WWE - The True Story Of Wrestlemania [Blu-ray]

ok, i know this is basically a piece of Mcmahon propaganda as all wwe releases are, but this set could save you hundreds of £s if like me, you have been away from wrestling since you were a kid and want to get up to speed. It's a great (if ludicrously glossy) overview of wwe history and if an alien landed and asked me what the hell sports entertainment was, I'd show them this.

Quite frankly, it's also got an ace selection of matches which cover the eras of hogan, macho, warrior, hart, michaels, taker, austin, rock, hhh, angle, lesnar, jericho & cena. Basically, if i could only have one wrestling set this would be it not because of the quality of the doc but because the matches basically show you the history of the last 25+ years of the wwe.

So, 5* for match selection but 3* for the doc (although laughing at various vince cronies trying to explain why the toga party wrestlemania was a great idea was fun too)! p.s Try to get the blu ray if you have a player as it has taker v michaels from wm25 on it

I ain't going to be the first one to admit but when the trailer for this DVD/Blu-Ray was shown the first time around Cant remember when it was, i was genuinely excited about this release, Judging from the Trailer they showed backstage footage and how a wrestler was getting ready before their big match at Wrestlemania and the nerves that must have been going through their body (Imagine how nervous they were Jeff Hardy did once say To Beat Fear you got to Fear itself a Great Quote) and The adrenaline they go through, i thought this was all going to included in the documentary but to a slight disappointment this was not, they do show some sections behind the backstage area but not enough in my opinion, I really wanted to know what it would be like to be in the wrestler's shoes before they go out to their big match at Wrestlemania and to witness the massive crowd before their eyes!!

Documentary is fantastic nonetheless, it goes into a quite lot of detail for Wrestlemania 1 and 2 showing how it all begin in 1985 and the difficulties they faced by hosting Wrestlemania 2 in 1986 in Three different cities (Quite a feet back then).

Wrestlemania 3 is covered quite a bit aswell i still do not believe the attendance was 93,173 at that night, there is something that's not right i mean comon are you really going to fit 93,173 into a stadium just for a 3-4 hour Wrestling show ermm i could be wrong but their isnt enough evidence to back up that their were actually 93,173 people that night, they could have set the record straight in this documentary but i didn't believe they did.

Wrestlemania 4 and 5 are covered together and show how The one and only Donald Trump managed to get his Trump Plaza to hold back to back Wrestlemania's (Donald Trump looking quite young here aswell which is pretty funny)

Wrestlemania 6 is looked at with good amount of detail and explain how Ultimate Warrior felt when he won the WWF Championship back then from Hulk Hogan.

Wrestlemania 7 is looked at and explains how they were going to host it in the arena cant remember top of my head and had to move to a different arena in Los Angles cause of security issues after Sgt Slaughter played the Villain role as the Iraqi Sympathizer and had received death threats.

Wrestlemania 8 Is looked at and explain how Hogan vs Flair ended up being Hogan vs Sid Justice and Flair vs Savage.

Wrestlemania 9 They show exclusive backstage footage here.

Wrestlemania 10 The Anniversary and being back at Madison Square Garden the Host of the first Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania 11 They talk about Lawrence Taylor vs Bam Bam Bigelow.

Wrestlemania 12 and 13 are rushed and dont go to much detail.

Wrestlemnaia 14 they discuss how Tyson was a big attraction and had to get Tyson on the Biggest Show of the Year.

Wrestlemania 15, 16 and 17 are skipped and rushed which is shame i didn't learn that much about these events, i could go to Wikipedia and find more information yet im paying for a Blu-Ray to learn about these events and i dont find anything useful and Wrestlemania 17 the greatest Wrestlemania without a doubt should have been covered more.

Wrestlemania 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 and 26 are covered in good length and the wrestlers explain how madison square garden should host Wrestlemania 30 in 2014.

Undertaker's Undefeated Streak At Wrestlemania is dicussed towards the end of the Doc.

