WCW War Games: WCW's Most Notorious Matches

I supposed if I was to break it down, I'd give 5 stars to Disc 1, 4 stars to Disc 2 and 3 stars to Disc 3, so I just went with 4 stars as a whole. Watching these WarGames matches is actually a really good illustration of the way wrestling changed over the last several decades. On Disc 1, WarGames meant something. It meant the Horsemen and Dusty and Nikita and the Road Warriors and all those guys were gonna bleed. They were settling differences. People were gonna get their comeuppance. The focus was the story and the match and WarGames was the place that story was told and that match would also tell the final chapter.By Disc 3, WarGames is more a novelty act than a storytelling mechanism. It starts well enough with the nWo versus WCW with their mystery partner. The revelation of Sting turning his back on WCW at WarGames '96 was so hot, it could've been told in a paper bag and it would've worked, but that was probably the last meaningful WarGames match. After that, the match became a backdrop as ego-centric wrestlers and promoters just used the cage to push their own agendas. The rules (what little there were) kept being changed to suit whatever agenda the company had. WarGames '98 is an embarrassment to the name. A cage full of some of the biggest names in WCW/nWo at the time are all fallen by a slapjack to the back of the head and lay there for ten minutes while Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior have a 1-on-1 confrontation where they don't even wrestle! Oh! And then DDP won, not a team, just DDP, because the rules were so now convoluted, teams didn't matter even though there was supposedly teams in the cage. WarGames '97 could've been something special, but instead was essentially used to tell any old school wrestling fan that your opinion doesn't matter anymore. Once again, it was the nWo versus WCW, but it was basically Kevin Nash and the B-team of the nWo. By this point, the match means nothing in terms of story because Buff Bagwell and Konnan spend more time talking to the camera and posing than they do wrestling. By the time, Curt Hennig turns on the Horsemen and Flair's head is crushed by a steel door, any fan who grew up with Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and NWA knows their time has passed. As an interesting side note to that match - Chris Benoit is in it. Benoit, who has pretty much been wiped from wrestling history after his horrific murder/suicide, was a participant in this match and made the final cut of the DVD. Then by WarGames 2000, the cage is this giant 3 level pyramid thingy and I'm not sure who is on who's side and Vince Russo is in there wearing football gear and Kevin Nash wins even though he just stands by the door the whole time. It's all confusing and sad.You'll probably notice I skipped over Disc 2. There's just not a lot to say. The guys work hard, but there just wasn't a lot of talent during this time period. Sting is there doing his best trying to make everyone else look good and Arn Anderson is the consummate professional in these matches, doing the grunt work while other guys are getting the glory. By the time Sting's Army wins WarGames '93 thanks to the help of the Shockmaster, we kind of know the deal.Dusty Rhodes is the host/narrator of the DVD set. He looks back at WarGames with the sense you might think a father looks back at his kids. He is proud of the great things it did, but saddened to see how the world (or in this case, the promotors) changed it. Everything changes, especially in wrestling. This WarGames set is a great ride through those changes, both good and bad.

Let me just say this - I HATE WWE. I hate what they have done to pro wrestling and I don't consider that kiddie junk "wrestling" anymore, and I don't think that's a stretch. Even Punk, if not a work, seems like he is fed up with them. I like TNA and ROH. All that said - I LOVE this dvd. The 80s NWA was the best wrestling in history...end of story. Just watch this dvd, especially the first 4 matches. It is so realistic and serious and the fans even cheered in a different way - instead of yelling YES like sheep they were so into it - they would ERUPT at times - just notice it - wrestling crowds were different back then.Pro Wrestling was SOOOOO much better in the 80s and this disc shows that - but there are good Wargames in the 90s too. My sleeper match? Watch the Midnight Express, Road Warriors, and Dr Death vs Freebirds and SST. I love that match - so well done. But I miss the days where they tried to be realistic and bled. This is not good stuff...this is GREAT stuff. The first 2 Wargames? Two of my favorite matches ever - so intense - they hurt each other.In this disc, Brian Pillman is almost killed - FOR REAL, and JJ Dillon broke his collarbone. That is all you need to know about this disc - excellent to watch - and Dusty's stories in between are really cool. The Wargames is a great disc, just hate the fact I had to give WWE money to get it. That is all WWE is good for anymore in my eyes, releasing old NWA, AWA, and World Class stuff. But yeah, this is the best wrestling disc you can get out there. It's great.

I bought this set brand new, but portions of each DVD freeze. This isn't a common problem with WWE DVDs, but it does diminish my satisfaction with the product.I got fewer matches to watch than people who bought the blu-ray set. That's annoying, but it can't be helped; still, why not charge blu-ray price for the DVDs and include all the matches? Wouldn't that still be profitable?The early War Games matches, the ones with the Four Horsemen, are very good, although somewhat repetitive. As the history progresses, the quality of the matches deteriorates, mostly because of the participants being less skilled and the planning being a cluster-flunk. Dusty Rhodes, who provides commentary, pretty much acknowledges the loss of quality, which might be honest, but makes for a strange mood as you watch. "Well, here's the next match, if you weeeeel. It's not that good, but here it eeeeeeees, know what I'm sayin'?"I think the content is worth the money I paid, but I don't like that the disks were poor and not completely playable, thus the three stars.

Like the concept, with some big names it was well worth a watch, but that's about it. Action is all over the place and the three cages on top of each other ridiculous, in one match they climb ladders to go into the top and fight there way down and the winner gets out of the cage? That's not the war games and the last match with Vince Russo and Goldberg! A waste of time first disc is the best one but it's the same match every match same people same moves, not what I expected but worth a watch then goes into my wwe wcw DVD collection!! So ha ha win win

Love seeing all these, some for the first time. It does get repetitive seeing them back to back. 2 teams of 4 to 5 guys going in one at a time. The heal team ALWAYS wins the one man advantage (wouldn't ya know it?). The cage looks like it's about to fall apart at any moment. The early matches don't have a cameraman inside the cage, took a few years before they figured that one out. Too bad this concept is gone but it's imitators like Elimination Chamber live on.

Some great matches on here but many that could have been left off. War Games got really watered down at the end, and the players in those matches were not made for a cage match of this magnitude. If you have never seen the first war games match, you need to. The violence and psychology were fabulous. The bar was set so high it was tough to re-create that magic again.

Great collection of fun violence. Classics matches are much better.

Enjoyed watching the old wcw war games matches. Very happy with my purchase and the quick service.

Great price and fast delivery

I love the old War Games but the last couple of ones weren't as good. Explains why the company when under!

Very fast delivery and top notch product quality! Thank you very much!