On the June 19 episode of WWE Smackdown, Daniel Bryan performed a diving headbutt of the top rope. From health standpoint, this is a bad idea for any wrestler. But it's a specifically bad idea for a wrestler like Daniel Bryan, who not long ago was suffering from trauma-related seizures. Everyone who cares about him--hopefully, that includes the WWE itself--should remind him of his well-being and what he stands to lose if he continues down this path.
It happened during a gauntlet match between Bryan, Big E, The Miz, Rusev, and Samoa Joe. The winner would compete for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules on July 15. In a shocking upset, Rusev won the match and the right to face AJ Styles in four weeks. Happy Rusev Day indeed.
But I found it difficult to focus on Rusev's achievement. I was too busy being appalled by what happened in the first third of the match. Daniel Bryan and Big E were the first two entrants and were engaged in a standard back-and-forth when suddenly, Bryan climbed on the turnbuckles and did this:
That's not an old screencap from several years ago; that's from the June 19 episode of Smackdown. Daniel Bryan, against all reason and advice to the contrary, attempted a diving headbutt. Big E rolled out of the way, and Bryan landed face first on the mat, with only his outstretched hands to cushion the blow.
There is no positive upside to this. A man with a history of multiple concussions (and a lesser history of concealing them from others) put himself at considerable, unnecessary risk for no reason. And if WWE officials signed off or approved of this, they're complicit in his recklessness. It's odd, because WWE has a controversial history of banning dangerous moves. The most well-known banned move is the classic Texas Piledriver, which has a long, established history; Jerry "The King" Lawler popularized it in the Memphis territories; it was the move he delivered to Andy Kaufman that "broke his neck." But just because something is established doesn't mean we continue to do it.
And after Owen Hart botched a variation of the move, in the Tombstone position, on "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and shortened his career, WWE stepped in. Since then, the Texas Piledriver has been rare to nonexistent in WWE. Lawler, when he occasionally wrestled, still used it, but certainly no younger wrestlers were using it as their go-to signature or finisher.
Why hasn't WWE applied this level of scrutiny to the diving headbutt? It was innovated by Harley Race. The man who adopted it after him, The Dynamite Kid, is now confined to a wheelchair; Race regrets inventing the move for this very reason. Prior to Daniel Bryan, the most notable practitioner of this move was Chris Benoit, who suffered from multiple, untreated concussions. These concussions may have contributed to his mental instability, which ultimately led him to kill his wife, his young son, and himself. The autopsy would later reveal he had the brain of an 85-year-old Alzheimer's patient.
Bryan, like Benoit and Dynamite before him, is one of the most talented wrestlers of his generation. He can mat wrestle and he can fly high; he can brawl when the occasion calls for it. And for a large chunk of his WWE career--largely by choice--Bryan opted for a spot-heavy, high-impact style, which included moves such as the diving headbutt.
It made him stand out in a crowd of men who were bigger than him. Narratively, it said: "I may be smaller and weaker, but I have more heart and more guts than you. I am willing to make the bigger sacrifice." Bryan got over with the fans, but this unrestrained style exacted a toll. He missed months of ring time; his run as WWE Champion after Wrestlemania XXX was cut short after he lost feeling in his arm. He required neck surgery. He suffered multiple concussions and post-concussion seizures. He hid this from many of his colleagues, thus putting himself--not to mention his opponents--in danger.
And all the while, WWE was telling him to slow down. He was now the most beloved wrestler in the company; he no longer needed these dangerous spots to get over with the crowd. But still, he ignored that advice and continued working like he had nothing to lose.
Eventually, WWE forced Bryan to retire in 2016. He had lesions on his brain; WWE could no longer trust him to take care of himself, and by extension, protect the company. And for two years, Bryan was relegated to mostly backstage roles.
Then in March 2018, the impossible happened. After months of hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which Bryan credits to healing his brain, he was cleared by WWE to wrestle again. And for his first few matches, it seemed as though the man had recognized his mortality. He grabbed the ropes to brace himself on his corner attacks. He stopped diving through the ring ropes to the floor, instead launching himself partially outside, feet-first. His top rope maneuvers were also feet first, and he landed with a flat back bump. He used more grapples and submissions.
And eventually, it felt comfortable to watch Bryan wrestle. He was finally taking care of himself, and we, as an audience, weren't enabling him to cripple himself or dig an early grave.
Now, that's gone. Instead, we'll worrying about the velocity of his next move. We'll be watching to see how hard his head hits the mat or the security barrier. We'll be wondering if this time, he's going to botch the next diving headbutt and get stretchered out of the ring. And even if we can't see it the damage now, there may long term damage, quietly piling up, that Bryan won't see for another 15-20 years.