They do rush certain Wrestlemania maybe the documentary should have been 3 hours they did have enough space on the disc yet they wasted it and only did a 2 hour documentary which is just stupid in my opinion and left all that space on the disc.
The documentary is still worth watching and you do learn quite a lot from the earlier wrestlemania's.

The Matches they picked are really good and look Fantastic in Blu-Ray Hi-Def with the exception of the Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs The Rock match at Wrestlemania 18 in 2002 in which the picture has some weird artifects which can be clearly seen not the blu ray disc fault just how old the material is and how WWE used it.

The Matches all 4* over.

Wrestlemania 1 1985 - Hulk Hogan and Mr T With Jimmy Snuka vs Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr Wonderful Paul Orondoff with Cowboy Ace Bob Orton 4.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 3 1987 - Randy Savage (C)with Elizabeth vs Ricky Steamboat with George the Animal Steele for the WWF Intercontinental Championship 5.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 3 1987 - Hulk Hogan (C)vs Andre the Giant with Bobby Heenan for the WWF Championship 5.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 7 1991 - Ultimate Warrior vs Randy Savage with Sensational Sherri in a Career Retirement Match 5.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 10 1994 - Ladder Match for the Undisputed Intercontinental Championship - Shawn Michaels (C)with Diesel vs Razor Ramon (C) 5.0/5.0

Wrestlemania 14 1998 - Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Shawn Michaels (C)with Triple H & Chyna for the WWF Championship with Mike Tyson as the Special Enforcer 5.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 2000 - Triangle Ladder Match for the WWF Tag Team Championship
Hardy Boyz vs The Dudleyz (C) vs Edge & Christian 5.0/5.0

Wrestlemania 17 2001 - Shane McMahon vs Mr McMahon Street Fight with Mick Foley as the Special Guest Referee 4.5/5.0.

Wrestlemania 18 2002 - Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs The Rock Icon vs Icon 5.0/5.0

Wrestlemania 19 2003 - Brock Lesnar vs Kurt Angle (C)for the WWE Championship 4.5/5.0.

Wrestlemania 22 2006 - John Cena (C)vs Triple H for the WWE Championship 4.5/5.0.

* Blu Ray Exclusive Matches -

Wrestlemania 24 2008 - Money In the Bank Ladder Match
Chris Jericho vs CM Punk vs MVP vs Mr Kennedy vs Carlito vs John Morrison vs Shelton Benjamin. 4.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 25 2009 - Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels 5.0/5.0.

Wrestlemania 26 2010 - Batista (C) vs John Cena for the WWE Championship 4.0/5.0.

Overall i would say its one of the best WWE Blu-Rays out there and ideal for the Casual fan who is just getting into the WWE and wants to know what Wrestlemania is all about and for Hardcore WWE Fan, but they might be put off because of the Matches since they might have them on DVD by collecting all the WM Dvd's then again they could want it for the Documentary.

Overall Rating 8.0/10.

Whilst watching the recent Wrestlemania PPV - mainly to see if the 'Takers streak would end - I was intrigued by the trailers previewing this DVD. The trailers appeared to be saying that this DVD would show behind the scenes at Wrestlemania, tell the stories behind the event and basically show WWE fans a side of the business they had never seen before. Given this was a three DVD set I thought that the set was going to be well worth buying.

Unfortunately the product reviews for the set did not explain that only disc one was about the True Story of Wrestlemania, the other two discs would be given over to matches from throughout the ages. After getting over that let down I watched the first disc in the set and by the end of it felt somewhat deflated. The two hours spent watching this was simply a waste of time. Wrestlemania's were skimmed over at best, with hardly a mention of certain highlight moments. It certainly does not go into the type of depth that the trailers for the set had hinted at. I did not even bother watching the other two discs in the set such was my disappointment.

They could have spent more time covering each Wrestlemania and spreading it over three discs without it getting boring and go into far more depth. All in all, if you have Wrestlemania on DVD/VHS avoid this set, you have the matches anyway from discs two and three and disc one is simply not worth bothering with.