Review for WWE Unreleased: 1986-1995

I have always said that the most valuable thing in the wrestling business is the WWE's massive tape library. WWE could probably release something every day and it would still take them years to release it all. This set, WWE Unreleased: 1986-1995 brings together 45 matches that have never been seen before. Presented by the utterly adorable Charly Caruso, who is joined by the old 1980/1990s announcer Sean Mooney (who it seems lives in the tape archive?) and I must say I enjoyed their little vignettes between the matches which is rare for me to say.

The first thing is, none of these matches have commentary and this can be a little difficult to watch at times. I do wish that they had recorded new commentaries for them to make it feel more comfortable to watch. Some of the matches are also really badly recorded almost like they had been recorded by someone in the crowd and not professionally and it does take a bit away from watching some of them, which is a shame.

The three disks features almost every star who was in the WWE during the late 80s and early 90s. It reads a bit like a Who's Who of Wrestling: Hulk Hogan. Andre the Giant. Macho Man Randy Savage. The Ultimate Warrior. Jake Roberts. Bret Hart. The Undertaker. Shawn Michaels. Roddy Piper. Ric Flair and so many more. I was astonished by some of the matches on this set that had not been released before and there are some matches on here that are pure gold.

Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair is the dream match that WWE did not pull the trigger on for PPV and watching I am absolutely baffled as to why. When it has been discussed in the past, they have always said that the matches were not popular or didn't get the reaction they expected. If that is the case, then they didn't watch the match on here as the crowd goes crazy. If this had been a WrestleMania it would have been one of the biggest matches of all time.
His tag team match against Paul Orndorff and King Harley Race is interesting simply because his tag partner was his WrestleMania opponent and long time rival Roddy Piper. It was so strange seeing them team up, but seeing them shake hands at the end was amazing. Piper also has a great match against Ric Flair and a Piper's Pit with the Brooklyn Brawler. Whenever I see any of the Piper's Pits it always makes me sad that his talent on the mic is now gone as it was so perfect.

If you are a fan of Ultimate Warrior (like me) then you will love the number of matches on this set including a fantastic match against Randy Savage and also a wonderful tag match with him and Texas Tornado against Rick Rude and Mr Perfect. He also has a Casket Match against The Undertaker and it is shame that this feud didn't go on to bigger PPV spectacles like this.

Fans of the tag team Demolition will also see just how good they were against the likes of The Powers of Pain and The Collossal Connection. However, they will also see how much WWE dropped the team like a bad smell once they got The Legion of Doom who most people thought were the superior team. Their match against them is such a disappointment it's hardly worth watching.

With many of these being House show matches it was an opportunity for the WWE to try things out and see what works and what didn't, but sometimes you wonder what they were thinking. Included is a Blindfold match between Jake Roberts and Rick Martel which is generally regarded as one of the worst WrestleMania matches of all time. So begs the question how no one watching this match couldn't see that... maybe they had a blindfold on too?

Bizarrely they include two ladder matches back to back between Jeff Jarrett and British Bulldog and then one against Razor Ramon. Both are fine in general, but I wish they had picked just one as I saw so many of the same spots in each of the matches.

Rare matches include a WWE debut of the Tazmaniac who went on to become Tazz in ECW. There is also an absolutely insane match featuring a tag team called 'The Toxic Turtles' which was just a lawsuit waiting to happen and surely this was some kind of a joke?

There is a WWE Championship match between former tag team partners Bret Hart and Jim Neidhart. It is a shame that Neidhart wasn't a great worker as this could have been a great main event feud. Bret Hart features in multiple matches against the likes of British Bulldog or even teaming with Shawn Michaels, which just seems insane. Michaels is also featured in a match against Mr Perfect which is... well, perfect.

Of the 45 matches it would be difficult to say that everything is watchable (they include an Undertaker/Giant Gonzalez match after all), but I can't deny that even the worst matches on here I was still curious to watch it. I mean how bad can a Papa Shango and Kamala against Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart match be? (Answer: Not as bad as I thought, surprisingly enough?)

My only issue is with the technical nature of the set and even if only a few of the matches had had a new commentary (even as an alternative track maybe from one of the wrestlers involved or from a current wrestler or announcer) it would have made some of the matches more interesting to watch. It is odd after all these years of listening to Jim Ross or Michael Cole or even going back to the Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby Heenan days it is sometimes difficult to watch a match without that play by play talk.

WWE Unreleased: 1986-1995 is a really good set and hopefully one that WWE releases a Volume 2 for as there is certainly more that can be found to release. If you are a fan of the older wrestling or just want to discover something new then this will be the set for you.