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Wrestling Recap: Team Raw vs. Team SmackDown! (Survivor Series ’05)

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The Date: 27 November 2005
The Venue:  Joe Louis Arena; Detroit, Michigan
The Commentary: Jerry “The King” Lawler, Joey Styles, and Jonathan Coachman (Raw); Michael Cole and Tazz (SmackDown!)
The Referees: Mike Chioda (Raw) and Nick Patrick (SmackDown!)
The Stakes: Traditional five-on-five Survivor Series match for brand supremacy
The Competitors: Team Raw (The Big Show, Carlito, “The Masterpiece” Chris Masters, Kane, and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels), Team SmackDown! (World Heavyweight Champion “The Animal” Batista, John “Bradshaw” Layfield/JBL, “The Legend Killer” Randy Orton, and Rey Mysterio)

The Build-Up:
After what was then known as the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) purchased World Championship Wrestling (WCW) following a steady decline, WWF Chairman Vince McMahon essentially made his company the only game in town. Seeking to keep the spirit of competition alive in what became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), McMahon spearheaded the “Brand Split” and separated the WWE’s flagship show, Raw, and secondary broadcast SmackDown! into two distinct brands, with their own belts and pay-per-view events. While Raw and SmackDown! Superstars would interact at the “Big Four” events and have the occasional interpromotional matches, the idea of the two shows battling to decide which was the superior brand didn’t arise until this match. Unsurprisingly, Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff fired the first shot, leading his SmackDown! counterpart, Theodore Long, to invade Raw. Following an interpromotional tag team bout at Taboo Tuesday, both General Managers signed off on this match, leading to many brawls between the brands. World Heavyweight Champion Batista even suffered an injury after a Raw attack, while Randy Orton replaced Eddie Guerrero after the latter’s tragic and untimely passing.

The Match:
I was really into WWE at this time, primarily because my family had finally gotten Sky so I could watch SmackDown! Thus, I was pretty biased towards the Blue Brand and rightfully so as they had the better competitors and in-ring action, but Raw was always treated as the bigger show. This sentiment is reflected in the boneheaded decision to have the entire commentary team working this match, leading to distracting arguments between the embittered SmackDown! commentators (who also dominated the commentary as they were the superior duo) and their Raw counterparts, who were outclassed by their impassioned colleagues. Although Batista was eager to start and lead by his example, his concerned teammates convinced him to wait on the apron due to his injured shoulder, leaving upstart Randy Orton to start against Shawn Michaels, who had both upset each other in the build. They shoved each other into opposite corners before the arrogant Orton slapped HBK, prompting Shawn to slap him right back and humble the youngster with a flurry of take downs. As Tazz laid into Styles and the Raw commentary team, Orton worked over HBK for a near fall but missed a knee drop, allowing HBK to tag in Chris Masters. Masters dominated Orton with his bulk, forcing JBL to break up a pin fall and leading Orton to tag in Bobby Lashley. The two big boys charged each other and proved equally unmovable and, though Lashley crashed into the corner off a splash, he fought off the Master Lock and planted Masters with a belly-to-belly suplex. Carlito begged off when Masters forcibly tagged him in, leading Lashley to drill him with a powerslam and send him scrambling to HBK for a tag.

Big men dominated the early portion of this heated clash between the WWE’s two brands.

Shawn showed fearlessly clambered to the top rope and got tossed off and around the ring, and Lashley even planting Carlito with a Dominator when he launched a sneak attack. However, Kane Chokeslammed Lashley as he tried to hit the Dominator on Shawn, allowing HBK to easily pin the big man. Rey Mysterio took over, targeting Shawn’s leg and utilising his speed, only for Kane to again interject himself and allow Masters to take over with a military press. Kane officially tagged in as Cole and Tazz continued to spit venom at their colleagues, finally shutting down Rey’s lightning fast moves with a big boot and a back breaker. When Mysterio kicked out of a cover, Kane applied a bearhug, forced Rey to slip free and tag in the injured Batista. Batista quickly took control with some shoulders to Kane’s ribs and a Spear, blasting the entire Raw team when they rushed the ring, allowing Mysterio to hit Kane with the 619 and get him eliminated off Batista’s patented spinebuster. Though the Big Show immediately retaliated with his massive Chokeslam, Batista kicked out so Kane and the Big Show landed a Double Chokeslam to eliminate the wounded champion. JBL frantically attacked the Big Show, only to be manhandled by the giant’s pure power. Orton and Mysterio distracted the Big Show long enough to leave him prone for the Clothesline from Hell, kicking off a finisher-fest as Rey hit the 619, Orton landed the RKO, JBL hit another Clothesline from Hell, and Rey finally put the big man away with a springboard senton. The match descended into a brawl in and outside the ring, JBL tossing HBK with a Fallaway Slam on the outside and Masters failing to pin Mysterio in the ring. Carlito took over, stomping and choking Rey and slapping on a chinlock when he kicked out of a pin attempt.

Orton captured the win but was confronted by a vengeful Undertaker in the aftermath…

JBL made short work of Carlito after being tagged in, giving SmackDown! the edge. Thanks to another assist from JBL, Mysterio eliminated Masters, leaving the rattled HBK as the last man standing for Raw. Once tossed into the ring, HBK also ate the 619 but spectacularly blasted Mysterio with Sweet Chin Music off a springboard jump and then immediately bested JBL after ducking the Clothesline from Hell and hitting another superkick to even the odds. Orton stalked the exhausted HBK, who dodged an RKO and dived on Orton on the outside. A diving forearm and Shawn’s signature kip up saw HBK go on a flurry that ended with his trademark diving elbow drop. Shawn was too fatigued to make the cover, however, so he tuned up for Sweet Chin Music. Shawn was forced to waste his kill shot on JBL, though, when the spiteful Bradshaw rushed in with a steel chair, allowing Orton to hit the RKO and take the win for SmackDown! and continue his Survivor Series winning streak. As the SmackDown! commentary celebrated and the Raw team ate crow, the SmackDown! Superstars rushed the ring, to congratulate Orton. This was an okay match with some fun spots, but nothing that hasn’t been seen numerous times in similar matches. Even when guys like Lashley and Mysterio got time to shine, the focus was more on the bickering commentary, which really took away from the in-ring action. The match was further overshadowed when an ominous gong echoed, the lights went out, mist filled the aisleway, and chanting druids walked out with a casket, which flew open following a burst of lightning to reveal the returning Undertaker! Looking for revenge after Orton and his father, “Cowboy” Bob Orton, sealed him in a casket and lit it on fire the previous month, the Undertaker attacked the SmackDown! roster and glared at Orton as he watched, terrified, after fleeing up the rampway.

The Aftermath:
Naturally, this dramatic ending led to another match between Randy Orton and the Undertaker, with the two fighting in a Hell in a Cell match that saw the Undertaker emerge victorious. Orton and Mysterio went on to battle for the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 22, with Mysterio winning a sadly short triple threat match to start his first, somewhat disastrous run with the big belt. The Big Show and Kane became the World Tag Team Champions and successfully defended the belts against Carlito and Chris Masters at that same event, which also saw JBL capture the United States Championship from Chris Benoit. Bobby Lashley did little of note in the months following this match, though he was in the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 22, while Shawn Michaels became embroiled in a deeply personal feud with Vince McMahon that ended at that event. Although Raw and SmackDown! continued to compete and trade competitors, they wouldn’t meet in a traditional Survivor Series match again until 2008. The following year, the first Bragging Rights pay-per-view focused on interpromotional matches, though this only lasted two years before it was folded back into the Survivor Series and other cross-promotional pay-per-views.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy this first-ever Survivor Series clash between Raw and SmackDown!? Which show was your favourite at the time? Were you also distracted by the bickering commentary? Did you like that Orton was so successful in Survivor Series matches? Which traditional Survivor Series match is your favourite? Leave a like and tell me what you think in the comments and donate to my Ko-Fi to suggest more Survivor Series matches for me to review.