No WWE fan should want Bryan to continue this backslide into old habits. But as of this morning, no major wrestling site has called Bryan or WWE over the carpet for allowing this. After months of bellyaching and performative "concern" over his health, the press has thrown up their hands and accepted this as standard operating procedure. But it shouldn't be this way; the multi-million dollar class-action lawsuit filed by former WWE employees, who now suffer from concussion-related disorders, confirms this.
Bryan needs to control himself. And if he can't do that, WWE needs to step in and do it for him, whether that's by banning the move, reprimanding him, fining him, or firing him. The company may not be directly responsible for Bryan destroying himself; the man can make his own choices, no matter how destructive. But it doesn't mean the fans have to accept it as a given, or that WWE has to give him a platform to broadcast it on.
A new demo for Octopath Traveler lets you experience all eight prologue stories in anticipation for the Nintendo Switch release on July 13. The stylized retro RPG pays homage to Super NES classics like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy 6, but it strikes a considerably darker tone. At E3 2018, producer Masashi Takahashi and director Keisuke Miyauchi told GameSpot what influenced this new take on old tropes, and how they've been updated.
The serious tone was punctuated in the very first demo, released last year. The story of Primrose, a dancer, touched on themes of sexual abuse and human trafficking. It was jarring, given the cute, doe-eyed sprite work and classically styled battle system, to see a story that many older RPGs it imitated would have implied at most.
"We're creating a medieval world, and we wanted to think of the realities within that medieval world," Takahashi said, via a translator. "What would be a kind of inevitability that would happen as a result of this world existing? What kind of dramas would play out? I think, out of the eight people, that Primrose has the story that deals with the heaviest themes, but that's not to say that the other themes are light in any way. There are also characters that deal with other heavy elements of this world, as well, like Cyrus, the scholar. His story deals with the darkness that exists within this world."
By the same token, Square Enix felt it was important to create a style that was reminiscent of classic RPGs, with a modern twist. The result is a game that looks like a game from the 1990s at a glance, but that comes alive with depth and movement thanks to its 2.5D animation.
"This is the art style that was used for the games that we played when we were growing up," Takahashi said. "Even though it has a simple character design, the simplicity of the character design allows the user to use their imagination to kind of create their own story of the characters in their own minds, versus how you would respond to, for example, a realistic art style."
The final ingredient was the battle system and the new "path actions" system, which give characters a variety of ways of interacting in and out of battle. Like the story and art style, it was important that this was rooted in classic RPG tropes, but had its own twists and stylistic choices. It's a turn-based battle system, and Takahashi said that's meant to make it inviting to new or lapsed players who may not have touched an RPG in years.
"In addition to that, we've added in things like the additional strategic dimensions of what you can accomplish during battle," added Miyauchi. "And also, things like path actions--where, in other RPGs, if you're talking about NPCs around a town, the only action that you could accomplish with them was to talk to them. We've added in considerably more dimensions of being able to talk with them so that you're able to role-play now in more different ways than you ever were. So that you could feel like you're a scholar, for example, like you're really playing this role of this character in this game."
Wrestling fans across the world were shocked to see the news that Leon White, better known as Big Van Vader, passed away recently after a long battle with his health. The past year and a half have been tough for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer, as he has been battling congestive heart failure.
One of White's children tweeted from the wrestler's account that he had passed away on Monday night after battling his heart condition and pneumonia: "Around a month ago my father was diagnosed with a severe case of Pneumonia. He fought extremely hard and clinically was making progress. Unfortunately, on Monday night his heart had enough and it was his time."
Around a month ago my father was diagnosed with a severe case of Pneumonia. He fought extremely hard and clinically was making progress. Unfortunately, on Monday night his heart had enough and it was his time. pic.twitter.com/hJYjumvxjH
In early May, White mentioned that he had successful heart surgery, and things were looking up him. There have been concerns about his heart for quite some time, since White announced his struggles publicly on Twitter back in November 2016. During an event in Japan in Spring 2017, Vader collapsed during a show, which he claimed was because of a shot to the head.
Outside of wrestling, White was remembered primarily for his appearance on the TV series Boy Meets World. He played Frankie Stecchino Sr., the father of the bully Frankie the Enforcer. On the show, Stecchino Sr. was also a professional wrestler who wanted his son to follow in his footsteps. Additionally, White appeared on an episode of Baywatch cleverly titled "Bash at the Beach."
