WWE: Randy Savage Unreleased: The Unseen Matches of The Macho Man [DVD]

After over one decade of releasing DVD sets on specific wrestlers wherein the content was recycled PPV and TV matches (with the scant "never before seen match" thrown in from time to time), the Unreleased series is proverbially a long time coming. For years, because of the aforementioned recycled content, I had absolutely zero interest in WWE DVD releases, but that attitude has changed with the Unreleased series. Let's face it ... the Unreleased series is contemporaneously doing something that the WWE should have done since day one with their DVD releases; you would think that utilizing the hundreds of thousands of hours of dark match video footage would have immediately been a basic and elementary decision--and something they would have already done eons ago and tenfold by now. For those of us who miss those glory days from the 80s and 90s and who have grown tired of the current sub-par product and cookie cutter matches and promos, nostalgia like this is gold. So, my first observation is that these kind of collections should have been released years ago, and I really hope the WWE starts to focus on this kind of release versus the same old sets with the same old matches that we've seen a million-billion times.The "Macho Man" Randy Savage is important to me; he was a big part of my childhood ... but geez, I don't know many people who didn't grow up watching Randy Savage in some capacity. I do a Macho Man impersonation in my pro wrestling inspired clown comedy act ... and I do it for the same reasons I mentioned above regarding this unseen content ... I do the impersonation--an impersonation that has been praised by Lanny Poffo, by the way--to elicit nostalgia ... and even if it's just one person in that audience, I do it to momentarily bring back a good memory; to bring someone back to a better, simpler time of life and to make the audience remember something about a character that perhaps, just perhaps, they may have forgotten. After a show, I love it when excited patrons come up to me and say, "I forgot Macho did [that]!" or "I totally forgot Macho said [that]!" until tonight! Alas, this is why I put so much work into that Macho Man impersonation; that's why it typically gets a good reaction; and that's ultimately why DVD collections like The Unseen Matches of The Macho Man are so much fun ... because they add to the old memories by creating new ones via the matches we have never seen ... well, kind of...The prior "Unreleased" DVD collections (Attitude Era and 1985-1995) featured dark matches, try-out matches, etc that never made television or Coliseum Video--hence the word "Unreleased" in the DVD title. However, the title of this DVD, Randy Savage Unreleased: The Unseen Matches of The Macho Man, is somewhat misleading because this set contains a mix of matches that never aired on TV or Coliseum Video releases along with TV matches and interviews that, in fact, probably any serious fan or collector has already seen (in the past or contemporaneously on WWE Network) or has recorded on some musty old VHS tape deep in storage somewhere. I guess the words "Unreleased" and "Unseen" in the title means a combination of things: TV matches from the WWF and WCW that you probably have seen but have never been released on DVD before -- AND -- dark matches that were only seen by those in attendance--and anyone with access to the WWE archives. Considering that last year's release, Unreleased: Never Before Seen Matches: 1985-1995, only contained unaired matches (and not a strange haphazard mix of both TV matches and dark matches), this new format or presentation is kind of confusing ... because it's probably not unrealistic to believe that, in the vast WWF archives, they couldn't find 531 minutes of dark matches involving Randy Savage. The addition of the TV footage really kind of distracts from the "Unreleased" theme, and alas, this is my biggest disappointment in the set ... however, that said, the quality and overall rareness of the dark matches kind of makes up for all the questionable TV matches that found their way onto this release.While the dark matches are fun, entertaining and take you back to a different era, I do wish a few specific matches had been included--any of which could have replaced some of the TV matches (such as Savage & Hogan vs. Butcher and Kevin Sullivan or Savage vs Kurasawa)--Randy Savage vs The Undertaker: Within the past year or so, clips from this match were shown in one of the WWE's "Five Things" highlight segments of matches that happened but we never saw ... and so it's disappointing and kind of odd that a singles match with Savage vs The Undertaker wasn't included.--Randy Savage (with Elizabeth) vs Ted DiBiase (w/Sherri): This match took place two days after Savage's "retirement" at WM7, and it would have been a fun, cool little match featuring Savage back with Miss Elizabeth and against his old nemesis and most recent manager.--I'm a big fan of the Randy Savage vs Jake "The Snake" Roberts from 1991-1992, however, with both this collection and the Unreleased 1985-1995 collection, only Savage vs Roberts matches from this feud were included. Savage and Roberts had matches years before this feud both when Savage was IC champ and also when it was The Macho King vs Roberts; it would have been nice to see a Savage vs Roberts match where Jake was the face and Savage was the heel instead of the vice versa. With TV matches thrown into the mix, at all else, they could have included the Savage vs Jake match that aired internationally before Wrestlemania 3 wherein Jake got a televised pin on Savage after the DDT. Or maybe even a tag match where Savage and Jake (both heels) teamed in or around 1986/87.--And what about Randy Savage vs "King" Jim Duggan? Savage winning the crown from Duggan was only shown in highlight form throughout WWF TV back in the day, and the entire match was never seen or released on video. For me, this would be a basic choice for this set as well, and it's kind of disappointing that it wasn't included.Now onward to some random comments about Randy Savage Unreleased: The Unseen Matches of The Macho Man...