The release date for what is sure to be the best wrestling game of all time is officially tommorow on our little island...however, as is the norm, the shops put it on the shelves a few hours before closing time today. My brother is now heading home, armed with a copy of it.

I love him I might owe him £25 (that's about $37 US) for my share of the price, but I consider it money well spent.

Anyone else got it, or planning to get it? The origonal smackdown actually got me more into wrestling than watching the shows...if I hadn't bought the game, I think I probably would have given up long before I properly fell in love with it

So if you're not a fan...get it anyway...a) if you're not a fan, it'll make you one. And so THQ can make another copy with all the profit.

I already got it!I also got Smackdown!Here Comes The Pain!

Finally! A REPLY! I thought that all the wrestling fans were dead

What do you think of it then? Took some time getting used to the new system...but I think it actually plays like a dream once you actually work out what the heck you're doing

Miss Sera? Is there a create character mode on the game? Thats alwasy a selling point with me. I love making the ugliest, nastiest wrestlers and puting them up against normal ones.

Yes It's actually the create mode that made the smackdown games so popular.

Smackdown 5 really does break the mould though...there are absolutely thousands of possibilities, it's pretty scary

Created character do start out as weakling jobbers though, and you need to build up their stats in season mode.

They really need to have a finger-down-the-throat gagging smiley...

If that's supposed to be a knock against wrestling, then please keep it to yourself I'm sick of having to defend one of my interests from ignorance.

The only way you could possibly claim to have a right to knock wrestling is if you'd never watched a movie or soap opera. About the only arguement I seem to hear is "you do know it's fake, right?"

So's Coronation street, but millions of people watch it

All I can say about the WWE is that yes,they're obviously acting.You'd have to be real blind in order to miss that one.But it's entertainment,you get a big laugh out of it and basically enjoy the whole mess that they created.It's more to like Sesame Street,all grown up!! Please no conspiracies here .But if you're really that interested in watching the real deal type of wrestling,I do have a link here on how hardcore is thier Hardcore Match.And it's real,out-of-this-world kind of violence....I mean it,viewer discretion is advised BIG TIME.And I bet after you watch it,you'd wanna see the WWE loads of times to help you forget about that.

So just relax,sit back and enjoy the fun

I actually don't like the hardcore product much...I prefer guys like Kurt Angle, Eddie Guirerro, Chris Benoit, Ultimo Dragon, Chris Jericho (as I've made clear ), Randy Orton and so forth, who can actually wrestle rather than just big brawlers, like Goldberg, Big Show, and some of the other extremely low talent guys the WWE love so much.

Don't get me wrong, if Steve Corino and Masato Taneka wanna get in a barbed wire match...wow...guys who can wrestle brawling convincingly...amazing!...then I'm fine with that But since someone decided to knock wrestling, let's have an objective veiw of the wrestling product as it stands...

First off, if you think it sucked, then why did you say you also spent years watching it? I'm a firm believer in the idea that if you don't like watching something, then change the channel. Millions of people around the globe do enjoy wrestling, and if your arguement for not liking it is the fact that it's fake (we all know it's fake, and the industry has not denied this fact for years) then please go home, and come up with something better.

Now then...first of all, wrestling isn't fake per say...it's better to call it 'theatrical'. Wrestler's injure themselves in the ring on a frequent basis doing what they do, they literally knock years off their carreer with every match, because there simply isn't a single sport in the world that abuses the body in the way wrestling does. When a guy lifts you seven feet in the air, and drops you on your back, it doesn't matter how much he's trying not to hurt you, it's still going to hurt like hell, and it's still going to cause injury.

I challenge anyone who says wrestling is fake to get in the ring and take a single bump. If you're able to get up and walk around normally afterwards, then I think every wrestler in the world would have to bow down before you, and call you invulnerable. There are only a handful of people in the world who could do what these people do, putting up not only with the physical labour, but also the stress it puts upon your life, and the sacrifices you have to make in order to go on the road for most of the year to entertain people.

