WWE - Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen (DVD, 2007, 2-Disc Set)

What a great DVD. To be honest I've never been a fan of the 4 Horsemen or tag team wrestling for that matter, but I did recognize what great talent they were back in the day. This DVD utilizes some great footage and recent interviews with the 4 Four Horsemen (except for Ole who is missing) as they share their memories of how they were united, their huge rise, the glory years, and to their rather sad and bizarre downfall at the hands of new management. None of them seem to hold back as they relate their experiences with both the wonderful and the strange business sides of the NWA and WCW. The Ted Turner take over is also discussed. This DVD comes across as a shoot. They tell us all about the great times they had during their rein. Ric Flair recalls how he spent $60,000 on limousines in one year alone, how he spent between $3000-$4000 on each of his ring robes (he owns 15 of them). He said if he made $500 he spent $700. The DVD is 2 discs. The first disc is their story done by recent interviews and mixed with old footage and DVD extras (just over 2 hours, not including the extras). The second disc contains some of their greatest matches, steel cage match between Flair and Ricky Morton (Great American Bash 1986) and the 4 Horsemen vs. Dusty Rhodes, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Lex Luger, Nikita Kolloff, & Paul Ellering (Great American Bash 1988). Very fascinating stuff. The 4 Horsemen, Barry Windham, JJ Dillon, Triple H, Eric Bischoff, Jim Ross, and yes, even Paul Roma (remember that Horsemen) are interviewed in this. Great to see what they look like today especially Tully Blanchard.

Hidden Eggs:

(Disc 1)

Under Ric Flair "Wildest Night in the Business", click twice.
You will see a Ric Flair promo from 1986.

Under extras menu, left click twice on the chapter "4 Horsemen Interview".
You will see a 4 Horsemen promo from 1986.

"Arn and Tully leave" chapter, left click twice.
You will get a Dusty Rhodes commentary about Arn and Tully leaving.

Under 4 Horsemen 1996 chapter, left click twice.
You will get a Ric Flair commentary about Eric Bischoff's reaction to
Sting beating Flair.

(Disc 2)

Under extras menu, left click twice the chapter, "JJ Dillon's Ring"
You will get a bonus interview with JJ Dillon.

This DVD was bought on a win, and was only bought so I could see some interviews
from my (at the time) favorite version of the group. At the time my favorite line up was
Flair, Mongo, Malenko and Benoit with Arn as a manager type role. After watching this
wonderful DVD my favorite line up became Flair, Anderson, Blanchard & Windham.
Until seeing this DVD I only knew Windham as The Widowmaker from his short run
in the old WWF, and Tully as one half of the Brainbusters tag team, again from WWF.
JJ Dillon was also only known to me as an on air Executive role in WCW. When
I saw this DVD I was a Horsemen die hard. They were the prototype for all future
stables or groups of Wrestling, including the nWo, DX and the short lived Evolution.
There are interviews from several members and current Superstars influenced by them.

Topics: Arn meeting Flair, the inception of the group, the accedental naming of the group,
The feud with Dusty, the Road Warriors feud, Ole leaving, the attempts to fill the
vacant spot in the group with guys like Sting, Sid Vicious, Paul Roma and Pillman.
The double stabbing between Arn and Sid is mentioned, but isn't really talked about
which is disappointing. The NWA becoming WCW and Turner buying the company,
Flair leaving for WWF, Flair's return and Arn & Tully leaving for the WWF, Barry
leaving for the WWF, JJ leaving for the WWF, the Horsemen reunion in WCW
and all the way up to the nWo feud and eventual demise of WCW. It literally
covers everything about the group in great detail except for the stabbing.
It's great to hear never before told stories from the people who lived them.
The matches and promos featured are for the most part never before
released on DVD, and though there are not many matches, the ones
featured are ALL spectacular. Especially Tully vs. Dusty and War Games.
This is truely one of the greatest stories in Professional Wrestling history
and the WWE did a really good job bringing the story to life for the fans.
This is one DVD that I will say is a MUST have and in my opinion is worth
way much more than what people pay for it. It will go down as one of the best
and when it is out of print, it will be one of the most sought out, hard to find
and most expensive DVDs in Pro Wrestling history. Mark my words!!

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I have no regrets in adding this slick volume to my wrestling collection. Whether you're an old Horsemen buff or a younger fan like myself wanting to learn more about some of the influential hands in professional wrestling, this will entertain and inform.

Surprisingly, the documentary is about 2 1/4 hours long as opposed to the usual 90 minutes. Indeed, there's a lot of history here. Even more interesting when you consider that since it's all Horsemen (Evolution isn't even mentioned) there is no WWE footage included at all, just WCW/NWA/JCP.

Arn Anderson never broke kayfabe (he spoke like it was all real) in his interview segments for the DVD - that may or may turn you off, but I liked the change of pace. Some of the Horsemen members were absent for comment from this DVD; Ole Anderson, Lex Luger, Sid Vicious. We do of course hear from Flair, Arn Anderson, Tully, Barry & Kendall Windham, Chris Benoit and ... Paul Roma! You won't believe what Paul Roma has to say, or that WWE actually left it on; it's hilarious.

The only thing that disappoints me about the documentary is that I thought Lex Luger and Sid deserved to be represented a bit more brightly than the burial they got. Of course Sid had the hotel room incident with Arn, but let's face it, if you're on the outs with Vince, you're going to get buried. I heard Sid even mentioned doing an interview for the DVD, but it got nixed for whatever reason, apparently.

Whatever you make of WWE, they put out some really great DVDs profiling their stars. The Horsemen never became part of WWE, but that didn't stop these two discs from hanging with the best of them. Long live the Horsemen legacy! Wooooo!

The documentary part was vey good. I do think that the WWE drops the ball sometimes on these DVD's by not interviewing important parties who are not affiliated with the WWE anymore. For instance, they didn't have any interview footage with Ole Anderson or Lex Luger. Would have been nice to here from Sting since he was as big as advasary as Dusty was. They at least should have sat down with Steve McMichael who was a Hoursemen for many years. Aside from that beef I likee the documentary portion.
The matches left a little something to be desired though. There are some good ones, like the Flair/Morton match, but too many good ones are not included. The Luger/Rhodes match from Starcade '87 was pivitol to the story line but left out. Not to mention several Road Warriors/Tully & Arn they could have chose from. Or at least one of the Andersons vs the Rock & Roll Express that were great.
All that said, I'd buy it again. It's a great behind the scenes look at a great time in wrestling history.

This DVD is a great look back at one of the more fun times in professional wrestling. Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen era in the 80's was truly special As you will hear from the Champ himself as well as Arn and Tully, this would change over time and the last few attempts to reform the group were not the same but to look back and see the great story telling that happened when Ric, Arn, Ole, Tully & JJ first kicked off the Horsemen was a true joy. It really lets one know what is missing in today's wrestling, the ability to tell a good story. I would recommend this for the true fan or a curious fan who wants to see how it should be done. If I had a complaint it would be that there were so many matches to pick from, I think some other ones would have been better to show case. but all in all a good dvd.