By Sean Radican, Torch columnist

Right now is the best time of year to sink your teeth into the best that content that wrestling has to offer with various companies and website’s offering their best deals of the year for Black Friday. Without further ado, I present my picks for the best shoot interviews, documentaries, and other releases you can buy during the various Black Friday sales. I’ll also provide information on the various sales from each company as well as they become available. This guide will be expanded upon after Black Friday as well as there are usually some good sales during the holiday season in December.


Shoot Interviews

Highspots.com

(Highspots.com is currently running a Black Friday sale with 35% off Dvds and 25% off almost everything else. Excluded from the sale is the following: ROH & Kayfabe Commentaries DVDs, Freight Train Documentary DVD, Title Belts, Wrestling Rings & Accessories, Fan Pack Specials, Clearance Items, and Gift Certificates.)

-Highspots.com A.J. Styles Shoot - Leaving an Impact, released in 2014 (8.0): This is a very good interview. Michael Bochicchio asks the right questions to probe Styles about his time in TNA and his failed contract negotiations that lead to him departing from the company during the interview. Styles comes across as honest and intelligent during this interview. He makes a lot of good points about the mistakes TNA made and how the homegrown talent was continually cut off anytime they gained momentum by management in favor of a wrestler with a TNA background. Styles also makes a lot of good points about TNA’s business model and discusses everything from their house show business to taping most of their TV in front of the same audience for Spike TV week in and week out in Orlando. He manages to do make all of his points by coming across as more disappointed than bitter when it comes from his time in TNA and eventual departure.

[ FYI: You can purchase Highspots’s “A.J. Styles Shoot-Leaving an Impact” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting Highspots.com. You can also purchase this release on VOD at diywrestling.com. For more information on other Highspots.com releases, visit Highspots.com ]

-Highspots.com The Kevin Steen Show with Rich Swann, released in 2014 (9.0): This is my favorite edition of The Kevin Steen Show. Swann has an engaging personality and he is open about his upbringing and how he got through all of the tragedies to climb the independent ladder and regularly tour in Japan with Dragon Gate. It’s amazing that Swann is only 22 years old, as I feel like I’ve been watching him wrestle for a long time. This edition of The Kevin Steen Show is well-worth going out of your way to check out. There’s a great Larry Dallas story, several funny stories from Japan, and more topics from CZW, DGUSA/EVOLVE, and PWG. After watching this interview, it’s clear to see that Swann is an engaging and talented individual and his life story to date is nothing short of inspirational.

[ FYI: You can purchase Highspots’s “The Kevin Steen Show with Rich Swann” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting Highspots.com. You can also purchase this release on VOD at diywrestling.com. For more information on other Highspots.com releases, visit Highspots.com ]


-Highspots.com The Kevin Steen Show with Gabe Sapolsky, released in 2014 (8.5): This was a really good interview with Steen getting Sapolsky to open up and discuss his philosophy as a booker and how he deals with certain situations as well as the pressures on a booker when they have the lives of so many wrestlers in their hands. The behind the scenes stories from Sapolsky are really interesting. Steen questions Gabe about his time working under him in ROH and their conversations brings out a lot of interesting information from Sapolsky about why he booked things the way he did as well as some sidebars about how he handles talent and why he does certain things differently than Heyman would. It’s also fascinating to listen to Sapolsky talk about how he planned certain angles out and the joy he had seeing Steen & Generico finally win the ROH World Tag Team Titles at Driven 2008.

[ FYI: You can purchase Highspots’s “The Kevin Steen Show with Gabe Sapolsky” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting Highspots.com. You can also purchase this release on VOD at diywrestling.com. For more information on other Highspots.com releases, visit Highspots.com ]


Kayfabe Commentaries

(Kayfabe Commentaries is not doing a Black Friday sale, but their releases are well-worth checking out given their high quality production and consistent overall quality.)

- Kayfabe Commentaries YouShoot with ICP, released in 2014 (8.0): If you have any reservations about picking this release up because you’re not a fan of ICP’s music, hopefully you change your mind, as Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J are huge wrestling fans that have wrestled in every major company in the U.S. Both guys deserve credit for going in front of the KC firing squad, as they fielded a ton of questions from haters and handled them well. Shaggy and J have come across many big name talents while working in all of the major companies during their careers. They tell some great stories about wrestlers like Goldberg, The Original Sheik, Sabu, and if you wait for it at the end of the interview, there are a couple of hilarious stories involving Sting, including one involving him discussing ICP’s use of black and white face paint.

