All Rise...

Judge David Johnson recently delivered a Stone Cold Stunner to his cat. He's a tough guy!

The Charge

Austin 3:16!!!

The Case

Back in the mid '90s, when Vince McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (eventually World Wrestling Entertainment) was locked in a ratings battle with the upstart WCW, a figure emerged to return McMahon's brand to prominence. He was Stone Cold Steve Austin, a beer-swilling, hell-raising, Southern-fried tough guy who infused the WWE with a hardcore attitude the company would ride into ratings dominance. As it says on the DVD packaging, Austin is wrestling's most popular superstar of all time, and it's hard to argue that point. Even Hulk Hogan, at the height of his popularity, was unable to reach the fevered clamoring the masses had for the Texas Rattlesnake.

Heck, I wasn't even a wrestling fan and I felt the pop culture burn of Stone Cold. This four-disc set is probably overdue, considering how prominent a role he played in the evolution of the brand and the industry. The good news: it was worth the wait.

Disc One
A lengthy and well-done documentary on Austin's rise to glory. It's two and a half hours, packed sideways with more Stone Cold trivia than you can handle. This is no half-baked WWE-suckling production. These guys get into everything: the real dirt on feuds, personality clashes, struggles with alcoholism, divorces, and even Bret Hart taking few shots at Vince McMahon. Seriously, this is a legit documentary and I was properly engaged…for two hours. The final leg, beginning with Austin's surprisingly emotional retirement, should have been curtailed or forgone altogether (and I kind of liked The Condemned).

Disc Two
The first of two discs featuring matches hand-picked by Austin himself.

USWA—May 1990
• Stunning Steve Austin vs. Gentleman Chris Adams

WCW Saturday Night—July 30, 1994
• Stunning Steve Austin & Ric Flair vs. Sting & Ricky Steamboat

King of the Ring—June 23, 1996
• King of the Ring Final: Stone ColdSteve Austin vs. Jake The Snake Roberts

WrestleMania 13—March 23, 1997
• Submission Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart

In Your House: D-Generation X—December 7, 1997
• Intercontinental Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia

WrestleMania 14—March 29, 1998
• WWE Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Shawn Michaels

Disc Three
Over the Edge—May 31, 1998
• WWE Championship No Disqualification Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Dude Love

SummerSlam—August 30, 1998
• WWE Championship Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Undertaker

Raw—March 22, 1999
• Stone ColdSteve Austin vs. Big Show

WrestleMania XV—March 28, 1999
• WWE Championship No Disqualification Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock

WrestleMania X-7—April 1, 2001
• WWE Championship No Disqualification Match: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock

Disc Four
An assembly of Austin's more memorable moments, from the promos he cut in his early days, to the in-ring mayhem he was associated with during his WWE tenure (Hint: most of them feature beer).

WWE: Stone Cold Steve Austin is ten hours of material, with the documentary transmitted in a clean standard definition 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, supplemented by a Dolby 2.0 stereo track. The matches themselves are all ported over from their full frame broadcast TV presentations. For extras, we get some bonus scenes that didn't make the final cut of the documentary.

The Verdict

Worthy of the icon that is Stone Cold Steve Austin. Not Guilty.

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