The History of WWE: 50 Years of Sports Entertainment DVD Review

I’m not sure that anyone needs to buy The History of WWE DVD but I think people need to see the two hour feature documentary: there’s something of aesthetic legitimacy about it. A legitimacy that is perhaps as much of a work as much of the industry itself.

I was reminded on initial viewing of Ken Burns’ recent addition to his documentary series, Baseball: The Tenth Inning. WWE, too, have used a beautifully-knit array of talking heads, newspaper clippings, images and film to tell the story of the last 50 years of their business. The high-production values, stunning editing and re-mastered HD footage are all narrated by the man whose voice Burns, himself, employed for his latest offering - Keith David. If ever you wondered whether Vince McMahon really still wanted his promotion to be taken as seriously as any sport, this, I would say, is as clear a proof as any.

The documentary tells a story that is familiar to most of us (certainly from 1985 onwards) but the matches, angles and promos chosen to be representative of the last 50 years of wrestling on the subsequent discs are largely already out there and available for purchase. Other than the Bruno Sammartino v ‘Superstar’ Billy Graham match from April 1977, a Tribute to the Troops match from 2008 and this year’s Cena and Punk Raw match from February, all matches come from the big four ppvs and have been released on DVD – you probably either own them or have no interest in owning them. Many of the key stories here are also available elsewhere and have been approached in recent collections – think the Attitude Era, The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, all who have had collections released in the last two years.

With that said, the documentary has some wonderful moments and is littered with stars from the past, hall of famers and current roster talent. One voice is decidedly absent however: that of Vince McMahon. Vince did no sit-down interview for this collection. Instead, everyone else tells his story for him, especially Linda, and he appears as if from beyond the grave in pre-recorded interviews from over the last 30 years. This decision is understandable to an extent but is also fairly baffling: should the man who turned this industry into what it is today have a say on his company’s 50^th anniversary in 2013?

His father is given huge kudos by all who speak about him. He is described as fair, honest, classy; a man who treated talent like family. On the advent of wrestling TV, Vince saw this as the place where wrestling was able to grow. At the Capitol Arena, Washington on Thursday nights, wrestling started to get a new image and a new set of viewers who hadn’t previously had access to it. It seduced many. The re-mastered, black and white footage in HD looks tremendous here.

From that era, one man is given top billing: Bruno. Crowds flocked, he was a massive draw, a fan favourite told as if it was of Beatle-mania proportions. As a headliner of MSG nearly 200 times, the man who was on every cover of every wrestling magazine (and there were many), it is wonderfully fitting that he should have made up with the company so that he could be present here on this documentary feature. He looks wonderful, speaks with insight and precision and is an asset to the film. And, I had no idea that he had at one time had a private audience with the Pope. Quite remarkable.

From Sammartino onwards, WWE had a steady trickle of stars from Backland to Andre to George ‘The Animal’ Steele to Jimmy Snuka and Billy Graham. They went into syndication and began to evolve. Sgt Slaughter claims that he was the first man to have music play him to the ring and that Vince was spearheading that kind of change in the industry that would survive to this day. The ‘82 takeover, he said, “kicked the doors open and let in some fresh air.” A wonderful phrase but the aggression hinted at in his words is mirrored by those who speak about the way in which Vince went out to buy out those territories.

WWE and Hogan needed each other and they have no problem in painting that truth as the picture of the time. There is tonnes of footage of Hogan from the early days of his time with company, looking chubby and bloated but by WrestleMania I, Roddy Piper puts over how real the heat was on him because of the way he acted towards the likes of Hogan. I thought it was interesting that, of WrestleMania I, Bret Hart noted that many had felt that it would probably be their last ever big high and that beyond it, it was probably game overt. Linda tells the story that by 3am on April 1st she had gone to Vince to say that they had broken even.

Dick Ebersol (SNL) is a real advocate of the company and adds authenticity to the documentary. When they had gone to Saturday Night’s Main Event on NBC - a monthly, late night television show that would combine wrestling, music and comedy – they were giving a new exposure to wrestling and getting many new eyeballs on the product. He talks about the merchandising opportunities that this then allowed them to venture into. It’s eye-opening, actually. When you see just how much they were shelling, through so many different market areas, you realise just how different this national frontage allowed them to be.

