“The History Of WWE” is a documentary-style look at the entire history of World Wrestling Entertainment. We start at the very beginning, with Jess McMahon. We quickly cover the Vince McMahon Sr. period and transition into the Vince McMahon Jr. era, all the way to modern times.
In the following space, I will break down each chapter in the DVD. The DVD contains twenty-five chapters, with a total DVD run-time of just over two hours.
Let’s get started with chapter one, “Beginnings.”
Beginnings
The DVD documentary, which is featured on disc one, begins with a chapter called “Beginnings.” In the chapter, the story of how Vince McMahon’s grandfather, Roderick James “Jess” McMahon, who was known as Jess McMahon, started the McMahon promotional empire. From there, McMahon’s father, Vince Sr. took over and eventually broke apart from the National Wrestling Alliance to create what eventually became World Wrestling Entertainment.
Bruno Sammartino
The second chapter of the DVD is called “Bruno Sammartino.” In the second chapter, the story of the rise of Bruno Sammartino is told. They explain how Sammartino was chosen to defeat Buddy Rogers to become the WWWF Champion, starting a legendary run that lasted over 11 years between his two title reigns.
The Northeast
Chapter three, “The Northeast,” takes a look at WWE’s dominance of the Northeastern portion of the United States. They explain how WWE was the focal point of professional wrestling in the Northeastern territory, with Bruno Sammartino as their flagship Superstar.
Stars Of The 70s
The fourth chapter of the DVD, called “Stars Of The 70s,” covers exactly as the name says, the major Superstars in WWE during the 1970s. We see a lot of coverage of Bob Backlund and “Superstar” Billy Graham, both of which followed Sammartino’s legendary run as the Heavyweight Champion of the promotion.
Titan Takeover
The fifth chapter is called, “Titan Takeover.” The chapter focuses on Vince McMahon Jr., known to wrestling fans today as simply Vince McMahon, or on television, “Mr. McMahon,” buying out the company from his father Vince Sr., and deciding to compete with all of the regional wrestling promotions across the United States. The story, which has been told several times in the past, is explained how McMahon Jr. was going against his father’s wishes in competing with the other major promoters in North America.
Hulkamania
The sixth chapter, “Hulkamania” covers the rise of Hulk Hogan in the WWE promotion. They explain Hogan’s past, most notably in Verne Gagne’s AWA, and how his role in the blockbuster film “Rocky III” took Hogan to a level of celebrity that McMahon thought was perfect to capitalize on. McMahon chose Hogan as his poster-boy for the company to play out his vision of becoming a global sports entertainment franchise.
First WrestleMania
Chapter seven, “First WrestleMania,” looks at the initial WrestleMania event. The same story, which has been told in countless past WWE DVD documentaries, is told once again. McMahon took a huge financial risk in putting on the event, and ultimately it paid off. They explain the connection between rock and roll and pro wrestling, and how all the stars aligned to ensure WrestleMania coming off as a success.
Saturday Night’s Main Event
Chapter eight, “Saturday Night’s Main Event,” explains the continued rise of WWE as they were chosen by NBC executive Dick Ebersole, who was in charge of Saturday Night Live at the time, to replace SNL on off-weeks on the network. Ebersole even explains that “Saturday Night’s Main Event” would often out-draw SNL in the ratings when they filled in on various Saturday night’s.
WrestleMania III
Heavy focus is put on WrestleMania III, as is the case with many wrestling-related documentaries. There was no exception here, as chapter nine, which was simply called “WrestleMania III,” covers the enormity of the big event. For one of the first times ever, they don’t even mention the fact that “Macho Man” Randy Savage vs. Ricky Steamboat “stole the show” that night, as the keep the focus on the mega-match between Andre The Giant and Hulk Hogan, as well as the fact that they set the world indoor attendance record that night in the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
PPV Expansion
Chapter ten, “PPV Expansion,” looks at the WWE branching out their pay-per-view business, creating additional pay-per-view events to support their annual WrestleMania shows. They talk about the Royal Rumble, with “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan winning the inaugural Battle Royal style match. They also touch on Survivor Series, King of the Ring and the eventual “In Your House” pay-per-views.
Steroid Trial
In chapter eleven, “Steroid Trial,” they actually get pretty in-depth with the infamous steroid trial that WWE and Vince McMahon personally faced during the 1990s. Several interview clips from that time period are shown of McMahon explaining the steroid issue in his company. They show the infamous clip from the Phil Donahue show of “Superstar” Billy Graham burying WWE and Vince McMahon as McMahon was sitting directly next to him on the set. They cover Dr. George Zahorian’s part in everything, as well as the conclusion with McMahon being found not guilty.
New Generation
Following the steroid trial, chapter twelve, “New Generation,” covers the story of many of McMahon’s muscled up Superstars leaving the company to work for Ted Turner in Atlanta for WCW, and the new wave of Superstars that rose from the ashes of that time period. Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and many others are shown as the guys replacing Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and many others. They talk about how these guys might have never received that major opportunity had it not been for the exit of the bigger, already established Superstars leaving at the time.