Wrestling Recap: Money in the Bank Matches (Money in the Bank ’10)

Dr. K1 Comment

The Date: 18 June 2010
The Venue: Sprint Center; Kansas City, Missouri
The Commentary: Michael Cole, Jerry “The King” Lawler, and Matt Striker
The Referees: Mike Chioda, John Cone, et al
The Stakes: Two eight-man ladder matches for a chance to cash-in on a World Heavyweight Championship or a WWE Championship at any time within a year

The Build-Up:
Thanks to their uncontested dominance of the wrestling landscape, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has been at the forefront of creativity with their celebrated Superstars, pay-per-views, and memorable matches. Since 1993, Superstars could earn a first-class ticket to a World Championship match at WrestleMania by winning the annual thirty-man Royal Rumble match, and fans had been enamoured by ladder matches and their exciting variants, but it was long-time veteran “Y2J” Chris Jericho who conceived of combining these concepts with the “Money in the Bank” ladder match. Debuting at WrestleMania 21, this multi-man ladder match (which saw the winner retrieve a briefcase to cash in for a championship match anywhere, anytime) became an annual fixture of the Showcase of the Immortals until 2010, where it not only featured on the WrestleMania XXVI card but also got its own self-titled event. By this point, WWE had split their rosters into two brands and, rather than mix Raw and SmackDown! competitors together in a single eight-man Money in the Bank ladder match, each brand got their own match at this inaugural Money in the Bank pay-per-view. 2010 was quite the tumultuous year for the WWE: their ill-fated revival of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) gave way to the first questionable season of NXT, leading to the doomed Nexus stable, and the company was full of highs and lows as Superstars left, returned, and won and lost championships. Most of the drama heading into these matches was found on Raw; initially, R-Truth was supposed to take part in the Raw match but an attack from the Miz saw him unable to compete and replaced with Mark Henry. Over on SmackDown!, two matches were held to determine the final two men in the other match, with the “Chosen One” Drew McIntyre earning a spot by pinning fellow competitor (and reigning Intercontinental Champion) Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler (who was being given preferential treatment by SmackDown!’s General Manager, Vicki Guerrero) overcoming Montel Vontavious Portal/MVP and Chavo Guerrero in a triple threat match to get added to the match.

The Review:
I have to say that as exciting as the prospect of the Money in the Bank ladder match is, I’ve never been a fan of it having its own pay-per-view; I get why it does, since it’s basically akin to the Royal Rumble match, but it seems like overkill. But nothing’s more overkill than hosting two Money in the Bank ladder matches on the same event on the same night! To me, I think it would have made more sense and kept the match from growing stale to just have four to six men from each brand compete in one big, longer match for the briefcase, especially later down the line when the brand-specific rule for the Money in the Bank contract got waved. Still, it is what it is, and we can’t change it now and, at this first-ever Money in the Bank pay-per-view, the SmackDown! contest kicked things off. This match for a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity featured then-Intercontinental Champion Kofi Kingston, Dolph Ziggler, Christian (who Michael Cole pegged as his favourite due to his previous experiences with the match), “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, Matt Hardy (who Matt Striker called the “sentimental favourite”), Drew McIntyre, Kane (who’d been driven into a psychotic frenzy after his brother, the Undertaker, was taken out by an unknown attacker), and, incredibly, the Big Show! Although the competitors waited patiently until the bell rang to get into it, the six smaller men immediately targeted the two giants once the match got underway. The long-time rivals and former Tag Team Champions soon swatted away their attackers, though, and even worked together to slap down Cody when he tried to make a climb for the briefcase amidst the chaos, only to inevitably come to blows. After knocking Kane down with a big shoulder block and clearing the ring, the Big Show tried to climb the ladder only for the rungs to break under his weight! Exasperated, he fought off the other competitors and tossed the ladder right in Kane’s face before the others got on the same page long enough to gang up on him and temporarily take him out of the equation by running him into the ring steps.

While the Big Show struggled to utilise the regular ladders, the other competitors were free to go nuts!

It was Drew McIntyre who came out on top of the predictable melee that followed. He booted and smacked down each man with ease, catapulted Christian face-first into a ladder, but took so long setting the ladder up in the ring that Matt Hardy was able to bash him in the spine and gut with another ladder. Matt then made the first significant climb up the ladder, only to be intercepted by old rival Christian. Matt returned the favour soon after and the two ended up brawling out of the ring, leaving Cody and Kofi to fight over the ladder. After bashing Cody’s face off the ladder, Kofi tried to go for the briefcase, but Dolph Ziggler intercepted him, clambered to the top, and was just seconds away from unhooking the briefcase when Christian interrupted him. The two exchanged blows at the top of the ladder but it was Ziggler who took the big fall to the canvas. There was a bit of a botch afterwards as Matt toppled the ladder and it seemed like Christian was supposed to spill out of the ring and onto the Big Show, but the positioning was off so he simply dropped to the ring and a slugfest broke out between the two, Cody, and Kofi to try and cover for it. Matt and Christian then worked together to counter an attempted double Chokeslam from Kane into a double DDT and then crushed him between two ladders before getting back into it in an exchange that saw Christian counter Matt’s Twist of Fate into a flapjack onto a ladder and then being crushed underfoot. Christian’s next attempt to climb the ladder saw that planned spot finally come to fruition as Cody toppled the ladder and Christian went flying into the Big Show on the outside. Cody, Kofi, and Matt then worked together to subdue Kane with a finisher-fest before McIntyre reinserted himself into the match by pushing Matt and Cody off the ladder and ramming both (and Ziggler) shoulder-first into the ring post, but it was Kane’s timely intervention that kept him from climbing. A baseball slide into a ladder ended Kane’s brief rampage; Kofi then resumed his recent rivalry with McIntyre by laying him out over the announce table with a Trouble in Paradise and then crushing the Sinister Scotsman through the table with a Boom Drop off a ladder!

After some shenanigans with a giant ladder, Kane ended up the unlikely winner!

Just as Ziggler grabbed at the briefcase, the Big Show knocked him down, drilled him with a One-Handed Chokeslam, and then took Kane out with a ladder and his massive bulk. Enraged, the Big Show shrugged off every attempt to topple him, crushed Matt and Christian with a body splash to a ladder placed over both men, and then pulled a massive, reinforced, “350lbs” ladder out from under the ring! With a supreme effort, the Big Show hefted the gigantic apparatus into the ring, but Cody smashed a step ladder into the giant’s ankle to keep him from climbing. Although Ziggler intercepted Cody with an electric chair drop, the Big Show recovered but was too hobbled to make the climb and was planted with a ridiculously impressive jumping DDT from Kofi off the ladder! Cody’s beautiful Missile Dropkick knocked Kofi from the ladder and his shitty Cross Rhodes finisher smashed the Intercontinental Champion into a ladder before Ziggler bashed the back of Cody’s head off the big ladder with a Zig-Zag, by which point the Big Show was back up and dishing out headbutts. However, Kane returned and toppled the massive ladder, spilling the Big Show to the outside where he was buried under a pile of ladders! Kane then frantically fought off Christian, Matt, Cody, and Kofi as the four scrambled up the ladder, but Kane was almost too slow to intercept Cody’s grab for the briefcase. Ziggler suddenly returned to the ring, climbed over Kane, and even slapped on his Sleeper Hold before getting his head bounced off the ladder and awkwardly being choke-shoved off the ring apron to the pile of ladders below. Kane then Chokeslammed Kofi to this same pile, rammed Cody face-first into a truck by the entrance way, and then ate a slam off the ladder courtesy of Matt and Christian. The two battled for the briefcase and took nasty spills to the canvas for their troubles; finally recovered, McIntyre seemed poised to steal the victory, but Kane intercepted him, tossed him off the ladder, and unhooked the briefcase for the win to a massive ovation! I really enjoyed the story being told with the Big Show being too big, heavy, and strong for a normal ladder but he was a bit of a slug here. There was a lot of dead air where some of the guys just vanished and not enough of a desperate scramble to take out the two big men, but some impressive physicality from Kofi, the speed and explosive intensity of McIntyre, and Kane’s righteous victory helped to pull together into a decent opening contest.