Because of White's popularity in Japan, after wrestling in NJPW for years and winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship--which is where he got the name Big Van Vader--his likeness has actually been in a couple of video games as well. Alexander The Grater from Saturday Night Slam Masters and Raiden from Fatal Fury.
He was a powerhouse performer who was well-loved within the wrestling communities and paved the way for the next generation or superstars. Hopefully, WWE will honor him by adding him to the 2019 WWE Hall of Fame.
The Xbox Gaming Set is a collection of accessories created to fit any American Girl Doll. Now your kid can play video games with their plastic best friend.
The set comes with everything needed to transform a doll into the perfect gaming partner. The set includes a pretend Xbox One S controller and console. The controller is small enough to fit perfectly into the doll's hands and the console can project scenes from 10 different games. The 10 games are divided between two game discs, which can be stored in two colorful game cases when not in use.
The set also includes a faux-leather game chair and fake wireless mic. The chair has built in speakers and comes with a cord that allows you to plug in your own personal devices to play whatever music or sound effects you want.
Shopping carts have been a fun addition to Fortnite: Battle Royale, but they've also proven to be a problematic one. Epic Games has had to disable them a number of times due to problems that have arisen, and that's the case once again.
Epic confirmed the temporary removal of shopping carts in a tweet, stating, "Due to ongoing issues, we'll be disabling Shopping Carts again. We'll update you when this issue is resolved." There's no time table shared for when they might be added back in, but at this point players have become accustomed to seeing shopping carts--Fortnite's first vehicle--yanked from the roster of active items.
It's not uncommon for Epic to disable items; some are rotated out to make way for new ones, while others--like the guided missile--have been removed to provide the studio with time to work on balancing them. But shopping carts have been temporarily pulled several times now in a relatively small window of time. Among other things, they've been utilized to glitch into areas of the map that players should not be able to access, which is extremely problematic in a competitive game. With Fortnite's massive popularity continuing to rise, it's no surprise Epic is fast to pull anything that might upset its competitive balance (and thereby impact its growing success).
Since the launch of Battle Royale last year as a free-to-play mode in Fortnite, Epic has steadily and frequently rolled out new content. Some of that comes in the form of new weapons, as with the recently added Stink Bomb, while others serve different purposes, as with the shopping carts and Hop Rocks.
During E3, Fortnite: Battle Royale was released on Switch, joining the existing PC, PS4, Xbox One, and iPhone versions. Fortnite Mobile is also on the way to Android, although a release date for that version has not yet been announced.
Swords & Soldiers II Shawarmageddon is heading to Steam this fall. To celebrate--and to put the series on players' radar--developer Ronimo Games is giving away Swords & Soldiers HD for free on Steam. The catch is that it's only available for free for 24 hours, ending on June 21, and the clock is ticking.
Swords & Soldiers HD is a cartoonish side-scrolling RTS game from 2010 that pits Vikings, Aztecs, and Chinese forces against one another in an effort to win the favor of the gods. You do so by gathering resources, building units, and using magic (along with brute force) to defeat your opponent and destroy their castle. It has a lengthy single-player campaign, as well as a number of multiplayer modes.
In GameSpot's 8/10 Swords & Soldiers review, we said, "It may not be as serious or ponderous as other RTS games out there, but don't let its appearance fool you: Swords & Soldiers is a great example of its genre, and its simple controls and abounding good humor are likely to engage even those who have never dipped their controllers into the strategy pool."
If you download Swords & Soldiers HD for free and find that you enjoy the game, you can pre-order Swords & Soldiers II Shawarmageddon for $20 on Steam. Ronimo Games has also launched a Kickstarter to add more content to the upcoming game, with various rewards for backers depending on how much they kick in. So grab your free copy of Swords & Soldiers HD here before the price goes back up and give it a try.
With cheating still an ongoing concern in PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, developer PUBG Corp. has regularly implemented new measures in an effort to curb the practice. While the studio says this has helped winnow cheaters and bots from the game, it has also inadvertently resulted in some innocent players being temporarily banned.
"As you know, one of our highest priorities is working towards eliminating hackers and cheaters from PUBG," PUBG Corp. wrote in a post on Steam. "We've made great strides in this area recently, but unfortunately sometimes we get it wrong, which was the case recently when a number of players were improperly banned and were unable to access the game for a period of time. While we will continually work to improve these cheat detection methods, we ask for your patience on the hopefully few occasions where a false ban happens."
