WWE: Best Pay-per-View Matches 2009-2010 Blu-ray features mediocre video and solid audio in this enjoyable Blu-ray release
The pinnacle for every sports entertainer is to appear on pay-per-view, and once there, they desire to steal the show-put on the best match. For the first time ever on home video, the WWE Universe can enjoy the best PPV matches in a one-year span in one home video collection. The stars of Raw, SmackDown, and ECW present the greatest bouts of the year, from longtime PPV standards WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, and Royal Rumble, as well as newly themed events, including Breaking Point, Hell in a Cell, Bragging Rights, TLC, and Elimination Chamber.
The WWE's bread-and-butter is served during each and every Monday and Friday night telecast. Yet if RAW and SmackDown are the staples, the WWE's Pay-Per-View matches are the elegant
feasts, the finest choice cuts reserved for special nights of high prices but exceptional quality, far superior in presentation to be sure and far more often
than not much more satisfying than the basic spread offered up on a bi-weekly basis. Anyone hungry now? Hungry from some wrasslin'? For
Best
Pay-per-View Matches 2009-2010, the WWE
has selected, no surprise, what it considered the best of the best of its Sunday night pay matches, a veritable smorgasbord of high-end delights
stretching from the calendar year (or so) of April 2009 through March 2010. There are plenty of big name stars and lots of highly entertaining
matches. Rey Mysterio puts his
mask on the line and a classic bout that
pitted a long and storied streak against a longer and perhaps even more storied career defines the year that was. Oh yeah, this is the modern WWE at
its best.
Battling The Undertaker: career suicide?
This is a nuts-and-bolts basic compilation program that begins with April 2009's Backlash and ends with WrestleMania XXVI in
March 2010. The program offers audiences 15 total matches (including one ladies match), a pretty well-rounded cross-section for what basically
amounts to
eleven months worth of high-dollar sports entertainment. Sure, the complete collection of every Pay-Per-View event would be nice -- wouldn't it be
great to see each and every one of them on Blu-ray a month or so after the fact -- but for fans who simply want a recap of the year's best, this is it,
and it costs around half of what just one of the twelve events featured would have cost on the night of its airing. That's a bargain. Better, there's
very little fluff; what's here is made up of only a few brief
Michael Cole and Matt Striker interludes. This is nonstop wrestling entertainment at its best, delivered in high definition across two discs for hours
upon hours of nearly uninterrupted WWE greatness. Grab a few beers, snag a bag of chips, plop into the recliner, and enjoy these fantastic matches
all over again or for the
first time.
Disc One (total runtime 4:07:08):
Last Man Standing Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Edge vs. John Cena. Backlash -- April 26, 2009.
ECW Championship Match: Christian vs. Jack Swagger. Backlash -- April 26, 2009.
World Heavyweight Championship Match: Jeff Hardy vs. Edge. Judgment Day -- May 17, 2009.
Michael Cole & Matt Striker: The announcers discuss Edge's return and Chris Jericho's feud with Rey Mysterio.
Mask vs. Intercontinental Championship Match: Rey Mysterio vs. Chris Jericho. The Bash -- June 28, 2009.
6-Pack Challenge for the United States Championship: Kofi Kingston vs. MVP vs. The Miz vs. Jack Swagger vs Carlito vs. Primo. Night
of Champions -- July 26, 2009.
Michael Cole & Matt Striker: Cole and Striker recap what's been seen in the set, discuss the WWE's dominance in the Pay-Per-View
landscape, and look forward to a Triple Threat match between John Cena, Triple H, and Randy Orton.
Triple Threat Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Triple H vs. Randy Orton. Night of the Champions -- July 26, 2009.
Intercontinental Championship Match: Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio. SummerSlam -- August 23, 2009.
Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the World Heavyweight Championship: Jeff Hardy vs. CM Punk. SummerSlam -- August 29, 2009.
Michael Cole & Matt Striker: The announcers discuss the Cena-Orton rivalry.
"I Quit" Match for the WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Randy Orton. Breaking Point -- September 13, 2009.
Disc Two (total runtime 2:41:28):
Michael Cole & Matt Striker: Discussing D-X vs. Legacy.
Tag Team Hell in a Cell Match: D-Generation X vs. Legacy. Hell in a Cell -- October 4, 2009.
RAW vs. SmackDown: Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Mark Henry, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger & Kofi Kingston vs. Chris Jericho,
Kane, Matt Hardy, Finlay, R-Truth, David Hart Smith & Tyson Kidd. Bragging Rights -- October 25, 2009.