As impressive as Bourne’s agility was, it was Mark Henry’s strength that stood out in the early going.

The Raw Money in the Bank ladder match was the penultimate match of the show. “The Viper” Randy Orton, The Miz (who was the reigning United States Champion, and Michael Cole’s “dark horse” pick), “The World’s Strongest Man” Mark Henry, Ted DiBiase (who was the current Million Dollar Champion and came to the ring with Maryse, though neither really upped his charisma-less void), John Morrison, Chris Jericho (Lawler’s pick to win), Evan Bourne (fresh off that RKO), and the “Rated-R Superstar” Edge (Striker’s pick to win) were the competitors for this match and a chance at the WWE Championship. Edge immediately stirred the pot by sliding a ladder into the ring and then retreating to the outside to watch as the other guys fought over it. Mark Henry then asserted himself as the biggest, strongest guy in the ring but Bourne, far from intimidated, assaulted him in the corner and the fight spilled to the outside. Seizing his opportunity, Edge dashed inside and came within a hair of unhooking the briefcase before Orton intercepted him. Orton’s need to avenge himself against Edge saw him temporarily forget about the ladder to deliver more punishment on the outside, allowing DiBiase and Morrison to fight in the ring, but it was a cartwheel dropkick from Bourne that put a stop to Ted’s short-lived ladder-based offense. The Miz attacked Bourne from behind and tossed him from the ring before getting into a fist fight with Jericho, but Henry shut this down by blasting both guys with a ladder and damn-near breaking the Miz’s neck by crushing him between the ropes! Jericho made the big man pay with a ladder shot to the face before getting smashed into the same ladder after Bourne dodged his attack and kicked him in the back of the head. Although Bourne took Edge out with a headscissors off the ladder, this distraction allowed Orton to target the high-flier. The “Apex Predator” then planted Bourne with his Draping DDT through the ladder rungs before being smacked with a springboard kick from Morrison. After bashing his own head off a ladder, Morrison faced a double team assault from the Miz and DiBiase but recovered and caused both men to run face-first into a ladder set up in the far corner. Morrison then tried to make a climb using a ladder set just to the side of the briefcase; despite Striker’s best attempts to provide a reason behind this, it soon became clear that it was to set up a double ladder spot as Jericho climbed up a second ladder and he, Morrison, Edge, and Orton all exchanged blows and tried to grab the swinging briefcase. The payoff for this was Mark Henry standing between the ladders and toppling both over, spilling all four men out of the ring in one huge show of strength, before Bourne used another ladder to leverage a swinging springboard kick to take out Henry!

While every man scrambled to win with high-risk chances, the Miz ultimately stole the victory!

Maryse then distracted Morrison by trying to climb the ladder, which allowed DiBiase to almost grab the briefcase before being crushed chest-first against a ladder and smashed off the barricade courtesy of Morrison. As Cole cheered him on, the Miz gave Morrison a taste of his own medicine on the outside, but Morrison fought him off and intercepted Edge’s climb by riding a toppling ladder into the ring! Edge responded by wedging Morrison between the ladder rungs and working with the Miz to crush his ribs with another ladder. Edge’s next climb was interrupted by DiBiase, who fought off Jericho and Orton and set a couple of ladders up in a strange configuration before getting drilled to the mat by Mark Henry’s World’s Strongest Slam. As Henry started to climb, Bourne, Edge, and Orton swarmed him; Bourne ended up tossed into Henry’s arms and crushed to the floor outside by a World’s Strongest Slam. A finisher-fest to Henry took him out of the match and allowed the remaining men to scramble up the ladder; DiBiase created a ladder bridge, which he smashed Miz into before Orton and Edge sent him sliding out of the ring in a nasty-looking bump to the floor outside. An RKO outta nowhere downed Edge and Jericho ended up dangling from the ladder when he traded blows with Morrison; after another RKO to Morrison, Orton got crushed by Air Bourne but Jericho sent Bourne crashing to the canvas after bashing him with the briefcase. Jericho’s desperate attempt to grab the swinging briefcase was interrupted by Edge but it was an RKO that put an end to Jericho’s title aspirations. Orton then yanked Edge off the ladder and right into the ladders stacked up in the ring (which had to hurt!) and climbed the ladder unopposed to thunderous applause. However, right as he was unhooking the briefcase, the Miz came out of nowhere, toppled the ladder, and snatched the briefcase for himself to a sea of boos and the irritating adulation of Michael Cole. While I feel the structure of this match was paced a little better and geared more towards high spots, I feel it lacked a bit of star power. DiBiase was as forgettable as ever, I can never bring myself to care about Mark Henry, and as good as Evan Bourne was, he wasn’t quite on the same level as some of the other guys. The Miz winning was the right call as he was almost universally despised and none of the other guys really needed the win, though I do wish the WWE had done more with John Morrison as the guy screamed “superstar” but never really got a decent main event run in the company. Ultimately, both matches had positives and negatives that might’ve resulted in a higher rating if it had been one big chaotic match but it’s pretty neck and neck from where I’m sitting.

The Aftermath:
Kane didn’t waste any time cashing in his Money in the Bank contract; he suddenly burst back into the arena after Rey Mysterio successfully retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Jack Swagger. Already injured from a post-match attack, the luchador stood no chance and was summarily dethroned in less than a minute. Kane would then go on to accuse Mysterio of attacking the Undertaker and the two faced off for the belt at SummerSlam, which revealed that it was actually Kane who had attacked his brother, reigniting their feud and resulting in a series of wins for Kane over the Deadman. The Miz held on to his Money in the Bank contract until November, when he successfully cashed in on Randy Orton (who had become the WWE Champion at Night of Champions). This, of course, led to an unlikely championship run for the Miz and an even more unlikely WrestleMania main event, where he infamously got seriously concussed, played second fiddle to the Rock, and defeated John Cena in the main event of WrestleMania XVII! Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston went on the feud over the Intercontinental Championship, the Big Show got into it with CM Punk’s Straight Edge Society, Chris Jericho stayed in the WWE Championship mix until taking a brief hiatus from wrestling, and Matt Hardy was also gone a few months later after the WWE’s European tour. John Morrison notoriously ended up teaming up with Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi and Trish Status against Dolph Ziggler, Layla, and Michelle McCool at WrestleMania XVII, Mark Henry and Evan Bourne formed a brief tag team, Ted DiBiase tried and failed to win the United States Championship, and Christian would be in Edge’s corner at WrestleMania XXVII for his successful World Heavyweight Championship defence. After this, Edge was forced to retire for a spell and Christian realised his own short-lived championship ambitions, and the Money in the Bank pay-per-views continued to be an annual occurrence following this inaugural event.

