Alternate Universe: What If WCW Had Survived?

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

In 2001, the wrestling business changed dramatically. Both ECW and WCW went under, the latter being purchased by the WWF. The short-term fall-out included the Invasion angle by what would become a WCW/ECW Alliance, followed by the Brand Extension split of the WWF/WWE which set the course of history on a new path. But what if WCW had remained in existence?

Although ECW had a loyal following, it simply would not and could not have grown into a mainstream powerhouse, unless it was acquired by a larger parent organisation; and if that had been the case, the vulgar style of the company may have been forced to change. However, WCW was a major mainstream wrestling promotion, even during its final months of life. Therefore, its demise had a much bigger impact. But it's interesting to consider how things might have transpired had the company managed to continue.

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Game Review: WWF Royal Rumble (2000)

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developers: Sega and Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: August 1 2000 (US) and September 22 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: Dreamcast (also Arcade)

When wrestling fans reminisce about the golden age of wrestling videogames, the year 2000 is a vintage one to look back upon. We had the first two SmackDown! games as well as the incredible No Mercy. Sure, we also had WCW Backstage Assault which was, quite frankly, woeful, and two ECW games, but it's the WWF titles which first come to mind.

One WWF game which is easy to forget, however, is Royal Rumble. An arcade game which was later released on Sega Dreamcast, Royal Rumble is almost always overshadowed by the more famous WWF games on PS1 and N64. Mind you, there's a good reason why: Royal Rumble is nowhere near as good as any of its three counterparts from that year, but that isn't to say that it's a completely bad game.

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Ranking Every WrestleMania From Worst To Best

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

It's WrestleMania Season again! With WrestleMania 33 almost upon us, it's worth considering which WrestleMania events, to date, have been the worst or indeed the worst, which is why I have provided my own personal rankings of every WrestleMania so far. I'm taking a few factors into account when ranking these from worst to best: historical significance, entertainment, the quality of the wrestling, and anything else which added or detracted from any of the 32 Manias so far. As ever, this is only my opinion, so alternative viewpoints are welcome. Nevertheless, here goes!

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DVD Preview: Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

Beginning his storied career as a manager for the AWA, many believed that Diamond Dallas Page was crazy for chasing his dream and attempting a career inside the ring at the age of 35. But through hard work, positive thinking and determination, DDP proved his doubters wrong to become one of the most popular performers in sports-entertainment and a three-time WCW World Champion. For the first time ever, hear from “The Master Of The Diamond Cutter” himself as he talks about his historic career, as he rose to the top of the industry becoming a major player in both WCW and WWE. Also witness his life outside the ring as he’s now known the world over for his DDP Yoga, a life-changing exercise tool. A larger than life personality with a passion for life, this is Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living.

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WWF WrestleMania 2000

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: AKI Corporation, Asmik Ace Entertainment (Natsume for GBC)
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: October 31 1999 (US) and October 12 1999 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64 and GBC

It's hard to imagine in the modern wrestling world where one WWE videogame is released each year, and has been published by 2K Sports since 2013 (and THQ for a long time before that), but in the autumn of 1999, two major WWF games were released by two different publishers. Acclaim released the much-anticipated WWF Attitude in August/September of 1999 but, by then, the WWF had already agreed a deal for THQ to become its new videogame developer. Wasting no time, WrestleMania 2000 would be their first game, and it would hit stores in time for the final Christmas season of the millennium (which makes it sound really grand, doesn't it?).

This would mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new one; the Acclaim period had seen the WWF grow and improve its videogame output, but even the latter titles like War Zone and Attitude, whilst fun at the time, were far from flawless games and were mostly acceptable due to the WWF branding (see the subsequent ECW Hardcore Revolution, which was essentially an ECW version of Attitude, which didn't get great reviews). THQ, on the other hand, had built up a great deal of goodwill with its WCW games World Tour and, in particular, Revenge, which was released in late 1998 and, from a gameplay standpoint, blew any of Acclaim's titles away. So, one can understand why the WWF would enter into a working relationship with THQ, and why fans were hyped when news came out that THQ would be developing a WWF game, WrestleMania 2000 as a Nintendo 64 exclusive, for the first time.

