Ringside Reviews: The Undertaker's Deadliest Matches Disc 1

To me watching wrestling while growing up, Undertaker was the man. He has been in some incredible stuff, but is brought down with a ton of crap along the way. I bought this dvd to watch the old matches again. People have told me that I would suffer while watching this set. Let's see if they are right.

Body Bag Match (7/11/91)
Undertaker vs Ultimate Warrior
Time: 9:30
This certainly isn't a bad match and has a decent amount of action in it. I have to admit though there is tons of no selling by both of them. Other then that it takes Warrior forever to try and get Undertaker in the body bag.
**3/4

Casket Match (Survivor Series 11/24/92)
Undertaker vs Kamala
Time: 7:05
This may of been the first ever casket match. At first you have to pin the guy and then put them in the casket. Anyways typical casket match with Kamala scared of the Undertaker like everyone else. Pass.
**

Casket Match (Summerslam 8/27/95)
Undertaker vs Kama
Time: 16:22
Ugh this wasn't that great at all. It was slow and not much going on. This may of been the 20,000th time someone stole the urn from the Undertaker.
*1/2

Casket Match (In Your House 12/17/95)
Undertaker vs King Mabel
Time: 6:12
Ugh this is becoming a chore man. Now I know how Austen felt when he watched disc 2 of the Kane dvd. Anyways, crap match, NEXT.
1/2 *

King Of The Ring 6/23/96
Undertaker vs Mankind
Time:18:19
Ah the Taker Mankind feud has had some great moments. This must of been one of the first encounters that they had. It started off slow, but got a little bit better as it went on. I love how Mick is practically psychotic as Mankind.
***

Boiler Room Brawl (Summerslam 8/18/96)
Undertaker vs Mankind
Time: 26:27
As we all know Mick is the king of hardcore and this is no exception. I actually dug this match. They use their surroundings well and there were decent spots. It was kinda weird that in order to win the match they had to go back to the ring and get the urn from Paul Bearer. Hey at least Bearer turned on Taker.
***1/2

Buried Alive Match (Rock Bottom 12/13/98)
Undertaker vs Stone Cold Steve Austin
Time: 21:29
This match was decent at best and wasn't as great I thought of it when I saw it when it first aired. The build up was great with the shovel shots, but the match was a bit of underwhelming. The brawling is mediocre, and the ending was so stupid I won't even mention it.
**1/2

Inferno Match (Raw 2/22/99)
Undertaker vs Kane
Time: 6:50
Here is the second inferno match between the two. It's shorter then the last one and just isn't that great. On paper this seems like a cool gimmick, but really it's underwhelming. It's obvious Kane is wearing protection and you have some stupid teddy bear thing that I don't even want to get into. Enough said.
**1/4

Overall: 5/10
The casket matches where great to see again as it reminded me of watching wrestling back in the 90's. Other then that this disc was pretty bad, other then the Mankind matches. I guess so far I am suffering...

Ringside Reviews: Wrestlemania 25

April 5, 2009

Reliant Stadium

Houston, Texas

In 2009 Wrestlemania was considered a dissapointment. When I first saw it, I was kinda let down on it. Then I watched it again. The card may not be the best in Wrestlemania, but I think that people should give this one another look. This one is underrated.

Money In The Bank
CM Punk vs Kane vs MVP vs Finlay vs Mark Henry vs Shelton Benjamin vs Kofi Kingston vs Christian
Time: 14:24
This one is a decent money in the bank. It has some pretty cool spots and it wasnt that much of a botch fest when I first saw it. From the comedic spots to the solid action, this was a great opener.
***3/4

25 Diva Battle Royal
Time: 5:57
The live broadcast had a horrible Kid Rock concert. The DVD didn't. Well it still sucked altogether. Didn't know what was going on and it would be nice to have proper entrances for the former Divas.
BOMB

3On 1 Handicapped Match
Chris Jericho vs Roddy Piper, Jimmy Snuka, Ricky Steamboat (with Ric Flair in their corner)
Time: 8:23
Could they have picked THE WORST legends? Piper can hardly move and Snuka was a joke. I loved his golf clap tap out. Steamboat though tore it up in the end. His work with Jericho saved the rest of the match. The thing with Mickey Rourke was kinda lame though.
**1/2

Exteme Rules
Matt Hardy vs Jeff Hardy
Time: 13:13
A pretty good hardcore match. Along with that there was some good wrestling. Even though Im not a Jeff Hardy fan he held up his own in this one. The spash through the two tables was pretty sick and the ending was the same.
****

Intercontinental Championship
Rey Mysterio vs JBL (C)
Time: 0:21
I was excited with the fact that the IC title was being defended at Mania for the first time in years. Well we get this squash. Is it just me or did Mysterio looked more like Dink then the Joker? Anyways the only good part is that this was JBL's last match.
N/A

Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels
Time: 30:41
Now this was hands down the match of the night. These two can create a great story in the ring. To me the wrestling was great, and it lived up to the hype. Whenever these two have a match together they steal the show.
*****

World Heavyweight Championship
John Cena vs Big Show vs Edge (C)
Time: 14:21
As far a triple threats go, this one was true to the name. I usually hate it when they become handicap matches, but this one stayed away from that. You get solid action from Cena and Edge while Big Show is just there to enhance the match. It is predictable though. Cena wins of course.
****1/4

WWE Championship
Triple H (C) vs Randy Orton
Great hype in this fued led to a THATS IT?! moment. How the heck is Triple H gonna get revenge on Orton if he loses the belt from DQ or countout. It would be better if it was a no DQ match. It wouldn't have to be hardcore, but hust enough for Triple H to get revenge. Their 08 fued was hundred times better then this.
**1/2

Overall: 7/10
To me watching this for the second time made me warm up to it. I suggest you watch it again and you may change your mind or not. You have the MITB, Hardy match, Taker/HBK, and the triple threat. If the main event was better, then this Mania would be even better then what I thought of it.