SmackDown! Money in the Bank Match Rating:

Raw Money in the Bank Match Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Pretty Good

What did you think to the inaugural Money in the Bank pay-per-view? Which of the Money in the Bank ladder matches was your favourite? Do you agree that it dilutes the concept to have two or more of the matches on the same show? Were you happy that Kane and the Miz won or would you have liked to see someone else grab the briefcases? What did you think to the Big Show’s massive ladder and Evan Bourne’s athleticism? Which of the competitors was your favourite? Were there any competitors you would’ve liked to see included in these matches? What’s your favourite Money in the Bank match? Whatever your thoughts on the Money in the Bank match, share them below or leave a comment on my social media and be sure to check out my other wrestling reviews!

Wrestling Recap: Extreme Elimination Chamber (December to Dismember ’06)

Dr. K1 Comment

The Date: 3 December 2006
The Venue: James Brown Arena; Augusta, Georgia
The Commentary: Joey Styles and Tazz
The Referee: Mickie Henson
The Stakes: Extreme Elimination Chamber match for the ECW World Championship

The Build-Up:
Back in the days when the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and World Championship Wrestling (WCW) competed in a vicious ratings war, Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) offered a different brand of sports entertainment. First founded in 1992 as Eastern Championship Wrestling, the company was re-branded by one of wrestling’s greatest minds, managers, and promoters, Paul Heyman, in 1993 and came to be known for its violent and controversial matches and content, which was instrumental in inspiring the WWF’s “Attitude Era”. Unfortunately, despite ECW’s rabid cult following, the company was unable to sustain itself after losing its television deal; many of ECW’s stars jumped to the WWF and the company officially closed its doors in early-2001. ECW lived on, however, not just in the rise of independent promotions but also in the confines of the rebranded World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE); the success of their Rise and Fall of ECW documentary (Dunn, 2005) saw the WWE host a special throwback event, ECW One Night Stand, in 2005 to celebrate the brand. It was so successful that a second event followed in 2006, one that would see ECW and many of its stars return as a third WWE brand. Unfortunately, despite initially being presented as an alternative product and a showcase for new talent, the WWE ECW was doomed to fail: it lacked the “Extreme” edge fans expected, Heyman’s influence was limited, and its top star and champion, Rob Van Dam, was stripped of his championship belts after being arrested on drug charges! The WWE seemed to lose interest soon after; although they promoted this pay-per-view event, very few matches were announced beforehand and the card was supplemented by Raw and SmackDown! talent. The entire show was built around this Extreme Elimination Chamber match, with former champion RVD being the first announced for the contest. There was also some drama surrounding Hardcore Holly’s involvement; he was initially scheduled to be a part of it before Bobby Lashley attacked him and took his place, failed to gain a spot in a match against RVD, and was finally included after Sabu was mysteriously attacked earlier on the show, a decision that irked the ECW original but would be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this universally lambasted event.

The Match:
Considering ECW December to Dismember 2006 was already criticised for its lacklustre card and padding its runtime, it’s perhaps not surprising that this match was preceded by not just a hype video emphasising its violent and brutal nature, but also a lengthy pre-match promo from ECW general manager Paul Heyman. While the crowd, and even the commentary team, have no love for Heyman, who turned heel by ditching the ECW originals for up-and-coming stars like Bobby Lashley and CM Punk (and, naturally, the Big Show) as the future of the company. This promo went on for about three minutes and, afterwards, the show wasted even more time by dwelling on the chamber’s lowering around the ring. What made this match unique, and “Extreme”, compared to previous elimination chamber matches was that each competitor also carried a weapon: CM Punk had a steel chair, Test a crowbar, Lashley a table, and the Big Show had a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Otherwise, the rules were the same; two men (RVD and Hardcore Holly) started the match and, around every five minutes, another competitor was released to join in. As was often the case whenever the Big Show actually got a serious push, much of Heyman, Styles, and Tazz’s commentary emphasised the champion’s size and strength; despite the fact that the Big Show had been beaten like a drum over the years by this point, he was hyped as “unbeatable” simply because he was a huge man with a newfound motivation since capturing the championship. Of all the competitors, rising star CM Punk,the epitome of an indie darling, and the ever-popular RVD made the most waves during their entrances. Even now, as big a fan of Test and even Hardcore Holly I am as a dependable midcarder, it’s hard to deny that these two stick out like a sore thumb; nobody in the audience wanted Holly in this match and their inclusion really speaks to how limited and lacklustre the WWE ECW roster was.

RVD proved the MVP of this thrown-together match, closely followed by crowd favourite CM Punk.

As mentioned, RVD and Hardcore Holly started the match after what felt like an ice age of stalling and entrances and they kicked off what was sold as the most devastating match in the entire WWE by…trading lock ups and punches. A clothesline exchange was enough for Holly to go for the cover, which earned him barely a one count, then Holly gently tossed RVD to the raised steel floor outside the ring. RVD leapt to the cage wall when Holly dodged his dive, which was admittedly pretty impressive; unfortunately, he ended up hitting the ropes when he tried a follow up dive, which was apparently enough to draw an “ECW!” chant from the crowd. Holly pressed his advantage by running RVD into the chain-link wall and slamming him on the steel but crashed and burned when he uncharacteristically went for a dive off the top rope and ate a boot for his troubles. RVD capitalised with his patented Rolling Thunder manoeuvre from the ring, over the ropes, and to Holly’s prone body on the outside, only to find himself deposited back into the ring from a suplex for a two count. Holly and RVD traded blows, with Holly landing his trademark dropkick, before CM Punk joined the action. The crowd exploded when Punk launched his steel chair right at Holly’s face and took out RVD with a springboard clothesline, only to be blasted with that same chair when RVD tossed it at his head! RVD followed up with his rolling monkey flip in the corner, which saw Punk slightly graze the chair with his tail bone, only for Punk to duck RVD’s spin kick and sweep him onto the chair with his speed and martial arts skill. Punk kept Holly out of the game with a springboard dropkick and continued to work over the busted open RVD, thrusting him head-first through the chair as it was wedged in the corner, only to have his momentum cut off when Holly swung him into the chain link wall for a near fall.

The crowd were unimpressed when RVD and Punk were eliminated, and by the botched pin on Holly.

Holly continued his attack with a sidewalk slam to Punk before dumping him on the ropes and booting him right in the head and driving him to the mat with a superplex. Regardless, CM Punk kicked out of two follow-up pin attempts and all three men were fatigued when Test brutally attacked with his crowbar, slamming, clawing, and choking Punk and RVD to give Holly time to recuperate. RVD somehow found a second wind, attacking with the chair then eliminating CM Punk with the Five-Star Frog Splash, which initially caused the audience to pop but their cheers quickly turned to boos when they realised what’d happened. Test then shockingly hit Holly with his Big Boot; however, despite the referee not counting to three and Tazz insisting that Holly kicked out, Hardcore Holly was summarily eliminated in confusing, frustrating, and anti-climactic fashion. RVD then flew in with a side kick off the top rope that downed Test and left him in prime position for a Five-Star Frog Splash off the top of the Big Show’s pod; however, the Big Show grabbed at RVD and interrupted the move, allowing Test to attack with a chair, dump him off the pod, and land a massive elbow drop from the pod to the steel chair, which took RVD out of the match and left the audience incensed as they realised their two favourites were gone.

After some stalling, shenanigans, and mediocre action, Lashley captured the championship.

