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Badmovies.org Forum  |  Information Exchange  |  Movie Reviews  |  Breaking the Code - review by A_Dubya « previous next »
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Author Topic: Breaking the Code - review by A_Dubya  (Read 1655 times)
A_Dubya
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I'm no hero, never was. I'm just an old killer.


« on: March 15, 2011, 09:52:53 AM »

Breaking The Code: Behind the Walls of Chris Jericho is a fairly serviceable DVD of professional wrestler and musician, Chris Jericho's 20+ year career. I have my personal issues with it though.

*NOTE* this will just be solely about the main feature/documentary.

First the positives: Jericho, as the narrator, does a fantastic job of talking about some of the things that made him so popular during the late 1990s in WCW, and how he got his start in the United States working in SMW, ECW and bringing never before seen styles into the states. Also, I like his honesty on certain aspects of his career when he was in the WWF/E for the first time. The DVD also highlights his work in other countries, training in Canada, working in Mexico, Japan and Germany.

Now the negatives: I felt like they skimmed through the time he spent in Mexico and Japan WAYYYYY too quickly. I was actually checking the time on the tracker, and to my surprise noticed there was still well over an hour left on the DVD's time length. They didn't include Chris meeting Eddie Guerrero for the first time, his participation in the Super J Cup, or any of the success he had as far as championships attained, or people he defeated while in these promotions.

My next problem is the lack of time they spent on how crucial he was to ECW's rise in the mid 1990s. ECW helped bring in a lot of the cruiserweight wrestlers who would later go on to WCW and even WWE, and put them on the map. People such as Juventud Guerrera, Rey Misterio Jr., Psicosis, Dean Malenko, etc. were a huge part of what made ECW so special. I suppose people who already have the Rise and Fall of ECW DVD may already understand this, but it still could have been included.

His time with WCW was well documented I thought, but there seemed to really be a lot of revisionism when it came to Jericho's time in WWF/E. I recall him saying that beating The Rock and Steve Austin in the same night was a huge achievement for him and was a big deal....which I definitely agree that it was. He was the first undisputed champion in the then-WWF. However, his entire run as champion after that took place was an afterthought. Surprisingly, they did not just totally ignore the fact that Hogan vs. The Rock from Wrestlemania X-8 COMPLETELY overshadowed the match Jericho had vs HHH for the undisputed belt. He still feels that it was a big moment for him, yet he did not like teaming with Stephanie. I feel that the entire buildup for that match was pedestrian at best. Jericho was treated as a total joke as the undisputed champion, and it was predictable that he would drop the belt to HHH at that year's WrestleMania, as HHH had been out close to a year prior to that with a quadriceps tear.

The next thing I recall that bothered me was the idea that the Wrestlemania XIX match he had vs HBK was considered the show stealer. I know this is all subjective, but I felt that the match was very good, but not better than the later match Jericho had with HBK in 2008. I think that match had more real emotion and a stronger story attached to it. Besides, Wrestlemania XIX featured Steve Austin's very last match versus The Rock, and also the insane spot of Brock Lesnar missing a shooting star press in his match against Kurt Angle. I'd would go out on a limb and venture to say that those matches could be considered show stealers as well.

Finally, my last major gripe is something that Jericho said about Cena. He makes a very odd, and in my view. false comparison to Steve Austin, by saying that people said Cena had a good character, but was not really great in-ring wise. Jericho claims that Cena may be unorthodox and uncoordinated in the ring, but so was another guy named Steve Austin. Now in my mind, this is more a WWE bias that is being perpetuated, and not Jericho's honest thoughts. For one, Steve Austin was considered to be a mechanic in the ring during his earlier years, as he worked for years in WCW against the likes of Tully Blanchard, Ricky Steamboat, Arn Anderson, Brian Pillman and Ric Flair. He was very vocal during his ECW stint about using wrestling as opposed to "rasslin" to win his matches. Steve Austin, in terms of his ringwork, was miles ahead of Cena, in this reviewers humble opinion. Again, subjective, but this IS my review, and these are my thoughts.  TeddyR

Overall, the DVD was very insightful. It explains a lot of what Jericho did while he was away taking a break from the WWE after being "fired" in 2005. The majority of the documentary itself is done very well, and has a load of great Jericho moments including the 1,004 holds skit, Jericho's debut promo against The Rock, and his more recent work with Edge, Big Show and even Wade Barret.

What hurts it to me is just the revisionary style of claiming that things were better or more important than they actually were. For example, the Edge vs Jericho championship match from Wrestlemania XXVI is brought up. In this, Edge said that he feels his match against Jericho "captured the crowd and stole the show". This claim is ridiculous to me, as many fans did not really buy into the Edge return after the Royal Rumble in 2010, or the forced "SPEAR" chant he was trying to get over. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the best match of that entire show was The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels II, which was also Michaels' retirement match.

All in all, it is most definitely worth a viewing. I would not buy this DVD personally, but I honestly think for wrestling fans, it is a great piece to add to your collection. I give it 3 out of 5 sparkly vests.
Logged

This space free, since Photobucket is on dust.

PSN ID: A_Dubya13
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