Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen

Director: Kevin Dunn
Distributor: WWE Home Video
Released: 4/07

Featured Talent
Arn Anderson, Steve Austin, Chris Benoit, Eric Bischoff, Tully Blanchard, J.J. Dillon, Paul Ellering, Ric Flair, Michael Hayes, Jerry Lawler, Theodore Long, Dean Malenko, Shawn Michels, Gene Okerland, Dusty Rhodes, Paul Roma, Jim Ross, Ricky Steamboat, Triple H, Barry Windham, Kendall Windham

The Good
When you look at the original Four Horsemen stable (Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Ole Anderson, Tully Blanchard and J.J. Dillon) you see five of the best promos in pro-wrestling and this pair of DVD is packed with top notch promos. I remember Meltzer discribing his mixed feelings about this release because it is an age of promos that will seemingly never return and how sad that is because that is such a magical part of pro-wrestling. Past that bittersweet realization, this documentary is one of the better WWE products that tells its story in a frank way that is not overly romanticized. They were a groundbreaking stable and this documentary captures their accomplishments, their legacy as well as their inability to recapture their fame in the 1990s. I felt the discussion of the personality conflicts really took this to another level. Flair was unafraid of ripping on a number of people, which made for some interesting parts. The discussion of Paul Roma though takes the cake in that department though. The explaination of several key events: the sale of WCW from Crockett to Turner, the feud between Flair and Eric Bischoff and the decline of Tully Blanchard's career were all well done.

The Bad
The biggest problem with WWE's documentaries is typically their skewing of history, where events and personalities are either romanticized or buried. Often people turn down projects or are left out projects and find themselves on the bad end of WWE's version of pro-wrestling history. Ole Anderson turned them down and he was marginalized, Sid turned them down and was buried and a number of key people were not included. Sting is obviously part of a rival company, Lex Luger has been blackballed and a number of others were simply left out and that always deters from the quality of the story. Arn Anderson kayfabed a bit and the story of the double-stabbing between he and Sid was at least mentioned, but definitely its impact was not discussed. This has several issues, but on the whole is a fair documentary as far as the WWE products go.

The Extras
The interviews and discussion of interviews is a real gem on these two discs. There are seven matches and a couple are excellent, but they are not the selection many people may have selected. There are bits and pieces after 1988, which are good in and of themselves, but the focus was really placed on the correct time period.


The Rating: ****

In honor of Bret Hart's return to live WWF/WWE television, here's a review of his WWE distributed documentary and DVD set from 2005: 

Bret "Hitman" Hart: The Best There Is, The Best There Was, The Best There Ever Will Be

Director: Kevin Dunn

Released By: WWE Home Video
Release Date: 11/05

Featured Talent: Animal, Steve Austin, Chris Benoit, Jerry Brisco,Christian, Bret Hart, Jimmy Hart, Steve Lombardi, Vince McMahon, Gene Okerland, Roddy Piper, Bruce Pritchard, Jim Ross

The Good

The Bret Hart story is one of the most fascinating in pro-wrestling and this WWE production with Hart's close involvement does a respectable job. His early years are covered in pretty good depth, which is not often the opposite in these documentaries. It talks about his amateur background, his legendary father and shows more Stampede than you would expect. Although it is in highlight form (Stampede's library is limited), it focuses on his greatest rivals, which are consequential some under appreciated talents like the Kiwis (later known as the Bushwackers), Bad News Allen, The Stomp, David Schultz and it shows plenty of the Dynamite Kid. Then his legendary thirteen year run with the WWF is covered in great depth. From his early days as a near jobber and later half of the extremely talented Hart Foundation, his abilities as a young worker and heel are displayed. Then his singles days as the “excellent” Intercontinental Champion workhorse, the unlikely World Champion and then the superstar in his prime. This climbing-the-ladder story is a simple and frequently used one on the WWE documentaries, but it plays well here because it is a drawn out story. After he reached the pinnacle, it discusses the many hardships that befell him – unexpected hatred from the American fans, the Montreal screwjob, his pathetic WCW run, the death of Owen Hart, his sudden retirement and his stroke in 2002. The documentary stays away from the numerous deaths that Bret experienced over the last ten years and that prevents this from becoming too morbid, although the DVD Extras has a nice piece about Bret's dead colleagues. This a well put together DVD package and it has many great matches to boot. The star commentary here is from, not surprisingly, Bret Hart himself and the DVD Extras add some of the bits that couldn't neatly fit into the documentary.

The Bad

In these WWE documentaries there is often a lack of duality to the commentary. Bret Hart really believes in his legacy and he is the overwhelming presence here and not many other views squeak into the story. Vince McMahon and Jim Ross provide some good perspective, but they are not exactly critics of Bret Hart. This is not surprising because it was a tricky operation to put this DVD package together. There is a shocking lack of diversity to the commentators though, which is tragic. None of his family members are featured, most notably Jim Neidhart, there is a lack of Stampede personalities and even old veterans (Nick Bockwinkel, Harley Race, etc.) who could have been interviewed. There is plenty of Ed Whalen in the Stampede highlights, which is unfortunate because it makes the product seem so far league. Otherwise, this is a solid documentary and a great DVD package.


The Rating: *****