DVD Review: WrestleMania Monday

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 363 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: April 3 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

Over the last few years, the episode of Raw held the day after WrestleMania has become almost as anticipated as Mania itself. Whilst the post-WM Raw has always served the purpose of pressing the reset button, so to speak, and acting as a platform for debuts, returns and even retirements, since 2012 the combination of truly major developments and increasingly raucous crowds have led to this being the most watched, and most eagerly-awaited, television show of the WWE Calendar.

The latest WWE release focuses on this phenomenon, with a documentary being accompanied by a selection of matches and moments from down the years, all of which, of course, come from post-Mania editions of Raw. They include some of the most memorable and historic Raw moments of all-time, and some of the loudest crowd reactions in Raw history provided the soundtrack for them. All of which makes for a pretty entertaining DVD.

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DVD Review: Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 424 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: March 27 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

Fans who have only discovered wrestling, and primarily WWE, within the last ten years may wonder why the latest personality DVD is based around Diamond Dallas Page. Besides appearances in the 2015 Royal Rumble and the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 32, DDP hasn't wrestled for WWE since 2002, and his WWF/WWE run was a disappointment to him and his fans. So, at first glance, it's a confusing choice. However, when you factor in the man's unlikely journey to stardom, his major WCW success, his popularity, his high-standard ring skills and psychology, and the tremendous work he has done to help other people since retiring as a full-time grappler, you realise that DDP is the perfect candidate for the DVD bio treatment.

The DVD (which unfortunately uses a redone version of Page's theme instead of his WCW theme Self High Five, which in itself was a copy, albeit a very effective one, of Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit) begins with a documentary focusing on the life and times of Dallas. We're told about his initial sports success in college and how working as a bar manager led him, after becoming a wrestling fan of course, to send in trial videos to become a manager in the AWA. Then in his early 30s, DDP spent the next few years in the AWA and later WCW, filling the void left behind by great managers who had moved on whilst developing an over-the-top personality with plenty of gimmick props. As Page states here, in WCW he was told that he wouldn't be used as a manager going forward because he was overshadowing the wrestlers, but that's where DDP's journey really begins.

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DVD Review: Royal Rumble 2017

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 211 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: March 20 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

The marketing slogan "Remember The Rumble" was used to promote the 30th annual Royal Rumble, which would arguably be the biggest in history as the show returned to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas with a star-studded line-up across the board. Ultimately, the Rumble will be remembered for reasons good and bad, more positive than negative, as this DVD reaffirms.

Kicking off with Charlotte vs. Bayley for the Raw Women's Championship, the opener is a good one and it marks a refreshing change from the Charlotte-Sasha Banks battles on Raw (this is the first televised match for said title which doesn't involve Sasha since Extreme Rules way back in May, believe it or not). The result is logical, despite Bayley's popularity, although events since the Rumble suggest that the outcome was a bit pointless, since the title change that many assumed was being saved for WrestleMania, and ultimately was not, could have made for a big moment here at the Rumble.

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Roadblock: End Of The Line 2016

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 179 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: March 6 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

Since the Brand Extension, there has been a theme with the single-brand PPVs, and the single-brand television output for that matter. Whilst SmackDown has largely impressed despite having a fairly small crew of wrestlers to mix and match with, Raw has generally been a case of "good but not great" even though it boasts a more star-studded roster, partly due to the occasionally questionable creative decisions relating to the red brand (such as Triple H turning on Seth Rollins in spectacular fashion in August 2016, only for HHH to not appear on Raw to address the situation for more than five months). Roadblock: End Of The Line, like Clash Of Champions and Hell In A Cell before it, is a good snapshot of the Rad brand in general, as despite some strong in-ring action, the card ultimately feels underwhelming as a whole.

Before I begin the review proper, I should mention that this was the second Roadblock event of the year, following the Network special in March 2016. As such, note that this DVD is for the Raw-brand PPV, not the March event headlined by Triple H vs. Dean Ambrose (incidentally, the original Roadblock show would have made an excellent DVD extra if this were a two-disc release, but it was not to be).

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The Best Of Raw & SmackDown 2016

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 519 Minutes
Certificate: 12
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: February 20 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

Just like the Best PPV Matches 2016 DVD, this three-disc collection emphasises that it was a year of two halves (well, near enough) for WWE: pre-Draft and post-Draft, especially on Raw and SmackDown, which changed dramatically once the WWE roster was split into two. Actually, it was more like a year of thirds, with the pre-WrestleMania season being a fairly dull time on-screen due to a plethora of injuries and a certain amount of creative malaise.

