WWE DVD Review: The Best PPV Matches of 2011

2011 has been a banner year with lots of classic matches.  I find myself fully renewed as far as my interest in the WWE goes.  This DVD set is one I have been waiting for since July, so did it live up to my lofty expectations?  Find out after the jump!

Here are my thoughts on the complete match listing:




Disc One:

In this disc we say goodbye to an era in grand fashion!

Match 1:: Royal Rumble:: WHW Championship match: Edge(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler

• Great back and forth match with an interesting stipulation (Edge's spear is banned).
• This match has to be one of the best openers in Royal Rumble history.  It also makes for a great opener to the dvd.
• Cool spots such as the double cross body.
• SICK Fame Asser counter into a powerbomb by Edge.
• Great ending sequence with Edge using the spear after both Vickie and the ref were distracted.  Edge then went on to pay homage to his boy Christian, finishing Ziggler using the Killswitch.

Winner and STILL WHW Champion: Edge

Match Rating: ***3/4 (great match!)




Match 2:: Elimination Chamber:: Elimination Chamber match for the WHW Championship: Edge(c) vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Kane vs. Wade Barrett vs. The Big Show

• Awesome match that will go down as one of the greatest chamber matches ever!
• Barrett eliminated by Big Show, who's then eliminated by Kane, McIntyre also suffered Kane's wrath, Kane himself was then eliminated by a combination of Mysterio and Edge.
• The match winds down to the two men who started it Mysterio and The Rated R Superstar!
• Edge and Rey deliver what has to be the greatest ending to a chamber EVER!  If you have not seen this one, go watch it, I will not spoil the ending for you, because the suspense makes it THAT much more awesome! 
• Edge delivered consistently awesome performances in the beginning of 2011 (in what I call the 'Edge Retirement Tour').

Match Rating: **** (Thank you Edge!)




Match 3:: Wrestlemania XXVII:: Cody Rhodes vs. Rey Mysterio

• I remember really enjoying this match when I watched it live.  It was the beginning of what was a great year of growth for Cody Rhodes.
• Love the storytelling and the use of Cody's mask in this match.
• AWESOME stalling superplex by Rhodes
• The crowd was not as into this as I would have liked.

Winner: Cody Rhodes

Match Rating: ***1/4 (Good bout but would rather Orton vs. Punk or Edge vs. Alberto here).




Match 4:: Wrestlemania XXVII:: No Holds Barred match: Triple H vs. The Undertaker

• Awesome entrance by Triple H!
• Love the fact that Triple H doesn't seem afraid of the Undertaker. It's refreshing to see Taker enter without his opponent shitting himself.
• Fuck a match, this one was a fight to the death!
• The whole match builds and builds to the point when Triple H hits a HUGE Tombstone on the deadman (everyone thought the match was over here).  The reaction they got when Taker kicked out was fucking massive!
• Triple H hit him with everything he had (even the Cole Mine!), when nothing else worked, he went for his trademark sledge but Taker caught him in the Hell's Gate, and The Game had no choice but to submit.
• Cool selling by the Undertaker, you would think the streak is over....but you can't keep the deadman down forever (I mean like how many times has he died already?).

Winner: The Undertaker (19-0)

Match Rating: ****3/4 (Awesome match that more then lived up to the hype)




Disc Two:

On disc 2, the torch gets passed!

Match 1:: Extreme Rules:: Ladder match for the vacant WHW Championship: Christian vs. Alberto del Rio

• Decent match, but as far as the wrestling goes, just standard fare for a ladder match.
• Great feel good moment at the end, with Edge coming out (similar to Guerrero/Benoit at Mania' XX). 

Winner and NEW WHW Champion: Christian

Match Rating: **** (gains a boost due to the emotion of the match)




Match 2:: Capitol Punishment: Rey Mysterio vs. CM Punk

• A classic match, these two always deliver but this was their best match together.
• A lot of amazing sequences of counters in this match.
• The finish of this match was just incredible!
• Not much to say here, this is a match you MUST SEE for yourself!

Winner: CM Punk via GTS

Match Rating: **** (if there was more hype given to this match, a better crowd, or possibly a title on the line, it could have been a 5 STAR match)




Match 3:: Money in the Bank:: RAW MITB Ladder match: Alberto Del Rio vs. Rey Mysterio vs. The Miz vs. Alex Riley vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger vs. Evan Bourne vs. R Truth

• Each man enters with a ladder (as if there werent already enough there)
• Typical spots you would expect from a match like this, with the exception of a CRAZY shooting star off a ladder by Evan Bourne onto EVERYONE!
• Some cool storytelling being done by The Miz in this match.

Winner: Alberto Del Rio

Match Rating: ***1/2 (Good match, but not the best ladder match you've ever seen)




Match 4:: Money in the Bank:: WWE Championship match: John Cena(c) vs. CM Punk

• If you havent seen this match already, then WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING READING THIS!? You should be at your local dvd shop trying to get your hands on this one!
• WWE adding the package in there before the match (best promo of the year).
• The crowd was definitely the third man in this match, they were WHITE HOT!
• July 17, 2011 is now a day that will live in infamy.
• Every aspect of the booking was perfect here. Every once in a while, the WWE gets things JUSSSSST right!  From the entrances to the owning of Alberto, Vince, and John Laryngitis at the end.
• I mean seriously, are you STILL reading this?! GO WATCH THIS MATCH RIGHT NOW!

