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RADICAN: "Lost Treasures of Pro Wrestling Vol. 1" pays fitting tribute to several deceased wrestlers Dec 14, 2007 - 7:53:53 PM
I had a chance to check out RF Video’s “Lost Treasures of Pro Wrestling Vol. 1” this past week. The release features a series of tributes to deceased wrestling personalities. There is a simple formula that each tribute follows, as a deceased wrestling personality is introduced by the narrator as pictures and match footage of each deceased persona are shown on screen. This formula gets a bit monotonous at times.
After the introduction segment, clips from RF Video shoot interviews, as well as some brand new comments from various wrestling personalities to pay tribute to the subject of the current segment. Some of the segments were really interesting, as there was a long chapter on the Von Erich family. It was fascinating to watch various people involved in WCCW blatantly stretch the truth about the tragic circumstances surrounding the deaths of Fritz’s sons. Others are more frank, but pro wrestling is such a bizarre industry where you see people lying many years later, despite the truth of the subject being available for many years.
RF Video has interviewed Bret Hart several times in the past, so his comments on Davey Boy Smith and Owen Hart are interesting to listen to.
Also included in this documentary are HBK’s comments about the night Owen died. The Hebners also offer some unneeded comments about the night Owen fell from the rafters that could have been left off. Several people do appear to balance out some of the more depressing details of Owen’s death by talking about what a great guy Owen was while alive.
I found a lot of the tributes to be depressing, as the grim reality of the way some of the personalities spotlighted passed away were highlighted throughout this release. The segment on Mike Awesome is particularly depressing.
Also included was a long segment on Doug Gentry, who was one of the founders of ROH. Gentry’s segment is long, but it includes a lot of information about the origins of ROH and Gentry’s involvement in the company. Gentry’s involvement in ECW and how he met Rob Feinstein were discussed and made for a fitting tribute to a man who nobody could say a bad thing about.
This release ends with a teaser for the next volume in the “Lost Treasure of Pro Wrestling” series. Also included in this release are 2 discs full of matches and bonus footage.
Overall, RF Video did a really good job of acquiring enough additional footage to make another solid documentary on the heels of the excellent “Life In The Fastlane,” which is still my favorite documentary released in the past year.. There are a lot of funny stories told, but there is also a lot of depressing stories included as well. I give this DVD a solid thumbs up, as it would make a good gift for most hardcore wrestling fans during the holidays.
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