There was a huge lull in the match where Test was left to awkwardly stumble about the ring as the counter wound down; then, when Heyman’s riot squad refused to let him out, Lashley broke out of his pod by smashing the roof with his table. Although he almost slipped off the top rope, Lashley, hit a diving clothesline, kicking the chair in Test’s face, and smashing him in the gut with the crowbar. The Spear that followed then took Test out of the match, leaving Lashley to stalk around the ring for over a minute as he waited for the Big Show to be released. The Big Show lumbered out with his barbed wire baseball bat and hammered at Lashley, who desperately defended himself with the chair; quickly, Lashley tricked the Big Show into getting the bat caught in the cage wall, allowing the challenger to drive the champion into the steel mesh and right through a pod, busting him open and leaving him prone for a beating. The Big Show rallied, effortlessly tossing Lashley into the ring and flooring him with a clothesline; however, when he went for his trademark Chokeslam, Lashley countered into a huge DDT! The Big Show got pissed when Lashley deftly ducked his haymakers and tried to plant him with a running powerslam, but Lashley easily slipped off, hit the ropes, and collided with a Spear to finish the clearly winded champion and capture the ECW Championship to reluctant applause. I can understand why this match is so poorly regarded; there’s just not enough star power, heat, or intrigue behind it. The weapons added some spice but they were barely used and there was too much waiting around, not to mention the two clear fan favourites being unceremoniously dispatched and that botched pin on Hardcore Holly!

The Aftermath:
This wouldn’t be the last time that the Big Show and Bobby Lashley clashed over the ECW World Heavyweight Championship; on the very next episode of ECW, Lashley defeated the Big Show in a one-on-one match, retaining the belt and temporarily removing the Big Show from WWE programming. Lashley continued to mix it up with his fellow chamber opponents, clashing with RVD on ECW and defending the championship against Test at Royal Rumble, but he ended up embroiled in a “Battle of the Billionaires” at WrestleMania 23 as he represented Donald Trump in a match against WWE chairman Vince McMahon’s proxy, Umaga. This ultimately led to perhaps the most outrageous storyline of the revived ECW as McMahon and Lashley feuded over the championship, with the chairman actually capturing the belt in the process! Although December to Dismember wouldn’t be the end of ECW, it was the end of Paul Heyman’s tenure with the company, and the WWE, for some time; the show’s poor buy rate and attendance figures escalated tensions between Heyman and McMahon, with the former walking away from the company after his booking decisions regarding CM Punk, Rob Van Dam, and Bobby Lashley were ignored. Contrary to popular belief, ECW limped on for about two more years after December to Dismember, but the brand was never again afforded its own pay-per-view and December to Dismember went down in history as one of the worst produced, worst attended, and worst regarded wrestling events of all time.

My Rating:

Rating: 1 out of 5.

Terrible

What did you think to the Extreme Elimination Chamber match? Who did you want to see win the match at the time? Were you annoyed that Sabu was swapped out for Hardcore Holly? What did you think to CM Punk being the first person eliminated? Do you think the match should have made better use of its weapons? Were you excited that Bobby Lashley won? What did you think to the WWE’s revival of ECW? Would you like to see the December to Dismember event make a comeback? Whatever your thoughts, feel free to leave them below or drop a comment on my social media.

Wrestling Recap: A McMahon in Every Corner! (WrestleMania ’00)

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The Date: 2 April 2000
The Venue: Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim; Anaheim, California
The Commentary: Jim “J.R.” Ross and Jerry “The King” Lawler
The Referee: Earl Hebner
The Stakes: Fatal-four-way elimination match for the WWF Championship

The Build-Up:
On March 31st, 1985, Vince McMahon changed the face of the wrestling landscape forever by bringing together the biggest names in wrestling (alongside a number of celebrity guests) for the very first WrestleMania, a pay-per-view extravaganza that became the hottest event of the calendar year for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and what better way to celebrate than by looking back at one of the event’s most historic matches. By the late-nineties, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was clawing back to prominence after being beaten in the weekly ratings by World Championship Wrestling’s (WCW) Monday Nitro for nearly two years. Amidst the adolescent antics of D-Generation X and the violent rivalry between the Undertaker and Kane, fans were caught up in the rivalry between the loud-mouthed, anti-authority “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and WWF Chairman Vince McMahon. Unfortunately, Austin was written off television using a hit-and-run angle so that he could get much-needed neck surgery, and the main event scene of the WWF came to be dominated by Triple H. Triple H became an extremely powerful figure, both on- and offscreen, after marrying McMahon’s daughter, Stephanie, and throwing his weight around as WWF Champion, crushing those with either his political power, his trusty sledgehammer, or his buddies in D-X. After Cactus Jack failed to unseat Triple H, costing the man behind the persona, Mick Foley, his career in the process, the people’s last chance laid, fittingly, in the People’s Champion himself, the Rock. However, the Rock’s path to the WrestleMania main event was disputed by the Big Show following a botched finish to the Royal Rumble; the Rock’s attempts to regain his championship match were further thwarted when the Big Show aligned himself with Vince’s son, Shane, so Vince returned to the Rock’s corner to get a measure of payback against his children. Although Chris Jericho was initially scheduled to be added to the WrestleMania main event, Linda McMahon entered the fray and announced that she would accompanying Mick Foley to the ring at the Showcase of the Immortals and the sage was set for a fatal-four-way with a member of the McMahon family in every corner!

The Match:
I should say that, while many fans and critics out there don’t think too much to this match (or this WrestleMania, there’s a very good reason that I’m choosing to review it; this was the very first WrestleMania I ever watched, and I had just started really getting into wrestling just prior to the Royal Rumble, so I was all about Mick Foley, Triple H’s dominating run as champion, and the intrigue surrounding these larger-than-life competitors. As such, considering the emotional ending to their Hell in a Cell bout at No Way Out, I was fully onboard with J. R.’s call that Foley was the “sentimental pick” for this match and had absolutely no qualms about seeing him added to the contest so close to his “retirement” because it just added a lot more emotional stakes to the match after seeing him push Triple H to the limit as Cactus Jack and knowing it could very well be his last shot at reclaiming the WWF Championship. Arguably, if there’s anyone that people didn’t seem too interested in seeing in this match, it’s the Big Show; the mammoth Paul Wight had already switched alignments a handful of times by this point, and been the WWF Champion himself and, despite the allure of his size and strength, just wasn’t as beloved, hated, or revered as the other three competitors so he kind of stands out a little bit. Once the Rock comes out, it’s pretty clear who the crowd is really behind; despite being accompanied by the hated Vince McMahon, the Rock was firmly entrenched as the most popular star on the roster at this point and the people had been begging to see him dethrone Triple H ever since he won the Royal Rumble. And then, of course, there’s the champion himself; Triple H’s big run at the top wasn’t quite as self-serving as his later reign of terror, but he had gone out of his way to make sure that he was the most hated man in the WWF at that point; from throwing his weight around, stacking the deck at every turn, to firing and the retiring Mick Foley, Triple H had every advantage at his disposal, to say nothing of being physically capable of going toe-to-toe with any man, especially each of his opponents in this match.

Despite his size and strength, the Big Show is the first to go after the others team up against him.

With no count-outs, time limits, or disqualifications in effect, and three former World Champions gunning for him, Triple H was at a distinct disadvantage here; not only did he not have to be pinned to lose the belt, he could also be eliminated from the contest entirely if he wasn’t careful, and the four wasted no time in pairing off for a slugfest that saw the Game renew his rivalry with Foley and the Rock and the Big Show go at it in the other corner. Hyped up on adrenaline and emotion, Foley was able to beat Triple H down in the corner and hit his running knee spot, but both men were soon floored by a double clothesline from the Big Show, who showcased his physical dominance in the early going by manhandling each of his opponents indiscriminately with headbutts, tosses, and huge Gorilla Press Slams. Foley’s attempt to choke out the Big Show left him crushed beneath the giant’s weight, and he easily shut down the Rock’s offense with a sidewalk slam, but surprisingly Foley saved the Game from falling victim to the big man’s patented Showstopper chokeslam with a kick to the nuts. Triple H, the Rock, and Mick Foley then got on the same page to pummel the Big Show and finally knock him down for a group stomping. It’s Foley who breaks up the alliance, attacking Triple H and sending himself and the Game to the outside with his Cactus Clothesline; while the Big Show overpowers the Rock on the inside, Foley attacks Triple H with a steel chair in front of the announcers, then wallops the big man across the spine in retaliation for Shane tripping the Rock. Stunned by the shot, the Big Show lumpers right into a Rock Bottom and is summarily eliminated from the match.