Go ahead, I'll wait.....









I'm serious....




You ready?....









Winner and NEW WWE Champion: CM Punk

Match Rating: *****(in many ways, this match SAVED pro wrestling)




Disc Three:

By the final disc, the next era has begun!

Match 1:: Summerslam:: WHW Championship match: Christian(c) vs. Randy Orton

• Awesome match! A great, hard fought battle to end this classic rivalry.
• A lot of weapons used in this match, and when you have two of the most innovative superstars ever, you have a recipe for beautiful disaster.
• Sick finish (dont want to spoil the sequence for those who have not seen).

Winner and NEW WHW Champion: Randy Orton

Match Rating: ****1/4 (Capping off an amazing feud in classic fashion)




Match 2:: Night of Champions:: WHW Champonship: Randy Orton(c) vs. Mark Henry

• This match mark's the beginning of the best streak of Henry's career.
• There's a BIG MATCH atmosphere in this one.
• Booker T said it best on commentary, "you can always be good, but you only get one chance to be great in this business".
• Love the story, in which Mark's power and dominance forced Orton to begin a Bret Hart-like dissection of the World's Strongest Man.
• Awesome spot, where we see Orton bent around a ring post by Henry.
• Randy Orton is slowly becoming the new Shawn Michaels, with his ability to tell an amazing story through facial expressions and smooth ring work.
• Henry has the BEST match of his career here, and the crowd goes APESHIT for the World's Strongest Victory! I honestly got chills when he won.  Also, an awesome post-match promo by the big man.

Winner and NEEEWWWWW WHW Champion: Mark Henry (BAWSE!)

Match rating: **** (great atmosphere, storytelling and performance by both men)




Match 3:: Night of Champions:: No DQ match: CM Punk vs. Triple H

• Hilarious interruption of Triple H's intro by Punk.
• These two wanted to make something clear from the very beginning, this IS NOT a wrestling match, this is a FIGHT!  And boy, do they kick the living shit out of eachother.
• This was a great match that suffered from overbooking at the end.  Too many run-ins from The Miz, R Truth, Kevin Nash, the guy who dyes Nash's beard, the lady who gives him his facials, The Miz's fauxhawk (seriously I saw it move!), R Truth's sanity, CM Punk's hair gel, Triple H's water bottle etc. etc.  Sort of like something you would expect from Total Nonstop Awful, but not the WWE.

Winner: Triple H

Match Rating: ***3/4 (the fuckery just as this match was getting good ruined it's chances at a higher rating)




Match 4:: Hell in a Cell:: Divas Championship match: Kelly Kelly(c) vs. Beth Pheonix

• Nothing too special here other then the fact that Beth Phoenix gets her LONG OVERDUE Divas Championship.

Winner and NEW Divas Champion: Beth Phoenix

Match Rating: **1/2 (what you'd expect from this match, would rather the Henry vs. Orton HIAC match than this one)




Match 5:: Hell in a Cell:: HIAC match for the WWE Championship: Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk vs. John Cena(c)

• This match had an amazing amount of drama for a match with 3 superstars (which is not easy to pull off).
• Punk had a nasty gash in his back halfway into the match.
• An awesome DDT/neckbreaker combo by Punk.
• Genius move by Del Rio, locking John Cena out of the cell.
• A classic HIAC bout with some cool post match moments involving Awesome Truth.

Winner and NEW WWE Champion: Alberto Del RIIIIIIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Match Rating: ****1/2 (great match, these three have amazing chemistry amongst them)




Match 6:: Vengeance:: WHW Championship: Mark Henry(c) vs. The Big Show

• For my money, this is the best BIG man vs. BIG man match I have ever seen.
• This match also marks the PEAK of Henry's title run.
• I felt like I was watching a Bear fight a Gorilla in this one lol.
• AWESOME ending with the ring caving in after a HUGE super DUPER plex!

Winner and STILL WHW Champion: Mark Henry

Here's how he did it.....






THAT POOR REF!





What's that?

You wanna see it in super SLOOOOOOOO MOOOOOTIIIOOOOOOON?




Oh alright....






Match rating: **** (the great match no one expected)




Final thoughts:

This set is fuckin' AWESOME! I only paid 15 bucks for it on sale and it was a friggin STEAL!!!! Love pretty much every match on the collection.  If I had any complaint's it'd be that I would have liked another match with R Truth, and Randy Orton and Christian's matches from Capitol Punishment and Over the Limit as well.  But if, for some reason, you were frozen in carbonite in late 2010 and missed all of 2011 as a result, pick up this dvd and grab some beers and pizza and enjoy!  This will probably be the very best WWE PPV match dvd they do for a while, and the boys have quite the task ahead of them trying to top it.



Overall DVD Score: 10.0 (MUST HAVE)



Best Match:: MITB: John Cena vs. CM Punk

Best Disc:: Disc 2




Let me know where you agree/disagree




Until then....

Later Marks....

-9