Review of WWE: Undertaker 15-0

Introduction

As of February 2008, the plan for Wrestlemania XXIV is to match up The Undertaker with World Heavyweight champion Edge, in a contest that will be billed as a battle of two combatants who have never been defeated at Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania, of course, is the biggest WWE event of the year, and The Undertaker has competed in 15 so far in his career, and thus the title of this DVD, 15-0.

The Undertaker (real name Mark Calaway) first competed at Wrestlemania in 1991, when he defeated WWE legend Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka. Since then, he has missed only two Wrestlemanias, both through injury, and in 2007, he won the World Heavyweight Title from Batista, in what was a tremendous match considering its prior expectations.

This 3-hour DVD feature, then, covers each of The Undertaker`s matches at Wrestlemania, inclduing bouts with Jake "The Snake" Roberts (Wrestlemania XIII), Psycho Sid (Wrestlemania XIII), and Ric Flair (Wrestlemania XVIII).

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is very good for a DVD of this genre. With footage going back to 1992, the glitz of more recent events isn`t present there, but the footage has been preserved perfectly.

Furthermore, the transfer to DVD is excellent.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good. Much like the video, the audio quality here has survived the times, and everything is well-mixed, so that everything from wrestler entrance music, in-ring action, and commentary can be heard easily alongside the other.

Features

There are no extras on this disc.

Conclusion

The Undertaker has had his share of good matches in Wrestlemania`s latter years, but it certainly has not always been the case. So while we`re treated here to very good bouts against Batista, Randy Orton, and Triple-H, to get to those (assuming you are watching the full feature) you have to pass through quite a lot of dross, in particular the bouts against Giant Gonzalez, King Kong Bundy, Kane (twice), and The Big Boss Man.

For Undertaker fans, there will quite some disappointment in this release, as the bouts with Diesel, Psycho Sid, Kane (Wrestlemania XIV), Triple-H, Ric Flair, and Randy Orton are all shown in highlight form. Furthermore, three of these bouts are have previously been made available on The Undertaker three-disc release "Tombstone", in their entirety, as was the Wrestlemania XX bout with Kane.

On a positive note, each match is introduced somewhat by television footage that was used to hype up the various contests. It`s a treat, for example, to recollect the famous angle in which The Undertaker turned babyface (good guy), preventing Jake "The Snake" Roberts from assaulting Miss Elizabeth.

Those snippets, however, are not enough to make up for this DVD`s shortcomings. Aside from the match quality, which is often poor, the release is let down badly by the highlights-only matches. Especially when they have previously been released in their full form.

The Undertaker is an extremely popular wrestler among WWE fans, and having been a major part of the Wrestlemania, there`s a great story behind this release. Overall, therefore, this production is ultimately disappointing, being worthy of much more than just this single-disc set.