Review for WWE: Randy Savage Unreleased - The Unseen Matches Of The Macho Man

OHHHHHH YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!

This set brings together over 40 matches from the career of Macho Man Randy Savage, most of which have either only ever been shown once or have been hidden in the archives to be brought up for our enjoyment.

Corey Graves hosts alongside oldskool announcer Sean Mooney, WWE Superstar Bayley and Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page. An odd selection, but all three bring a great enthusiasm to why Savage was great. All have an obvious love for Macho Man and his impact on them and the business. Every few matches they come back to them and they talk about different aspects of Macho's career such as the addition of Miss Elizabeth who looks amazing in all her appearances and you can understand why most people see her as the definitive 'First Lady of Wrestling'.

Also talked about is his rivalry with Ricky Steamboat and of course that infamous match at Wrestlemania 3. My big issue with this is that as soon as they did I wanted to see that match and to go from that to an odd tag match with him teaming with Hercules Hernandez against Steamboat and Billy Jack Haynes which wasn't exactly in the same league. However, they do include another match which is just singles between them. This suffers from having no commentary and you would think while they have the other four there that they would record a new commentary to make this more watchable. As with most, what I call 'Silent House Show' matches they are fine in general, just not as entertaining as with a running commentary.

There is an interesting match showing Savage team with Jesse Ventura against a few jobbers. I say interesting simply because this is the first time I think I have ever seen Ventura wrestle. The match itself is nothing special, but both are fantastic heels.

Once Macho Man gained the Intercontinental Championship he proved why he was one of the best in the ring. This is shown in a fantastic match against Pedro Morales. Morales was near the end of his career and had previously won the WWE, Intercontinental and Tag championships. Both put on a clinic in the ring and you can see how during this time the holder of this belt could easily headline a show.

There is a wonderful match with Savage teaming with Honkytonk Man against Hulk Hogan and Ricky 'The Dragon' Steamboat. This was a classic WWE 80s tag match and filled with some great moments from everyone involved. It was also great to see one of the earliest encounters between Savage and Hogan.

There is a Steel Cage Match against Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase which is good and you can see why they had such a good rivalry during this time. The match is a great example of a steel cage match and both work well together throughout. Included is a match between him and Andre the Giant which (when you have heard all the stories about how much Andre hated Savage and legitimately tried to hurt him) is a fascinating match to watch, even if it is a little awkward.

They include a match against The Ultimate Warrior which is again silent, but it is the Warrior so you know I'm going to say I enjoyed it. A rematch of Wrestlemania 5 is included against Hulk Hogan which is final in general, but proof that they worked well, but very generic and almost carbon copy like in regards to their matches.

A fantastically odd match is Macho Man teaming with Roddy Piper and Hacksaw Jim Duggan against against Ric Flair, Undertaker and Jake Roberts. This match is just amazing and I am surprised more wasn't done with this, but it includes Piper and so you know I am all over this match. There is also a great re-teaming of the Megapowers which was mostly ignored earlier in the set with a 1992 match between Savage and Hogan against Jake Roberts and The Bezerker. It is just a shame that the quality is poor, with a random timer in the middle of the screen. Surely in 2018 they could have figured some way around that?

They only feature seven matches from his time in WCW and when you conisder how big of a star he was there it is quite shocking. They include another reteaming with Hulk Hogan against Kevin Sullivan and The Butcher which is awful, but I didn't expect any better than that. There is a great match against Curt Hennig and also a match against Stunning Steve Austin. What is surprising is that you can see the start of the Stone Cold attitude and you wonder whether WCW just didn't notice or care.

The best match from this time is a great match against Ric Flair from Nitro proving yet again that WCW was willing to give away a PPV-calibre main event on just some random TV episode and this really could have been the main event of any PPV. Though it is not as great their Wrestlemania 8 encounter.

Finally, the include an embarrassing match with him teaming with Madusa against Ric Flair and Charles Robinson dubbing himself as Little Nature Boy. Anyone who doesn't know, he is a current WWE referee and basically a huge Ric Flair fan who was awful in this match and I don't know why anyone would want to relive this.

Apart from matches they also include a number of promos and moments. There is a look at the home of Macho Man and Miss Elizabeth with Mean Gene Okerland which is filled with crazy Macho Man moments and conversation, though highlighted by Miss Elizabeth in her swimsuit. There is also the revelation of Sensational Sherri on the Brother Love show which was just painful. I never enjoyed anything to do with Brother Love and so there was no way I was going to enjoy this. However, they do include his insane music video and also some outtakes from it which are just fabulous.

This set is an oddball. At times I think looking back at the early career of Savage is fascinating seeing him develop, but on the face of it a good majority of this set is him against no-name jobbers or random wrestlers like The Bezerker, Barbarian or Paul Roma. If you told me did I want to watch a match against them? No not really.

I understand that with such a huge video library WWE want to get their money's worth, but I don't think this is the way. I watched most of this set itching to skip to the next match and that is not what it should be. This felt like the 1973 Dylan album that Columbia released when he left them almost in spite. An album with no new material, consisting of outtakes from two previous albums and generally regarded as his worst album. That is what this felt like. It felt like the scraps left over from an amazing career. Sure, there are certainly highlights and matches worth watching, but compared to their previous set about Macho Man this doesn't come anywhere close.

If you are a huge fan of Macho Man (and who isn't?) then you may be curious to pick this set up. However, if you are wanting hours of Five Star matches and moments, you might want to steer clear of this set. Snap into the previous one if you haven't got it... Dig it?