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Just in time to get wrestling fans ready for WrestleMania XXVII, WWE Home Video has released The True Story of WrestleMania. This set is available as both a 3-disc DVD set and a 2-disc Blu-Ray set. Please note that my review is based on the DVD set. Also note when making your purchasing decision that all 11 matches that are on the DVD set were filmed before World Wrestling Entertainment began filming in HD.

The Review

Format of the DVD Set: This 3-disc set features a 2-hour documentary on disc one and eleven matches on the other two discs.

The Documentary: I really enjoyed this documentary and loved some of the behind-the-scenes footage. The DVD provides not just a history of this event but also of the many changes that have taken lace in the business over the past 27 years. The documentary generally runs in a linear fashion but breaks from that pattern on several occasions, mostly for cites and venues that have held multiple WrestleMania events. What was on the documentary was great but I really wish it was longer because several shows were glossed over.

Editing Issues: With the exception of the Rock vs. Hulk Hogan match at WrestleMania X8, all the matches feature the introductions and post-match antics that took place. The chapter for that match ends as soon as the match ends so we don't get to see the nWo appearance and Hulk and the Rock posing together. There are three instances of entrance music being changed (Hogan at 1 and 18 and Steamboat at 3).

The overdubbing at the first event causes Billy Martin's introduction of Hogan's team to be cut off the disc.

The Two Biggest Problems With This DVD: The first is the length of the DVD set. While the box says approximately 9 hours, the DVD set runs closer to 7. The three matches and several features on the Blu-Ray disc should have been able to fit on this DVD set. The other issue is this marks the fourth time that several of these matches have been released on a DVD compilation set. There are still some very good and historic matches that have yet to be released on a DVD set other than the 21-disc WrestleMania Anthology set.

Overall Recommendation: My recommendation for this depends on the size of your DVD collection. If you don't have many wrestling DVD sets, this gets my highest recommendation. This DVD is a great way to start your DVD collection as it has a very entertaining documentary and several matches that all professional wrestling must see at least once. However, for those of you that have a decent sized DVD library, you might just want to check out the documentary on this one and forget the rest because 10 of the 11 matches on this DVD set have been released on other compilation DVD sets. Most of those are already on at least two other DVD sets.

Matches on This DVD Set

For matches that are available on other compilation DVDs, I will note the DVD it is also available on in parenthesis and italics.

Disc Two

• WM 1: Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff (Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology; Born to Controversy: The Roddy Piper Story)
• WM 3: Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat (History of the Intercontinental Championship; Macho Madness: The Ultimate Randy Savage Collection; Ricky Steamboat: The Life of the Dragon)
• WM 3: WWE Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant (Hulk Still Rules, The History of the WWE Championship, Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology)
• WM 7: Retirement Match - The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage (The Self-Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior, Macho Madness: The Ultimate Randy Savage Collection)
• WM 10: Ladder Match - Intercontinental Champion Razor Ramon vs. Shawn Michaels (Shawn Michaels: From the Vault; History of the Intercontinental Championship)

Disc Three

• WM 14: Mike Tyson is Special Enforcer - WWE Champion Shawn Michaels vs. Steve Austin (The History of the WWE Championship)
• WM 16: Ladder Match - Tag Team Champions The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz vs. Edge & Christian (Edge: A Decade of Decadence; Jeff Hardy: My Life, My Rules; Wrestling's Highest Flyers
• WM 17: Street Fight - Shane McMahon vs. Vince McMahon (Mr. McMahon)
• WM 18: The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan (Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology; The Rock: The Most Electrifying Man In Sport's Entertainment; The Greatest Superstars of WrestleMania)
• WM 19: WWE Champion Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar (Brock Lesnar: Here Comes the Pain)
• WM 22: WWE Champion John Cena vs. Triple H

Matches Exclusive to the Blu-ray Release

• WM 24: Money in the Bank Ladder Match - Carlito vs. Chris Jericho vs. CM Punk vs. John Morrison vs. Mr. Kennedy vs. MVP vs. Shelton Benjamin
• WM 25: The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels (Shawn Michaels: My Journey)
• WM 26: WWE Champion Batista vs. John Cena

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.