Review of WWE: Brian Pillman - Loose Cannon (2 Discs)

Introduction

The professional wrestling world is one that has caused much heartache to its fans over the last ten years. Nevermind the declining quality of the product, or its dissolution into a sleazy soap opera, I`m speaking of the premature passing of so many of the industry`s greats, such as Owen Hart and Eddie Guerrero. Another one, Brian Pillman, is the subject of this DVD set.

Pillman`s death - at just 35 years of age - was particularly sad given the hardship that the Cincinnati native had suffered throughout his life. In infancy, Pillman`s life hung in the balance as he battled throat cancer, the ramifications of which meant that he had not-long undergone his 36th surgery.

In his youth, Pillman was a consummate athlete, known to team-mates to have Olympic-level determination to succeed. Despite a lack of natural size, he was an All-American (all-star team player) American footballer in college, so good that in a world of players twice his size, he later became an effective defensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals in the NFL.

When a badly broken ankle finished Pillman`s American football career, he trained as a wrestler under the Hart family. Pillman was a natural, and by 1989 he was part of nationally-televised WCW.

But despite his undoubted talent and his boyish good-looks, Pillman struggled to make it past the promotion`s mid-card. In 1995, frustrated at his lack of opportunities, and knowing that injury was taking its toll on him, Pillman concocted a new gimmick for himself, which he would call "The Loose Cannon". It was inspired by the wild men of wrestling, who created interest in their careers by living outside of the ring as extrovertly as they did within it.

The problem was, Pillman didn`t want anyone to know that he was playing a character. He wanted everyone to believe that he had really lost the plot, and that included his friends and fellow wrestlers.

In the WCW company, only two people were in on the act: President Eric Bischoff, and match-maker Kevin Sullivan. Between them, they concocted a series of events to not only put Pillman across as a madman to fans, but also to WCW staff. The three even went so far as to have the WCW legal team send Pillman a legally-binding notice of termination, with the plan that Pillman would "crash" WCW TV shows to court more controversy.

In April 1996 however, just as the "Loose Cannon" persona was becoming the talk of the industry, Pillman was involved in a horrendous car accident, and fell into a week-long coma. His ankle was also shattered, to the point where it had to be fused into one position. The story was that Pillman had been awake for days, getting so deep into the Loose Cannon character that he was frightening his wife Melanie, who hated him for refusing to quell the act when he was around her. When he eventually did fall asleep, it was behind the wheel of his Humvee.

Pillman did manage to the return to the ring in 1997, though a shadow of his former self. The ankle which had been so badly injured in the car crash was causing him a tremendous amount of pain, so much so that Pillman began to over-use pain medication, and many of his peers began to witness even more erratic behaviour from him.

On 5th October 1997, Pillman did not show up on time for the Bad Blood pay-per-view in St. Louis, Missouri. He had wrestled the night before in St. Paul, and had stayed in a hotel nearby. When his room was checked, he was found dead, with evidence of pain medication in his possession. The cause of death was a heart attack, the same affliction that had killed Pillman`s father when Brian was two months old.

This 2-disc DVD set, then, is both a celebration of the life of Brian Pillman, and a look at the unique story of the man. It includes a 90-minute documentary, as well as interviews and matches from his career.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. As you would expect of a documentary, there are no great visual thrills, and none are needed. However, the archive footage presented here is wonderful to see, and it too looks superb considering its age.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is good for a DVD of this genre. I noticed very slight muffling in one interview segment at the beginning of the programme, but this is a very minor issue and is not distracting. The documentary is accompanied in the background by a variety of different musical cuts, clearly designed to reflect the mood of the piece. The balance of music and speech is well-mixed though, and at no time does the music become overbearing.

Features

The extras on this set comprise sixteen matches, and a variety of interviews and television skits. First up, we have a series of excellent stories that various personalities - including Mick Foley, Steve Austin, and Jim Ross - tell about our subject. Ross` deadpan recital of his tale is particularly hilarious.

We are then taken back to 1988 and Canada`s Stampede Wrestling, where Pillman gives an in-ring interview. Watching this, it is fascinating to note how he matured into such a wonderful television performer.

Two WWE TV segments follow, the famous "gun" incident with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin from 1996, and the "XXX files" from 1997. Both show Pillman as a fine actor, but there`s too much WWE nonsense to make it really credible.

Going back a little in time, there are also two segments from WCW TV. The first, from 1993, is a hilarious Pillman parody of Ric Flair, and the second is a sit-down interview with Pillman (from 1995), that was designed to re-start his career as "California" Brian Pillman. The latter is interesting until Pillman noticeably goes into character, at which point it`s difficult to take the piece seriously.

The first complete match on the set is Pillman & Bruce Hart`s battle with The Midnight Cowboys, from Stampede Wrestling. This is a reasonable match, though it is really only interesting when Pillman is in the ring.

