WWE: Unreleased: 1986-1995 (DVD)

First, I have to say that the WWE has been releasing DVDs for over a decade now, and it's really strange and peculiar that it took them so long to capitalize on the unseen matches from this era. Perhaps the popularity of "The Attitude Era: Unreleased" DVD collection was a catalyst for another "unreleased" collection, but with all of the tens of thousands of hours featuring arena and dark matches, you'd think releasing these matches on DVD would be basic and elementary ... and something they would have already done eons ago and tenfold by now. Granted, once in a while, the WWE would slip an unseen match onto one of their DVD collections, but they were few and far between, and a set like this is long overdue. So, my first observation is that this kind of collection should have been released years ago, and I really hope they start to focus on this kind of release versus the same old recycled sets with the same old recycled matches that we've seen a million-billion times. I mean, come on, how many DVD collections of Shawn Michaels and the Ultimate Warrior do they need to produce?None of the matches in this collection have commentary. It's just bumps and crowd noise ... and occasionally, if you listen carefully, you can hear managers talking close to the camera. It's glorious! Not unlike reviews for "The Attitude Era: Unreleased," I've also seen posts on other websites and reviews on Amazon where the people are wining and complaining that the matches on "Unreleased: 1986-1995" have no commentary; this seems to really upset some people and skew their ability to enjoy the matches for some reason. Despite loving the classic commentary by teams like Gorilla Monsson and Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura and Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes, for me, the lack of commentary is a plus--as it was for the "Attitude: Unreleased" collection which was, for the most part, commentary free. If you enjoyed going to house shows back in the day, watching these matches without commentary is, at least for me and in my opinion, the closest way you'll get to relive those house show days without a time machine of some sort. And additionally, I'd definitely rather have no commentary versus any contemporaneous commentary from the annoying, disingenuous, photo-shopped, robot-esque drones we see (or rather, hear) today.A few of the matches are shot with a stationary camera from high in the arena. Again, some may find this annoying, but if you sat in the "cheap seats" at any wrestling show as a kid and you watched through binoculars, then these matches will make you remember those days. And it gives you the ability to focus on certain fans and watch their amazing reactions to the performers. (I had several friends working for the WWE in the early 2000s, and I was told that Vince McMahon has every house show taped for his personal perusal. In the back stage area at one house show, I was shown a clip of a match from the previous night where a fan jumped the rail and ran atop JBL's limo and tried to attack him during ring intros. Imagine how much footage the WWE must have in their voluminous archives...)"Unreleased: 1986-1995" was approximately six hours of wonderful nostalgia. Granted, there are a few matches that I found less then stellar ... and some gross omissions that you'd think, in theory, would have been included... here are some matches that I believe needed to be in this collection.--Jake "The Snake" Roberts vs Hulk Hogan and/or the infamous Snake Pit where Jake DDTs Hogan (the episode of the Snake Pit and the Roberts-Hogan feud have been a hot topic for years among wrestling fans ... the footage of the Snake Pit, which was broadcast in select markets, has never been seen since. The WWE even discussed the abandoned feud and the Snake Pit segment on the Jake Roberts "Pick Your Poison" DVD release ... but the strangely, despite being prominently discussed, the footage was not included. Considering the talk this segment has generated over the years, and considering the Hogan-Jake feud is one that most fans wanted to see, you'd think this match and segment would be an elementary addition on this set, but disappointingly, it's not here... It's also strange that the photo of Jake Roberts inside the collection is from his 1996 WWF run--falling out of the 1986-1995 timeline that this DVD collection covers.)--Randy Savage vs The Undertaker (Within the past year or so, clips from this match were shown in one of the WWE's "Five Things" highlight segments of matches that happened but we never saw ... and so it's disappointing and kind of odd that it wasn't included.)--Andre the Giant vs The Ultimate Warrior (This match took place in France, and the only clean job the Warrior ever did in the WWF; online footage is spotty at best, so this would've been a welcome addition to the collection.)--Randy Savage (with Elizabeth) vs Ted DiBiase (w/Sherri) (This match took place two days after Savage's "retirement" at WM7, and it would have been a fun, cool little match featuring Savage back with Miss Elizabeth and against his old nemesis and most recent manager.)--I knew Matt Borne, and before his passing, he gave me his blessing to do my clown character (which was heavily inspired by his run as Doink the [Evil] Clown) ... so for me, an evil Doink the Clown match would have been a nice addition too ... especially considering the albeit brief impact Borne had with the Doink character.--The Rockers (tag champs) vs Power & Glory (November 3, 1990)--The Rougeau Bros. vs The Hart Foundation (tag title switch, Aug. 1987 ... highlights were shown on Canadian TV, but the entire match has never surfaced.)--The Juicer (Art Barr) vs. Konnan (1992 tryout)Those disappointments aside, "Unreleased 1986-1995" is a wealth of great stuff, and in my opinion, 95% of the matches found in this collection are better than anything seen on WWE TV in the past decade-plus. These guys were not the cookie cutter performers you see today; they were all individuals with various trainers, different backgrounds, different styles and different views on philosophy and working a match. A handful of backstage agents and writers weren't scripting the matches and interviews--as we have today and thereby why everything looks and feels the same--and hence, why the matches in this collection are so special. Even at their worst, they feel different because, alas, they are different from anything you'd see today on any WWE broadcast--filled with WWE trained and WWE scripted matches. A few observations regarding some of the matches featured on "Unreleased 1986-1995."