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VD Review : TNA’s Best of the Bloodiest Brawls Scars and Stitchesâ€
Reviewed by : Steve “Rockamaniac†Wilson of MainEventRadio.com
Over the years, TNA has become notorious for releasing Best of DVD’s that focus in on a certain brand of matchups. We’ve seen multiple volumes dedicated to the best the X division has to offer, one for the Tag Teams and we’ve also seen 2 releases highlighting the blood filled hardcore action that TNA has offered over the years. Although they seemingly want you to forget that they made the first one which highlighted the 12 bloodiest battles from the year 2003, because in 2006 they released a DVD called Best of the Bloodiest Brawls and listed it as Volume 1, looking beyond that, hitting the market next week will be TNA’s Best of the Bloodiest Brawls : “Scars and Stitches†aka Volume 2 or Volume 3 depending on how you want to look at it, and this DVD picks up where the last one left off and take us on a 3 hour ride from Turning Point 2005 to this year’s Against All Odds PPV.
The DVD opens with a promo featuring the likes of Kurt Angle, Jeff Jarrett, Samoa Joe and others offering their thoughts on what it means to them to find themselves losing their own blood during a matchup, Nine matchups are then featured, ( 3 of which have been featured on previous best of releases) Before each match you get a short promo putting over the match, although the wrestlers involved don’t always talk about the specific match, that is left to the voiceover guy who explains some of the feud surrounding the match in question. Action begins with Jeff Jarrett vs Rhino from the December 2005 Turning Point PPV. This matchup didn’t have a hardcore stipulation on it but the intensity of the feud between Rhino and Jarrett at the time caused the matchup to spill out all over the arena, and needless to say caused the blood to flow. Second matchup is the Lethal Lockdown from April of 2006, as Sting’s Warriors took on Jarrett’s Army. This was a cage match, but most of the “blood and brutality†came in the final minutes once the cage ceiling is lowered and the weapons come into play, a good matchup nonetheless and this was the matchup where AJ Styles and James Storm battled at the top of the cage and Styles came flying off of a ladder setup on the roof of the cage, going through Storm and a table.
We then get the Daniels and Styles vs LAX, six sides of steel cage machup from Bound For Glory 2006. This matchup was featured on the best of tag teams dvd, and while I absolutely loved the match, I don’t think it warrants being on a DVD supposedly featuring the “best of the bloodiest brawlsâ€. Next up is Christian Cage vs Rhino in a Six Sides of Steel Barbed Wire match from Impact in November 2006, a matchup which was included on the Best of Christian Cage DVD put out last year, it was also included as an extra on the Dark Rising DVD which the horror/comedy film that Christian Cage starred in a year plus back. The first battle between Samoa Joe and Kurt Angle is then up, this of course from Genesis in November of 2006. Ill never get sick of watching these two go at it, definitely one of the more enjoyable matchups on the disc for me.
A well deserving entry on this DVD is the Destination X 2007 Last Rites matchup between Abyss and Sting, this truly was a bloody brawl, as was the next matchup which is the Falls Count Anywhere battle between Cowboy James Storm and The Wildcat Chris Harris from the Sacrifice 2007 PPV, this was actually included on the Best of 2007 DVD, but was an absolute classic battle and in a way I cant imagine this DVD being put out without this matchup included. Mr Hardcore in TNA, Abyss, is featured in the two final matchups on this DVD, the first being against Tomko in a No DQ-Must be a winner matchup from the Slammiversary 2007 PPV, and then we top it all off with the obvious choice of the Barbed Wire Massacre between Abyss and Judas Macias from this past February’s Against All Odds PPV. I could break down every match but true TNA fans probably remember these matchups vividly, while others can have the chance to enjoy them for the first time.
The promo material included states that there is a “variety of bloody bonus features†although my screener version did not have those included, perhaps it will be included on the final pressing of the DVD.
There has always been pros and cons when it comes to Best of DVD’s, on one hand it’s a way to get some of the best footage in your collection for one low price, on the other hand, those who have most of the footage already have little to no interest in picking up the best of, especially when almost no new footage is included. The interview segments included before each match are sometimes too vague, and should of spent more time on having the guys involved talk about the match about to be shown. The fact that 3 of the 9 matchups were on other Best of DVD’s is a huge negative. One is acceptable, but a third of the disc’s content is too much. There is other candidates that could of replaced the previously released matches. For example Monsters Ball matchups from Bound For Glory 06 and 07, or the initial Full Metal Mayhem match from Sacrifice 2006. I could understand the argument that you wouldn’t want to make this a Abyss only DVD as all 3 matchups I just mentioned feature Abyss, So why not one of Team 3D’s battles from recent years?
Ultimately the DVD is not an absolute must buy, but it is buyable , specifically if your looking to add some solid hardcore TNA action to your collection with only one purchase.
TNA Wrestling’s “Best of the Bloodiest Brawls – Scars and Stitches†will be available on DVD across North America next Tuesday August 5th for 19.99$, Head out to your local TNA DVD retailer or check out TNAWrestling.com for more info and to order from their online shop.