The Halloween Havoc 1989 battle with Lex Luger is up next, and is one of the better matches of Luger`s career, before Pillman and Tom Zenk battle the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) for the United States Tag Team titles. This is good match, thought it would have benefitted from lasting a little longer.

A tremendous match opens up Disc Two, as in the first of three cage matches, Pillman teams with Sting and the Steiner Brothers to face Ric Flair, Barry Windham, Sid Vicious and Larry Zbyszko. This was the annual War Games match from 1991, and only an odd finish stops it from being an all-time classic.

Things come down in a notch in the next match, as Pillman battles Richard Morton for the WCW Light Heavyweight championship. This was Morton`s first national run as a "bad guy", and the crowd didn`t seem to want to boo him after loving him for so many years.

Two interesting TV matches follow, as Pillman teams with El Gigante to face Barry Windham and Arn Anderson, and then Pillman teams with Windham to face Tom Zenk and Johnny Gunn. The former is a Loser Leaves Town match, where the person pinned has to leave WCW (like so many wrestling "retirements", this never really happened), and the latter sees Pillman teaming with his old nemesis in his first "bad-guy" stint. Both matches are good, short, TV contests.

The bad-guy theme is continued next, as the Hollywood Blondes take on the masked Dos Hombres in a cage match. It is alleged during the commentary that Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas are under the hoods, but in all actuality, Steamboat teamed with Tom Zenk whilst Douglas nursed an injury. It is a good bout which has an excellent finish.

Another cage match is next, as the team of Pillman, Dustin Rhodes and Sting square off against "Ravishing" Rick Rude, Paul Orndorff, and Steve Austin. This is another excellent encounter, which moves at a superb pace.

In the first ever match on the WCW Nitro television show, Pillman faces Japanese superstar Jushin "Thunder" Liger. This is a very good television match, although perhaps a little sloppier than you would expect. However, that isn`t surprising given that Liger had just returned from twelve months out with a broken leg.

In another Nitro match, from some eighteen months later, Pillman contends with Dean Malenko in another good TV match, before he meets Eddie Guerrero in an extremely odd bout. The match itself is average, as Pillman seems distracted, but it is notable for the shenanigans outside of the ring. Commentator Bobby Heenan had just had neck surgery, and in a move which was not part of the script, Pillman creeps up behind him and puts his hand on Heenan`s neck. Heenan, not knowing that this was going to happen, blurted out the expletive and promptly left the ringside area.

The next match brings us to the WWE, as Pillman faces "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This is another good television match, but "The Loose Cannon`s" limitations are obvious in comparison to his earlier bouts.

In what he would describe as the highlights of his career, Pillman then teamed with Bret Hart, Owen Hart, Jim Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith, to face The Legion of Doom, Ken Shamrock, Goldust, and Steve Austin, in a bout held in Calgary, Canada. The match itself isn`t fantastic, but the story of the match is, and this coupled with one of the most vociferous crowds in recent memory, makes this an excellent match.

Unfortunately, the next bout can`t quite replicate that standard, as Pillman faces Goldust, but the extras finish on the highest of high notes, as Pillman once again takes on Jushin Liger. This is probably the best match of his entire career, and one which, in terms of high-flying wrestling, is years ahead of its time.

Overall, this is a very good set of extras. I would have liked to have seen perhaps a couple of other matches included, such as the WCW Saturday Night bout with Ric Flair from 1991, or the Superbrawl 1991 bout with Barry Windham, but that is nit-picking somewhat. What is included here is a lot of fun to watch.

Conclusion

The story of Brian Pillman is one that is very difficult to tell. Not because the information isn`t available, or because no-one knew the man, but because he packed so much into his 35 years of living, that to write about it thoroughly would take quite the book. It terms of the length-limitations of a documentary, this is a very good effort.

The stories of Pillman`s cancer, his battle of size versus will on the football field, and his wrestling career are all well documented. Interestingly, this documentary focuses little on his in-ring wrestling feuds, and concentrates more on Pillman`s personal life. This is one of the documentary`s major positives.

As is to be expected, the years 1996 and 1997 get a lot of attention, simply because they were his WWE years. That`s another good thing, since 1995-1997 were the most interesting of his career, as he developed the "Loose Cannon" gimmick.

If there are any disappointments in the documentary, one would certainly be that no-one seems to know about the concept of the "Loose Cannon" character. Even Eric Bischoff, who was supposedly on in the act, claims to know little about it.

Another is the fact that the feature stays relatively clear of speaking about Pillman`s addictions. No doubt the WWE do not wish people to associate their wrestlers with drug issues.

All in all, however, this is an informative look at one of the most talented, intelligent, and interesting wrestlers of his generation. The extras are a treat, too, and are an excellent compliment to a well-made documentary.