[ FYI: You can purchase Kayfabe Commentaries’s “You Shoot with ICP” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting KayfabeCommentaries.com. You can also purchase this release on VOD at WWNLive.com. For more information on other Kayfabe Commentaries releases, visit KayfabeCommentaries.com ]

-Kayfabe Commentaries Breaking Kayfabe with Jim Cornette, released in 2014 (9.0): Usually the Breaking Kayfabe series takes the viewer and gives them a closer look at the person behind the gimmick, but this interview featured an epic rant from Cornette on Vince Russo and then a long in-depth discussion about his problems in ROH. Although Cornette takes no blame for most of the issues he discusses, the insight he gives into his time in Ring of Honor is fascinating, especially the discussion of where things went south after he brokered the deal between ROH and Sinclair. Cornette also gets really fired up about some comments Kevin Steen made about him in an interview released by ROH on DVD. By the time I finished watching this, I was convinced Cornette was going to have a heart attack or a stroke because he got so worked up, but his insight into ROH behind the scenes was fascinating.

[ FYI: You can purchase Kayfabe Commentaries’s “Breaking Kayfabe with Jim Cornette” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting KayfabeCommentaries.com. You can also purchase this release on VOD at WWNLive.com. For more information on other Kayfabe Commentaries releases, visit KayfabeCommentaries.com ]

RF Video

(RF Video is having a 35% off sale on their releases, which excludes Kayfabe Commentaries releases and the latest House of Hardcore event.)

-RF Video “A.J. Styles 2014 Shoot Interview,” released in 2014 (8.5): This is a really good interview with Styles, especially given how he talks about what goes on between the ropes and how he has grown as a worker. Listening to Styles talk, you can connect his thought process in the ring and his approach to the wrestling business and see how it has translated to him finding success in ROH and NJPW this year. If you haven’t heard Styles talk in-depth about his time in TNA and ROH before, this is a very detailed account of his time and TNA through the ups and downs dealing with different bookers and how he viewed Dixie Carter behind the scenes. This interview is worth watching and is very relevant coming off his recent run in the G1 Climax 24 Tournament. I highly recommend this interview for fans looking for insight into Styles’s career and connecting what he’s learned through his experience in TNA and taking those lessons into NJPW.

[ FYI: You can purchase RFVideos’s “A.J. Styles Shoot Interview 2014” on DVD by clicking HERE; or by visiting RFVideo.com. For more information on other RF Video releases, visit RFVideo.com ]

-RF Video “Jim Cornette 2014 Shoot Interview,” released in 2014 (9.0): This release is RF Video’s best looking production to date. They brought in Matt Striker to interview Cornette and they had really good chemistry together. The interview was shot with multiple cameras and there’s a really cool backdrop with several paintings of Cornette in the background. The interview itself features Cornette talking mostly about his time in TNA and the constant issues he ran into there, despite just wanting to help the company grow. Cornette doesn’t go off the deep end and get very upset during this interview and Striker asks some good follow up questions that prompt Cornette to expand on some of the points he makes. The highlight of the interview is listening to Cornette’s passion when he talks about the state of the wrestling business that he loves and what has gone wrong with it, which is an incredible listen. There’s also some ROH talk as well, but it gets tabled for a future interview with RF Video.

[ FYI: You can purchase RFVideos’s “Jim Cornette 2014 Shoot interview” on DVD or Blu-ray by clicking HERE or by visiting RFVideo.com. For more information on other RF Video releases, visit RFVideo.com ]

WWE

(WWE currently has a Black Friday sale with 20% off Blu-ray and DVD releases by entering the code word “Friday” at checkout.)

-WWE “Ladies and Gentleman My Name Is Paul Heyman,” released in 2014 (9.0): This documentary about Paul Heyman is fantastic, although it does play into WWE’s redemption theme that has played out on several of their releases in 2014. “Ladies and Gentleman, my Name is Paul Heyman” is a wonderful look at the entire career of Paul Heyman. More importantly, it gives viewers an inside look at how throughout his career he was able to explain things to wrestlers to get them to see his vision and buy into it no matter how dire the situation was in reality. Heyman’s clashes working in the corporate wrestling world are well-documented and it’s clear that Stephanie McMahon was not a huge fan of Paul Heyman when he was working in WWE after ECW folded. Ross also chronicles Heyman’s battles behind the scenes while working in WCW and WWE. The most interesting parts of the documentary focus on Heyman’s ability to mentor young talent and get the most out of them whether it was working with Taz and Dreamer in ECW, Edge and Guerrero in WWE, a young C.M Punk in WWE, Punk was always able to work with talent and learn from them as well. This is one of the best documentaries WWE has produced to date and the extras with Heyman promos, more interviews, and behind the scenes footage makes it a must buy.