The steroid trial in the early 90s is told with a certain amount of passivity. Within a few minutes of summary, the first wellness policy is mentioned instead of going into any great depths of the three week trial. They take a fairly cursory view of the trial, the accusations and, although they indicate that all involved were under great stress and strain, they assure us that the experience was ultimately positive since it let the new generation of younger, unproven talent come through. Vince the victim had turned the ultimate potential disaster, the perfect storm, into the chance to “hit the reset button’ (Jim Ross). It allowed Bret Hart to become a main star and as Undertaker states, “it made us work hard, cos everyone wanted to be the guy who would take us forward.” Raw followed in a time that was all about being fresh – MTV had gone, ‘unplugged’, wrestling was now ‘raw’. Linda said that “some fans who didn’t have access to ppv, this was their first experience of live wrestling.”

The Monday Night Wars are painted, briefly, as a battle that was about money that was ultimately won because WWE had ‘better talent’ and told ‘better stories’. Montreal is told in about a total of 3 minutes: “WWE no longer needed Bret Hart.” (I’m not sure how Bret will feel about that.) They put over Vince’s character as a result of Montreal – “it was just all so well thought out” – Steve Saks of Pro Wrestling Illustrated (it was?). But they do correctly indentify that this was the turning point, the launching pad for what would become the Attitude Era.

The Attitude Era is painted as a hellish Rome: women in droves, gratuity, cursing, sex, crazed characters, general chaos; unscripted anarchy. The kids that watched the product during Hulkamania were now teens and wanted this, Lawler says. “Sex sells.” Steph giggles that her room-mate at college was a kindergarten trainee and 5 year olds would imitate DX at school which “became problematic.” The era saw the biggest stars in company history but they’re looked at fleetingly. We’re given a montage of stars: Triple H, Austin, Rock, the household names who had made “it cool to watch wrestling.” I can see why they’re not given much more time – their stories are out there already - but Cena gets way more air time than he deserves later.

The Owen Hart tragedy is told for the first time on a WWE DVD. Ross says, “our producer said ‘we’re going to give an update on Owen after the next segment’, and I said ‘what is the update?’ He said, ‘he’s dead,’ ‘what?’ ‘he’s dead. And we’re coming to you live in 30 seconds.” Linda recalls that it was “the most awful night I have ever experienced,” while the Undertaker recalls that “it was devastating, most people won’t see that side of Vince but it really hurt him. It was like losing a family member”

From here on, it feels anachronistic at times but is told at a real pace: SmackDown! debuts, the first weekly wrestling show for the company on network television, which allowed the roster to “become two” and gave people more TV time; stars remember the power of the 9/11 show; the company became a publically traded company in 1999. Vince says that he needed to be able to “look in the mirror” and make sure that he’d done the best with the product every day; WCW is purchased; people sighed with relief; “Our competition is now everything that’s out there on entertainment television.” – Steph; they have the brand extension and all of sudden we speed through the post-attitude era until we hit 2005/6 and John Cena.

Time slows. John Cena is remembered as if he, too, was long gone. The documentary here takes more than just a pit stop on the timeline to look at the family-friendly, clean, wholesome work of one John Cena. Most notably it is his charity work that is mentioned most - in great detail - while his ring craft or his shopping list of decorations and titles with the company isn’t touched upon at all. His image and persona is used as a springboard for the documentary to look at the future of the company, at pace.

Films, WWE Studios, filming in HD, the website, twitter, social media, pre-shows, the app, youtube and NXT and the WWE Performance Center are all covered in a blink-and-you’d-miss-it fashion. The only saving grace of the last quarter of the film is the time that they take to illustrate the importance of the Hall of Fame and its’ inductees. The last 10 minutes is a tribute to Vince and the lasting impact of the company.

The gloss, polish and lustre of this documentary is something to be admired. WWE does production and editing better than just about any company in the entertainment business; it’s no wonder that they’re now venturing into the world of E! - they’ve met their match there. Of course, WWE aren’t going to turn around and tell you a complete story of 50 years in two hours that is wholly true and pure. But, if you bought Triple H’s DVD earlier last month, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you’d be slightly short-changed by this feature.

‘Sports Entertainment’ never looked this good but, unfortunately, accuracy and truth aren’t measured through aesthetics.