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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
WWF/WWE-Summerslam '99: An Out of Body Experience (2000)

WWF/WWE-Summerslam '99: An Out of Body Experience (2000) (NTSC)

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Released 21-Sep-2000

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Wrestling Main Menu Audio & Animation
Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Featurette-What's The Story
Featurette-Talkin' The Talk
Featurette-Out Of Body
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 133:24 (Case: 180)
RSDL / Flipper RSDL (65:12) Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By None Given
Studio
Distributor
WWF Entertainment
Eagle Entertainment
Starring The Rock
Steve Austin
Triple H
Mankind
Ken Shamrock
Jesse "The Body" Ventura
Case Amaray-Opaque
RPI $44.95 Music Various


Video (NTSC) Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.37:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Onto the third WWF DVD we go, the one in question this time being Summerslam of 1999. As a pay-per view, Summerslam is an entertaining and fun ride for three hours, although a couple of the outcomes of matches are a little questionable to say the least, especially the Main Event. The nine matches in this P.P.V. for all the wrestling fans out there are:

Tag Team Turmoil: Six tag teams in total (Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, Mideon & Viscera, Droz & Prince Albert, The Acolytes and The Hardcore Hollys), with two teams starting in the ring and a new team entering after a team has been defeated. A bit of a boring start for the P.P.V. as this match does drag on a bit, and one of my favourite teams - The Hardy Boyz, get defeated first.

Lion's Den Weapons Match: Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman. Set in a circular cage with weapons scattered around the top, this match is more of a martial arts exhibition than a wrestling match due to both wrestlers backgrounds including some form of it. Still a good, quick match overall.

WWF Women's Championship Match: Ivory vs. Tori. A normal match to decide the women's belt. Not a good match technically as a couple of manoeuvres don't seem to come off too well and you get the feeling of "What just happened?". Still, it is a Women's match.

Two Titles On The Line: D'Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett with Debra. The first match with the questionable outcome. It's one of those times when a friend switches sides to the enemy and then backstabs his former friend. Plus D'Lo Brown is also a favourite of mine.

WWF Tag Team Championship Match: Kane & X-Pac vs. The Undertaker & The Big Show. A well-wrestled match finishing with the now outlawed Tombstone Piledriver. I won't say who out of Kane or The Undertaker performs it.

WWF Hardcore Championship Match: Big Boss Man vs. Al Snow with Pepper. This match follows the hardcore match formula to a 'T'. First, start out in the actual arena with bare hands, second, move into backstage areas using more and more odd things to hit each other with and then finally finish off the opponent with your special move on some type of chair, table, bin etc. or hit them with something really hard. Perfect really.

"Love Her Or Leave Her" Greenwich Street Fight: Test vs. Shane McMahon. If Test wins, he gets to marry Stephanie McMahon (Shane's sister). If Shane wins then Test has to leave Stephanie.

"Kiss My Ass" Match: The Rock vs. Mr. Ass. The loser of the match has to kiss an unknown person's ass. I'll give you a clue as to whose it is - think big, very big!

Triple Threat Match for the WWF Championship: Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. Triple H vs. Mankind with Jesse "the Body" Ventura as Special Referee. The main event of the evening with the current Minnesota State Governor as referee. Let me state now that I absolutely hate Triple H. His attitude is somewhat laughable and I don't see how he could have become WWF Champion in the past. After watching this for around forty minutes, the ending seems to be rushed, and the winner is again questionable. This match actually has four different commentators which you can switch to on the fly.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

    A near perfect transfer from the experts at WWF Home Video.

    It is presented in the made-for-TV aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. This disc is in the NTSC format so make sure your equipment can handle it before purchasing or renting.

    The picture is absolutely razor sharp at all times, and about as good as a NTSC 1.33:1 transfer can get. Too bad the same can't be said for the shadow detail, which is a little lacking at times, especially in the non-ring areas. No low-level noise was present.

    Colour is very vibrant, capturing the fireworks and lighting perfectly, not to mention the very colourful crowd.

    No MPEG artefacts were present and neither was any grain. Practically the only problem with this transfer besides shadow detail was moiré effects. They are constant, appearing on such things as grates, grilles and the ring ropes. No film artefacts were present due to the transfer being sourced from video.

    The layer change at 65:12 was very noticeable but very unobtrusive as nothing is really happening at the time. It is just before the main event.
 


Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    A near perfect transfer again from WWF Home Video. Now if only they could take their work a step further...

    The only track on this DVD is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 effort. Obviously I listened to this one, as sound is better than no sound.

    The dialogue is very clear at all times when you are meant to be hearing dialogue, such as the commentators. Audio is perfectly synchronized at all times. There are no distortions related to the mastering of the DVD.

    This track would have received a 5-star rating if it made itself a bit more useful, since no imaging effects were used, although it did create a very wide and encompassing soundstage.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    As per usual for a WWF DVD, the extras are more like extra wrestling matches rather than behind the scenes type of stuff, although it's still good stuff.

Menu

    The menu is fully animated with a smoking skull and lots of fire effects backed up by the Summerslam theme tune.

Short Featurettes - What's The Story (5)

    These are short snippets of clips from before the P.P.V. to give you some background information. They are:     They are very informative for the more casual WWF viewer.

Alternate Commentaries - Talkin' The Talk (3)

    The three wrestlers in the main event, Steve Austin, Mankind and Triple H give their insights on the match in separate commentaries. Stone Cold seems to be the most entertaining to listen to as he is more real than the other wrestlers, Triple H is just as pompous as ever and Mankind just describes the match. Note that these commentaries are only for the main event and not for the whole P.P.V.

Short Featurettes - Out Of Body (3)

    Three short featurettes based around Jesse Ventura's re-entrance into the WWF. They are:

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    This disc is identical world-wide.

Summary

    Summerslam-An Out Of Body Experience was a fun pay-per view but not the best I have seen. It is presented on another excellent WWF DVD.

    The video quality was exceptional.

    The audio quality was faultless.

    The extras were low in quantity but very high in quality.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Andrew Siers (I never did my biography in primary school)
Monday, December 11, 2000
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-626D, using Component output
DisplayToshiba 34N9UXA. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationYamaha CX-600 Pre-Amp, Yamaha MX-600 Stereo Power Amp for Mains, Yamaha DSP-E300 for Center, Teac AS-M50 for Surrounds.
SpeakersMain Left and Right Acoustic Research AR12s, Center Yamaha NS-C70, Surround Left and Right JBL Control 1s

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