[ FYI: You can purchase WWE’s “Ladies and Gentleman My Name Is Paul Heyman” on Blu-ray by clicking HERE or by visiting RFVideo.com. For more information on other WWE releases, visit Shop.WWE.com ]


-WWE “The Best of Raw After the Show,” released in 2014 (8.5): This is a collection from WWE that is well-worth seeking out. It is fun to see the Rock and Austin hold court the way they did after the cameras went off and have fun with the ring announcers, other wrestlers, the cameramen, and the fans. There are other wrestlers involved in the segments included on this set, but it really is the Rock and Austin show when it came to closing down Raw during the period that is mostly showcased on this release. This set will bring back a lot of good memories for fans that attended shows during the Attitude Ear. I can think of a couple of show closing segments from Raw’s I attended during this era that I would have like to have seen on this release, especially the entire Mick Foley title celebration after he won his first WWE Championship. It truly was electric in the building that night. If you weren’t a fan of WWE during the Attitude Era and a little beyond, this set is still worth checking out. You get to why The Rock and Austin were such big stars and the payoff the fans get for being at Raw live after it went off air was a lot of fun during this period.

[ FYI: You can purchase WWE’s “The Best of Raw After the Show” on DVD by clicking HERE or by visiting Shop.WWE.com. For more information on other WWE releases, visit Shop.WWE.com ]


-WWE “WrestleMania XXX,” released in 2014 (9.0): WrestleMania XXX will go down as one of the most memorable WrestleMania shows of all-time and this is a great Blu-ray set complete with the WWE HOF ceremony. Undertaker losing his undefeated WrestleMania streak to Brock Lesnar is one of the most shocking things I’ve ever seen in wrestling and looking at an entire building react to Lesnar getting the pin after hitting a third F5 is a moment that will always be remembered by wrestling fans. The opening match between Daniel Bryan and Triple H was the best match on the show. They had a good give and take style of match that saw Bryan get the win to advance to the Triple Threat match in the main event. I’ve had my moments over the years of very much disliking Stephanie as a character of the years, but she was fantastic during this match. Triple H’s post-match attack was well-done and did the necessary job of putting him in further jeopardy with his shoulder injury heading into the main event, which saw Bryan capture the WWE Championship in dramatic fashion. WrestleMania 30 is a must-see show because of how newsworthy it was and this Blu-ray set is the best way to watch it.

[ FYI: You can purchase WWE’s “WrestleMania XXX” on Blu-ray by clicking HERE or by visiting Shop.WWE.com. For more information on other WWE releases, visit Shop.WWE.com ]


Miscellaneous

-Elbow Productions “Rock N’ Roll Never Dies: The Story of the Rock N’ Roll Express,” released in 2014 (8.5): This documentary is a must-watch for fans of wrestling. Elliot did an excellent job of pulling together a great film with limited resources that told the story of the Rock-N-Roll express and the various talking heads that appear throughout the film explain how and why they were able to draw. The simple formula of building up the Rock-N-Roll Express in various territories before feuding them with their adversaries the Midnight Express in different territories worked really well and the way the Rock-N-Roll Express were marketed to go along with their appearance and the way they wrestled in the ring made them the ultimate babyfaces in the eyes of young fans, especially young women. Cornette was really good throughout the documentary talking about the Rock-N-Roll Express-Midnight Express feud and why it worked for both sides. The stories that Cornette, Morton, Gibson, and Condry told about the reaction to their feud were fantastic.

[ FYI: You can purchase Elbow Production’s “Rock N’ Roll Never Dies: The Story of the Rock N’ Roll Express” on DVD by clicking HERE or by visiting Highspots.com. For more information on other Elbow Production releases, visit ElbowProductions.com ]

***

Please visit Facebook.com/SeanRadicanRWC on Facebook and click “like” to join the Radican’s Wrestling Community Facebook fan page.

Follow Sean on Twitter at Twitter.com/SeanRadican

We suggest these recent related articles...

RADICAN'S Beyond Wrestling "Greatest Rivals Round Robin" review 9/26 - incredible show of the year contender, Busick-Edwards top-flight MOTYC, more!

RADICAN'S "The Pull List" (Vol. 5) "Young Bucks Too Sweet Journey" doc review, The Flash season 1 Blu-Ray, Top Ten MOTYC for 2015

RADICAN'S ROH "All-Star Extravaganza VII" PPV BLOG 9/18: Booking issues dampen excellent in-ring action

CLICK HERE FOR EVEN MORE PW.NET HEADLINES

CLICK TO EMAIL THIS ARTICLE
CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN LISTING