--Many of the matches in this collection have commentary, and a scant few of the unseen matches actually have commentary because apparently, the match was supposed to air on TV but never did. If the match is a dark match, it's just bumps and crowd noise ... and it's glorious! Not unlike reviews for The Attitude Era: Unreleased and Unreleased 1985-1995, I've also seen posts on other websites and reviews on Amazon where the people are wining and complaining about matches that have no commentary; this seems to really upset some people and skew their ability to enjoy the matches for some reason. Despite loving the classic commentary by teams like Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan, Gorilla Monsoon and Jesse Ventura and Sean Mooney and Lord Alfred Hayes, for me, the lack of commentary is a plus. If you enjoyed going to house shows back in the day, watching these matches without commentary is, at least for me and in my opinion, the closest way you'll get to relive those house show days without a time machine of some sort. And additionally, I'd definitely rather have no commentary versus any contemporaneous commentary from the annoying, disingenuous, photo-shopped, robot-esque drones we see (or rather, hear) today.--And speaking of robot-esque drones, Randy Savage Unreleased is hosted by Corey Graves with a forum of sorts with Diamond Dallas Page, Bailey and Sean Mooney. Had Sean Mooney simply hosted this DVD by himself, it would have been much better as the others bring relatively nothing to the product but wasted time. Bailey seems nervous and awkwardly out of her element during all of her segments; Page seems un-enthused most of the time (and why include Page on the forum when the collection contains no Savage vs DDP matches?); and Corey Graves seems to have no business there whatsoever. I mean, come on, think about all the legends they could have acquired to actually provide insight into the matches ... Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jake "The Snake" Roberts, Ric Flair, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, Lanny Poffo ... Sean Mooney hosting a forum with any combination of these guys would have not only made better logical sense but it would have made for a better, more insightful product. I mean, come on, I'd rather hear some stories from Jake Roberts or Ric Flair versus hear about Bailey's first memories of seeing Randy Savage on TV.Some of the matches...--Savage & Hecules vs Steamboat & Billy Jack Haynes: while unaired, this match has commentary ... a fun match with two rare tag team combos.--Savage vs Steamboat for the IC title: Steamboat is champ here. Along with the aforementioned tag match, this is one of the only two truly unreleased and unseen matches on disc #1.--Savage vs The Ultimate Warrior: a precursor to Wrestlemania 5, Savage is the world champ and recently turned heel vs the IC champ, The Ultimate Warrior. Rude, Warrior's WM5 rival, makes an appearance. This is actually a good match, but it's also pretty much a variation of the same match seen on the Unreleased 1985-1995 collection. Obviously, this match was filmed many times on the circuit--as different versions with identical endings also appeared on Coliseum releases as well.--Savage vs Hercules: a really good match ... Hercules was really underrated, and while the finish is kind of typical Macho King ending (spoiler: Sherri's purse is involved) the entire match was solid. Hercules never really got the push or the credit that he deserved in my opinion--especially with Power & Glory. A nice match showcasing Hercules' talents. It's hard to believe all of the players--Savage, Herc and Sherri--are deceased.--Savage & Queen Sherri (with Brother Love) vs Dusty Rhodes & Sapphire (with Miss Elizabeth): again, as with the Savage vs Hercules match, watching this match, it's kind of hard to fathom that Savage, Sherri, Rhodes, Sapphire and Liz are all deceased. This isn't a five star match, but this is actually a fun match and if memory serves me correct, it's pretty close to the match released on Coliseum Video back in the day with an identical finish ... Sherri does a great job making Sapphire look good even though, at times, it's touch and go.--Savage, Rowdy Roddy Piper & Hacksaw Jim Duggan vs Ric Flair, Jake Roberts & The Undertaker. A truly unseen and unreleased match and one that isn't just a slightly different version of another match we've seen before (case in point, world champ Savage vs IC champ Warrior). This is a short match but really fun. Thus far, this is the only time we have seen Jake Roberts face Roddy Piper in a non-battle royal WWF match; the Roberts-Piper in-ring interaction is scant, but at the same time, enjoyable simply because it is so rare ... this is also probably one of the first times Savage ever worked Flair.--Savage & Hulk Hogan vs Roberts & The Berzerker: A rare match because it's the very first time that the WWE has ever released footage of Roberts vs Hogan in any capacity. Another short match but enjoyable because of the rarity. It's also fun to see The Mega Powers together at this point in time ... and Hogan's match with Stan Hansen notwithstanding, seeing Hogan face Berzerker is probably the closest thing to a Hogan vs Bruiser Brody match that we will ever see.--Savage & Undertaker vs Flair & Berzerker: You know, the Berzerker was pretty underrated. Another entertaining match with unique tag team combos ... this match actually aired internationally back in the day.--Savage vs Razor Ramon: This is a really great match. Razor as a heel was really gold, and he worked really well with Savage.--Savage vs "The Narcissist" Lex Luger: An interesting pre-WCW match between Savage and Luger during Luger's short-lived Narcissist gimmick. Savage pulled a good match from Luger, and as with the Yokozuna (RAW) match on this disc, you can kind of tell that one of Savage's roles at this point was to put over the new guys the WWF was wanting or hoping to push...--Savage vs Mr Hughes: or, in this case (not unlike the match with Terry Taylor on disc #2), his role was getting occasional wins over the new low-to-mid-card-guys the WWF didn't plan to push.--Savage & Perfect vs Giant Gonzales & Mr Hughes: considering who Savage and Hennig had to carry here, this match is mildly entertaining--mainly and probably simply because of the rarity of the match-up more than anything else.Overall, the already televised matches kind of outweigh the truly unreleased matches on this set, but it's still 100% worth buying for the ultra rate matches the set contains...

