MARTYEWR

That won't be that bad of a problem. They've dealt with far worse blurring than what would be for that show. (The worst I've seen was for WrestleMania 2000.)

Also, it's the same cover as the CD they're releasing on 12/18, which doesn't include Bret's theme, but does include Foley's, hence the switch.

There was no problems with the Rey DVD as far as production went. Played smoothly, and the menus all said "Guerrero" where applicable.

I also own the set and can confirm that it's 3 discs.

The thing to remember with Cena's DVD is that it was made for a (mostly) different audience than, say, Rey's DVD. Rey's was intended as a new historical DVD that your average tape trader would like, whereas the Cena DVD was intended for Cena fans, which might include tape traders that are Cena fans, but also include women, children, casual fans, etc. who would get into things like Cena's car collection, the 5 Questions segments, and the occasional music video. I understand the WWE's direction there. I thought the match selection was fine. Prototype-Orton, while nothing great, was still neat to see in a pre-WWE Cena/Orton fashion. Cena-Jericho was there, of course, for the first PPV appearance. Cena-Rikishi was nothing great, but it was obviously there for the debut of the FU. Cena-JBL was fantastic, of course. The 6-man was fun, IMO, as, of course, was ONS 06. And I can't say enough good things about TLC vs. Edge. So maybe half aren't that great, but most of the rest are kinda like Hogan-Sheik: Nothing great, but there's certainly some sort of reasoning why they're there. Can't wait for the new Michaels set!

He WAS. It was on page 2 (of 3) of the greatest magazine covers part. It was the 2000 cover of the Radicalz for RAW magazine. (It was in the bottom left hand corner.) I think enough people noticed and enough people e-mailed WWE that it got pulled. (I say that because someone mentioned to me a theory that they're putting the odd Benoit reference or whatever into their products just to see if anyone will notice (there was a Benoit reference in the new Rey DVD that they didn't take out). If people notice and notify them, it's their belief that it's too soon to show the guy some more. No way to tell if this is true or not, but it wouldn't shock me.)

Amazon.com had it on pre-order for quite some time and now it's no longer available. The release date was supposed to be late November, and I even think it was supposed to come out at the exact same date that HBK's dvd is coming out now. It's possible it could be delayed or something. It was originally supposed to be ready to go in August. (The orignal release date, IIRC, was August 7.) I'm guessing it's a similar case as I explained above with Perfect's DVD, even greater in this case as I'm assuming there's at least one match, maybe two, that was planned to have Benoit involved in some way.

*wonders if the 2004 Rumble will only be an hour and a half long*

It's probably very cheap for them to produce, too. An easy profit.

I second this inquiry. When it does happen it's going to be a hell of a set, that's for sure. I hope it's at least 3 discs. I'll third it as it was the only DVD I wanted to buy this year. I'm guessing the Hennig set was being produced but got delayed because of, well, guess who. (There's a significant amount of Hennig footage in WCW with Benoit, and I'm thinking the documentary may have been made with it in it.) Since they may want to produce a full career retrospective on Hennig, they may wind up delaying things. The other DVDs they're producing are relatively easier as far as excluding Benoit goes. (Rey's main interaction with Benoit was during the Smackdown Six era, and the '06 Rumble and HOF, and Shawn and Cena had some good matches with Benoit, but were on TV, and likely forgotten by most casual fans.)

I think the reason for the exclusion of the WM X match is because it's available elsewhere (WM Anthology, Shawn Michaels DVD). On one hand, it deserves inclusion on a DVD devoted to Ladder Matches; on the other hand, if it's available elsewhere, why bother putting it on here? That's something a number of collectors have complained about, and it seems they're at least listening. It can only help increase profits, too.

Because Bret Hart owns that footage. He bought his own Stampede footage some time after Vince bought the WCW library, because he knew it was the only footage of his career he'd ever have any shot of owning. Any Stampede footage on Bret's DVD is stuff Bret simply loaned to them to include, as far as I know.

