Steve Austin's Greatest Hits

Rating:
Summary: Stone Cold ¿ Year One: Austin vs. Adams
Review: Long before he revolutionized the world of Sports Entertainment as the middle-finger sticking, beer guzzling, "What" yelling, Rattlesnake of the WWF, even long before his semi-fame as a member of the Dangerous Alliance and Hollywood Blondes in WCW, Steve Williams was "Stunning" Steve Austin, a hot rookie in the legendary WCCW/USWA promotion based out of Dallas, Texas. This bargain priced DVD chronicles 6 matches out of his rookie year (app. 1990) in the USWA, including his legendary feud with his teacher/trainer, the late Texas legend "Gentlemen" Chris Adams.

Here are the contents of this DVD:

THE MATCHES

1.Austin vs. "Gentlemen" Chris Adams: "Come As You Are Street Fight." Austin's first big program was his legendary feud with his trainer Chris Adams where the two men were embattled in a bizarre love triangle which involved Adam's ex-wife Jeanie Clark and his new wife Toni. This street fight was awesome. Austin's in football pads and Adam's in a judo gi. Tons of arena-sprawling action. 11 minutes. 4 stars.

2.Austin and "Missouri Tiger" Jeff Gaylord vs. Chico Torres and Frogman LeBlanc: Typical mid-card tag match. Nothing much became of the other workers. Decent action. 5 minutes. 2 stars.

3.Eric Embry and Steve Austin w/ Tojo Yamamoto vs. "Gorgeous" Gary Young and "Superstar" Bill Dundee: Embry was THE top star of the USWA in the late 80's and early 90's. Young and Dundee were stars out of the Memphis territory (which merged with World Class to form the USWA). This is a good old-school tag match. The match itself gets off to a slow start but totally picks up toward the middle to a really hot finish. Notable thing about this match: Dr. Tom Pritchard, currently a WWE official, was doing color commentary for this match. One of his quotes (paraphrased), "I'm very impressed with this rookie Austin. He'll be big one day." I don't think even Pritchard had any idea... 12 minutes. 3 ½ stars.

4."Missouri Tiger" Jeff Gaylord, Sheik Braddock and Austin w/General Skandor Akbar vs. "Gentleman" Chris Adams, "Maniac" Matt Borne and Eric Embry: Gaylord and Braddock were two USWA workers. Akbar was a top heel manager in the territory for YEARS. Borne was a prolific worker throughout the South and had a stint in WCW as Big Josh. He is probably best known though as the original Doink the Clown in the WWF. This was a solid match with tons of nice spots and great action. The crowd was very hot for this one. 12 minutes. 3 stars.

5.Recap of the Austin - Adams feud/love triangle with tons of highlights of confrontations between the two men. Highly entertaining.

6.Austin and Jeanie Clark vs. Chris and Toni Adams: Decent action with TONS of crowd heat. 10 minutes. 4 stars.

7.Austin and Jeanie Clark vs. Chris and Toni Adams: Re-match. Again tons of crowd heat and solid action. Percy Pringle (WWE's Paul Bearer) on commentary. Chris Von Erich, Jeff Jarrett and Iceman King Parsons post-match run-ins. 10 minutes. 4 stars.

THE DVD Extras

The extras on the DVD are somewhat laughable. Included on this DVD are:

1.Austin's biography (a quick paragraph or two summarizing his career and childhood).

2.An Austin photo gallery consisting of 4 pictures.

In other words, the extras are all right for a look but otherwise are worthless...

THE VERDICT:

Overall, at a cover price this DVD is a bargain. The matches and extras are a little sparse, but they are golden for wrestling nostalgists. The matches themselves are solid. The Adams - Austin feud was one of THE best storylines to come out during that era in the USWA (and wrestling in general), almost on par (though on a much smaller stage) with the subsequent (and much bigger) legendary Austin - McMahon feud of the late 90's WWF.

This DVD is definitely must viewing for Stone Cold fans/enthusiasts/completists. Fans of the WCCW/USWA circa '89/'90 will also appreciate this DVD. It is definitely recommended for anyone interested in seeing a very well-booked storyline.

Highest Recommendation.

Rating:
Summary: Austin gets started
Review: this is a good dvd if you are a fan of wrestling of the 1980to 1990s this is a Austin dvd but it is also a good look at what was going on in wrestling in Dallas back in those day before WWE took it all away from us would be nice to see a dvd on more of the wrestling stars from that time only thing I did,t like was the audio on my dvd it keeps going from one side to the other not to good should stay on stereo!