Cheap Pops And Big Boots

by Simon Plumbe and Matt Jackson

On 1st July 2003, we made a short trip to London, England, where we had a couple of mind-blowing days that would have left a smile on the face of any WWE fan. In that time, we met two Superstars, went to a press conference, and generally wandered around in a daze, wondering if the whole visit was just a dream...

The main reason for our visit came from an email we received from THQ. They were holding a special press conference on 2nd July 2003 to tie-in with their forthcoming WWE game for the Playstation 2 - Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain. Knowing THQ's hospitality, and wanting to get a sneak peek at the game, as well as picking up some material for a couple of articles, we planned the trip. Admittedly, the promise of an appearance of a WWE Superstar for the press event was an added bonus!

We arrived in London at about 7:30 pm on the Tuesday. We decided to get a hotel room for the night to save money! The train fare would have cost us over £60 each travelling first thing on Wednesday, and it only cost £85 for the two of us INCLUDING the hotel bill by going the night before. It wasn't just the cost that made the journey appealing the day before, as we learned that WWE legend, Mick Foley, was doing a signing session at Waterstone's in Picadilly to promote his latest novel, Tietam Brown. As you can imagine, this was something we didn't want to miss!

We got to Waterstones hoping to grab a chance to meet the man himself. The event started at 7:00 pm and featured a reading from the book and talk by Mick, followed by an autograph session. When we arrived at the store just before 8:00 pm, we learned that it was a ticket only affair, but we were told to go up to the sixth floor just incase we could get in. Thanks to a kindly member of staff, we were told to wait until the talk had finished, and then we were allowed to join the autograph queue... and that was a good thing!!

The queue infront of us was fairly short - most people were still in the room where the talk took place and within about 10 minutes of the signing session starting, we were there standing infront of Mick Foley. We had grabbed copies of Tietam Brown to get signed, and stood nervously as we approached one of wrestling's true greats. We managed to get some photos, have a few words with the man himself, and get the books signed and personalised.

Mick was a genuinely friendly and fun guy. He came across exactly the same as he does on-screen, with the same crazed sense of fun and humour. One kid went up to get a copy of the book signed (which is intended for more "mature" readers), and as he signed it he said, "Enjoy the book... in about 15 years when you're old enough to read it!".

We didn't really get to say too much to Mick although I did get to ask him about the recent edition of RAW where he was presented with the Hardcore belt and he told me how proud he was of it, but we were still quite lucky. Because of the number of people present, and after about 10-15 people behind us had seen Mick, the rest were told that Mick couldn't pose for photos with the fans, unless it was done at the same time as the autographs, to ensure that everyone had a chance for a photo. As we were there earlier, we managed to get some taken. If that wasn't enough, we even got a discount on the novel, picking it up for £13.99 instead of £16.99. We eventually left Waterstone's speechless and awestruck!

We eventually went to our hotel - basic, but it was all that we wanted - and we spent the next few hours just in a daze talking about meeting Mick Foley, and cracking cheap pops at every chance we got! At that point, we felt that if we had returned home instead of going to the press conference, we still would have been happy, but the best was yet to come...

We arrived at the Sports Cafe early in the morning ready for the conference. We started chatting to some of the other press that were there (including a friend of my brother's!) and as we waited, we got caught by a camera crew from Gamer.TV and they ended up interviewing us for a slot on one of their shows on Bravo! A little while later and the WWE Superstar arrived who was going to be involved in the press conference... RAW Superstar, Test.

Granted, we knew about Test appearing before the day itself, but we thought it would add more dramatic impact not telling you right away! Eventually, the doors opened, and we were all ushered in, given drinks and breakfast, before congregating in the back of the cafe for the event. Things started off with a brief welcome and talk from Test... boy was he massive and the photo here doesn't do his size justice!! Just his arms alone are bigger than most people's legs! Anyway, he talked about his time in the WWE, and a bit about himself, before the event moved onto the game itself (Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain, not Triple H!).

After this, Nick Wlodyka from THQ took to the stage and promptly announced that this was the world's first showing of "Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain" and he proceeded to wow the audience as he put it through its paces. Visually, the new game is absolutely stunning with the most realistic graphics yet in a WWE game.

There have been a lot of new game modes added including a Bra And Panties match, and new strategic elements added to the action itself with more move than ever before. After Nick's presentation, we were fed once again and given unlimited drinks all day, and then everyone broke up into small groups given the chance to play the game for themselves (it plays as good as it looks!) and to get interviews with Nick and Test!! We have a full preview article on the game going into more detail and an interview with Nick, along with the interview with Test appearing here soon...

Test was a great guy to talk to and was nothing like his character on-screen, and despite his size, he was really easy to talk to. We spent some time chatting and interviewing him, and getting some photos and autographs that we are going to be giving away to some lucky visitors to this site. That wasn't all though - while we were talking to some of the other members of the press there, a couple of guys from a games TV show realised that the two of us were big wrestling fans, and they asked us if we'd like to appear on air later in the year reviewing the game on TV!

The day ended all too quickly, however, and we left London with a lot of great memories, plenty of notes and about 2 hours of material on tape, and thanks to THQ, a WWE action figure!! It was a bit overwhelming for both of us, having met and spoken to two WWE stars in the space of 14 hours, got autographs, photos, and an exclusive peek at a game that no-one else in the world had seen apart from the developers.

Definitely the best press event we've been to so far, and the game is certainly worthy of the fuss made by THQ... this is going to be hot!!