It wasn’t long before Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection were battling for victory.

Triple H offers to join forces with each of his two opponents to take out the other, and ends up getting suckered in by the Rock as a result; the former WWF Tag Team Champions stomp the shit out of Triple H, smacking him back and forth between them and flooring him with a double clothesline before dumping him to the outside. Every time Triple H attempts to mount a comeback, the Rock ‘n’ Sock Connection shut him down, but Triple H is wily enough to duck a shot from the Rock that sees Foley get blasted in the head with the ring bell! Triple H follows up by running the Rock into the steel ring steps to turn things around, dropping the Rock chest-first on the barricade, but he’s left cowering in ear with Foley pulls out his trusty barbed wire 2×4! Thanks to a kick to the dick, Triple H fells the former Hardcore Champion and then uses Foley’s own weapon against him; thankfully, the Rock interrupts before Foley can get too shredded, giving Mick the opportunity to hit the Double-Arm DDT and pull out Mister Socko for the Mandible Claw. The Rock then smashes the WWF Championship over Triple H’s face, but Foley interrupts the People’s Elbow by slapping the Mandible Claw on the Rock (which a vocal majority of the crowd are not happy about) and this dissension allows both men to fall victim to a double low blow form the Game. The Rock and Triple H make it to their feet first, and Vince surreptitiously slips a steel chair into the ring for the Rock to use, but nearly has a heart attack when Foley attacks the Rock and almost scores a pin fall off the Double-Arm DDT. Foley’s momentum is cut off, however, when he charges at the Rock with the chair and gets a face full of steel for his efforts, but Triple H breaks up the Rock’s pin attempt (which the announcers question and hastily try to explain as the Game wanting to personally eliminate Foley from the match).

After injuring himself on a risky move, Foley is eliminated and Triple H focuses his wrath on the Rock.

Triple H then clotheslines the Rock down and he and Foley agree to team up to eliminate the Rock and then settle their score, which the crowd also isn’t happy about. Suddenly fending off two men at once, the Rock is pummelled by the unlikely duo’s attacks and double teams but refuses to let himself be pinned to the mat. Foley knocks the Rock to the outside, smashing the Brahma Bull in the face with the steel stairs and leaving him helpless as Triple H lays him across the Spanish announce table. Foley ascends the nearest turnbuckle and absolutely crashes and burns on a diving elbow drop, momentarily taking himself out of the match and leaving Triple H to quickly cover up by smashing the Rock through the table himself. With the Rock incapacitated at ringside, Triple H is infuriated when the injured Foley still manages to kick out of a Pedigree s he smashes the former King of the Death Match over the head with a steel chair and finally puts his dreams to rest with a devastating Pedigree to the chair. The crowd is a sea of boos at seeing their beloved hero eliminated, but applaud his efforts, continuously respectful of his tremendous effort and the sacrifices he made not just throughout his career, but also in this match. Before he leaves, though, Foley clocks Triple H in the head with the barbed wire 2×4, busting him open in the process and allowing the match to boils down to, arguably, the two men who should’ve had the main event to themselves all along: The Champion, Triple H, and the people’s last, best hope, the Rock. After kicking out of a pin fall attempt, Triple H gets decked by the Rock’s signature right hands, and then clotheslined to the outside after a brief miscommunication; the Rock forces Triple H up the aisleway for a brawl on the concrete and, naturally, out into the crowd and back over to the announce table. Triple H uses a steel chair to smack the ring steps into the Rock’s face and pin him to the floor, attacking the steps with the chair to increase the pressure, and then plans the Rock with a piledriver onto the other steel steps! Despite J. R.’s pleas to stop the match, and that such a spot probably should’ve been the finish, the Rock not only kicks out of a pin attempt but even fires up enough to go for a Rock Bottom! Triple H countered out of it but was toss over the top rope and back to the outside when the Rock countered the Pedigree!

Vince screws the Rock out of his victory, but the People’s Champ gets the last laugh on the McMahons.

The two brawl at ringside and through the crowd a bit more, an exchange that sees the Rock slam Triple H to the padded floor with a spinebuster and then smash Triple H through the remaining announce table with a beautiful suplex! When Triple H trips the Rock into the ring steps with a drop-toe hold, Vince attacks the Game and ends up being smashed in the head by a television monitor courtesy of his son. The two McMahons brawl at ringside and Vince gets busted open from a chair shot to take the focus off the ring and give the competitors a chance to catch their breath; this results in the Rock exploding with a series of punches and scoring a near-fall off a DDT and that cool twirling powerslam he used to do around this time. Triple H turns things around with Foley’s 2×4, but the Rock is able to slingshot the Game into Triple H and then plant the champion with a Rock Bottom. Unfortunately, the Rock is too fatigued to capitalise, but is saved from Shane’s chair shot by a returning Vince, who slaps his son around to thunderous applause. Vince grabs the chair and prepares to hit Triple H, but psyche! The WWF Chairman stuns the crowd, and Stephanie, and smashes the chair over the Rock’s head instead! When the Rock kicks out of the pin fall, Vince is infuriated and hits the People’s Champion again, harder this time, and Triple H finally snags the three count, becoming the first heel to ever successfully defend the WWF Championship at WrestleMania. The Rock is left a quivering, beaten mess, the crowd is so pissed off that they’re throwing trash in the ring, and Vince embraces Stephanie and Shane to birth a new alliance in the WWF. Angered at the betrayal, the Rock hits the ring and plants all three McMahons with Rock Bottoms and then hits the People’s Elbow on Stephanie to placate the crowd somewhat.

The Aftermath:
Naturally, the Rock wasn’t finished with Triple H following the end of this match; over the next few weeks, the People’s Champion was continuously on the backfoot as the combined forces of the McMahons and D-X conspired to beat him down at every opportunity. Although the Rock was able to earn a one-on-one shot at Triple H at Backlash, the McMahons stacked the deck against him by naming Shane as the special guest referee and Vince’s stooge, Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco, in supporting roles. This led to Linda announcing that Steve Austin would be in the Rock’s corner at the event; although the Texas Rattlesnake wouldn’t show up until literally the very last minute during the match, his appearance not only helped the Rock to defeat Triple for the WWF Championship but also result in one of the most lauded and financially successfully pay-per-views of the year. The Rock’s issues with Triple H and the McMahons continued for a few months, with Triple H regaining the belt thanks to the return of the Undertaker, and the Rock continued to be pestered by Shane even as he faced new challengers like Chris Benoit.

Each competitor continued to play a pivotal role in the wrestling for years to come following this match.

The Big Show slid down the card after this and was reduced to a impersonator gimmick before being taken off TV completely so he could lose weight; he would make a dramatic return at the 2001 Royal Rumble, languish in the Hardcore division for a while, before finally getting renewed push to the top when he was paired up against rookie Brock Lesnar. Triple H saw out the rest of 2000 feuding with Kurt Angle and the Undertaker, before a horrific injury saw his power team with Austin disrupted. He returned to the ring to main event WrestleMania X-8 and remained in the main event picture scene for years thanks to his time in Evolution and feuds with Shawn Michaels and John Cena and transitioning into an authority figure. As for Mick Foley, he was soon back on TV as a beloved authority figure and mainly acted as a comedic figurehead or special guest referee. Foley returned to the ring in 2004 to team up with the Rock against Randy Orton, Ric Flair, and Batista of Evolution; Foley’s in-ring return was specifically to help sell Orton’s “Legend Killer” gimmick but he had a number of notable matches in the years after this against the likes of Edge, Ric Flair, and Terry Funk and Tommy Dreamer in WWE, and against such names as Scott Steiner, Sting, and Kevin Nash during his time with Total Nonstop Action (TNA).

