WWE Superstars Up to European Challenge
Shad shined on his way to a THQ Smackdown vs. Raw European Superstar Challenge title.
by Avi Burk

September 26, 2008 - Nine of the WWE's top RAW talents were on hand in Madrid last Thursday to treat hundreds of European fans to a sneak-peek at THQ's much anticipated Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, which is set to hit sales racks on Nov. 9, at the 2008 European Superstar Challenge prior to a house show at Madrid's Plaza de Toros.

Reigning World Heavyweight Champion and scheduled headliner Chris Jericho withdrew from the event before it began, boasting to the crowd, "I'm the best video game player in the world, just like I'm the best at everything that I do."

Jericho bitterly stated that, without his participation, there would be no Superstar Challenge and that the hundreds of fans, many of whom had lined up several hours before the doors opened should simply go home.

However, Kelly Kelly, who was originally scheduled to act as a hostess for the event, was quick to volunteer to take Y2J's place as the event's eighth and final competitor, rounding out a field that included former World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk, Intercontinental Champion Santino Marella, former Intercontinental Champ Kofi Kingston, former Women's Champions Candice Michelle and Mickie James, as well as Cryme Tyme's Shad and JTG.

Kelly's role as an impromptu competitor didn't last long, as Kofi gave the gorgeous Diva a swift tutorial in SVR gameplay, landing his signature move, Trouble in Paradise, and earning a quick pinfall to advance to the semifinal round.

Candice and Mickie engaged in a spirited first-round matchup that featured more enthusiasm than skill, and when all was said and done Mickie captured an anti-climactic victory when Candice was counted out.

The first round also pitted Cryme Tyme's JTG and Shad against one another in head-to-head action, and the pair put on a tremendously competitive and entertaining match that went back and forth to the bitter end. Ultimately, Shad emerged victorious after landing several high-impact grapples, but JTG was quick to point out that his partner's victory was a result of his own flawed strategy, not Shad's SVR skills.

"I was playing possum at first," explained JTG. "It didn't work."

Although JTG didn't blame his loss on his character's diminished stats in SVR '09, he did express his disappointment that the game's developers had seen fit to drop his overall rating from an 85 in SVR '08 to an 82 in the upcoming installment of the vastly popular franchise.

"The ratings are a little bit off; I'm an 82. I dropped from last year, and I'm a little disappointed," JTG said. "Me and Khali are on the same rating level, and I don't like that. I'm going to have to get that fixed."

Punk and Santino's first-round showdown was so nice they played it twice. Punk dominated the first go-round from start to finish, however, the match ended in a double count out, prompting a much more evenly fought rematch.

Santino turned the tables on Punk in their second match, showing off an impressive combination of strikes and grapples as he dominated most of the action. However, in a scene straight from a RAW broadcast, Punk was rallied by the persistent "CM Punk! CM Punk!" chants by the crowd.

Punk grimaced at the image of his digital self on the monitor, yelling, "Get up Me!"

Then, in true superstar fashion, Punk rose to his feet and unleashed a flurry of strikes against Santino, swinging the momentum decidedly in his favor and setting up a match-ending Go To Sleep, propelling him into the second round.

Before the tournament got underway Santino, who's risen through the ranks with lightning speed and become one of the brand's most entertaining performers, expressed his excitement both to be participating in the event and to be represented in the game.

"This is my first time being in a video game. It's interesting to see yourself in a game. I like the way it looks and the moves are very accurate. I'm excited to play it today - it will be my first time."

Santino, who's never shy about patting himself on the back, explained why he was a natural selection to participate in the second-ever European Superstar Challenge.

"They have so much confidence in me they call me the year-and-a-half veteran, which is kind of like a oxymoron, but, I'm a year-and-a-half veteran who has the experience of somebody who's been doing this for 20 years.

"I'm one who enjoys sink or swim, and the pressure of being thrust into the spotlight is the only way I would have it. To be here internationally promoting the game is really a lot of fun. I'm a real, true international superstar, so who better to do it than me?"

Kofi made quick work of Mickie in their semifinal matchup, once again ending the match in style, landing Trouble in Paradise and scoring the easy pinfall.

After the bout Mickie was awarded the European Superstar Challenge Women's Championship trophy, and the scintillating sparkplug was quick to let her fans know that she had her sights set squarely on regaining the WWE Women's Championship.

"I'm going to get the Women's title back and I'll go through whoever it takes to get it, including you Kelly," Mickie said.

Before his semifinal match against Punk, Shad proclaimed, "I came here to do two things, drink Red Bull and kick ass, and I'm all out of Red Bull."