--Hulk Hogan & Roddy Piper vs Harley Race & Paul Orndorff (1986): I always enjoyed the Hogan-Piper team that popped up on house shows and on Coliseum Video ... and how they subtly yet brilliantly teased the rivalry and distrust during the matches; this is how to work such a match, and they did so perfectly and consistently. An extremely enjoyable match. Both Hogan and Piper looked great here and both were in their respective primes. Personal note: I also knew Roddy Piper, and I detailed my brief yet meaningful friendship with Roddy in my last comedy novel--a novel that I also dedicated to Roddy's memory--and it hit me when I first started watching this match that I have not allowed myself to watch any of Roddy's matches [or movies for that matter] since his passing over two years ago. So, on a personal level, despite the greatness of this match and the greatness of the Hogan-Piper team, it was hard for me to watch because of the personal implications involved and how sad I still am over the loss of Roddy Piper.)--Dingo (Ultimate) Warrior vs Jose Estrada (1987): Never the best worker in the world by any means, wow, the Warrior was really green and clumsy in this match; watching the match gives you an idea of just how much the Warrior actually did improve with time. A really bad and awkward match but still entertaining probably because it's so bad and awkward.--Demolition vs Powers of Pain (with Tito Santana) (1988): A rare match featuring Demolition as heels and the Powers of Pain as faces. This is a really good match, and the Powers of Pain's fast and impactful LOD style was obviously drummed down after this first televised appearance.--Ted DiBiase vs Dusty Rhodes (1989): Taped shortly after Dusty entered the WWF, he does the job for DiBiase. Another really good match. (And strangely, Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire are shown dancing on the back of the DVD box ... even though Sapphire is no where to be found in the content.)--Bryan Adams vs Barry Horowitz (1989): Not unlike the Dingo Warrior match mentioned earlier, Adams looks incredibly green and awkward here. It's a wonder he was even hired after this debut. And Adams won via a really nasty looking tombstone piledriver approximately one year before The Undertaker came onto the scene.--Earthquake Evans vs Paul Roma (1989): I've always believed that Roma was an under-appreciated and underrated talent, and this match proves that theory. A great little match ... wherein Earthquake is managed by Slick.--Mr Perfect & Rick Rude vs. Kerry von Erich & The Ultimate Warrior (1990): A really fun tag match with the standard and predictable Warrior finish. Watching this match, it's really unbelievable and almost inconceivable to think that Bobby "The Brain" Heenan is the only one of the players still alive--the referee notwithstanding; it's very sad and such a shame.--War Eagle (Tatanka) vs. Dale Wolfe (1991): It's funny to see Tatanka come to the ring with Paul Roma's old theme, "Crank It Up"; the music didn't fit the future Tatanka at all, and you've got to wonder why they made this decision--even for an un-televised tryout. I was never a Tatanka fan, but even so, geez, (as I mentioned before when speaking of the DVD in totality), this match is more entertaining that anything on WWE TV today.--Jake Roberts vs Rick Martel (1991; blindfold match): Obviously a warm-up to their match "on the grandest stage of them all," I'd say this match was even better than WM7. The crowd was really into the angle, and it's really fun to watch how they reacted to both Jake and Martel throughout the match.--Ted DiBiase vs Sid Justice (1991): Sid comes out with no music and is billed "from anywhere he wants to be." An interesting match on a variety of levels ... even though he wasn't a rookie at the time, Sid still looks green and awkward in the ring. DiBiase makes Sid really look like a monster and a star.--Ric Flair vs Roddy Piper (1991): Flair pins Piper twice in this match which was kind of strange; the second pinfall was the same as the first pinfall so the idea of a botched finish doesn't make sense ... regardless, a solid match back when feuds like this meant something and seemed real even though we knew they weren't. Alternatively, however, I would have rather seen the Flair-Piper champion vs. champion steel cage match that saw Piper winning and leaving with both belts.--Jake Roberts vs Mr Madness (1991): From watching old Event Center interviews, for some reason, I was led to believe that Mr Madness was Randy Savage under a mask. In this match, at least, Mr Madness is just Randy Savage ... but that mild disappointment aside, this is one of the best matches from the Roberts-Savage feud.Again, this was back when feuds like this meant something and there was some realm of believability that the two guys really hated one another.--Bret Hart vs British Bulldog (1992): A rare face vs face match from this era. A scientific match that was the precursor to their SummerSlam I-C title match ... and a quality contest the likes of which you'll rarely see today.--The Toxic Turtles vs. Tommy Stevenson & Ron Preston (1993): Wow, this match and the Turtles gimmick is so ludicrously bad that it's simultaneously entertaining. I watched it twice in befuddled amazement! The Turtles are basically two guys in Ninja Turtle costumes spouting Ninja Turtle catch-phrases; how the WWF expected this gimmick could float on any level--legal or otherwise--is really dumbfounding.--Shawn Michaels vs Mr Perfect (1993): This is one of the stationary camera matches featuring Mr. Perfect winning the belt ... allegedly. A great match even though you can tell that Curt Hennig is a proverbial shadow of his former self in the ring--especially seeing Perfect as the bump-machine in the aforementioned tag match--and despite the fact that Mr Perfect wasn't really a character that seemed to work in a babyface role.--Mega Maniacs (with Jimmy Hart) vs Money Inc (with Sgt. Slaughter as special referee): Wow, this match is one of the worst on the collection. There are some fun little spots with Sarge as the referee, but I always found Jimmy Hart to be annoying and unbelievable as a face manager, and Hogan and Beefcake are just awful here--a far cry from the Hogan we saw earlier teaming with Piper. This match is just an awkward, un-enthused mess. The highlights definitely come from DiBiase and Slaughter--both of whom could make any bad match a watchable one to some degree or another.Even though the segments with Sean Mooney and Charly Caruso have corny dialogue, it was really good to see Sean Mooney after he vanished from the world of "sports entertainment" so very long ago. The "plot" of the DVD is that Charly finds Sean still living in the Event Center and he helps her find matches--a Simpson-esque-Stan-Lee-is-living-in-the-comic-shop kind of reoccurring joke that I strangely enjoyed.If you grew up loving and enjoying this era of wrestling, you need to buy this DVD because you'll absolutely love it, but doing so will, I hope, inspire the WWE to release future volumes of unreleased footage. I never pre-order or buy any DVD as soon as it is released, but I pre-ordered this one because I knew it would be pretty special. And despite some mild disappointments, it's still a 5/5 stars, and I really hope the reaction, response and probably moreover the sales of this DVD convinces the WWE to release similar sets in the future.

