The Buscher

Like last year, I think they left off legends. They also left off people who are no longer in WWE (mentioning Shawn only cause he's Shawn). Batista, Carlito, Shelton, and Mickie are definitely in. Plus fringe guys like Mike Knox who could have slipped in.

Anyway, that's otherwise a very awesome roster. Since Layla is DLC, the biggest snub is probably The Great Khali. I gotta think he was an oversight cause I don't see how he got left off.

I kinda feel like they made the decision to do this Nexus pack right after Bryan got released

Only 3 NXT guys in DLC and none of them is named Daniel Bryan. What the fuck. I probably won't buy the DLC pack if they charge something absurd for it.

Gee, you read my mind. If they are all in my first match will probably be a 10 man Rumble utilizing all 8 of them plus a couple other random guys. I'd definitely use Bryan and I WILL eliminate Slater, dammit! A lot of people are guessing that Bryan, Barrett, and Otunga wind up being the only NXT guys in the game. I guess they're figuring they were really the only 3 guys anybody thought would win around the WM cutoff time, but it'd be a bit weird. WWE has to approve of the roster so unless they actually assumed the other 5 would just flake out and head back to FCW then I don't see why they wouldn't include all of them. Of course, I'd be content with just Bryan. I'd probably use Barrett, Gabriel, Sheffield, and Tarver (complete with the knockout punch WWE robbed from him) quite a bit as well. Slater I'd only use as my whipping boy and I really don't give a fuck about Otunga or Young.

With the roster reveal tomorrow, THQ's Marcus Stephenson dropped a not-so-subtle hint: "Roster reveal tomorrow. We have a lot of surprises in store, and we have no doubt you'll be asking what will happen NXT!" Would be funny if the Season 1 guys weren't in after that, just to see the reaction. But if they ARE in, that just ensures I'll be kicking someone's head in in my first match.

So all of the pre-order exclusives are: -Best Buy: Bret Hart code to download off XBL -GameStop: $20 off Survivor Series or TLC -Toys R Us: Code to unlock Ministry Undertaker -WalMart: Code to unlock Tribute to the Troops Arena -Amazon: Code to unlock Randy Orton's alternate attires So it's pretty much still between Best Buy or GameStop. Guess it depends on how eager you are to use Bret and the amount of interest you have in watching WWE PPVs. The other 3 are just universal codes that will likely wind up on the Internet immediately, and it's all stuff that could be unlocked in Road to WM anyway.

Because THQ is absolutely dead set on keeping things a secret this year. Anybody not confirmed "officially" via the official website cannot be seen in the game until they say so. Bryan Williams even had to turn down questions about whether or not the Starship Pain is in the game because "can't say whether or not John Morrison is in" It's stupid. Whether they were officially confirmed or not we all know that guys like Punk, Morrison, Big Show, MVP, DiBiase, Rhodes, etc. are going to be in the game. It's the Zack Ryders, Yoshi Tatsus, and Nexuses of the world that are the only true secrets here.

The roster reveal will be September 8th. On GameSpot again this year. I definitely missed the countdown last year. But I kinda like getting the roster all in one chunk.

I dunno, to me Best Buy would be the better deal even without the gift card (which I have stowed away in my wallet and have forgotten about the last 5 times I've gone to Best Buy, good thing they don't expire). But that's mainly because I don't really have any interest in spending $40+ on any PPV not named WrestleMania (or sometimes the Rumble just because I'm a mark for that match). I just feel as though nothing is really settled on PPV anymore so shelling out the cash doesn't seem worth it. Plus, fuck paying $10 or whatever they'll wind up charging for Bret. I don't use legends outside of the odd match here or there so to me it wouldn't seem worth it. I'd be more likely to pay for a pack of current jobbers (Dudebusters, The Gatecrashers, etc.) than I would a pack of legends.

So GameStop has announced its pre-order bonus: you get $20 off either Survivor Series or TLC So let's see...I can either A) Go to Best Buy, use my $25 gift card, and get Bret Hart for free instead of having to pay for him later as DLC or B) Go to GameStop, pay the full $60, and still have to pay a good chunk of change for a lackluster PPV. Gee, tough choice there.

Pretty sure Bryan Williams said something about there being DLC arenas this year. Can't remember though. NXT Stimulus Package: NXT Arena + the Season One rookies. Price? An arm and a leg.

lol "I didn't mean to mess with people" Yeah right. Ah well. Pretty certain NXT isn't going to be in anyway. Not with the cutoff getting earlier and earlier every year...not to mention I doubt any of us thought those guys would wind up being in the biggest angle of the summer back in February.

Time for the annual "is it real or is it photoshopped?" SVR image controversy! If it's fake, good job to whoever did it. With WWE changing their minds on PPVs constantly, it makes sense that several of these shows no longer exist, and it's in the order the shows were run in 2009. My main confusion would be why they bothered leaving No Way Out in if they managed to get the Elimination Chamber (aka the exact same PPV) arena in, unless they just figured it may as well stay since they already put it in before EC was announced (plus it'd give a nice even 20 arenas). Furthermore, somebody at SummerSlam Axxess posted the arena select screen and the only choices were SD, Raw, and SummerSlam (with SummerSlam being in a different spot). The logos were also different. That's probably just a demo version, but that's the reason I think it's fake. How did somebody get access to all the arenas? I mean, you can SEE a reflection of somebody taking a picture, but it's fishy at best. The only reason this is even remotely important is because it would reveal whether or not NXT is in the game (it's selected so you can see the NXT logo in the background). Of course, I'd leave it to THQ to keep the NXT arena in but still not include the Season 1 guys.