Nope. The matches, I still say, ARE the main program (except if one or two are extras for whatever reason). From what Dave seemed to say, the interviews will take place briefly between matches, as well as highlights of some matches (such as the WM10 one).

I doubt that. I can honestly see the Ladder Match DVD being a 9 hour (or so) main program, filled with complete ladder matches (similar to the WWE Championship DVD, the Hulk Hogan Anthology, etc.). The Families DVD, on the other hand, will probably be a 2 hour (or so) documentary, with 4 hours of extras.

No argument there. BTW, since I can't find any American sites (Amazon, Highspots, WWE.com, etc.) that have this, here's the front of the Powerful Families DVD. I'm guessing it'll be a 1.5-2 hour documentary with 4-4.5 hours of extras, whereas the Ladder Match DVD will be one of those 3 disc main programs filled with full matches.

NAO got over because JR yelled "They are the greatest tag team in the history of WWF" every time they were on tv and they were pushed as DX-lite. It was like if Honky Tonk Man had a pair of clones that came out of the WWF lab made to become the next tag team champions of the world....the Rockabilly and the R-O-A-double D-O-double G who couldn't get over as a Gulf War vet or the guy who carried Jarrett's bags around. I think the New Age Outlaws got over as well as they did due to the right marketing. Their own style and attitude fit the Attitude Era rather nicely, so it didn't matter if either couldn't wrestle worth a lick. From the early days where both guys wore South Park shirts (to show off how rebellious they were), to the catchphrases that the crowd loved singing along with, to the recognizable moveset, they had very little, but they had enough to get over. Their style was the perfect fit for the '98 version of DX. I gotta also add: Pairing Road Dogg with Billy Gunn was ingenious as far as getting Gunn over as a better wrestler than what he actually was. Because Dogg was the equivalent of a high card comedy act, it made Gunn appear like an actual wrestler by comparison (even though he really sucked) and made WWF fans feel that Gunn should be the next guy to get a singles push. Of course, once that happened, and he had his match with Rock at SummerSlam 99, it became very apparent how bad the guy really was, but the WWF, to their credit, did quite the job hiding Gunn's weaknesses and making him appear better than he was in the NAO.

The whole match told one big story, and it was really well done. This year's MITB was much better then last years. And the Ric Flair thing- he was out for 2 minutes, came back, got whacked by Finlay and then was never seen again. Last year's MITB was just Shelton doing his spots waiting for the inevitable RVD win Yep. This had Matt being a dick throughout the match. Demanding Jeff to jump and kill not just himself but his own bitter rival (notice Jeff was changing his mind until Matt basically yelled at him like the older brother he is), threatening to hurt Sharmell. It had Booker and Finlay, two heels showing signs of good heart (Booker sacrificing a sure win for his wife and Finlay consoling Hornswoggle). Punk was the scrappy rookie that kept saving the day and came inches from winning. The only one who didn't really serve a purpose was Orton (aside from the RKO spot). I stand fully corrected, and shame on me for forgetting those moments. Thanks for the reminders, Hawk. (In fact, now I wanna rewatch that match again, soon.)