I took the day off of work yesterday so I could watch this dvd set twice. Out of all the matches that this dvd set has featured, the one I was looking forward to watching the most was the cage match between my hero, Kevin 'Diesel' Nash, and the evil Japenese menace Yokozuna in a steel cage!Well, I was not disappointed as the battle between these two monsters was awesome. Dave Meltzer would probably give it zero stars, but I never could understand how an adult like him ever took a children's product so seriously. Make no mistake, the WWF was geared towards children during big Kev's run with the title. Don't believe me? Just check out the graghics design for the 'WWF In Your House,' logo. They might as well have had Teletubbies and the Tooth Fairy holding up the letters.I was in high school back in 1995 and Diesel was my role model. I would listen to his theme song every day when I would get dressed in the morning. I even wore a leather glove on my one hand to pay homage to this god of wrestling. Yokozuna was the heel wrestler that I both hated and feared. I always wanted to see big Kev destroy him in a fight. Looking back on it now, I didn't hate Yokozuna, I hated myself because like him, I too was also morbidly obese.The actual match between these two met my expectations and surpassed them. Meltzer and others like to smugly point out that Nash was a failure as a champion. I disagree and thought he did a commendable job given the era he was working in. If he could have a classic match with Yoko in the wimpy G Rated WWF, imagine what could have been accomplished if these two fought in a barbed wire, tuxedo, coal miner's glove on a pole, cage match with baseball bats, chairs, bamboo sticks, and land mines. And I'm not talking about that lame blue cage either that looked like it was built by Mattel. I'm talking about an old-school Mid-South wrasslin' steel cage with electric currents pulsing through it!In all fairness, anybody can book a successful wrestling show after the fact. Even Jim Herd. Scratch that, he probably would have made Yokozuna a face champion that would have celebrated at the end of his matchs by inviting the children in the audience to get in the ring and eat pizza with him, Jim Cornette, and Mr. Fuji.Wrestling is all subjective. Watching these mystical behemoths clash brought me back in time to all those fond memories I had as a kid in remedial high school. It was was the best 5 years of my life. If I didn't have Diesel as a role model, I never would have attacked that football jock with a screwdriver that was bullying me my sophomore year. Wrestling helped me stand up for myself as a man. It didn't matter that I was arrested and spent some time in a mental health facility. Mine was a moral victory.The next girl I meet on the internet, I'm taking her right to my parent's basement and I am going to make her watch this Diesel vs Yokozuna match. If she doesn't enjoy it, then I know she is not the girl for me. Anyway, enough about me. Great wrestling dvd and everyone owes it to themselves to pick up a couple of copies so they can enjoy the magic of the past.Hopefully WWE will come to their senses and release a Kevin Nash documentary.

