While browsing through netflix I noticed they have a lot of the career showcases of a lot of their stars, but also a lot of their Top 10/50 etc, etc. I decided to give it a whirl and watched the ones that were centered on Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, and the Hart/Michaels feud.
What I found most interesting of all is that in all of them it was very open and honest about the business and didn't try to insult anyone's intelligence. There was no blatant censoring of things said against the company/nies, as I had expected, and they pretty much let it all hang out. I had figured most of these would've been glorified highlight reels with these guys shooting in character about this match/that match, but nope - just the actual human beings talking about both sides of kayfabe and the life.
The Hart/Michaels thing was especially entertaining, considering that it was HBK, Bret, and JR all in a room discussing it all, primarily the screwjob at some length. I was a huge wrestling fan from 1993-2004, so the Bret/HBK rivalry was the keystone faceoff for me, HBK being my favorite of all time. It was very refreshing to hear them talk about the screwjob together instead of just cutting from one separate interview to another, and what surprised me most of all was that Bret actually swallowed his pride and admitted to taking some responsibility in the whole fiasco, something I never would've expected him to do.
Regardless, from that stuff to Austin's feature especially, he spoke very candidly about his walkout and his regrets towards the latter half of his career. One thing that I noticed very quickly when they began running down the legendary McMahon/Austin rivalry was just how long it lasted and how they kept upping the ante every time. As a teenage wrestling nerd that rivalry never felt hokey or goofy, it was sure funny as hell, but I never felt it jumped the shark. However, if you condense all of them into a 20 minute period, you get to see that really it was quite monotonous. If I was an older more scrutinous fan at the time I may have gotten bored with the pattern.
I also recommend you watch the History of WCW, which is also available. I think we all know the ins and outs of what caused it's downfall, but even so there's a lot about that company that either I didn't know or had completely forgotten. It was very interesting to hear the wrestlers speak out with such venom about the undoing of the creative angles with Russo and ultimately David Arquette as a champion. The doc did a great job showing viewers who may be new to wrestling about What Not To Do As A Wrestling Promoter, primarily focusing on the Goldberg/Hogan match on Nitro.
There's also "Behind the Mat" available but that's likely been discussed ad nauseam.
_________________ Quote: When it comes to the Bears, America is just a slobbering shitwagon. Every single opinion of his regarding this team is the most pristine of doomsday horseshit.
|