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WWF No Mercy

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: AKI Corporation and Asmik Ace Entertainment
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: November 17 2000 (US) and December 15 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64

WWF No Mercy, the successor to WrestleMania 2000, was released in late 2000, on a console which didn't allow for character models with polygons greater than 64-bit and which didn't possess any level of video streaming. The roster has greatly changed and even the company name has been different for nearly 15 years. Plus, HD gaming was a long way off, and the feature set was basic compared to modern titles. So how is it that No Mercy remains so revered as possibly the greatest wrestling game ever? Well, I shall explain.

Firstly, its two main single-player modes were excellent for different reasons. Championship saw you pursue any one of seven titles as literally anybody on the game, and follow various story paths and lifelike plotlines (some of which directly mirrored reality, from the APA protecting you to a replica of the WWF Championship storyline heading into WrestleMania 2000). Crucially, whilst there were some matches that required you to win in order to continue, many offered alternate paths based on specific results. And to complete the mode in its entirety, you would have to lose matches in order to unlock these various endings. Sure, there were no voiceovers, but it was phenomenally entertaining and the use of on-screen text actually explained the mode's flexibility. It was a standard-bearer for such modes with literally tons of replay value.

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The Top 50 Most Memorable Royal Rumble Moments

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

We are days away from the 2017 Royal Rumble event. It's officially the 30th Royal Rumble match (an appropriate milestone, incidentally), although there have been some non-televised Rumble-style encounters, and even some scaled-down Rumbles on Raw and SmackDown over the years, not to mention the many "homages" to the Rumble in wrestling promotions around the world since its inception. However, the annual January 30-man battle is the true original, and its legacy has only increased over the years. Besides the WrestleMania main events, it's the one match that still continuously provokes mass interest, even amongst those who haven't regularly watched the product for years.

This year's Rumble could be one of the very best, due to a star-studded cast that includes Goldberg, Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker making special appearances, all of whom could potentially win the thing, along with other big names such as Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Braun Strowman, Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose and The Miz. Even Sami Zayn could be a potential dark horse, since a Universal Championship match with Kevin Owens at WrestleMania 33 is not an unthinkable prospect. That doesn't include the other surprises that could be thrown in, along with the Alamodome setting ensuring that the atmosphere could be the loudest ever for a Rumble match.

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WWF SmackDown!

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown! (It would become SmackDown vs. Raw and WWE in future)
Released: March 2 2000 (US) and April 14 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: PS1

And so comes the time to review the game that started the entire SmackDown!/SmackDown vs. Raw/WWE flagship videogame series, the very first entry - the original SmackDown! As strange as it may sound now, fans weren't quite sure what to expect from SD, since it was the first WWF game to be produced on PlayStation by THQ. Acclaim had lost the WWF licence in 1999 to THQ, and whilst the highly-lauded WrestleMania 2000 had hit the Nintendo 64, that game had been developed by AKI, whereas SD would be developed by something of an unknown quantity in Yuke's.

Rumours about the game, which would reach stores in the spring of 2000, ranged from a hybrid of WWF and Japanese talent to a reduced focus on actual wrestling to (and this was a frightening propsect) a virtual repeat of the largely-panned WCW Thunder game, since WM 2000 bore more than a passing resemblance to WCW/nWo Revenge (I should mention that THQ had been publishing games for WCW, and their success earned them the WWF licence). As the hype progressed, the announcement of certain new features suddenly had fans excited, since the end product would apparently be something totally different from previous wrestling titles. In the end, whilst the game didn't quite match expectations in certain key areas, it nevertheless delivered a thrilling overall package, one which blew away any previous wrestling games on the PSOne console, and ultimately began the most successful wrestling videogame series ever.