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Did you enjoy the main event of WrestleMania 2000? What did you think to the a McMahon being in every corner? Who was your pick to win this match at the time? What did you think to Mick Foley returning to the ring so soon after his retirement? Would you have liked to see Chris Jericho in this match? Did you agree with the finish? How are you celebrating WrestleMania’s anniversary this year and what’s your favourite WrestleMania moment? Drop your thoughts below by signing up or leave a comment on my social media to let me know what you think about WrestleMania 2000 and check back for more wrestling content throughout the year.

Game Corner: WWE 2K18 (Xbox One)

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GameCorner
WWE2K18Logo

As may already be evident, I have a long-standing preference for the WCW and WWF videogames released by AKI/THQ back in my youth; however, another WWF videogame series I have been particularly fond of and spent many hours and days of my childhood playing has been the WWF SmackDown! series released by THQ and Yuke’s on Sony’s PlayStation in 2000. Eventually, this series evolved into the WWE SmackDown! Vs. Raw franchise, which was released on multiple consoles between 2004 and 2010. I believe I came into this series with WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 Featuring ECW (Yuke’s/Amaze Entertainment/THQ, 2007) and bowed out with WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2011 (Yuke’s/THQ, 2010) as, by this point, it was pretty clear to me that I was simply purchasing the same videogame every year with additional wrestlers, some new match types, and minor improvements to the graphics and gameplay. As a result, I decided to buy a new title every two years or so and, after enjoying WWE ’13 (ibid, 2012) and deciding that WWE 2K15 (Yuke’s/Visual Concepts/2K Sports, 2014) was far too stripped back on features to justify the price tag, I settled on getting WWE 2K14 (ibid, 2013) and biding my time.

WWE’s videogames eventually aped the yearly formula of the FIFA series.

As a result, I have not bought or played a new videogame in 2K Sports’ WWE 2K series for about four years now, and with good reason; as the series made the jump to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, reviews and feedback ranged from resoundingly negative to mediocre displeasure as 2K Sports apparently removed many expected gameplay mechanics and features in what was nothing less than a blatant attempt to sell features seen in previous PlayStation 3-era titles as being “new”. Despite the additions of never-before-seen superstars such as Sting, AJ Styles, and Samoa Joe, I decided to wait it out until the release of WWE 2K18 (ibid, 2017) to give the series a chance to iron out these kinks and to create an ironic sense of symmetry given that the last title I played was WWE 2K14. As such, it took me a little while to become accustomed to WWE 2K18’s control scheme; previously, these titles allowed you the option of controlling your wrestler with the directional-pad (or “D-pad”) and taunting with the analogue stick, which is my preferred control scheme given how it mirrors that of the AKI/THQ titles.

WWE2K18Submission
WWE 2K18 loves these little wheels of death!

However, WWE 2K18 does not allow you to change the control scheme, meaning that I was forced to control my wrestler with the left analogue stick and taunt using the D-pad which, for an old school player like myself who dislikes change, took some getting used to. One of the other main reasons I prefer D-pad control is that I find it easier to direct and aim my opponent during running attacks or Irish whips; I find the analogue stick makes such aiming harder as the stick is more sensitive. WWE 2K18 also features some new mini games which replace the ones I had grown accustomed to in WWE 2K14; when being pinned, for example, you now have to press X on a little wheel rather than stopping a little bar that bounces back and forth. This is actually a lot trickier than it sounds as it seems the videogame is set up to make kicking out of pins harder than before to, I guess, allow for more “realistic” matches. Additionally, there is no longer the “Breaking Point” submission system; instead, there’s either a tricky mini game involving the analogue stick or you must mash one of the four action buttons when they appear onscreen. I went with the button mashing option but have found that winning a match by submission is not as easy as it used to be, potentially because you can no longer select a match to be either quicker, normal, or epic; this, and the improved attribute system, means that you are forced to work for your submission victory.

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Suffer enough damage and you’ll roll from the ring to take a break.

Other gameplay changes can be seen in multi-man match; now, when you or another player receives enough damage, they automatically roll out of the ring and you must mash buttons to fill up a bar and re-enter the match. It sounds good on paper and, again, appears to be tooled towards making matches more “realistic” but I found it more annoying than anything else as you could end up stuck on the outside and lose the match. This mechanic carries over into ladder/TLC matches as well, making them considerably more frustrating than usual as you incur far more damage much faster in these matches so you’ll spend a lot of time mashing buttons to get back into the matches. Also, in ladder/TLC matches, you no longer pull down the belt of briefcase using the right analogue stick; instead, you have to play a little mini game where you must fill up segments of a circle by rotating a ball into a small hole using the right analogue stick. It’s fun but quite distracting; I found myself concentrating more on the mini game than the match and, if you get interrupted with only a couple (or, even worse, one) segments left to fill, you are almost guaranteed to lose the match as the next wrestler to play the mini game will probably complete the circle while you’re busy mashing buttons to get back into the match.

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Multi-man TLC matches are still the worst.

The Royal Rumble match is also noticeably different and, technically, more difficult; rather than hitting buttons in a quick-time event as in WWE 2K14, you now have to mash a button when trying to eliminate an opponent. Honestly, I’ve played a couple of these matches and never once eliminated anyone using the button-mashing mini game no matter what their health and stamina. I found the best way to eliminate wrestlers was the tried-and-true Royal Rumble finisher, clotheslining them out of the ring or countering a run attack, or by exploiting a glitch where, if you whip the opponent onto the apron and quickly punch them repeatedly, they simply fall from the ring.

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I struggled to legitimately eliminate anyone in the Royal Rumble…

As I always found ladder, TLC, and Royal Rumble matches tedious any way, these gameplay changes don’t bother me that much; you are not forced to play these matches and, on the whole, I would just avoid them. Some good changes have been made to tables matches, though; every time you hit your opponent with or into a table, it fills up a break meter and, once it’s full, you can smash the opponent through it using some new and expanded options. 2K Sports have also introduced a carry system, similar to the one from WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2007 (Yuke’s/THQ, 2006), which allows you to smash your opponent off the ropes, turnbuckles, apron, and other objects. They’ve also brought back in-crowd fighting, to a degree, allowing you to smash your opponent through (or hit them over) the barricade at ringside or toss them from the stage area to fight in little areas near the crowd.

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Universe mode is back, bigger and better than ever.

Although create-a-story and create-a-finisher are no longer options, WWE 2K18 is still full to the brim with creation options. I honestly spent maybe five days or so setting everything up the way I wanted it and creating wrestlers, entrances, victories, shows, and teams in the expanded Universe mode. As before, Universe mode allows you to create a show, place wrestlers and championships on the show, and then create monthly pay-per-view events for that show. I like to recreate the product as closely as possible so I created a Raw, SmackDown! Live, and NXT brand (with 205 Live and Main Event as minor shows) and, for all the Legends and duplicate wrestlers, a WCW Monday Nitro brand (with some crossover between them all). You can create more than one Universe at a time but I prefer to have it all in one place rather than jumping backwards and forwards all the time; I then moved every pay-per-view event to their correct calendar month and also created some additional pay-per-vews for my NXT and Nitro brands; this is extremely in-depth, allowing you to choose from a whole bunch of preset or created arenas (with scene transitions, an array of screen filters, a bunch of different referees, and more).

