WWE: Legends of Wrestling Heat Seekers

Alright, let me start with saying I am NOT wrestling fanatic. I haven't watched pro-wrestling regularly since the Monday Night Wars. I guess you could say I am a casual fan who was looking for a little nostalgia. This wasn't it.The round table discussion is by far the best part of the DVD. My only complaint is that they didn't really finish the discussion about any wrestler. One person would tell a story and someone else would just move on to another wrestler. I did like hearing some of the backstage opinions but the discussion at times just felt choppy.The matches on the DVD are really where this went downhill.First match is the Freebirds vs 3 nobodies. The WWE now owns the libraries of WCCW where the Freebirds had legendary matches with the Von Erichs, they own the library of the NWA/WCW where the Freebirds fought a who's who of talent but instead the put this on the DVD?The second match is the Twin Towers (Barry Windham and Lex Luger) vs Double A and Tully Blanchard. Actually this is a great match that highlights all the wrestlers. No complaints here.Next, you have Paul E. Dangerously and the Original Midnight Express vs. Jim Cornett and the Midnight Express. They include the lead up promos cut by both groups. The only problem is that by the time the match rolled around Denis Cordrey had already left (a member of the Midnight Express originally that made the name the Original Midnight Express work) the company. Paul E. and Jim Cornett are not wrestlers. Why even show Paul E. as a wrestler? Show him as a manager interfering and you could have included much better matches.Next is Lex Luger vs Michael Hayes. Look Lex Luger is a somewhat limited wrestler. He can perform when his opponents are great (such as his matches with Ric Flair, or the previously mentioned tag match). Michael Hayes was never considered a great wrestler...he was great with a microphone. This match is slow and boring. There are so many better fights that could have been included for each man.Next you get into Goldberg vs. Scott Hall. This isn't a horrible match...but there were better more exciting moments for both guys. Goldberg vs Raven was pure excitement and even had a piece shown during the round table discussion, Goldberg vs Hogan was on Monday Night Nitro the same night Goldberg fought Hall. There are just better matches that could have been chosen.Hall vs. Nash was just crap. This was during the time when Nitro decided that they would make Hall a drunk and act like he was wrestling drunk. Nash is another limited big man that can have good matches with the right opponents. Just another bad match-up.Vince Russo vs Booker T is one of the worst matches ever. It has nearly everyone on the roster interfere and just wasn't good in any way. Why put the match-up on the disc? Vince wasn't a wrestler and just like Paul E. could have been left out of the collection of matches.And then you end with Buff Bagwell boxing Roddy Piper. This boxing matches are never good. If you want to highlight Buff there are much better matches out there.in the end it felt like the matches were another attempt by the WWE to bury guys from long ago. Don't you think them being included on a round table discussion about them being difficult to work with was enough? Why looking for crappy matches to further bury them? It is just a shame.

I really enjoyed this wwe release. It beats anything they have to offer these days. It's sad when watching former wrestlers sitting around a table talking about other former wrestlers is more entertaining than watching current wrestling. The discussion part of the disc is really cool. You get to hear Jerry lawler, Michael Hayes, Jim Ross, Mick foley and Eric bischoff tell stories about some of the guys that were hard to work with. The bonus matches were good as well. Many of them making there DVD debut. And many being nwa or wcw. I swore I would never own a DVD with buff bagwell on the cover but this is the exception. The story JR tells about buff and his mother Judy is worth the price alone.

WWE: Legends of Wrestling Heat Seekers this is a must have for any collector i love the old school matches with the freebirds this whole set is good i say grab them all when you get the chance and hope for more

Interesting dvd about guys who could be hard to get along with behind the scenes. Imagine how much higher professional wrestling could go if everyone worked together the way that they should.