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WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown! (It would become SmackDown vs. Raw and WWE in future)
Released: November 21 2000 (US) and December 1 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: PS1

In hindsight, wrestling fans - or more accurately, WWF fans - were spoiled in 2000. Whereas in modern times we're lucky to get one truly great wrestling videogame in a generation, in the year 2000 we were treated to three. As well as the first SmackDown! title, the autumn/winter treated us to both No Mercy and the subject of this review, SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role. Although a shade inferior to No Mercy, SmackDown! 2 was still one hell of a game, and it was a superb end to the life cycle of wrestling titles on the PSOne. In contrast to the usual annual trend of releases, this came just months after the first SD (making 2000 the only year to have two releases of the flagship series), and it was the first game in the series (but not the last) to have different covers between the UK and US regions, as shown on the right; the UK image sits at the top, with the US image midway through. (Speaking of which, the reverse artwork shows The Undertaker in his Ministry-era attire, but it was his up-to-date American Bad Ass character who featured in the game, despite his Kid Rock theme not being included.)

Since this came in the latter stages of the Attitude Era, the roster consisted of many key players from that unforgettable time. Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Kane and others featured, but more notable was the incredible number and depth of new faces who hadn't featured in the first SD title. Kurt Angle, Tazz, The Radicalz, Rikishi, Too Cool, Trish Stratus, Lita and more than a dozen others made their series debuts in Know Your Role, with Shawn Michaels thrown in for good measure. Big Show was a notable absentee, although he was secretly thrown in as an unidentified character during occasional Royal Rumbles. With a roster total of 67 that wouldn't be matched again in the series until SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, and wouldn't be topped until two entries later with SvR 2009, this was a great snapshot of the Attitude Era, bettered only by the even larger line-up on the aforementioned No Mercy. By the way, who could have predicted that this would be the last game in the entire series, even at this early stage, to include Chyna?

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WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown! (It would become SmackDown vs. Raw and WWE in future)
Released: November 18 2001 (US) and November 16 2001 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: PS2

The year 2001 was massively significant in wrestling: ECW collapsed for financial reasons, and WCW - which was on the verge of its own self-destruction after a deal for Fusient to purchase the company was killed off - was purchased by the WWF, taking American wrestling from having three major wrestling organisations to just one. The impact of this changed the business forever, and nearly sixteen years after the famous Raw-Nitro simulcast, the industry has never truly recovered, making 2001 arguably the most important, and perhaps most devastating, year in wrestling history.

Something which is understandably forgotten in the wake of those major events is how another wrestling boom period ended in 2001, partly due to the above: in the year 2000, there were a whopping six wrestling games based around a major company. Sure, only two were great - and one of those, No Mercy, was perhaps the best wrestling game of all-time - but nevertheless, wrestling fans who enjoyed playing videogames had plenty of choice. Contrast that to 2001: the end of WCW and ECW also meant the end for their videogame histories (ECW had just two games, to be fair), and due to the transition between videogame console generations, Nintendo did not have a wrestling game for the first time in years (one had been scheduled but was later cancelled; I will take a fantasy look at this almost-title, WWF Backlash, in a future article). Add to that the sudden death of the Sega Dreamcast, and the fact that the Xbox wouldn't arrive until 2002, and therefore the only new wrestling game was WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, the first wrestling title for the PlayStation 2 console.

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History of the Hardcore Championship 24-7 coming soon on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

After its inception in 1998, the WWE Hardcore Championship was sought after by some of WWE’s toughest and most unpredictable competitors. From deranged champions like Mankind, Raven and Al Snow to fighting champions like Rob Van Dam, Undertaker, Tommy Dreamer and Hardcore Holly, to unsung heroes like “The Lethal Weapon” Steve Blackman and Crash Holly, this set takes a comprehensive look at the greatest WWE Hardcore Championship matches in history. It’s unpredictable, it’s wild, it’s HARDCORE!

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The Attitude Era Volume 3 - Unreleased now available on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK

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Fetch Publicity

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

The Attitude Era Volume 3 - Unreleased is now available in the UK on both DVD and Blu-ray.

The third volume in WWE’s Attitude Era DVD & Blu-ray series, this time bringing together previously unseen material from the period between 1996-2000. Includes “dark” matches from Monday Night Raw, non-televised matches from pay-per-view events, live events, and more never-before-released moments from WWE’s most controversial era!

