Wrestlemania 33 Two-Disc Blu-Ray Set Review

Wrestlemania is the biggest wrestling event of all time. It features high profile matches, celebrity involvement, and showcases World Wrestling Entertainment’s product on a global stage. An event this big only happens once a year, but that does not mean you only have to watch it once every 365 days. WWE has released every Wrestlemania on some sort of home video format whether it be on VHS, DVD, or Blu-ray. This week’s post will look at the Blu-ray version of Wrestlemania 33.

Aside from watching Wrestlemania 33 live on television when it aired in 2017, I have only seen it on Blu-ray on a 16:9 television screen. Therefore I have no idea how the DVD version of Wrestlemania 33 is presented on a 16:9 or a 4:3 television.

With people complaining about the length of Wrestlemania 32, Wrestlemania 33 seemingly said, “hold my beer.” When including the two hour kickoff show, Wrestlemania 33 clocked in at about 7 hours and fifteen minutes. However this event was much more enjoyable than the 2016 edition of Wrestlemania, so watching it straight through is not as bad. The length caused the event to once again be split up across two discs. The first disc contains most of the Wrestlemania 33 card. It starts with Tinashe performing “America the Beautiful” and ends with the announcement a new Citrus Bowl attendance record. Also included on the first disc are the “Total Bellas” segments that showcase the Miz and Maryse mocking John Cena and Nikki Bella.

The second disc features the Wrestlemania 33 main event that saw Roman Reigns challenge the Undertaker in a No Holds Barred Match. It also features the entire 2017 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony that featured a stacked class of inductees. New hall of famers included Diamond Dallas Page, the Rock ‘N’ Roll Express, Beth Phoenix, Rick Rude, and Kurt Angle among others. This is easily one of the best hall of fame classes of all time as the inductees truly left an impact on the professional wrestling industry. This ceremony is must see TV for wrestling fans. There is no additional content on the second disc.

The packaging for Wrestlemania 33 is great. The front features the Wrestlemania 33 logo and a collage of wrestlers in front of a roller coaster track. The back looks really cool as well as it too has a nice collage of wrestlers as well as a paragraph highlighting the event’s biggest matches. Also included is a listing of hall of fame inductees.

The inside packaging looks good as it features a wide shot of the Citrus Bowl with fireworks.

In conclusion, this is a good home video version of Wrestlemania 33. I say good because it does not include the three kickoff show matches. The Cruiserweight Championship match, the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, and the Intercontinental Championship match all took place on the kickoff show. To me, not including these on the Blu-ray home video version of the event is unacceptable. Due to the lack of those matches, the event is much shorter than when it originally aired. Despite the absence of those matches, Wrestlemania 33 was still a solid event that featured some great matches. The return of the Hardy Boyz, AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon, the Universal Championship match between Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, and the possible curtain call of the Undertaker make this event worth watching.

Stay tuned for the Wrestlemania 34 Blu-ray review!

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My Top 5 WWE Fantasy Matches

With WWE’s Survivor Series event hyping the “fantasy” matchup of Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg II, I thought that this would be a good time to share five fantasy bouts of mine. Some of these matches have a slight chance of happening while others can only take place in the world of WWE video games. For the sake of variety, I will not repeat wrestlers for this post. Without any further ado, here are my top five WWE fantasy matches.

5. Brian Pillman vs. Dean Ambrose

Being a Greater Cincinnati native, I would love to see the two most famous wrestlers from the Queen City square off in the middle of the ring. Pillman’s high flying maneuvers that earned him the nickname of “Flyin’ Brian” combined with his “loose cannon” gimmick would make for a very interesting wrestling mash up with Ambrose’s hardcore reputation and “lunatic fringe” character. As I said in my introduction, some of these matches can only take place in video games, and this match is one of them as Pillman tragically passed away in 1997.

4. Randy Orton vs. The Rock

This is a bout that I have played many times on my WWE video games. The “Viper” and the “Brahma Bull” would no doubt tear the house down if they ever met in a ring for a one-on-one match. They did have a previous encounter at Wrestlemania 20 in a 3-on-2 tag team match when Evolution took on the Rock ‘n Sock Connection, but these two third generation wrestlers have never battled each other in a singles match. Orton’s slow and calculating approach would clash wonderfully with the charismatic and electrifying tactics of the Rock. This match has a pretty good chance of taking place as Orton is still an active wrestler, and the Rock usually comes back to the WWE once a year.

3. John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan

I think this match is a no brainer as Cena, the self-proclaimed “face that runs the place,” is today’s version of Hulk Hogan. The similarities between their two characters are obvious as Cena’s mantra of “hustle, loyalty, and respect” is a modern twist on Hogan’s motto of “training, saying your prayers, and eating your vitamins.” Both are notorious for turning matches around in their favor with Hogan “hulking” up and Cena utilizing what have become known as the “five moves of doom.” These two teamed up with Shawn Michaels in 2005 on an episode of Monday Night Raw with Hogan going on to face Michaels instead of Cena later that year at Summerslam. A matchup between these two wrestling titans likely will not happen due to Hogan’s back issues and the fact that he is currently not with WWE.