GREAT!

This is a FANTASTIC DVD, for any Wrestling fan. I wont review every match, but here are some highlights:Randy Savage vs Ricky Steamboat, 1987: Did these two ever have a bad match? No! It's extremely refreshing to see matches between these two that isn't WM III, as historic as that match was.Randy Savage vs The Million Dollar Man, 1988/Steel Cage: Great Match, really enjoyable! These two gave everything they had to entertain the crowd, really fun and a solid match.Randy Savage vs Andre the Giant, 1988: Wow! Macho Man REALLY went after Andre in this MSG bout, there were times you could see Andre sucking wind, Savage was all over him. Really good stuff, and is another feather in the hat of the legacy of the Macho Man. Ohhh Yeah!Randy Savage vs Razor Ramon, 1992: This match proves that Randy Savage doesn't have the same match with each person he steps in the ring with, this was a great back & forth between these two! After seeing this match up, it's a real shame these two didn't get a proper feud after Savage dropped the Title to Flair in September of 1992, this would have been the perfect follow up to Flair/Savage.Randy Savage vs The Barbarian, 1991: I remember watching this on WWF Superstars right before the historic Royal Rumble 1992, fun little match.Randy Savage vs “Terrific” Terry Taylor, 1992: Uhh, wow! This was MUCH more of a match than I expected. Hogan would give Terry Taylor this kind of match, really fun & athletic.Randy Savage vs “The Narcissist” Lex Luger, 1993: I was at this match, front row! SO excited this made the list. This match actually ended in a DQ, not a pin fall victory for Lex Luger as the DVD would show you. This was the Co-Main Event for Huntington, WV that night, and the crowd popped big time for Savage this evening. They both delivered and was a lot of fun. Dig it!The WCW stuff is on the WWE Network -- but is still fun to watch.Snap into the DVD, why?! Because it's too hot to handle, and too cold to hold....check it out, oooooh yeah!GOAT!

Macho Man is a tremendous wrestler. My second favorite of all time behind Shawn Michaels. Their matches together are excellent. Macho's promos are superb, and he was a fantastic athlete. Actually was in the minor leagues with the Cardinals, I believe. Maybe it was the Reds. These are a bunch of unreleased matches, so they shouldn't be on either Randy Savage set already released. Great to see Barbarian, Hercules, two of my favorite bad guys being utilized. The cage match with Million Dollar Man was superb. There was a 3 on 3 with Ric Flair, Undertaker and Jake the Snake vs Macho Man, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Rowdy Roddy Piper. It was darn entertaining. Then Undertaker teamed up with Macho against Flair and Bezerker, and that was excellent. Savage showing deference to Undertaker's urn made me chuckle. There was a phenomenal match against Terrific Terry Taylor that might've been the best on the set. It was a huge surprise to me. Couldn't believe how great it was. Love the DVD set. Can't say enough good things about it. Two thumbs way up!!

Great wrestling film

Got this yesterday, it’s a nice look at his career and crazy to see how fast he got over with the fans being cheered like crazy as a heel It’s funny to see Jesse Ventura at the desk when they don’t use his commentary, did they really need an SD Jones match that bad lol