If you don't at least respect wrestlers for that much, then the least you can admit is they're doing a damn sight more to bring something to other people's lives than you are, and giving up a great deal more to do it.

Now...that out of the way...the wrestling product itself as it is today...does it suck?

Well...no...but it's not as good as it could be. Since the WWE (then WWF) bought WCW and ECW, the lack of competition seems to have put the WWE (once generating absolutely unheard of ratings) into a sump...you'd honestly think, after gaining most of the talent from these two federations, and therefore assembling the most talented roster that any sporting organisation has ever had, that the WWE's shows and matches would vastly improve, and we'd be in for some kind of golden age...

Instead, we enter into the age of Vince McMahon going senile...now make no mistake, I'm not a 'smark'...one of those people who hates everything and anything about the WWE...but I do think there's a great deal to be improved upon.

First of all, on Smackdown...when the brand extension to utilise the quickly growing roster better was introduced, Smackdown was easily the strong show. With guys like Kurt Angle (quite possible the greatest wrestler there was ever been, up there with the likes of Shawn Michaels and Ric Flair), Rey Mysterio, Chris Benoit and so forth, Smackdown was a wrestling purist's wet dream for some time

However, with the return of Hulk Hogan as Mr. America, the show started to decline...Hulk Hogan was weak in the ring, and the new gimmick was unebelievably bad. For the first time in years, some idiot (probably Michael Hayes) decided that backstage skits and plot developments should be the focus of the shows, rather than wrestling...this goes against the proven fact that the best and fastest way to get high ratings is to put on quality matches

Smackdown is, thank god, moving back in the right direction now that Stephanie is slacking off in her job as head writer (and currently on honeymoon with Triple H, who I'll come to later), and now that matches are being given better air time, and the cruiserweight division (undoubtably the most talented individuals on the show) are actually given effort behind their writing.

However...in the main event slot, we still have guys like the Big Show, A-Train, and of course Brock and Kurt (both of whom really need time off to heal up). Now, the Big Show could be worse...but he's not a main event talent or anything like it. A-Train has the tools to be something good, but has no idea how to put them together in the ring...meanwhile, guys like Nathan Jones can't wrestle for the life of them, and only have a job because it's a well known fact that Jim Ross and Vinnie Mac like "big men".

Smackdown's on the mend...but there's lots of room for improvement. With John Cena getting pushed to main event status, and the Undetaker on his last year (thank god), there might just be hope...

Now...on to RAW...

First off....Goldberg!

Get him off my tv....seriously...Goldberg is over because of the way he was marketed in WCW, as an unstoppable machine, who squashed everyone. Now, there are three problems with him....

1) he can't wrestle
2) he works way too stiff, and has been known to cause serious injury to opponents through sheer carelessness
3) he believes his own press way too much, and throws temper tantrums backstage whenever it's proposed another guy gets heat off of him during a fued.

Goldberg might have drawing power amongst the couch fans, but from an entertainment perspective he's awful. He can't cut a promo, and he can't put on a decent match unless he's being carried by someone like Chris Jericho (who, by the way, is the most talented guy on RAW, and should be the champion right now).

Next, Mark Henry...oh no...

He's probably the single least talented guy in the WWE. He's not over with the fans, yet the WWE love to push him...why I don't know...the fact is, after the 1996 olympics, they signed him to a 10 year contract, convinced he'd be huge, and probably want to get their money's worth out of him. Unfortunately, like Goldberg, he can't work a mic, and can't wrestle...so why on earth is he in main events?

And now, the big one...TRIPLE H!

Now...I don't hate him so much...true, he remained the champion for almost a year because he happens to be Vince McMahon's son in law, and the head writer's husband...and sure, he's well passed his prime, and can't put on the world class matches he used to be able to. But he's never objected to putting people over, so much as just losing the title.