For those who don't already know, the "Legends Of Wrestling" program is a program on WWE 24/7 On Demand channel that's a roundtable discussion with wrestling personalities of the past speaking on various subjects. This disc is from the second season containing a panel of Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Hayes, Mick Foley, and Eric Bischoff discussing various personal & behind the scenes stories of each individual mentioned along with rare video highlights to showcase the point being put across. You'll get a set of bonus matches with most of them never released on DVD before.This episode is based around wrestlers who caused the most backstage problems with either management or the talent themselves. The first name brought up was Michael Hayes himself & the Freebirds with Lawler telling a story that would becomine a running joke throughout the show. Lex Luger's attitude that rubbed so many people the wrong way, the Bill Goldberg theory of how he was "a nice guy AWAY from the business", the story behind Lawler breaking Paul Heyman's jaw on purpose, the backstage troubles of Scott Hall were also discussed along with Jim Ross' story regarding a phone call he recieved from Buff Bagwell's mother. Another subject that was heavily debated was the mean spirited paraodies in wrestling with Vince Russo's personal attack on Jim Ross with "Oklahoma", the nWo's mockery of Arn Anderson's retirement speech (and the irony behind that almost decade later), and Vince McMahon's "Dr. Hiney".Matches Include:Fabulous Freebirds vs. Ron Shaw, Rene Goulet, Charlie Fulton - This was the Freebirds debut during their short run in WWE and was really nothing noteworthy past how they were setup to be stars from the start with Cyndi Lauper & Dave Wolfe accompaning them in a limo.Aug. '84Lex Luger & Barry Windham vs. NWA Tag Team Champions Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard - The team also known as the "Twin Towers" dominated the first half of this match to the point where Luger he got the Torture Rack on Tully in the first minute & Barry had a sleeperhold so tight on Tully that he was able to keep it on when they both rolled out of the ring. The Horsemen later caught up & did what they did best in tag team wrestling by cutting the ring in half & making their quick tags having this match go back & forth between both teams with the crowd hot the entire time. James J. Dillion got involved in the end as this match didn't go long but it was non-stop action from start to finish."NWA Clash Of The Champions" Mar. '88("Ric Flair & The Four Horsemen")Paul E. Dangerously & Original Midnight Express vs. Midnight Express & Jim Cornette - Before the match gets started, you see to see the promos (including a classic comedic Cornette one) the week before this match. This was setup to be a "Loser Leaves NWA" where the person who lost the fall would have to leave however there was a change here with Dennis Condrey already leaving the NWA right before this match setting up Jack Victory to replace him. This was an average match as most of the heat was gone with Condrey gone but we did get the the confrontation between Heyman & Dangerously that everyone was waiting for towards the end.NWA Chi-Town Rumble '89NWA United States Champion Lex Luger vs. Michael Hayes - Lex Luger was out for revenge after Hayes turned his back on Luger during a tag match against Barry & Kendal Windham (also on the WWE DVD "Wrestling Families"). This was Luger using his strength and even attempting some high risk moves like a flying crossbody at one point where Hayes ducked & sent Luger straight over the top to the floor while Hayes wrestled Luger and was typical "P.S." doing a very entertaining at the same time with his heel tactics.NWA WrestleWar '89WCW United States Champion Goldberg vs. Scott Hall - This was from the same night that Goldberg won the WCW Championship from Hollywood Hogan...but for those who don't remember the show, Hogan made it clear that Goldberg had to get through Scott Hall first that night. Hall got a couple of moves in on Goldberg but this was mostly just a dominate performance by Goldberg on what would end up being the biggest night of his career."WCW Nitro" July '98Scott Hall vs. Kevin Nash - This was nicknamed "The Battle Of The Outsiders" as at this time, the nWo was split into two different factions with Kevin Nash being the leader of the red & black "Wolfpac" while Scott Hall was a member of the black & white "Hollywood" version after turning on Nash back in May. Also during this time, WCW decided to make a storyline out of Hall's personal demons by having him come to the ring highly drunk & being in no condition to wrestle. This wasn't close to their memorable wrestling match back at SummerSlam '94 as this was more of a personal fight with Hall cheating early by blinding Nash & even having him bleed from his lip before Nash recovered and just tried to "beat some sense into Hall" until he had nothing else left to prove.WCW Halloween Havoc '98Steel Cage Match: Vince Russo vs. WCW Champion Booker T - This is the infamous match where after seeing the disaster that "David Arquette: WCW Champion" was, it was decided that Vince Russo himself could be WCW Champion. This match was wrestlecrap at it's best as it was just full of run-ins & interference ranging from Ric Flair, Sting, Lex Luger, Goldberg, Scott Steiner, and what seems like half the roster. It was just wild from start to finish with very unfunny commentary. As a side note, for anyone who pays attention to this stuff...pay close attention to when the babyface roster comes to ringside as you'll see that Rey Mysterio's face is blurred out as we know that in the world of WWE, he never lost his mask."WCW Nitro" Sept. '00Boxing Match: Buff Bagwell vs. Roddy Piper - For those who don't remember the story behind this match, this was the conclusion of another attempt at a "young lions vs. old veterans" angle in WCW with Flair being in Piper's corner while Buff had his mom in his corner with legendary boxing referee Judge Mills Lane as the special referee here. This was probably the best "boxing" match in wrestling as "scripted boxing" just never worked in wrestling (see WrestleMania 2) so they kept this one entertaining with Judy Bagwell & Ric Flair getting involved at times for some very comedic moments. While some people would have rather had another Buff Bagwell match, if you hear the story during the main discussion regarding Buff & his mother...you'll understand why they put a match on here where she got heavily involved.WCW Bash At The Beach '99For those fans of wrestling who didn't start turning in until past the late 80's/Monday Night War era, this is the disc that would appeal the most to you more than the others that I recommend.

Very amusing documentary on Buff, Lex, and more...