WrestleMania:The Complete Anthology Box Set

[vonerichironclaw]

Does anyone have this box set? if so what do u think? and also does anyone know where the DVD photo gallery is? and or what disc?

[bruiser]

Sadly, this is not out in the UK yet but i would love to own it - sorry I can't be of any help

[Iceman]

I don't have it, but it's a good idea if it's actually every Wrestlemania in it's entirety with all the matches and nothing shortened or edited out.

[BWO 4 Life]

This is what I found out online about it.
I've heard many complaints, which I'm dissapointed about.
Credit to Wrestling Observer.

>>Sean Gorman looks at the technical issues of the Wrestlemania complete anthology DVD




Dear Dave,

I received the Wrestlemania Anthology boxed set as a gift this year and I just wanted to write a quick review for it. After reading several of the customer reviews on amazon.com, I noticed many people had questions and complaints about it and there was a lot of misinformation about what is/is not included.

First off is the quality of the packaging and discs. Many people on amazon complained about missing discs or defective discs that froze in the middle of play. Here is my personal experience upon opening the box and playing the discs…
When I initially opened the box, several of the discs were not properly fastened to the inside and nearly fell to the floor as I tore the plastic off. Wrestlemania 21 is sort of lodged under the lid haphazardly with no artwork or match listings. Definitely not a good first impression.

All of my discs played just fine, but the sound on the last volume (16-20) was horrible. The commentary was barely audible and all you could really hear was the hollow roar of the crowd. It was sort of like a really good bootleg of the shows.

I actually called ShopZone just to get an idea if this was a widespread problem (they said no and that missing discs was their #1 complaint) and the rep on the phone actually referred to me a special hotline for issues specifically pertaining to the Wrestlemania boxed set. Again, not a good sign.

The rep from the Anthology hotline noted the problem, sent an e-mail to someone, and told me that a rep would call me back the next day. That was two days ago. I’m not holding my breath.

Second, is the blurring of the old scratch logo as a result of the World Wildlife Fund lawsuit. This is actually only done on numbers 14-18. How bad this is depends on which Mania you’re watching, or how prominently the logo is displayed on the turnbuckles, crew T-shirts, banners, etc. For example, 17 and 18 look horrible, almost to the point of being unwatchable. The others, however, don’t look quite as bad.
Third, are the entrance themes as you’ve noted before. Some of the music has been changed, most notably anything from the "Piledriver" album or most anything from the late 80s era. Again, blame the lawyers for this one. It's about rights and licensing, which WWE clearly didn't have or couldn't get. Some reviewers seemed upset about this, but it happens infrequently on the discs and honestly didn't bother me that much.

Yes, anytime anyone says "W.W.F." the sound mutes. Believe it or not, this doesn’t happen as often as you’d think. The muting applies to every disc. It's the same on the 24/7 Channel. Get used to it because it's doubtful this will ever change. Again though, it doesn't happen often and didn't really bother me.
I don't know how the rumor about Jesse Ventura's commentary not being on here got started (probably the Internet), but none of it is true. It's all here.
There are no extras, bonus footage, or Easter eggs that I’m aware of. Given the size and splendor of the whole thing, this was surprising. They’ve done many Wrestlemania retrospectives over the years about what was going on behind the scenes at the time, but there’s nothing included here. I thought a docomeentary or something would have been better than the random Wrestlemania 21 disc slapped to the bottom of the lid.
You’ll notice slight editing and cuts here and there. For example, the Piper’s Pit with Morton Downey Jr. and Brother Love from Wrestlemania 5 was shortened. Brother Love just sort of disappears from the segment all of a sudden. For historical purposes, this could be seen as a negative, but for anyone who remembers this particular part of Mania 5, it’s hard not to see the editing as a positive. Still though, this editing happens infrequently. Most of the shows are shown as they were originally broadcast (as best as I can remember).
It's great to finally have the older ones on a quality format like DVD. This is the first time they've been released on DVD in the U.S. As awesome as Wrestlemania can be, there have been a lot of bad matches over the years and it's nice to be able to skip through the chapters quickly. And I haven’t even put Wrestlemania 9 in my player.
Overall…

I am getting the impression that the production on this thing may have been slightly rushed to get released before the holiday season. It’s not bad, but there are noticeable problems. People should read some customer reviews before they drop the $200+. I’m probably going to exchange mine in hopes of getting one with a better audio mix in the last volume.

You can buy the volumes separately in stores (there are 5 discs/Manias to a volume). The boxed set was a gift for me, but if I had bought them myself, I probably would have only purchased the first two volumes because they’ve never been on DVD.

Again, the logo blurring is really awful on a few shows and it’s especially frustrating on Wrestlemania 17 because that was one of the best Manias of all time. Honestly, it might be worth it to try to find that particular one in the used bin somewhere before the blurring took place.


Whether or not to purchase this and how to purchase it (separately or all together) depends greatly on what you’re looking for and how much the editing and blurring hinders your enjoyment.

From what I've read and experienced, Buying one with defective or missing discs seems to be a roll of the dice at this point.

--Sean Gorman

[Wrestling Chick]

Thanks for the news, BWO. I'd been looking to buy this sometime in the early spring, so I'll definitely be a careful shopper now.

[Amber]

I own it. I got it for Christmas. I haven't managed to get very far into it yet (still on WM2), but from what I can tell nothing is wrong. Maybe a few people just ran into a bit of bad luck with theirs. I don't know what else to say about that. If I find out something is wrong with mine, I'll be sure to tell you guys.

vonerichironclaw said:

Does anyone have this box set? if so what do u think? and also does anyone know where the DVD photo gallery is? and or what disc?

Like I said I haven't got very far into the DVDs yet, but if I find it anytime soon, I'll be sure to post.

[Iceman]

Hmm, from BWO's found review it sounds like Vince just wanted everybody's money and did a rush job on making these and packaging them. Both of which he didn't do well. That's ashame for fans that probably had to shell out some good money for these.

Really hope you got a good one Amber.

[BWO 4 Life]

yeah, they ran anywhere from $170.00 to $250.00, depending on where you got it from.
Not bad for a set of that magnitude, but if it's a rush job, it sucks.

[vonerichironclaw]

Thanks BWO for the info...you said that wrestlemania 21 doesnt have match listings but there is a paper that was attached to the box when i got it that has the match listing for wm 21 and whatever supposed "extras" are on the dvds like it says a DVD photo gallery taking you through all the 21 years of wrestlemania but i just got done watching 19 and still havent found no photo gallery ...thats really awful that people get it and are missing discs...and yes your right the blurring does suck and is hard to get through....again thanks for the info!