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There are loads of colour and customisation options.

You can still create your own championship belts as well, if that’s your thing; given how many old school belts are in the videogame, I don’t tend to do much with this, though. Instead, my focus was on the massively deep create-a-wrestler mode; created wrestlers look more realistic than ever before and you can choose from a whole bunch of options, from wrinkles to scars, facial and body hair, eye colour, veins, muscle definition, and even how much body oil your created wrestler has! There are also a whole load of attire options, including blank attires that you can customise as you desire and also pre-set attires worn by the featured roster; you can change not only the colour of these attires but also the material type, which allows shirts and jeans and the like to be leather, take on a metallic hue, or even glow in the dark! Finally, there are far more options for names for your created wrestler this year and the in-game commentary team will refer to your created wrestler by these throughout their matches.

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Apparently you can put a price on greatness.

Although there are many WWE and superstar-related images available to you in this mode, there are noticeably less options for body tattoos this years, unfortunately. This is where the Community Creations option will come into play; you are able to upload images to the 2K Sports website and transfer them into the videogame, meaning you can search in the WWE 2K18 for a whole bunch of professionally-designed images, logos, and tattoos to apply to your created wrestler. You can also download created wrestlers created by others to account for those wrestlers omitted from this years roster, though you are limited to twenty downloads a day and cannot download created wrestlers that feature aspects from wrestlers you’ve yet to unlock or purchase. Speaking of which, WWE 2K18 features an in-ring store mode, as is the norm for this series now. As you play matches, you are awarded virtual currency based on how many stars your match scored; the more stars you get through move variety, countering, and such, the more currency you earn. You can then spend this in the store to unlock Legends, and additional arenas and championships and, make no mistake, this is the only way to unlock this extra content. Previously, in WWE 2K14 at least, you could unlock new wrestlers by playing the 30 Years of WrestleMania mode but, here, you can only do this by purchasing them.

You can do this by playing any match in any mode and, also, through the MyPlayer mode, which is the career mode of the videogame. You have to create a wrestler, using far more limited tools and options, and work your way through training and wrestling on NXT before being called up to the main roster. You can make some limited decisions to decide whether you are a Company Man (a heel) or a Fan Favourite (a face). In my playthrough, I was initially called up to Raw and forced to lose a bunch of matches, so I jumped to SmackDown! Live, where I won the United States Championship, Money in the Bank ladder match, and Royal Rumble match and am currently feuding with Triple H and the Authority on the path towards the WWE Championship. Along the way, you can partake in side quests to earn rewards (new moves, attire, and currency), make a signature t-shirt to earn some extra cash, and perform in-ring promos and run-ins.

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You’ll need to pay to get the most out of MyPlayer mode.

Overall, this mode is quite enjoyable but, honestly, it’s a poor substitute for a Road to WrestleMania-type of mode. There are a lot of load times and some noticeable frame drops; you are also forced to walk/run from the garage to the producer and back every single week, which begs the question why they bothered putting in the free-roaming backstage area at all rather than just have a set-up similar to the PlayStation 3-era titles where you had a locker room with a phone and just did everything through text. There are some inconsistencies; I was regularly teaming with Sami Zayn then, randomly and with no explanation, my partner suddenly became Fandango. I was also once asked by Tius O’Neil to attack Primo Colón one week but, when I couldn’t find him, ended up attacking Kassius Ohno. There are also a lot of times when you do more promos than matches, when the match objectives aren’t completely clear (the Money in the Bank match springs to mind), and when your matches end due to interference more often than not but, these issues aside, it’s a pretty decent mode, though I found it more enjoyable and profitable to play Universe mode more than anything.

It’s interesting that the load times for the MyPlayer mode are so atrocious as, normally, they’re not that bad; matches in Universe mode load much faster than in WWE 2K14. I learned from some of my mistakes in WWE 2K14 and don’t have nearly as many custom arenas or created wrestlers, which may help with this, and also towards limiting crashes. WWE 2K14 would crash all the time, usually after a match but sometimes before one, and it was very frustrating. I have had a few crashes in WWE 2K18 but, as the matches and the videogame loads up a lot faster, it’s not as annoying. One bug that is annoying is, when downloading a created wrestler, attached logos and images will sometimes not download, meaning you’re left having to either find them separately or with an incomplete created wrestler/attire.

I haven’t played WWE 2K18 online yet, mainly because I don’t have Xbox Gold or whatever you need to do that but also because online players are trolling, move-spamming sons of bitches; also, the learning curve for timing reversals and having competitive but enjoyable matches that I actually won was quite steep. Sometimes, you’ll have a match and be in complete control and all the opponent has to do is a couple of moves and you can’t recover, then you get hit with one finisher and its over. A good feature, though, is that miss-matched opponents (like Braun Strowman against Kalisto) often trigger a squash match, where you gain full momentum and a finisher after your first hit and win the match in seconds for a decent payday.

WWE2K18STINGS
All the Sting you could ever want!

The roster in WWE 2K18 is as deep as you could want; there are some noticeable omissions from NXT but, otherwise, everyone you could want and more is in the videogame alongside some decent and surprising Legends. Hulk Hogan and Yokozuna are gone but Vader and the Big Boss Man are back; there are some crazy instances of numerous duplicates, such as five (five!) versions of Sting and separating Finn Balor and his Demon King attire (though the Demon King does still act as an alternative attire to regular Balor) but, mostly, there’s some good inclusions this year. The soundtrack, apparently “curated” by the Rock, is mostly miss rather than hit, with the only decent track being a radio edit version of Disturbed’s Down With the Sickness, though a similarly-edited version of Limp Bizkit’s Rollin’ is used as the entrance theme for Undertaker ’00 despite this particular version of Undertaker’s biker gimmick actually being more associated with You’re Gonna Pay. The in-game commentary is all-new, at least for me anyway, including the three-man team of Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Byron Saxton; mostly, it is far better than what I experienced in WWE 2K14 but there still times when they refer to women as “guys”, talk inanely about things not even relevant to the match in progress, or ask each other questions that are never answered.

WWE2K18Balor
Graphically, WWE 2K18 is very impressive.

Overall, WWE 2K18 is a challenging and enjoyable affair; Universe mode is bigger and more expansive than ever, with shorter load times and significantly less crashes and glitches (so far), and the star rating system does make it feel as though each match is important and worth something. MyPlayer suffers a bit (though admittedly this may also be because I don’t want to waste my virtual currency upgrading the MyPlayer character unless I absolutely have to as I want to unlock the Legends) but is, otherwise, fun enough for what it is. I would have also liked to have seen, at least, Showcase matches similar to previous titles or themed around a wrestler (this year’s pre-order bonus, Kurt Angle, for example, or Shawn Michaels, or even the cover star, Seth Rollins) to assist with the unlocking of extra content. Creation options are deep and versatile; you can waste hours and even days crafting the perfect created wrestler (I know I did!) or downloading extra attires and wrestlers to fill out the already impressive roster. I am glad that I waited for 2K Sports to add in many of the features they previously omitted and refine their current-generation gameplay engine as it seems to have paid off; matches are far more realistic and challenging than in WWE 2K14, where I could win with a minimum of effort, which is good once you’re used to the control scheme and what is expected of you, if admittedly somewhat detrimental to those who just want to pick it up and play a quick match without any obligation to simulating a real-life WWE match. Based on my experience with this title, I will probably wait until WWE 2K20 for my next entry into the series as I would never recommend anyone buys these titles on a yearly basis but, if like me, you’ve been away from the series for a while, I would definitely recommend picking this one up.

My Rating:

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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