Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I had only previously heard about World Class Championship Wrestling through reading about it on internet websites. One of the things that always struck me what what happened to the Von Erich (a.k.a. Adkisson) family and the tragedy that befell them during the years when WCCW was going through its downward spiral. What director Brian Harrison has done is nothing less than a triumph.
The movie takes a look at World Class' humble beginnings as a territory for the National Wrestling Alliance called Southwest Sports. It then advances to its heyday in the early 80s, when it got so enormously popular that it even started to outdraw Saturday Night Live in Dallas. It also became very popular in Israel, where the Von Erichs and announcer Bill Mercer were the four most popular entertainment personalities in the country (although in the movie, Mercer admits sarcastically that he didn't like being number four). According to the Wrestling Observer newsletter, their ratings were so good, they even outdrew the WWF (now WWE) in Boston (which is traditionally a WWF stronghold).
Many personalities were interviewed in the movie. From manager/booker "Playboy" Gary Hart, to the wrestlers who were a part of the promotion, like Chris Adams and Skandor Akbar. Highlights including the famous Von Erichs - Freebirds feud that lit the Dallas territory on fire during 1982 to 1984. Included in the footage of the famous moment where Terry Gordy slammed the cage door in the face of Kerry Von Erich on Christmas day 1982, which practically started the feud. Also interesting is ther perspective of Mickey Grant, the producer of the WCCW TV show, in that he came up with many revolutionary ways (at the time) to film the action for television.
Of course, this story takes the sad turn. Many of the deaths from World Class, including those of the Von Erichs are highlighted. This leads to the belief that there might be a "curse" over the workers of the promotion.
What really makes this DVD great is Kevin Adkisson (Kevin Von Erich). The movie really is worth buying to see what Kevin's persepctive was when he was seeing his brothers and his father die. Kevin doesn't pull any punches and it is worth the price to see the footage where he goes back to the Dallas Sportatorium before it was torn down.
Now the WWE is going to have their own documentary on the promotion now that the tape library of WCCW has been sold to them. So their documentary will have the political spin. Apparently, the documentary that the WWE will produce will make the Freebirds responsible for the great run in the early 80s when it was more than that. So the reason that people should get this video is that they should a more balanced view of what made this promotion so great, only to have it go down in a blaze of glory.
The only gripe I have about the set is that it doesn't have any matches. It shouldn't deter anyone from buying a great movie about a great wrestling promotion.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Heroes of World Class Wrestling (Director's Cut) (2006)
Click here for more information about Heroes of World Class Wrestling (Director's Cut) (2006)
