DVD Review: The Randy Savage Collection

WWE DVD Review: The Randy Savage Collection

It is hard to believe that 'Macho Man' Randy Savage is no longer with us. His sad passing was well documented across the globe (including a few pieces by yours truly). This three disc DVD box set is a very good way to fondly remember the legendary grappler. The only thing it lacks is any fresh input form Savage himself. This is of course just how these things go sometimes. Randy and the WWE were not on good speaking terms when the DVD was produced (2009) and thus his inclusion was something that we cannot really have expected to see.

Overall this is a perfectly enjoyable highlight reel of 'Macho Man's WWE and WCW career, plus much more along the way.

Matt Striker and Maria are our hosts in this roller-coaster ride through the ups and downs of Savage's tenure in wrestling. Savage was one of the few former wrestlers who retired gracefully and never returned to the ring. He did however make an appearance in the original Tobey Maguire starring Spiderman film though.

I for one had hoped the WWE and Randy would one day bury the proverbial hatchet and offer him a place in the Hall of Fame. Maybe that will still happen, it is just a shame that the man himself will not be able to appreciate it. That fateful heart attack and subsequent car crash saw to that unfortunately.

So what will you see on this three disc set? Well from the get go we get to see Randy as the perfect heel for the WWE at that time. He was cocky, exciting and more than willing to bend the rules when he could. Things really picked up when he was aligned with (real life spouse) Miss Elizabeth. Liz was something the WWE had never seen before, she was a glamorous young woman and she was a breath of fresh air in a company that possessed mainly older male managers.

From a match point of view across the discs we get to see some classic encounters between macho and Ricky Steamboat (with whom he had one of wrestling's finest ever feuds and WrestleMania's best match too), we also see him face off against Ted DiBiase, Honky Tonk Man, Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair. Included here also are the legendary Mania match with Hulk Hogan, the well-paced 'retirement match' with Ultimate Warrior and the quite scary battle with Jake Roberts (which saw Savage get mauled by Jake's pet snake).

Throw in some nice TV matches, WCW classics and a huge amount of vignettes, the 1991 in-ring wedding of Randy and Liz, and you have one hell of a good release.

This Christmas this may just be the one wrestling DVD that the wrestling fan in your life would love to have.

The Randy Savage Collection is available now from www.silvervision.co.uk and all good retailers.

By Phil Allely