Mind you, there were still some highlights of the year's first few months, and most of them are featured on this set, which is presented by Jerry Lawler and is introduced with the Raw and SmackDown intro videos. Officially opening with a fun Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch bout from the first SmackDown of the year, we then jump to a match which seems like aeons ago, as Kalisto challenges Alberto Del Rio for the United States Championship on Raw, in a bout that exceeds expectations.

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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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TLC 2016

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 174 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: February 6 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

TLC 2016 rounded off the Pay-Per-View year on the SmackDown side, a year where the blue brand has completed a remarkable comeback from being an almost ignored show to WWE's most entertaining and logical weekly programme. TLC also served to culminate several lengthy rivalries, all of which combined with some high-quality action to deliver a really good event for WWE fans.

The show opens with a basic, television-esque battle for the SmackDown Tag Team Titles between Heath Slater & Rhyno and the team of Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt, which existed more to further the Orton-in-the-Wyatt-Family storyline. Next up, we have a No Disqualification bout between Nikki Bella and Carmella which, whilst fairly short, draws a line under their feud which began in August, whilst also setting up the subsequent Nikki-Natalya rivalry.

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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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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

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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 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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WWE Best Pay-Per-View Matches 2016

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 539 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 3
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: January 16 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

For the seventh year, WWE presents its top supercard matches of the year on DVD (although the original release covered the 2009/2010 season, from Backlash 2009 to WrestleMania XXVI; you can check out previous reviews within this series using the links on the right). Since the series began at the end of the 2000s, a lot of things have changed in WWE, not least the roster and its leading stars. However, what hasn't changed is that you can usually count on there being some pretty strong matches on the vast majority of Pay-Per-View events. In 2016, there were perhaps more stand-out PPV showdowns than ever before in WWE, and many of them are included in this collection.

Hosted by Lita, the set fittingly kicks off with the first PPV match of the year, that being a very good Last Man Standing clash between Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens for the Intercontinental Championship from Royal Rumble. From there, we're shown a quick montage of every match from the Rumble event and, throughout the set, similar round-ups are shown for every featured PPV event, as was the case on the 2015 collection (which is a nice touch as it packs a lot of moments into a short, neat and tidy series of clips). After that, we head to Fast Lane for two matches: AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho, which was a strong effort in their underrated feud, and Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar with the WrestleMania 32 WWE Title shot at stake. The latter is better than I remembered it being, although the result was never in doubt, and strangely enough the Reigns-Triple H feud which had begun in November 2015, and generated some excitement over the winter through various angles, was suddenly turned on by hardcore fans once it became official that the two would collide at WrestleMania (how bizarre ... wink wink).

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WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth

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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: October 31 2002 (US) and November 15 2002 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: PS2

After three SmackDown! games which had plenty of positives but also a fair number of negatives, the fourth title in the series was the first to bring everything together. Every area that had been lacking was addressed, whilst the elements which had been lauded by fans remained in place, resulting in one hell of a wrestling game. It was also the first SmackDown! game since the WWF changed its name to WWE, and once again a SD game had two different covers between the UK and US versions, as you can see here.

Shut Your Mouth benefitted from the huge influx of former WCW and ECW talent in the preceding twelve months. Whilst the Invasion came too late for the previous game Just Bring It to include the key players, this was not an issue for SYM, which saw series debuts for Booker T, Rob Van Dam, Diamond Dallas Page, Billy Kidman, The Hurricane and legends such as Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair and Kevin Nash, as well as newcomers like Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton. When you combine that with all of the usual big names, you end up with a roster that is stacked with star power. Granted, Scott Hall's firing meant that he missed out, and some even complained that Steve Austin remained in the game after his June 2002 walkout, even though an eventual return was inevitable (fools). However, the 60-strong line-up not only easily bested the previous year's roster, but was an all-time great selection of talent during a memorable time in WWE history.

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WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain

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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: October 27 2003 (US) and November 7 2003 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS2

I've definitely been looking forward to writing this retro game review ...

