Free Alcohol + WrestleMania Fans = Man on Man Violence!
Like most gaming events, the Superstar Challenge was full of free booze. It was also full of wrestlers and games journalists who are by their very nature young-at-heart. Put all this together and you have a recipe for disaster. It would start at the bar, where two or three of the wrestling fans would start looking for people to smack them across the chest. Later it would spill into the hotel lobby, where these obviously inebriated journalists would reenact some of the biggest moments in WrestleMania history. Oh, and they would push each other around and even land a few punches, much to the chagrin of the nice employees at the Westin Galleria. Thankfully nobody got hurt and it was all in good fun, but it's always a little jarring to see grown men drunkenly play fight mere hours before watching a pro wrestling event. Their mothers would be proud.
Sgt. Slaughter Is a Man of Very Few Words
The night of the Superstar Challenge is a blur; it felt like people were rushing in and out as we were doing our best to get our questions answered. Some superstars took their time with the media and answered as many questions as we could throw at them. They rattled on endlessly about their favorite games, systems, wrestling secrets and much, much more. They loved our questions and we loved hearing their the stories behind some of these larger-than-life personalities.
Unfortunately not everybody was so excited to take questions from the online media. When Sgt. Slaughter and Ted DiBiase (aka "The Million Dollar Man") showed up to answer questions the entire room exploded in excitement. Here were two of the biggest wrestlers of their era, and one of them was still in his army uniform. Even a non-wrestling fan like myself knew how big of a deal it was to interview Sgt. Slaughter, especially since he was one of the only pro-wrestlers that I actually recognized. But just as quickly as Sgt. Slaughter came, he left. He was in that room answering questions for no more than a couple of minutes. Thankfully Ted DiBiase was able to win back the audience by regaling us with amazing stories about the industry twenty-plus years ago. Why nobody asked him about Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler is beyond me.
Kid Rock Needs Some New Material
After only a couple of short fights, everybody cleared the stage and let Kid Rock do his thing. Unfortunately that thing is making people's ears bleed with some of the most hideously annoying rap/rock hybrid this side of Limp Bizkit. But I'll admit this was definitely the right event for a guy like Kid Rock. I have a hunch that his outwardly patriotic demeanor and southern rock influence plays better deep in the heart of Texas than it does in my neck of the woods. Regardless, I was ready to endure what seemed like a perfectly appropriate concert for this type of event.
What I wasn't ready for was just how old this Louisiana-bred musician's set was going to be. He runs out with his first major hit, Bawitdaba, and followed it up with a couple more outdated songs. Doesn't he have a new album to promote? He's not our monkey, he shouldn't need to come out and only play his most popular songs. When I closed my eyes I was instantly transported back to 1999 ... only this time around I had to put up with the terrible acoustics of Reliant Stadium. The good news: Kid Rock quickly left the stage and the audience was free to unplug their ears.
Game Journalists Have an Uncanny Ability to Predict the Future
Scoff all you want, but every single moment of this year's WrestleMania was predicted by at least one person flown in by THQ. It's true, just about everybody had an idea of what was going to happen and, surprise, practically everything played out exactly as the game journalists expected. Would Mickey Rourke fight Chris Jericho? The game journalists said he would, and they were right. Would Santino Marella come out in drag for the divas fight? You better believe it, and that's exactly what the journalists said would happen. From start to finish, the writers knew what was coming. If only they could harness that power and predict the end to the recession.
There was one exception to the rule, and that was when Rey Mysterio battled John "Bradshaw" Layfield. While sitting on the barstool eating Mexican food and drinking a double shot of Crown Royal, GamingNexus's very own Nathan Murray stated that this match would be a lengthy match that would go on and on and on. Just as those words left his lips, Rey Mysterio defeated JBL and Nathan commenced eating crow.
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