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Bulldog's DVD Rack - Kurt Angle: Champion

By Canadian Bulldog Nov 8, 2011 - 1:47 PM print



So here's the deal - I have a ton of DVDs that have been sitting on my rack for weeks.... months.... in some cases, years.... and it's about time I reviewed them. My vow to you stupid marks is that I will conquer about a dozen DVD collections this month, both here and on my Complete and Utter Bulldog audio show on ClubWWI.com. Thus, the powers-that-be have declared:

DVD_Rack_Month.JPG

Previously reviewed on the Rack:

10 Must-Have Wrestling DVD's  

Andre The Giant       

Before They Were Famous  

The Best Of CM Punk (In Full Impact Pro)

TNA Best Of The Bloodiest Brawls

Bobby The Brain Heenan

Born To Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story

Breaking The Code: Behind The Walls of Chris Jericho

Brian Pillman: Loose Cannon

Cheating Death, Stealing Life: The Eddie Guerrero Story

Compilation Tape Extravaganza~!

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FMW King of the Death Match

FMW Ring Of Torture

A Guide To ECW On DVD

Hardcore Homecoming: November Reign  

Hart & Soul: The Hart Family Anthology

The History Of TNA: Year 1

Hulk Hogan's Unreleased Collectors Series

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IndieMania (3PW, ROH, UPW, FMW

JCW Volume 3

Jeff Jarrett: King Of The Mountain  

John Cena: My Life

King Kong Bundy: The Missing Matches    

Last Call With Raven & Sandman

WWE Legends Of Wrestling

Legends Never Die

Macho Madness: The Randy Savage Ultimate Collection

McMahon    

Omega: Uncommon Passion

Pro Wrestling's Ultimate Insiders: Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara

Raw: The Beginning

    

Ricky Steamboat - The Life Story Of The Dragon

River Of Darkness

Road Warriors: The Life and Death of the Most Dominant Tag-Team In Wrestling History

The Spectacular Legacy Of The AWA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Triple H: The King Of Kings

The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling

The True Story Of WrestleMania

Twist Of Fate: The Matt & Jeff Hardy Story

The Very Best of WCW Nitro

The World's Greatest Wrestling Managers

WWE Unauthorized

ECW Deep Impact

 

It can be argued that the most "potentially" valuable acquisition to TNA in its brief history was Kurt Angle (though Hulk Hogan also makes a strong argument, he was never going to be a full-time wrestler). That's not to say they've used him (or anyone else) well during his time with the company - but Angle had very big upside potential.

A documentary-style DVD is exactly the type of thing TNA needs to do to ensure full return on its investment, especially because the former Olympic gold medalist never had one in WWE (he did have a video and book, but both pale in comparison by today's standards).

One thing I don't like about TNA's biographical DVD's is that they play some of the documentary and interrupt it with matches in between. So, for example, they would show a video of his TNA debut and then go to a segment about Angle's childhood. Certainly not the end of the world, but not really my preference.

The DVD draws upon a surprising number of "outside" voices to tell Angle's story. They interviewed his entire family, including his mother who -- and this may just be me -- appears incredibly nervous, as though she's being held at gunpoint to say nice things about her kid.  In addition, all of the top TNA stars from that era (Mick Foley, Dixie Carter, Christian Cage, Jeff Jarrett) give commentary, as does.... Bruno Sammartino. Obviously, Sammartino is mostly a fan of Angle's amateur background, but it's still a coup to include the guy in your DVD set when WWE clearly can't.

Most of the first disc is dedicated towards Angle's series of matches with Samoa Joe. While it was a great series, it sets up more as a reminder for how TNA hotshotted the rivalry instead of letting it build more organically. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that, but this was one of the few "dream" matches that TNA could have forced people to pay up for given enough build. Instead, it ended up characterizing Angle's first few months in the promotion.

And not to go on too much of a tangent here.... but why the HELL would Angle go over in the first match of the series? Don't forget that Joe was still undefeated at this point, and had a monster vibe about him. Pinning Angle (or even better, making him submit) would not only have been huge for Joe's career, but the rematch would have been guaranteed money (and, of course, you'd put Angle over in that one).

Anyways.... the non-Joe matches are perfectly fine for this collection, including a bout against Jay Lethal, a pair of matches with Sting and a King of the Mountain match. Sure, it's not the complete retrospective on Angle's career that fans want to see, but remember that WWE owns 70 to 80 percent of his best match footage.

The rest of the documentary covers several topics, including the death of his amateur coach Dave Schultz, winning the Olympic gold medal (with a broken freaking neck!), his release from WWE, signing with TNA, and more. None of it is earth-shattering, although it's interesting to see him replaying his fallout with Vince McMahon after a couple of years changed his perspective.

Overall, is this DVD worth your time? Given that it was released some three years ago, you can probably pick it for a deep discount -- at which point I'd be inclined to recommend it.


Canadian Bulldog has been writing about professional wrestling since 2003, and became a WWI Superstar at  World Wrestling Insanity  in January 2006. Need more Bulldog? Check out his "Complete and Utter Bulldog" podcast at  Club WWI ; like his  Facebook  page and follow him on  Twitter .




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