Ask any longtime wrestling fan what the best videogame of the genre to date is, and there's an excellent chance that they will say WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain. And with good reason: the fifth game of the annual SmackDown! series was not only the best to date, but it offered a fantastic mix of in-depth grappling, massive names, a plethora of matches and options, tremendously entertaining backstage areas and an exciting, unpredictable Season mode, all of which combined to form a truly exceptional wrestling game. Its most immediate predecessor, SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, had been another strong entry, but HCTP built upon everything that SYM did well and improved it, as well as fixing some of the weaker areas in SYM and adding new content along the way.

For starters, the roster size had increased, with series debuts for Goldberg, Rey Mysterio, Scott Steiner, John Cena, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Victoria, Eric Bischoff and others joining the wealth of big names already present such as Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and loads more. Even more importantly, though, this was the first WWE game to officially include Legends, inspired by the Legends Of Wrestling series of games by Acclaim. There were 11 in total, and the retro crew consisted of a vintage Undertaker, Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase, Sgt Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Hillbilly Jim, The Legion Of Doom, Iron Sheik, Nicholai Volkoff and George "The Animal" Steele. Granted, the Legends didn't have their entrance themes nor their proper entrances (the old-school WrestleMania mini-rings were used for their intros, which was a bit cool to be fair), and some may argue that the choice of Legends was a bit questionable, but many of the absolutely massive names were still competing on some level, and as it was the first time out for Legends, it wasn't a bad line-up at all. The roster could have been even better, since Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior were removed for different reasons, and the character models for several then-current WWE wrestlers hadn't been completed in time. Nevertheless, even as it was the roster was fantastic, and one of the best all-round line-ups ever assembled in a WWE game, at least at that point in time.

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WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown vs. Raw (Previously SmackDown!; it would become WWE in future)
Released: November 2 2004 (US) and November 12 2004 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS2

Has any wrestling game had a tougher act to follow than SmackDown! vs. Raw? SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain was such an outstanding game from top to bottom that nothing less than absolute perfection would have been considered an acceptable sequel. Unsurprisingly, SvR failed to reach such a lofty standard, and some weak areas meant that it was ultimately a step down from HCTP. However, that isn't to discount what the game did provide, because there was still a lot to like about the first SmackDown! vs. Raw.

To begin with, the name of the game had changed to suggest some sort of brand warfare theme, which played a role in the revamped Season mode (more on that shortly). The name change from a popular wrestling tagline to the concept of the two brands colliding was significant because, from the subsequent game onwards, the series retained this new title adding only the change in years, thus leading to the series becoming one associated more with annual updates than wholesale change. This would prove to be a major issue for fans in the future, and is a big reason why some would argue that there may not have been a truly exceptional WWE game since the mid-2000s. That was all to come, however, and in the first year of using the SmackDown! vs. Raw name at least, the game still added enough new content and features to satisfy its hardcore fan base.

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WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown vs. Raw (Previously SmackDown!; it would become WWE in future)
Released: November 14 2005 (US) and November 11 2005 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS2 and PSP

SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain was and is considered to be the holy grail of wrestling games, at least within the SmackDown! series of titles for a variety of reasons. However, one game which doesn't get quite as much adulation, but arguably provided a stronger overall package, was SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006.

The first SvR immediately followed HCTP and was more of an update than an innovation, but SvR 2006 would be a truly worthy successor to Here Comes The Pain. For starters, Season mode still utilised voiceovers, meaning fewer storyline options and reduced flexibility as well as not being able to use all of the available characters for the mode; however, the stories themselves were brilliantly told, and the presentation was spot-on, as realistic and close to actual WWE television as one could have reasonably expected at the time. A Legends Tour, a Whodunnit involving Theodore Long, an ECW revival - these were just some of the tales on offer, and whilst as noted the number of stories was on the short side, meaning that one didn't get to complete a full year of WWE action, if you emphasise quality over quantity, this was the most engaging single-player experience to date from a pure entertainment standpoint. Granted, the Season mode in HCTP had many more layers, but the voiceovers and minutes-long cut-scenes found in the Season mode on SvR 2006 swung things in the opposite direction.

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WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown vs. Raw (Previously SmackDown!; it would become WWE in future)
Released: November 14 2006 (US) and November 10 2006 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS2, Xbox 360 and PSP

The sequel to the outstanding SvR 2006, and the eighth game of the series in total, received more hype than any WWE game to that point, having been announced almost eight months before the game was officially released. In the end, despite the build-up, many felt that the game was a shade inferior to the 2006 SmackDown; however, the entertainment value and feature set were strong enough that it was still one hell of a wrestling title.