Monday Night RAW
Chapter thirteen is called “Monday Night RAW,” and they cover exactly that — the weekly Monday night WWE RAW program. They tell the story of how the concept came about, and how it became one of the main staples of WWE televised programming dating all the way to the modern pro wrestling era.
Monday Night War
In chapter fourteen, the infamous “Monday Night War” is covered in pretty decent detail. They talk about how Ted Turner and WCW were offering large guaranteed contracts and how many of his Superstars again left to get the bigger paydays. They spoke about again creating new Superstars to fill the voids left by those who went to WCW, and how the company again went into a new era as a result.
Montreal
Once again the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” was covered, as chapter fifteen was called simply, “Montreal.” They quickly tell the story of Bret Hart and his contract, and how his refusal to drop his WWE Championship to Shawn Michaels at that year’s Survivor Series pay-per-view resulted in McMahon “having no option” but to screw Hart out of the title without his knowledge live in the ring. They also speak briefly about how in doing so, McMahon became an enormous heel, which ended up being the catalyst in creating the “Mr. McMahon” character that would later go on to deliver huge business for WWE with “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Attitude Era
Chapter sixteen, “Attitude Era,” begins with McMahon’s infamous speech about Hulk Hogan’s “saying your prayers and taking your vitamins” style of wrestling being, as McMahon put it, “passe,” and how they are going to “open the creative envelope, so to speak” to provide a broader form of entertainment. They showed several clips of some of the wilder moments during the Attitude Era, with many of the key players at the time talking about that era.
Tragedy In Kansas City
In chapter seventeen, “Tragedy In Kansas City,” the tragic story is told of Owen Hart’s death during a live WWE pay-per-view event. They don’t cover the fallout that resulted in the lawsuit from Hart’s widow, but they do go pretty in-depth into the whole situation, including playing classic clips from the Owen Hart Tribute Show the following night on WWE RAW.
SmackDown
Chapter eighteen, “SmackDown,” covers the WWE’s attempt to expand their television audience with their first weekly program on network television. They air clips from the debut of WWE SmackDown on UPN in the United States, and spoke about how this program ended up again expanding their overall audience.
Expansion
In chapter nineteen, “Expansion,” they tell the story of WWE expanding their business by officially becoming a publicly traded company, with several clips of McMahon and WWE entering the New York Stock Exchange. They explain that the promotion was always run in a style that resembled a publicly traded company anyways, and how this resulted in some changes, including WWE having to answer to stockholders and a board of directors.
Brand Extension
From there, we head to chapter twenty, “Brand Extension,” where they recall the decision to split their roster into two separate rosters, “RAW” and “SmackDown” with clips shown of the initial WWE Draft. They explain that the genesis of the idea came when they decided to expand the international side of their business, with the ability to have one complete roster in their main North American markets, while the other would be free to travel abroad.
WrestleMania Stadiums
In chapter twenty-one, “WrestleMania Stadiums,” they cover the story just as the name says — of WWE deciding to hold all of their annual WrestleMania events strictly in stadiums from this point forward. The decision was made to hold the event in bigger stadiums to give the show an overall bigger feel and general aesthetic presentation.
Hall Of Fame
Chapter twenty-two, “Hall Of Fame,” covers the story of WrestleMania branching into a week-long experience, with the Hall Of Fame ceremony being the centerpiece. They speak about the decision to create the Hall Of Fame due to the passing of Andre The Giant, as well as the decision to make him the first, lone inductee. They show multiple clips of past Hall Of Fame ceremonies, including random clips of specific guys giving their acceptance speeches.
WWE Studios
In chapter twenty-three, “WWE Studios,” we go back in time briefly to take a look at the original WWE film, “No Holds Barred,” which starred Hulk Hogan. They quickly come back to modern times to show the official creation of “WWE Studios” with “See No Evil” being their first true project. They show clips of several of the WWE films that would follow, explaining that the goal is to simply give their Superstars a different type of exposure to a different type of audience.
Securing The Future
Chapter twenty-four, “Securing The Future,” shows the most recent clips of WWE, and running down some of the many Superstars of today’s wrestling era, and how they created the NXT brand and opened the Performance Center to create Superstars that will carry them into the next generation.
50 Years
The documentary portion of the DVD concludes with chapter twenty-five, “50 Years.” In this chapter, several of the people featured in interview clips throughout the documentary talk about some of the key highlights in WWE history, blended into more current-specific interview clips of modern Superstars and employees talking about the future of the company.
Overall Thoughts
I have personally watched every documentary that WWE has produced, including “The History Of WWE,” which I watched earlier today. If you’re a fan of WWE-produced documentary DVDs, you would thoroughly enjoy this one as well. Personally speaking, I feel this is one of the best documentaries that the company has ever produced, as well as one of the most interesting. I recommend it to any fans of the pro wrestling genre. It’s a quality product, for sure.
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NOTE: The above item is an eWrestlingNews.com opinionated editorial, and should not be confused as a factual news item. Readers can contact the author of the above editorial, Matt Boone, via Twitter @MBoone420 or by posting your immediate feedback in the “Comments” section below.