2. Goldberg vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin

Two of the biggest names to come out of the Monday Night Wars of the late 1990s and early 2000s have never exchanged fists inside the squared circle. Goldberg was arguably the biggest star in WCW, and the same can easily be said about Austin in WWE. Both of their onscreen characters were legitimate tough guys, and their look, wrestling style, and appeal to wrestling fans are eerily similar. Unfortunately, Austin’s history with neck injuries has made this matchup impossible to happen. These two just missed squaring off in 2003 as Goldberg made his WWE debut the night after Austin had his final match at Wrestlemania 19.

1. Sting vs. The Undertaker

To me, this is the ultimate dream match. Sting and the Undertaker were the two cornerstones for their respective companies during the Monday Night War. The stinger never left WCW, and the dead man remained loyal to WWE. Both of their characters evolved during this era of professional wrestling with Sting transitioning from a colorful surfer like wrestler to a silent vigilante reminiscent of “the Crow,” and the Undertaker morphing into the sinister leader of the “Ministry of Darkness” and eventually the intimidating reaper who rode motorcycles to the ring. After WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, everybody thought that Sting and the Undertaker would finally meet. However, Sting would not appear in a WWE ring until 2014 when he made his WWE debut as the silent vigilante at Survivor Series. During Sting’s absence, the Undertaker had gone back to his dead man character, and these two wrestlers with similar gimmicks seemed destined to clash at the “Showcase of the Immortals.” It looked like the dream match between the Undertaker and Sting was on the verge of becoming a reality at Wrestlemania 31, but Sting faced Triple H and the Undertaker battled Bray Wyatt. A neck injury then forced Sting into early retirement, making this dream match just that, a dream. Sting has hinted that may have one more match left in him, but a bout between the icon and the phenom will most likely never happen.

Those are my top five WWE fantasy matches. I think that each match would be an exciting bout to watch and would easily be a match of the year candidate. There are more dream matches that I would like to see such as D-Generation X taking on the New World Order or Austin and Hogan meeting for the first time, but as I said in the introduction to this post, I was only listing one wrestler per match for the sake of variety. Hopefully one of these matches does indeed happen in the future, but until then, I will continue to play out these bouts in the form of video games.

Goldberg vs. Lesnar II: Survivor Series or Wrestlemania?

For months, rumors had been swirling that WWE was in negotiations with Goldberg for a return bout against Brock Lesnar, and a recent ESPN interview all but confirmed that the man who had compiled a record of 173-0 in World Championship Wrestling was indeed set to make his return. WWE hyped up the interview on its social media outlets and on its weekly television programs before Lesnar’s advocate, Paul Heyman, issued the challenge to Goldberg. The next week, Goldberg made his return to Monday Night Raw after a 12 year absence and declared that Lesnar was “next.” WWE then announced that Goldberg and Lesnar would square off at Survivor Series in November.

For Lesnar, it is a chance to right the lone blemish on his list of wrestlers that he has been able to conquer throughout his WWE career. For Goldberg, it is an opportunity to prove that he can still hang with the best that the wrestling world has to offer. A match of this magnitude should be reserved for the grandest of stages. Survivor Series is one of WWE’s biggest shows of the year, but is it big enough for Goldberg vs. Lesnar II?

Personally, I don’t think it is. Survivor Series is regarded as the smallest of WWE’s “Big Four” pay-per-view events behind the Royal Rumble, SummerSlam, and Wrestlemania and is known for its traditional five on five elimination tag team matches. Wrestlemania on the other hand is known for its marquee bouts that often feature wrestling legends. Goldberg vs. Lesnar II is a marquee match that should be saved for Wrestlemania. This would allow WWE to slowly build up the story with the payoff match being at its biggest event of the year. They could continue to build up Lesnar as “the beast” by having him steamroll opponents, and they could also build Goldberg up by having him start a new winning streak before putting it on the line against Lesnar.

The slow build would entice fans and help make the anticipation for the match reach a fever pitch. The Wrestlemania setting would also play a natural role in the story as Goldberg defeated Lesnar in their first encounter at Wrestlemania 20. WWE could bill this as a Wrestlemania rematch 13 years in the making, and it would easily increase the amount of buys and hype for the pay-per-view. That is not to say that it would not affect Survivor Series in a similar fashion, but WWE prides itself on having Wrestlemania being the one event of the year that shatters records. Goldberg vs. Lesnar II would no doubt help WWE do that.

That is why I think WWE should save Goldberg vs. Lesnar II for Wrestlemania 33. Survivor Series is a big show, but Wrestlemania is bigger and having the bout take place there would be more beneficial for both the match and WWE. The story could build slowly which would heighten anticipation, the Wrestlemania setting would play right into the buildup of the match, and the bout between Goldberg and Lesnar is defiantly worthy of being contested at the “Showcase of the Immortals.”