Traditional Survivor Series Match: The Miz, Jack Swagger, Sheamus, Drew McIntyre, & Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison, Evan Bourne,
Matt Hardy, Finlay, & Shelton Benjamin. Survivor Series -- November 22, 2009.
Ladder Match for the ECW Championship: Christian vs. Shelton Benjamin. WWE TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs -- December 13, 2009.
Women's Championship Match: Michelle McCool vs. Mickie James. Royal Rumble -- January 31, 2010.
Michael Cole & Matt Striker: The announcers talk up WrestleMania.
Streak vs. Career: Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels. WrestleMania XXVI -- March 28, 2010.
Best Pay-per-View Matches 2009-2010 features a rather underwhelming Blu-ray presentation. The 1.78:1 material passes muster as a
baseline acceptable, watchable image, but it's not as precise as the newer WWE material. The image is almost helplessly blocky and seems held together
by just a drop of digital glue. The picture appears almost constantly unnaturally sharp and rough. Details suffice -- close-ups of faces are fine and
graphics are mostly sharp if not a bit jagged around the edges -- but aren't rich or complex. Skin textures often look rather smooth, too, and the image
is painfully flat. Colors are adequately vibrant, but the palette isn't naturally rich and lifelike like viewers might be accustomed to seeing on the newest
WWE releases. Black levels are rather poor and noisy. Certainly, this isn't a videophile's transfer, but casual viewers more interested in the wrestling
action than the exactness of the presentation should be able to look beyond the shortcomings and enjoy the basics.
Best Pay-per-View Matches 2009-2010 features a largely satisfying Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. As most WWE-on-Blu-ray fans know, this is
the norm for these releases, and most know what exactly what to expect. This one doesn't deviate from that norm. The announcer interludes aren't
the pinnacle of dialogue clarity; there's a slight shallowness to such moments, but the delivery is adequately clear nonetheless. Music largely hovers
around the front. There's more energy in the manufactured pre-match clips than there is during wrestler entrances or in-ring action. During matches,
crowd reactions aren't so pronounced and spaced so as to place the listener in the audience; they're fairly front-end heavy but basically effective. In-ring
dialogue and ringside commentary both are delivered as crisply and naturally as can be expected of a lossy soundtrack. Some of the heavy crashes, hits,
and thuds deliver adequate heft. All in all, a fair track given the material.
Best Pay-per-View Matches 2009-2010 contains an assortment of short superstar interviews on disc two as well as a few Blu-ray exclusive
goodies. All footage is presented in high definition.
Disc Two Special Features:
John Cena Discusses His Match From Backlash (1:06).
Christian Discusses His Match From Backlash (0:50).
Rey Mysterio Discusses His Match From The Bash (0:44).
Kofi Kingston Discusses His Match From Night of Champions (0:39).
Rey Mysterio Discusses His Match From SummerSlam (0:55).
John Cena Discusses His Match From Breaking Point (1:32).
Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase Discuss Their Match From Hell in a Cell (1:20).
Matt Hardy Discusses His Match From Bragging Rights (0:58).
The Miz Discusses His Match From Survivor Series (0:45).
Blu-ray Exclusive Content:
Singapore Kane Match (9:32): Great Khali vs. Kane. Breaking Point -- September 13, 2009.
Unified Tag Team Championship Match (19:43): Chris Jericho & Big Show vs. Batista & Rey Mysterio. Hell in a Cell -- October 4, 2009.
Tables, Ladders & Chairs Match for the Unified Tag Team Championship (29:14): D-Generation X vs. Chris Jericho & Big Show. WWE
TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs -- December 13, 2009.
World Heavyweight Championship Match (20:05): Rey Mysterio vs. Undertaker. Royal Rumble -- January 31, 2010.
This one's pretty simple. "WWE." "Pay-Per-View." "Best-of." This is a classy, nearly no-frills release that delivers as promised, nothing more and
certainly
nothing less. It offers nearly a year's worth of expensive pay matches for the price that's probably 1/25 or less of what all of the events together would
have cost "live." Sure it's not everything, but for the casual WWE fan who just wants to pop in a few good matches on a lonely afternoon or for the
hardcore enthusiast who has to have them all, this is a must-own set. WWE's high definition release features the usual good picture and sound
qualities. A few bonuses are included. Recommended.