My real beef with Triple H is the way he's killed the heat for so many talented guys like RVD, Booker T, and Chris Jericho by squashing them, and made waaay too many main event heels on RAW by the rubs he gives them.

At least RAW, however, does have most of its roster where it should be...Scott Steiner is on the midcard, and mercifully not the main event anymore...Chris Jericho WAS getting a push...and Randy Orton (who I don't doubt is going to be the next Shawn Michaels) is getting uber-pushed.

I suppose, in some ways, that cancels out Goldberg and Mark Henry...so we're not so bad...

RAW is actually the stronger show now, despite not having the same wealth of talent as Smackdown. If they can pick themselves up, so can the Smackdown crew, if the writers give them a chance to.

In short, wrestling doesn't suck...the guys still go out there, and still work their assess off to entertain the fans. The writing might be rubbish for the most part, but the in ring action is still mostly solid.

And if you don't like the WWE, then watch MLW (Steve Corino goodness) or any of the hundreds of other feds that build around the actual in ring product The arguement that 'wrestling sucks' is one you'll hear from two types of people

1) people who don't watch it and think Andre the Giant and Earthquake still work
2) people who watch the WWE and expect a well written plot

A few hours a week? Obviously, you've never heard of a "house show". The wrestlers don't just work the telivised shows. When they arrive in a city, they set up camp, and perform just about every night, before getting on the road again, and spending hours on end driving to the next destination on the tour; that's if you don't count personal appearances, interveiws and editorials

As I think they DO give up significantly more than you...so you work 12 hours a day? Do you get to live with your family? Do you spend 300+ days a year away from home? Do your children know who you are?

I'd say that's giving up quite a bit more than working 12 hours a day.

lol, backyard wrestling isn't real...it's a bunch of cripples waiting to happen, taking a trip down to the no sell hotel, with about as much idea of story telling in the ring as a pair of rabbits trying to decide possession of a carrot through a round of rock-papper-scissors

Owen didn't actually die in the ring...he was supposed to come down to the ring in an overhead wire, ala Shawn Michaels. However, whoever set up the wire made it too steep, so he fell pretty much all the way to the floor...

One example of a worker who should train harder is Goldberg Moron managed to retire Bret Hart from major competition by kicking him too hard in the head...Bret, argueably one of the greatest technical wrestlers of all time, now has trouble getting from one side of the ring to the other thanks to an egomeniacal behemoth, who works way too stiff.

...oh..wait...did I say Goldberg should train harder? Sorry, I meant retire Slip of the tongue.

Opps sorry,never made myself clear.Yup Owen never died in the ring but while performing some insane high risk maneuver that all went wrong.Man,I still miss him,those times when both he and the British Bulldog were one of the best tag-teams in the business.

I've seen backyard wrestling,and to me, I'm serious, this backyard wrestling thing, it ain't fake...how about getting thrown in barbed-wire on a table,or getting hit in the head with a lighttube...or getting thrown into fire

lol...dude...backyard wrestling is more notorious for being fake than the real thing. It's a group of friends forming their own 'federation' in the hopes of getting a job. Since they can't wrestle to save themselves, hitting each other with various foreign objects is about the best they can do.

Backyard wrestling actually used to have a fine tradition in the states when wrestling was mainstream Now that all the extreme marks have turned into into some kind of sadistic "hey dude! Let me set you on fire!" the cops usually stop it if you find it.

But no...backyard wrestling is fake...you can go into any shop that sells dvds and buy stuff on it man. Look ouy for "the best of backyard wrestling"...or as I call it "retards with chairs".

Dropping people on barbed wire is hardly a concept they invented anyway By that same arguement, wrestling in Japan, or back in the days of ECW, must've been real too.

I mean, i've touched barbed wire, and to tell you, that sh*t hurts!

That's why I think backyard wrestlers are idiots, who's going to kill themselves

I like to kill my self LOL!