heard about the Wrestlemania Anthony that came out last week, I was thrilled to be able to get the older ones on disc.

I ordered Volume 1 for $38 and got it the other day. It has Wrestlemanias 1-5 on it, and so far, I've only watched numbers 2 and 4 (which is my favorite).

Anyway, although I am glad to own it, I am a bit disappointed for a couple reasons:

1. Packaging - Not only is there no slip case or anything to keep the fold out book from opening, each disc is just a plain jane silver disc with no artwork. This gives the discs a bootleg-y cheap look.

2. A/V Quality - I guess I shouldnt have expected too much here, but the video looks like a direct VHS transfer. Its not the worst thing in the world, but there obviously wasnt any effort put in this. Maybe the newer Wrestlemanias look better, but the old ones dont.

3. They're edited. Its been too long for me to remember exactly everything that was going on in all the Wrestlemanias, but I do have the 2 tape VHS set of Wrestlemania 4 that was put out by Coliseum home video and it was somewhere around 4 hours long. There was a long intro with interviews at the beginning of the show and alot of interviews in between the matches. The DVD of WM4 is around the 3 hour mark. From memory, all the matches are there and dont appear to be edited, but alot of the behind the scenes stuff (which I find to be some of the funniest material) is missing.

I guess I should be thankful to even have them available, and for a 5 disc set, it wasn't too expensive. I just think that the WWE missed an opportunity here to have made a really nice set. :frowning:

What happened to the old logo that were plasted all over the place. Are they blurried out or anything now that they can't use the name WWF anymore?

Charlie,

I think they had to blur out the WWF "Attitude" Scratch logo, the one that looks the same as the new WW logo, but with the F at the end.

The old WWF logo is OK.

They are not, from what I hear, allowed to say "WWF" anymore though, so if they say it, it gets muted out.

"World Wrestling Federation" is OK though

I have also heard some of the music is edited (Old School Big Boss Man comes out to his later music instead of "Hard Times" was one example I heard)

Should this be moved to the TV thread?

All music composed by Jimmy Hart has been cut for licensing reasons.

All this broke my heart. I was so looking forwarding to getting this DVD set. I was saving up over $200 to buy the set, but after reading this... shame on you WWE. To save a few bucks, to half-ass a DVD set banking on WWE fans to just snatch up the set because it's a WWE release, is inexcusable.

I know WWE can do better, using the Ric Flair Collection as an example, they just need to know that we won't just buy anything... but we will buy everything, if everything is put into these DVD's.

I have the WWE Wrestlemania Anthology Boxed Set and it is worth every penny. Instead of complaining about every single little thing, how about talking about what it does have. Sure, I miss having every theme song but sometimes you can't have it all. But this set *does* have the Jesse Ventura commentaries for Manias I-VI and maybe that's why they couldn't negotiate for anything else.

The discs have no art on them because 10 Wrestlemanias are 3 to 4 hours and require you to flip the disc, not all Wrestlemanias are double-sided but they probably just wanted the same look to all of the discs.

All in all, having access to every Wrestlemania (to those who buy the complete set) is a dream come true and a steal at the price it's currently going for. I hope they release similar sets for the Royal Rumble, Summerslam, and Survivor Series PPVs.

OK! Lets get the slightly overrated "Bad" stuff out of the
way!

1) Music theme songs for Ricky Steamboat, Demolition,
The Rock Don Morraco WM 4 - Jesus Christ Superstar theme,
Koko B. Ware, Hillbilly Jim and maybe a few others have
been dubbed over with more current generaic music THAT DOES
attempt to stay within the basic mold of the original. I
was only upset by this with Steamboat at WM 3 and Demolition.
Also, Dusty Rhodes dancing with Miss Elizabeth doesn't have
the same campy feel without Rhodes original theme tune.
Anyway, unlike the Miami Vice music rights issue, this just
doesn't add up to enough for me to get all that upset. The
theme music is played for maybe 30 secs. in most cases and
I just don't see not getting this set because of that. Plus,
those songs will NEVER be heard on WrestleMania anytime in
the futrue due to the over-the-top prices these people ask
for in order to grant somebody the right to use the pieces.
So just get over it!!!!!!!

2) The Piper's Pit angle at WrestleMania V has been cut. The
whole Piper stripping Brother Love of his skirt has been
edited. I don't care for the whole piece, so it's no great
loss to me!

3) The behind-the-scenes interviews during WrestleMania IV
were done for the first Coliseum Home Video release ONLY!!!
Now I love Bobby Heenan shutting the door in DeGeorge's
face, but once again...no big loss and they weren't going to
put the Coliseum Video Exclusive stuff on this set anway.

THE GOOD!!!