SvR 2007 introduced the analog-based control scheme, whereby you moved the right analog stick in a particular direction along with R1 for further move options. In particular, the analog sticks played a crucial role in the brand new Ultimate Control Moves, which allowed you to decide between several variants of a similar move. So, let's say that you're preparing to hit your opponent with a suplex. Via the UCM, you may hit a regular suplex, or you may hit a delayed suplex, or you may use the ropes to hit a slingshot suplex in the manner of Cowboy Bob Orton. This also extended to environmental hotspot moves, from Ric Flair-esque chops in the corner to slamming your adversary's head into the announcer's table, or raking his face across the mesh of a steel cage. Some argued that certain UCMs and environmental moves were a bit unrealistic, but they added more options and flexibility than ever before, and some - such as the infamous up-and-down straddling of an opponent on the top rope which leaves your enemy with pain in a sensitive area - were a lot of fun, as well as being mirror-images of real-life situations in the ring. Overall, they were definitely a positive addition to the games.

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WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developers: Yuke's and Amaze Entertainment (DS)
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown vs. Raw (Previously SmackDown!; it would become WWE in future)
Released: November 13 2007 (US) and November 9 2007 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PSP, DS and Mobile

At the time of its release, SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 was considered a big disappointment compared to its two most immediate predecessors, and in hindsight, it is considered the point where the highly-rated series began to decline. But is that fair or were fans too hard on SvR 2008? Let's take a look ...

The big story about this game was that it marked the first time when the series catered primarily to seventh-generation consoles. Sure, Xbox 360 had supported SvR 2007, but now Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii all boasted SvR 2008 within their game libraries, and the focus was very much on ensuring that the new generation of wrestling gaming began on a high. That being said, besides the undeniably impressive graphics which were greatly superior to those on previous consoles, one wouldn't be too disappointed if they opted for the previous-gen versions as opposed to PS3 or Xbox 360. Graphics aside, the only differences were that Xbox 360 allowed for custom entrance tracks to be used during entrances, whilst PS3 gave players a first-person view of entrances via Sixaxis. Otherwise, the differences were minor at best; it was a far cry from when 2K essentially abandoned PS3 and Xbox 360 to try and make WWE 2K15 shine on PS4 and Xbox One (a task which wasn't very successful anyway).

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Hell In A Cell 2016

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Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 184 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: January 2 2017

(Thanks to Fetch Publicity for arranging this review.)

Hell In A Cell 2016 was a historic night in WWE, as it would be the first time ever that a Pay-Per-View event was headlined by an all-female encounter, which is a testament to the talent and popularity of Sasha Banks and Charlotte, the two combatants in said match. But does HIAC 2016 measure up as a major show in terms of quality?

The event starts on a decent note with Roman Reigns vs. Rusev inside the Cell for the United States Championship; whilst it is not as good as Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt from HIAC 2015, it's still an enjoyable brawl, and a fitting way to cap off their fairly lengthy rivalry. Next up, Bayley battles Dana Brooke in a match which is unspectacular, but still better than their previous Raw match where Dana's inexperience and inferiority to Bayley were extremely evident (in the Raw match, Brooke pinned Bayley clean when she was meant to use the ropes to secure a win by nefarious means, which made Bayley look ridiculous).

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TLC 2014

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Running Time: 183 Minutes
Certificate: 15
Number Of Discs: 1
Studio: Fremantle Home Entertainment
Released: March 23 2015

The final card of 2014, TLC already feels like a distant memory. Since the show took place, we've had the somewhat unwanted return of The Authority, Daniel Bryan coming back and Roman Reigns receiving a ton of abuse which calls into question his status as WWE's next top star. Mind you, that's not to say that TLC 2014 isn't up to scratch, because there are some enjoyable matches on show at this, erm, show.

The event peaks early with the Luke Harper-Dolph Ziggler Ladder match: whilst not one of the all-time classic matches of this genre, it's very exciting and surprisingly brutal, and is one of the better Ladder matches in WWE from the last few years (it also benefits from Ziggler's hometown crowd in Cleveland, Ohio providing a great atmosphere during this bout). Next, The Miz and Damien Mizdow battle The Usos in a match which isn't as must-see as Miz' gimmick would have you believe, but features another hilarious performance from his stunt double Mizdow.

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