The History of the World Heavyweight Championship DVD (Disc 3) Review

From January 18, 2010.

For many years, the World Heavyweight Championship belt has existed throughout organizations such as NWA and WCW. In 2002, Triple H was awarded the championship by Eric Bischoff and the rest is history.

Match 1: Unforgiven 2002 - World Heavyweight Championship - Triple H (c) vs. Rob Van Dam
The only reason this match made it onto the DVD is because it is the first World Heavyweight Championship defense in the WWE era and to say it's a controversial choice would be an understatement. Heading into this one, many were expecting Rob Van Dam to finally capture his first world championship but no dice. Although I honestly don't care that Van Dam did not win, it really would have made a lot of sense for him to capture the title here but considering that the title was new, a big star should have held it to make the title more prestigious. The match was a huge letdown from top to bottom, considering this was their only PPV bout, you would expect a lot more. Instead, the match was a slow one that featured a ton of posing by Van Dam. Add a screwy finish to this match in Ric Flair ripping Van Dam with a sledgehammer, then you have yourself one of the most disappointing matches of all time.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: **1/2

Match 2: Taboo Tuesday 2004 - World Heavyweight Championship - Triple H (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
I understand that the WWE wanted to add a World Heavyweight Championship match from 2004 and I understand that they can't put any Chris Benoit matches in it, but why the hell did they pick this one? Better yet, why not pick a match from 2005 instead? Plus, their bout at the Royal Rumble was an amazing one yet that one gets overshadowed by this. I am a huge fan of their matches but this one could bee described as one of their worst as Michaels selling his leg injury completely slowed down the match a lot. At times, Michaels was selling the injury beautifully and at times, Michaels was selling the injury horribly by just making extreme facial reactions. The match was very basic and at times, was very dull. The ending came when Edge nailed a Spear on Michaels to which Triple H pinned Michaels to retain his title.
Winner: Triple H
Rating: **1/4
Match 3: No Way Out 2006 - World Heavyweight Championship - Kurt Angle (c) vs. The Undertaker
After two odd selections to the DVD, the WWE nailed it on this one as they chose an amazing match that is one of the most underrated matches of all time. This match was also the one that turned The Undertaker's career around as it jolted his career immensely. This match was simply two veterans filling 30 minutes of action beautifully as their counters, near falls, and hard hitting moves made this one a classic. The match began slowly with Angle working on Undertaker's legs and the two using submissions as they tried their best to make their opponent submit. They then finally took it outside where the match became a slugfest as they went at each other with fists to the face, suplexes, and other hard hitting moves. One brilliant spot of the match came when Angle hit the Angle Slam onto The Undertaker through the announcer's table and The Undertaker was unable to answer the count of ten. However, Angle stopped the referee from making the count out and threw The Undertaker back into the ring as he wanted to get the win cleanly in the ring. The finish was an amazing one where The Undertaker locked the Triangle Choke onto Angle who reversed it into a pin to get the win.
Winner: Kurt Angle
Rating: ****1/2

Match 4: SmackDown 2006 - World Heavyweight Championship - Rey Mysterio (c) vs. Randy Orton
Although this match seems like an odd selection, I like it since it's also another underrated one. After having a decent match at No Way Out earlier in the year, the two rebound here in a spectacular match. To this day, I wonder why the WWE chose to give away this match on free TV instead of booking it at Judgment Day where Mysterio eventually went on to defeat JBL in the main event. Anyway, I won't complain about it too much since these two men gave us an outstanding match for the price of nothing. In my opinion, this was Orton's best match since turning heel after an awful run as a babyface. Both men were out to prove the world that they can go for more than 20 minutes while pulling out a great match and they did just that. It became a bit irritating to see Orton constantly use the Chinlock on Mysterio to waste some time, but that didn't take much away from a great match that these two men managed to pull out. After Mysterio pinned Orton at WrestleMania 22 to win the World Heavyweight Championship, he did it once again on the following SmackDown to retain the championship after a 619 into a leg drop off the top rope.
Winner: Rey Mysterio
Rating: ****1/4

Match 5: Armageddon 2007 - Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker vs. Edge
Going into this match, expectations were pretty much through the roof as many believed that these three men were able to pull out a show stealer. Sadly, the match suffered from time restraints and rowdiness that became a key factor in Edge winning the match. The match was very fast paced and a lot of big moves were hit such as Edge delivering two Spears to both men consecutively. Near the end of the match, The Undertaker locked the Triangle Choke on Batista and worried that Batista may tap out, Edge rang the bell to signify that the match had ended. Thinking that the match ended, The Undertaker released the hold to find out that it was Edge who rang the bell. This heelish tactic was not enough for Edge to win the match so he brought the Major Brothers in the match to fool his opponents. This was not enough for Edge to the win the match as well so he waited for The Undertaker to hit a Tombstone on Batista and there, he drilled The Undertaker with a chair and pinned Batista to capture the World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: Edge
Rating: ***

Match 6: Survivor Series 2008 - World Heavyweight Championship - Chris Jericho (c) vs. John Cena
This was the match in which John Cena made his return to the ring after a three month absence and he showed a ton of ring rust in what was a very slow and methodical match with Chris Jericho. It seemed as if Cena was afraid to land high impact moves as he kept the match on the ground with lots of rest holds and submissions. Jericho helped out the cause by systematically working on Cena's neck with all sorts of submissions. As much as they tried to get the croud into it, they couldn't as the cround sat on their seats waiting for something to happen. Finally during the finaly moments of the match, Cena and Jericho shifted out of first gear and Cena landed the FU to capture the World Heavyweight Championship.
Winner: John Cena
Rating: ***

Match 7: Extreme Rules 2009 - Ladder - Edge (c) vs. Jeff Hardy
In their match to finally end their long running feud, Edge and Jeff Hardy put on a show stealing match that ended their feud in style. Never in this match to either man seem out of place and it was obvious that both men wanted to get the people talking about this match for years to come. I don't have much to say about this match since I have written about it about three or four times, but all I can say is that this match is one of the best Ladder matches of all time and did not fail to reach my expectations. With some amazing spots, breathtaking sequence of both men nearly grabbing the title, and brilliant finish, this match deserves to end the DVD as it symbolizes what the title is all about today, the world.
Winner: Jeff Hardy
Rating: ****1/4

Overall Thoughts and Rating:
Disc 3 of The History of the World Heavyweight Championship is filled with some odd match selections but some of the matches are highly worth checking out. With three four star matches on this disc, it wouldn't hurt to check this DVD out.
Rating: 4/5