Not a Giant Documentary

February 18, 2010 Patrick Hickey Jr. DVD & Blu-Ray, Professional Wrestling 0

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that the imprint Andre The Giant left on the wrestling industry was immeasurable. Unfortunately however, for his most ardent fans, the WWE documentary that bears his name is a minuscule effort that pales to compare to anything “The Eighth Wonder of the World” accomplished in the squared circle.

As a matter of fact, after watching this poor excuse for a compilation, you’ll wonder why it was even released in the first place.

With narration by Lord Alfred Hayes, who appears to be shoddily reading from cue cards during the introduction, the DVD has a rustic WWF feel [it was obviously ported from VHS to DVD in an effort to bring the company extra revenue] that has aged worse than an open can of spam in the summer sun. Simply put, Hayes’ commentary is a disaster. While he attempts to discuss Andre as a person, he fails miserably, and in the process, embarrasses himself and the legendary wrestler. Chatting about his love of children and the fact that he’s “a ladies man indeed,” Hayes fails to put a level of professionalism on the mic work, making the dated matches even more difficult to stomach.

Overall, it feels like someone reading a poor, dog-eared script to worn-out matches.

Speaking of the matches, of the already small handful that are featured on the disc, none fail to captivate and show Andre at his best. What a travesty, considering the man made a living for nearly three decades winning battle royals and handicap matches at seemingly his own whim. While there are a few glimpses on the disc that show what he is capable of in the ring, for the most part, this collection is a farce and a total bore.

Bad commentary alone would be enough to keep this collection off your shelf, but the poor selection of matches seal the deal. Even if you are the biggest fan of Andre’s work, stay away from this set and wait for something better to come along.

Because it’s only a matter of time until the WWE understands the huge injustice they’ve made by bringing this sad case to DVD in the first place.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14316 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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