***1/2 seems about right. I think something that was missing in this year's MITB was some sort of story happening, like Chris Benoit coming back during the match, shoulder injury and all, and nearly winning, or Ric Flair leaving on a stretcher and eventually returning. As it was, it was mainly a collection of spots, with the one exception being the Hardy/Booker moment you mentioned. While I do like the King gimmick, Booker getting off the ladder showed that he had a heart, while Matt showed heelishness threatening Sharmell, so a double turn could very well work. I myself like the King gimmick, but I also don't think it has years and years of mileage to it, if you know what I mean. Agreed. I enjoyed the match and thought that if it went 15 minutes, it might have a possibility of stealing the show. Really liked the story of MVP working on Benoit's shoulder to slow or weaken Benoit's grappling abilities (it's the same thing Shawn Michaels did to Bret Hart in the Iron Man match). Benoit's reaction wasn't going to be a problem, but the fact that they put this match on the card at the very last minute really factored into MVP's reaction more than anything. I'm not a huge MVP fan, but if you're a new worker and you're thrown in the last week or so, it's death. Solid match, though, out-of-nowhere finish (when was the last time Benoit won with the swandive?). That's about right. I'm glad the match was not the last match. Maybe it could've been a bit higher, but as people have already said, putting it lower down the card increases the possibility of Batista winning. If it went on last, it would've been a no-brainer who was going over. Yeah, it was what it was. Thought the Originals moreless phoned things is, while the New Breed, particularly Thorn, worked pretty hard. Not to sound like the world's biggest WWE defender, but I think the overbooking was done to help the heels get heel reactions, and the faces get face reactions. Let's face it: There was likely a bit of worry (at least) that Umaga might get cheers because a) people want to see Trump lose the hair (even my mom, who's HATES me watching wrestling to begin with, was disappointed upon learning that Trump didn't lose) and b) Lashley's not that good. For that, they did as good a job of getting the reactions intended, although I think a lot of that goes to Austin and Vince moreso than anyone else. Of course, Lashley looking weaker than Umaga isn't going to help much, but I think he's going to be a disappointment this year in the middle of his biggest push yet. He may in fact be the guy Undertaker beats next year to go 16-0, in fact. I really wouldn't have minded a little bait-and-switch, with them going with Mickie James instead at the very last minute. The first half was REALLY slow-paced, aside from some nice offense by Michaels on Cena's leg. I think the problem was the strike exchanges. They went reeeeaaaalllly slow, as if they were looking for a cheap way to stretch the match out. Very dull. Second half was very good though. I think ***1/2 is about right, just because of the slow brawling and Cena forgetting about the leg dragging things down a bit. The right guy went over too, and I expect Michaels to win at Backlash. I would love a full-blown Michaels heel turn, but yes, that remains to be seen. It was good, but I don't know if I'd call it even close to being one of the best. Very few surprises, really, with most surprises happening in the undercard. The three big matches were pretty easy as far as predicting winners, although that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Cool use of emoticons, Ron. I hate to say it, but this WrestleMania will be an awful lot like 18 and 19, where one of the two title matches will go on last, but we all know what the REAL main event is.

Instead of Boggs, they should've had Flair induct Hennig. Hennig was his Executive Consultant, for cryin' out loud!

For what it's worth, this ad is sometimes the first thing us Canuckians get to see whenever we pop in WWE.com. Interesting how JR's there and not Dusty Rhodes.

For those who own it: Any production problems? (E.g.: sound missing, audio/video unsynchronized, etc.) I've looked into picking this up, but only if I know that they produced everything as well as they can (theme song changes notwithstanding). Even then, I've only looked into it a little, since it's one thing to pick up a WrestleMania box set (since it's WrestleMania), but another for the Rumble.

They have, judging by this. http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatolo...mnav_undeclared While the chances of rain won't be as low as, say, during the wintertime, it's still pretty low. The worst rain Orlando gets is the summertime. If they get any rain at all, it'll fall under the definition of "light rain". Also, the temperatures seem to range from the mid-70s to the mid-80s, with no humidity and a good amount of sun. It'll be a perfect time for wrestling if this trend continues. Let's hope they make it a day show.

Spoiler from Meltzer yesterday: So....who inducts him?

To make matters worse, their coach's reaction to all that was that of a zombie, staring mindlessly at the proceedings, while the crowd at Scotiabank Place knew he needed to call a timeout to rally the troops. This team is loaded with talent, but lacks the killer instinct when it counts the most during games, and it showed last night. Things like this contribute to those first round disappointment the Senators have had in past seasons. As for the Penguins, the best player on the ice last night (on both squads) wasn't Crosby or Malkin, but Jordan Staal. This kid is 18 years old and was the most complete player on the ice. He's big, a superb skater, excellent with the puck, and strong on defense. An excellent all-around player. Basically, he's a bigger Steve Yzerman, and is going to be a star in this league for a long, long time.