The Greatest Cage Matches of All Time review (DVD) ★★★★

Before the colossal carnage of the Elimination Chamber and the barbarism of Hell in a Cell, there was only one way that the fiercest of feuds could be settled in the wacky world of professional wrestling, and that was within the confines of a solid steel cage, where finality would be reached, flesh ripped and bodies broken. Now, with The Greatest Cage Matches of All Time triple-disc set, we can take a look back at over three decades of brutality and witness the evolution of one of the industry's most iconic stipulations.

Hosted by Josh Mathews and featuring 24 matches held inside the four walls of unforgiving steel, this release chronicles the use of the callous cage in a number of organisations, from WWE to the NWA and WCW, and is an excellent illustration of how the structure has changed over the years in mainstream wrestling. Wire mesh, blue bars, black bars... all the familiarly deadly designs are prominent in this set and each add their own uniqueness to the bouts.

The selection of matches over the three discs is good, although most of them have been part of other DVDs in the past, and in the case of the most recent in-ring contributions from WWE, pay-per-view event releases in the last decade or so. Silver Vision distributed the two-disc Wrestling's Most Incredible Steel Cage Matches in 2003, and as a result the two do indeed share matches, however, there is enough new material here to warrant owning both sets. Unfortunately, one contest included in the former release but not in The Greatest Cage Matches of All Time is arguably the greatest cage match of all time: Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart from SummerSlam 1994.

This isn't quite the ultimate anthology that we'll hopefully one day get, but it's still an excellently blood-spattered journey through time and one that provides an interesting look at how dramatically the landscape of wrestling has changed since the late '70s.

The matches available are:

Madison Square Garden – 24/09/79 – WWE Championship: Bob Backlund vs. Pat Patterson
Madison Square Garden – 19/05/80 – WWE Championship: Bob Backlund vs. Jimmy Snuka
Shea Stadium – 09/08/80: Bruno Sammartino vs. Larry Zbyszko
Christmas Star Wars '82 – NWA World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Kerry Von Erich
Starrcade '85 – NWA World Tag Team Championship: Ivan & Nikita Koloff vs. The Rock 'n' Roll Express
WrestleRock '86: The Road Warriors & Paul Ellering vs. Michael P.S. Hayes & Jimmy Garvin
Cotton Bowl Extravaganza: Abdullah the Butcher vs. Bruiser Brody
Brawl in St. Paul: The Midnight Rockers vs. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers
WrestleFest '88: Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant
Capital Combat: The Return of RoboCop – WCW World Heavyweight Championship: Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger
SummerSlam '90 – WWE Championship: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Rick Rude
Madison Square Garden – 21/01/91: The Ultimate Warrior vs. Randy Savage
White Plains, NY – 17/08/93 – Intercontinental Championship: Shawn Michaels vs. Marty Jannetty
SummerSlam '97: Mankind vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
St. Valentine's Day Massacre: Steve Austin vs. Mr. McMahon
Rebellion '99 – WWE Championship: The Rock vs. Triple H
Survivor Series '01 – Tag Team Championship Unification Match: The Dudley Boyz vs. The Hardy Boyz
SmackDown – 25/07/02: Edge vs. Chris Jericho
RAW – 10/05/04: Chris Jericho vs. Christian
Taboo Tuesday '04: Randy Orton vs. Ric Flair
Unforgiven '05: Matt Hardy vs. Edge
RAW – 02/10/06 – WWE Championship: John Cena vs. Edge
RAW – 03/11/08 – World Heavyweight Championship: Batista vs. Chris Jericho
SmackDown – 28/08/09 – World Heavyweight Championship/Loser Leaves WWE: CM Punk vs. Jeff Hardy

EXTRAS None.