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WWE The Attitude Era Volume 3 - Unreleased

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Fetch Publicity

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 410 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: August 8 2016

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

The third instalment in the Attitude Era DVD series is unique, in more ways than one. Whereas the first two sets provided a combination of unforgettable moments and some forgotten gems from Raw and PPV events, Volume 3 takes a very different approach of not only showcasing matches which have yet to be unreleased, but bouts which have never even aired. All of the matches are either "dark" matches (which take place before or after a televised event, with only the crowd getting to see what unfolds) or house show matches (bouts which take place on live events). It's an interesting format, and a chance to provide content which even the biggest fans of wrestling's most exciting era will have never seen (unless they had attended these shows, of course) - but does the concept work?

Presented by Corey Graves, who does a pretty good job of not only presenting matches but explaining the backstory to said bouts, the compilation kicks off with a Bret Hart-Steve Austin clash from Germany in April 1996. Hang on, 1996? Yes, the timeline here begins in the spring of '96, a time when the Attitude Era was still a pipe dream. Sure, we had the Goldust character, whose sexually-motivated behaviour was pushing the envelope for those who understood what was happening (which wasn't me at the time since I was only aged 7), the odd swear word was popping up in promos, and we recently had the introduction of the Spanish announcer's table gimmick (i.e. the act of putting one through said desk), along with some increasingly violent matches (such as Shawn Michaels vs. Diesel from In Your House 7). But one would not really suggest that this was the Attitude Era. It's true to say that the seeds of Attitude were being sown over the next couple of months, from the arrival of Mankind to the Austin 3:16 promo, but it wasn't until 1997 that the Attitude Era truly began (and some could argue that it wasn't official until Steve Austin won his first WWF Title at WrestleMania XIV, held in March 1998). To provide context, this opening Bret-Austin bout happened a few months before Steve's legendary 3:16 promo; his career was nearer the Ringmaster phase than it was the Texas Rattlesnake.

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The Attitude Era Volume 3 - Unreleased coming soon on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK

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Fetch Publicity

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Provided By: Fetch Publicity

The following story is courtesy of Fetch Publicity ...

The third volume in WWE’s Attitude Era DVD & Blu-ray series, this time bringing together previously unseen material from the period between 1996-2000. Includes “dark” matches from Monday Night Raw, non-televised matches from pay-per-view events, live events, and more never-before-released moments from WWE’s most controversial era!

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Living On A Razor's Edge - The Scott Hall Story

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 436 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: July 4 2016

The latest WWE DVD features a career retrospective documentary, along with a selection of memorable matches for the subject in question. The usual stuff, right? Actually, no. This set on the life and times of Scott Hall is very different from your usual profile of a legendary wrestling performer due to the topics covered in the main feature.

Yes, the documentary does look back at Hall's in-ring adventures, from his beginnings in the wrestling industry to his early days in Kansas City and the AWA, his original WCW stint as The Diamond Studd, his very successful WWF tenure under the name Razor Ramon, his unforgettable contributions to WCW upon his return as a founding member of the groundbreaking nWo faction, his short-lived 2002 return to the WWF and his 2014 WWE Hall Of Fame induction. The key matches and moments are recapped, although I personally felt that the Razor section was a little bit on the short side, and the recap of his nWo involvement was even more brief; the first two years for the new World order, from Hall's initial promo upon his Nitro debut/return to the summer of 1998 (around which time the faction splintered into two) are all handled within a few minutes, and whilst the impact of the faction and the rise of Hall's status are analysed, it still doesn't quite explain why the nWo was so crucial, from the Hogan heel turn to Nitro battering Raw in the ratings from then on until April 1998. So, whilst the documentary covers the main highlights of Hall's career from an in-ring standpoint (complete with sit-down contributions from Hall, several of his family members, his Kliq buddies Kevin Nash, Shawn Michaels, Triple H and X-Pac, and other personalities like Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon, Dusty Rhodes and Eric Bischoff, it would be considered a slight disappointment, or at least a bit brief, if we were judging it solely on the retelling of his big matches and moments.