Apparently at SummerSlam Axxess last week, the achievements were viewable. A bunch are locked/surprises, but the ones that are known from the start were free for viewing. The main noteworthy points are that there are a bunch of achievements from winning titles/MITB/stuff like that with your CAW in WWE Universe Mode. And also, the Road to WMs are: Vs. Undertaker John Cena Chris Jericho Christian Rey Mysterio Not sure if there's a sixth one, if there is they didn't make an achievement for it. The Vs. Undertaker one sounds the most interesting. I think it will be similar to the Brand Warfare story from last year in that you have more than one person you can choose to play as, hence why it's the Vs. Undertaker story and not the, say, Batista story.

Not much has been said about it other than that although there is still a limit to CAW usage, it's been increased this year. Hopefully it got increased to a large enough number that it's actually worth using CAWs in the story. I'd also have to assume they've upped the number of cutscenes to use and such, but we'll see.

Has this been confirmed? Yep. Bryan Williams said it in a few of his interviews. We can edit everything about them. Music, moves, attire, etc. add that to the ability to set CAS ratings as you see fit and being able to edit the ratings of the in-game guys and I'm really pumped. I've been wanting to do a sim fed for some time now, but with these features and WWE Universe mode is can now be a reality

Don't forget about legends. Legends have already been confirmed I believe...figure there may be 5-10 legends (most of which being the usual guys like Rock, Austin, etc.) to go along with at least 12 divas (maybe even as many as 15 - they increase the diva total every year which, to me personally, is a gigantic waste of space). But figure up to 25 spots are tied up between divas and legends. That leaves just 45 slots for current guys. The cutoff might be even earlier than WM this year, could have sworn that several places confirmed Maria being in (due to doing voicework) despite being fired almost a full month before WM. ECW being in the game would also support an earlier cutoff since that's right around the time it ended. Guys like Shawn Michaels might wind up in the "current guys" total as opposed to the legends total. I may be in the minority here, but I'd much sooner play as guys like Yoshi Tatsu, Goldust, or The Dudebusters than I would using guys that are either retired or dead. Fortunately, a lot of the video reviews have said the fans are probably going to love what they have planned for DLC...my knee-jerk reaction is that it will be the Nexus (hopefully including Daniel Bryan) but who knows. At least the roster isn't THAT big of a deal to me this year since we're allowed to edit downloaded CAWs. I know CAWs still don't look quite as good as the real thing but at least they'd get their proper music/moves/etc.

It's August now and there's still been next to no new information about this game. The only remotely news-worthy thing is just a rumor I've seen on several sites and it sounds too stupid to believe. Some sort of invasion-type RTWM involving Christian, John Morrison, Sheamus, Jack Swagger, Evan Bourne, Chavo Guerrero, and Vladimir Kozlov. Presumably they'd be representing ECW, which would not only be hugely outdated in and of itself, but most of those guys were off the ECW brand by early-to-mid 2009. Plus the guys picked for it are so random. Why Morrison but no Miz? Why Kozlov but no Zeke? Why not use former ECW champs like Henry or Hardy? etc. The only reason to think that news rumor is true is that an interview in late June suggested that the RTWM modes were still in their early stages. Perhaps they decided they wanted to make a Nexus-like storyline but had to improvise since the NXT Season 1 rookies likely aren't in the game? I mean, there ARE 7 guys. Even though they won't all be on screen at once unless something's changed. I dunno. 99% likely that it's just a dumb rumor with nothing behind it.

I actually had Masters in my roster...then realized I forgot about Rey Mysterio If the NXT guys don' get in - that would free up 8 more spots. They'd probably go to Chris Masters, Primo, Mike Knox, Slam Master J, Jimmy Wang Yang, The Bella Twins, and either Jillian or Serena. Loads of future endeavored guys in that list, but they were around at the likely cutoff point and many have been in the game before so that always helps your chances of getting in. 15 divas would irk me slightly - they had 12 last year and it felt like too many. I never use them unless I have to. But every year it seems like there's an outcry for more divas at places like IGN and GFaqs, so an increase in numbers wouldn't be surprising.

In years past, Bryan Williams has seemed to be way more honest and down-to-earth than Cory Ledesma...so as such I tend to trust Williams more. He was asked if it was true that there would be over 70 guys on the roster this year, and he said yes. Now, it could certainly wind up being bullshit (like the year where they said there would be 75 characters in the game and they wound up meaning it literally - including ring announcers, referees, etc.) - but I couldn't help but do my annual "roster prediction". Factoring in that the cutoff every year seems to be WrestleMania - here's a guess at the roster: Raw Alicia Fox Chris Jericho David Hart Smith Edge Evan Bourne Eve Ezekiel Jackson Gail Kim Goldust The Great Khali John Cena John Morrison Mark Henry Maryse Melina The Miz Natalya Randy Orton R-Truth Santino Marella Sheamus Ted DiBiase Triple H Tyson Kidd Vladimir Kozlov William Regal Yoshi Tatsu Zack Ryder SmackDown Beth Phoenix Big Show Chavo Guerrero Christian CM Punk Cody Rhodes Dolph Ziggler Drew McIntyre Jack Swagger JTG Kane Kelly Kelly Kofi Kingston Layla Luke Gallows Matt Hardy Michelle McCool MVP Rey Mysterio Rosa Mendes Shad Gaspard The Undertaker NXT Darren Young David Otunga Heath Slater Justin Gabriel Michael Tarver Skip Sheffield Wade Barrett Future Endeavors Batista Carlito Daniel Bryan Mickie James Shelton Benjamin Legends/Others Bret Hart Mr. McMahon Shawn Michaels --- That's 65, and assuming the "over 70" thing was true, that leaves 5+ spots for other people (legends, stupid characters like the Red/Green guys, etc.) If NXT doesn't make it in, that leaves even more spots for legends or damn near the entire active roster including the biggest of jobbers.