World Wrestling Entertainment is great at putting together biographies of wrestlers and tag teams, but prior to this release, their only 'faction' release had been about nWo Back in Black, which was kind of a middling effort at best.

 

That said, they struck gold here, re-telling the classic story of how Ric Flair, Tully Blanchard and Ole and Arn Anderson began teaming up in the mid-1980's, and taking us straight though to the group's final days more than a decade later.

 

The origins of the Horsemen are interesting enough, with four top heels being told to share interview time on WTBS. As Arn Anderson recalls, they knew that something had clicked there, leading to what would be many, many years of pain for NWA/WCW's babyfaces.

 

Triple H is among the talking heads on the documentary explaining why the Horsemen were so successful: the common man hated corporate America for a variety of reasons, and the Horsemen played that up - flaunting their wealth, dressing up in suits, taking limousines and private jets everywhere, that sort of thing.

 

While the group went through many changes over the years, it's the combination of Arn, Flair, Blanchard and Barry Windham that is characterized as being the group's apex (and not surprisingly, it's Flair's favorite combination, too).

 

Although there are some parts I would have liked to see more of (e.g. Barry Windham dressed up as Sting), the DVD manages to paint a pretty complete picture of the gang and their feuds with Magnum T.A., Dusty Rhodes, Sting, The Road Warriors and The Rock 'n' Roll Express. A wide range of voices help to tell the story, including Flair, Anderson, Blanchard, Windham, Dillon, Eric Bischoff, Mean Gene Okerlund, Michael Hayes, Rick Steamboat, Dusty Rhodes, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit.

 

Other combinations of the Horsemen are discussed, with WWE largely dissing the contributions of Jeff Jarrett, Lex Luger and Sid Vicious (as was WWE's m.o. when this DVD was produced).

 

One really interesting aspect is when they get to Paul Roma's seemingly random inclusion in the group. Flair can't reasonably justify the addition (and if memory serves, Flair wrote in his autobiography that it was Dusty's way of screwing with him), and Triple H laughs "the job guy from WWE?".

 

But then... you have interview footage, filmed specifically for the DVD, with Roma himself saying that he probably shouldn't have been in the group... because he was MUCH BETTER than Flair and company. Classic!

 

If anything, the WWE stints of the Anderson, Blanchard, Flair, Windham and Dillon are glossed over (they were all in the company around the same time, but never actually aligned together in any way, apart from the obvious Brainbusters pairing), which is refreshing for a WWE DVD.

 

The match selection is quite plentiful and interesting, featuring bouts such as Flair versus Ricky Morton, Blanchard versus Rhodes, and in a War Games bout, The Horsemen versus Rhodes, Luger, Nikita Koloff, Steve Williams and Paul Ellering. One bout - the only PPV encounter between Flair and Anderson - is interesting for nostalgia purposes, while acting as a nod to one of the group's many rebuilding periods.

 

Overall, it's a really interesting story that shows how SIMPLE good storytelling can be if features some intelligent guys that are given a decent ball to run with. Very highly recommended.