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WWE Legends Of WrestleMania

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: March 20 2009
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and iPhone/iPod Touch

With WrestleMania just days away, it is a perfect time to focus the latest retro game review on a release dedicated to the big event, and one of my favourite games ever, WWE Legends Of WrestleMania.

The 2003 game WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain was the first to officially include a line-up of Legends. As the SmackDown vs. Raw series continued to feature older names, and some add-ons like retro arenas and championships, rumours circulated that one day a WWE Legends game would be released, something of a WWE incarnation of the previous Legends Of Wrestling titles. Finally, in May 2008, it was officially announced that WWE Legends Of WrestleMania was being produced for a planned release to commemorate WrestleMania 25 the following spring.

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WWF WrestleMania X-Seven

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWF
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: April 1 2001
Location: Reliant Astrodome, Houston, Texas, USA
Attendance: 67,925

With WrestleMania 31 just days away, the focus for this week's retro event review is on the greatest WrestleMania of them all, and arguably the greatest show in WWWF/WWF/WWE history: WrestleMania X-Seven.

It is lauded as such because it saw the top stars of the entire Attitude Era converging on the grandest stage of them all, in the most legendary contests of their careers in some cases, all in front of a huge stadium crowd. Add to that the historical significance of this being the first PPV since the buy-out of WCW, and WrestleMania X-Seven stands out as a truly unforgettable night of action.

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My History Of WrestleMania

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

As we edge close to WrestleMania 31, you will see a lot of stories discussing the history of WrestleMania. This is one of those articles, but with a difference: this charts the history of WM via my own personal experiences of each Mania. Call it a life story of WrestleMania; hopefully it will be a fun journey!

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I was born in 1988, meaning that I wasn't around for the first four WrestleManias. I would obviously learn in future how important they were, especially the first one. Had WM 1 not succeeded in 1985, the WWF would not have continued to exist, and who knows what professional wrestling would be like 30 years later? The company put so much of its financial muscle behind the event that it simply had to work. Fortunately (and obviously), it did, with Hulk Hogan and Mr. T's win over Rowdy Roddy Piper & Mr. Wonderful capping off a card that seems dull today, but was the biggest thing of all-time back then.

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WWF Royal Rumble 1992

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWF
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: January 19 1992
Location: Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, New York, USA
Attendance: 17,000

For this week's retro show review, the spotlight shines on the 1992 Royal Rumble, an event largely remembered for one match - but what a bout it was.

Of course, the feature bout was the Royal Rumble match, but what made this one special is that, for the only time in history, the winner of the Rumble would become WWF Champion (the title had been declared vacant in December 1991). As this was the early days of the Rumble, and the match had a star-studded field, there were plenty of potential winners, and the vast majority of entrants were Hall Of Famers or similarly memorable stars. And if all that wasn't enticing enough beforehand, the performances of two people - one of whom wasn't even a participant - elevated the match, and the event, to all-time great status. The card began with a promo video that featured a classic Vince McMahon voiceover: "It's time to RUMMBBLLE! It's time for a ROYYYALLL RUMMMMMBBLLLE!"

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WWF SummerSlam 1998

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Genre: Wrestling
Produced By: WWF
Format: Pay-Per-View
Date: August 30 1998
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
Attendance: 21,588

In the first of a series, I will look back at previous WWF/WWE Pay-Per-View events, beginning with one of the most memorable shows of the Attitude Era, SummerSlam 1998.

The build-up to this event was phenomenal. The feud between Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Undertaker slowly gathered pace over the summer, and even in the weeks leading up to the card, physical contact between the two was limited. Meanwhile, it had just been recessed that The Undertaker and Kane were together; how would this affect Austin's chances of retaining his crown? Add to that the ongoing Austin-McMahon rivalry and the fact that this was the apex of The Monday Night Wars which meant all kinds of crazy booking situations (e.g. a Kane-Mankind Hell In A Cell match on Raw the previous Monday), plus Austin's surging popularity, and this event felt massive; it could have been a WrestleMania given the hype and the action it promised.

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