Got this for a friend, his 32nd birthday. Biggest wrestling fan I know! He has seen every match ever so I loved that he hadn't seen any of these yet (which is exactly why I got it for him). Overall for the price I couldn't lose

Some very good matches on here, though I do miss the commentators going on while the match is happening. Some are from one single camera angle, while others look like they could have been broadcast ready with a little tweaking. At least we have them though. These were my favorite years of wrestling, so there were so many great matches here I was happy to see them in any form.

Love this WWE Dvd... most own for any old school WWF/WWE FANS... OF THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF WRESTLING 1986-1995

This video is an amazing treasure of 8.5 hours of rare matches from the 80's and 90's. It contains 3 DVDs in a handsome disk box with great graphic art. I must for wrestling fans of the WWF era of WWE.

This dvd set is loaded with many classic matches! The nostalgia factor is super high on this collection! I highly recommend this to any new or established fan!

Love it everything never seen before till now

This is a great collection of previously unseen matches that had been lost to time and the bowels of WWE’s storage facility. If you’re a wrestling history nut it should offer a lot of fun viewing, especially if like me you grew up during the era catalogued 86-95.If you aren’t someone of the same vintage, your viewing experience may be different. While Carly Caruso and Sean Mooney do a great job presenting the set a lot of matches are offered without any real context. These matches were recorded for posterity for one reason or another but were either never intended for release (try out matches) or just didn’t make the cut for Coliseum Home Video back in the day. As a result, none of the matches shown have any commentary. If you’re unfamiliar with the acts performing in the ring already, it may be tough to follow along. Indeed, lack of commentary could be a drawback even for those who are well read on the era.Personally, I didn’t find it to be a detraction. I regularly watch Japanese and Mexican wrestling without English commentary and if you have similar tastes you’ll probably be fine.The in ring action itself is decent throughout, there aren’t any real classic bouts included but what is on offer is rarely bad. If you’re a fan of the wrestlers featured, you’ll probably have a good time. It has to be said also that great effort has gone to restore these bouts, most of the footage looks great.Something that’s really interesting about the set is how visible the decline of the WWF between the years of 86-95 was. Between the first and last matches shown the buildings, crowds and physiques of the wrestlers all visibly deflate as the real world caught up to the company in a big way following a variety of scandals.Really that’s what a set like this should provide, a time capsule of events which it succeeds in doing. It’s not a perfect programme by any means but if you’re part of the target audience you’ll probably have a good time going through some factory sealed matches from your childhood.

Quite an odd mix really especially without commentary on the vast majority of matches. Some of them certainly should have stayed 'Unreleased' I just got the feeling this dvd was thrown together without much care or attention, maybe that's why there was no Blu-Ray release of this title? It's only for long term die hard' this one.

On one hand it's good to have this unseen footage. I'd have given this more stars had it included commentators. This set really highlights how important they are to the viewing experience as the entertainment factor is halved as a result. Given they had two people introduce the matches, it would have made sense to have them commentator as well. Especally given Sean Mooney used to commentate back in the 80s.Isn't it about time Rick Rude got his own box set?

Some of the matches are good but it's really strange watching the matches without any commentary

the video quality of some of the matches is a little sub standard but they were from the days of VHS rather than digital recordings. well worth collecting if you like wrestling from the period.