1) For the FIRST TIME EVER, WrestleMania's 1-14 are
presented in their original Pay-Per-View glory! No cuts!!!
So you get the 'No Holds Barred' trailer and Jesse running
Hogan down afterwards for trying to invade his territory!!
No matches have been cut! I recall many matched for WM V
and VI were really cut up on home video! You get Mary Tyler
Moore being interviewed at WM VI, which really seemed odd
since Jesse refers to her comments during Rhythm and Blues
concert, but we didn't get to see her interview on any of
the VHS releases of the event. So, you're able to view the
events as people did live on pay-per-view or closed circuit
at that time! Some of the added Coliseum Video stuff from
WrestleMania III - like the press conference footage of
Piper and then Hogan/Andre is really good stuff and I'd like
to have it!

2) Like I said, many matches on WrestleMania V and VI just
seemed WAY TOO SHORT...like Demolition Vs. Andre and Haku
from VI and Hercules Vs. Haku among MANY OTHERS...NOW, those
matches are uncut and in their original glory!

I don't know...I just love this set! If you're not going to
buy it, then you're just impossible to please! Oh, they
look great too!!! Direct from the original Pay-Per-View
Master tapes!

They don't sell these individualy do they? I'd love to have V & VI...

They sell them as a complete set of all 20 of them or you can buy them in 4 volumes, which I assume is 5 Wrestlemanias each. Since I lost interest in wrestling in the very early 90s, I only bought Volume 1 since it has 1-5.

I guess I just expected a little more effort put into this. I wasnt aware of some of the intros were deleted. Dont get me wrong, I am glad to own this, but I was just disappointed because I thought I would have all the same stuff as the Coliseum video tapes.

Thanks for that great post, PatrickDA.

That does indeed explain why some segments are missing. A lot of them were Coliseum Video exclusives. For example, before the blindfold match, Jake the Snake Roberts is seen on the Coliseum release looking into the camera and saying, "Coliseum Video fans... here's one you'll wanna keep!" before heading through the curtain.

I'm a bit confused that the Jimmy Hart songs are missing, though. WWE just signed a deal with him to license some of his music. Perhaps those are only for the Best of WCW sets they have planned.

In spite of all that's missing/changed this set still sounds like a must buy! I do have a few questions though:

What exactly is up with the WWF scratch/attitude logo that they had to have it changed and then removed from all old footage? How come the "classic" block logo is ok and the scratch one is not?

Also why would they have to pay Jesse Ventura extra money for rights to air his commentaries? Shouldn't being under contract at that time instantly grant the WWE rights to his commentaries? I mean could a certain wrestler suddenly claim that they don't want to be part of the videos unless they are given more money? (I'm sure many would jump at a chance for that!)

I'm sorry if the questions are slightly off topic but these are still pertinent to the set. Thanks to anyone who can clear these up.

To Chris Clem:

Vince McMahon's contract with the World Wildlife Fund only covered the classic logo they were using. When Vince switched to the scratch one, that was a violation of the contract.

At least, that's what I've been told.

Jesse Ventura's just being greedy, it seems.

They plan on WCW sets? That would be awesome.

I do wish I could find the seperate packs around here only the big set is in stores. Plus I'd only want certain ones (the older WM's)

I saw an opened set at Best Buy, what is with the one dvd on the top of the box? Double sided dvd's too I may add.

I am gonna just stick with my Wrestlemania The Legacy set on DVD. It doesn't have any thing cut or changed on it. Even has the old WWF logo. Just like the VHS tape set they had out of the Legacy too. Each individual WM in its original dvd box.

I bought myself the last 2 Wrestlemanias on DVD on its own.

I'm highly considering holding on to my VHS Legacy collection, and transferring them all to DVD. Albeit it sounds like an amazing set, I've watched these Wrestlemanias enough times to know that the changes would bother me. Hell, right from the opening of the first Wrestlemania, I have heard that Phil Collins' "Easy Lover" has been replaced. At least with my VHS collection, everything's intact........music.......content and not a logo blur to be found. Plus, I already own 20 & 21 on DVD and would like to keep those for the extras anyway. The movie trailer parodies on 21 were worth the price of the DVD alone.

My best friend however plans on picking up the set in a couple of weeks, so I'll definitely check it out, but $300 is a little steep for a product that isn't entirely intact. Just my $0.02 anyway.

I'd love to have the original uncut versions of WrestleMania, too, but as long as all the classic matches are intact, $125 is a great price to me.

The DVD on the top is Wrestlemania 21. It is a bonus for buying the box set.

I wonder why Jimmy Hart won't let them use his music...

How much do you think he's making in royalties off "Hard Times" LOL.

I have Wrestlemania 1-13 Collection set from 1997. On that set, the Piper's Pit segment from Wrestlemania V is intact and unedited.

I have a question, on the Legacy set, is the WWF scratch logo on the lower left hand screen for all of the Wrestlemania? On the Collection set, Wrestlemania 1-9 has no WWF logo on the corner of the screen.