With nothing left to do but kick ass, Shad got right to work. The boisterous up-and-comer made good on his word, getting off to a fast start against Punk and pressing that advantage throughout the match. Although Punk put up a valiant fight, he proved no match for Shad on the joysticks and was defeated by pinfall.

After the match Punk informed the crowd, "Luck is for losers. It takes skill to play this game, and I'm more of a Donkey Kong guy. But, I beat Santino, and that's okay."

SVR '09 drew rave reviews from Punk, who expressed his most sincere gratitude to the game's developers for the time and attention they paid to getting his tattoos just right, down to the smallest detail.

"I think that's the most fascinating thing about it to me," said Punk. "You look at it and my tattoos are extremely accurate. On the action figure even though they swore up and down they took pictures of my tattoos - and they said, 'We're going to nail these tattoos and it's going to look sick,' and this and that, and it's really not. So, when the video guys said the same thing to me I was skeptical, but I was just staring at my arms on the video game and it really is amazing to me how accurate, how colorful it is, and it gives me a different perspective on my own artwork.

"It's extremely important to me. It's me. I used to be an artist and I would constantly do self portraits and everyone always asked me why, and I always said it was because there were enough people in the world trying to make me look bad. I know I'm not going to purposefully make myself look bad, and I would always take the time to make sure that this representation of myself was accurate 100 percent and that it looked good, and they've done the exact same thing in the video game. It's perfect."

With his victory over Punk, Shad earned a spot in the Superstar Challenge's championship match alongside Kofi, the decided favorite to take home the crown heading into the event.

Kofi and Shad locked horns in an epic battle, as each superstar demonstrated a superb command of each facet of the game: striking, grappling and reversals. However, the Jamaican sensation claimed a decided advantage and used that momentum to its fullest, hitting Shad with Trouble in Paradise twice. Although, each time he landed the signature finisher, Shad, in true-to-life form, powered his way out of the pin.

Then, in a stunning turn of events, Shad reversed the momentum and crushed Kofi with a finisher of his own and scored a shocking pinfall to claim the title European Superstar Challenge Champion.

After the match Kofi was quick to praise the newly-crowned champ, "Congratulations! You shocked the world!"

Shad, in turn, wasted little time in expressing his gratitude to his fallen opponent.

"Kofi taught me how to play. So, if it wasn't for Kofi I wouldn't have won," said Shad. "Thank you Kofi."

Shad, who happened to be the only Superstar Challenge competitor to prepare a statement in Spanish for his Madrid fans, explained that marketing the WWE to its international fans was extremely important to him.

"It's awesome," the champ said of his experience performing and promoting in Madrid. "It just shows you how large the WWE machine is. It's not just the US, it's worldwide. We're a global company and we have a global audience and that's who we pitch to. We don't pitch to the United States. We don't pitch to the United Kingdom. We pitch to the world. And, eventually, we're going to be on Mars. We're going to be pitching to Mars and to the moon also. Vince is working on that right now. We're going to have WWE NASA in the next few years, and we're going to be in space pitching this in 2010, maybe 2012."

Breaking the walls down

Before his early departure from the European Superstar Challenge, Chris Jericho took a moment to discuss what it means to him to be the World Heavyweight Champion and his role as a mentor to the promotion's other superstars.

IGN: What's it like to represent the WWE as its champion?

Jericho: It's always an honor to be a champion. That's why we're in the business in the first place: You want to be the champion. You need to be the champion, and that's one of the reasons I came back, to be the champion again. I was the first undisputed champion, but it was a long time between reigns and it was a goal of mine when I came back, to do it even though everybody hates me for it. That's the cross that you have to bear. Part of being a genius is that people don't understand you.

IGN: How do you see your role now as a real veteran in the business, both in the ring and on the mic?

Jericho: It's one of those things where I do have 18 years of experience and I'm only 37 years old, which, 10 years ago, when you were 37 you were just getting started in your big run.

It's one of those things that I bring a lot to the table because I have a lot of experience that guys can take advantage of, but I'm also still one of the best workers in the WWE. So, I'm kind of in a great position, because I can appeal and relate to the veteran guys and also to the young guys - I'm kind of in the middle. One of my goals is to help out some of those guys and try to give them a little bit of wisdom that they can use moving forward.

IGN: Who are some of the young guys you see benefiting the most from your presence on the roster?

Jericho: It's not just the young guys, it's guys like CM, Orton and Batista. They're huge stars, but they've only been in the business for six, seven or eight years, so they have a lot of stuff that I can help them with. And, you see guys like Cody Rhodes, DiBiase Jr., Harry Smith and Kennedy and MVP - there's just a whole roster of guys that are just looking for experience and wanting to learn and I'm more than happy to help them with that.


Thanks to: IGN.com.