As a way to compensate players who have been wrongly banned from the game, PUBG Corp. is offering 20,000 BP--PUBG's in-game currency--to affected users. The developer says the BP should already appear in your account if you're one of those who have been inadvertently banned. Those unsure if they qualify to receive the compensation will need to meet the following criteria:
Logged into the 3.8.38.15 version between June 16, 11 AM - 1:30 PM PDT / June 16, 8 PM - 10:30 PM CEST / June 17, 3 AM - 5:30 AM KST
Were wrongfully banned due to internal ban detection logic
A new update for PUBG is rolling out later this week, on June 22. Along with an assortment of UI and sound improvements, it introduces the tropical Sanhok map to the live game, as well as a Sanhok-exclusive weapon: the QBZ95.
Alongside the update, PUBG Corp. is releasing the Event Pass--PUBG's equivalent of Fortnite's Battle Pass. As with the Battle Pass, the Event Pass allows players to complete daily and weekly challenges, which will level the pass up and unlock exclusive rewards. The Event Pass is available to try out now on PUBG's test server.
In addition to Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, the developer of Dark Souls and Bloodborne, From Software, announced another new game at E3 2018. This one, Deracine, is exclusive to PS4 and PSVR, and many--including myself--were confused after watching its reveal trailer. In the search for answers, I went and played around 40 minutes of the VR game at E3. I'm still confused.
You play a spirit "summoned by a young girl in a secluded boarding school." At first, it's not clear what exactly to do, but with the help of a Sony Japan Studio developer I worked out that you have the power to talk to students at the school and interact with a limited number of the objects contained in the old house you find yourself in. Every object and being in the world is frozen in time until you touch them, at which point they will briefly spring to action, providing you with a sprinkling of exposition.
The concept of life is seemingly a running theme in Deracine; another power you yield is the ability to breathe life into dead objects. My first task was to revive a wilted flower, though for what purpose isn't clear. The rest of the demo centers around the girl's desire--and therefore my task--to poison a fellow student's soup using four herbs scattered around the building. Obtaining those herbs requires some light puzzle solving, such as carrying keys from one area to another to open a lockbox or finding missing characters whose belongings are useful to progress.
Deracine is seemingly a slow-paced point-and-click adventure, though at this early stage it's almost impossible to tell if that will be the case for the rest of the campaign, or what other elements it will introduce. This is a From Software game, after all.
Even with a developer next to me, I was forever wondering about what this ethereal, aged school was, who the girl was, who I was, and what I was doing. Given the developer's history, my guess is that's very much intentional. Let's hope we find out more about Deracine's world when the game launches for PSVR later this year.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick is skeptical of the rush to capitalize on the multiplayer flavor of the day. The publisher of the upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 said in an interview that single-player isn't dead, and scoffed at the battle royale gold rush.
"[T]here are also people saying that it won't work if it's not a free-to-play battle royale. People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don't buy that," Zelnick told VentureBeat. "Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they'll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don't think that's going to work. I'd be surprised."
He pointed out that Take-Two's approach is to give teams a lot of time and resources and then reap the benefits. Grand Theft Auto 5 is still paying dividends thanks to GTA Online, but plenty of players are still engaging with the story too. He said he understands that approach sometimes means their schedule can be hard to pin down.
"That's why we don't annualize titles," he said. "That's why we sometimes have slippage. That's why we're so focused on making sure that every title is better than the last title. We don't always succeed, but that's the goal."
Asked if his personal involvement means he's the one to call up one of their partners and ask for a battle royale, he was dismissive. "The fact that I'm very involved doesn't mean I say stupid things. I'm involved by saying hopefully intelligent things that are going to advance our strategy. So no, I don't do that."
Finally, Zelnick said the publisher doesn't intend to share technology across their separate labels. Asked what he would say to Hanger 13 (Mafia 3) requesting the GTA 5 engine, he balked. "Our studios are trying to create their own phenomenally competitive products. It seems unlikely that they would take another studio's properties in any form and try to replicate them or jump off from them to a creative solution. It's not what we're trying to do."
By Anonymous on Jun 20, 2018 10:12 pm 7 new characters have been added to BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. GameSpot anime boys Jean-Luc and Ben show them off.
Seven new characters are now available for BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle, playable on PS4, Nintendo Switch, and PC. The most notable addition is Yang Xiao Long, who comes as a free download for all players, as she completes the Team RWBY roster alongside her teammates Ruby, Weiss, and Blake.
The other six characters are divided evenly between two new character packs, which players must purchase. Character Pack 2 contains Aegis from Persona 4 Arena, Jubei from BlazBlue, and Carmine from Under Night In-Birth. Character Pack 3 includes Naoto from Persona 4 Arena, Hakumen from BlazBlue, and Vatista from Under Night In-Birth.
A new trailer offers a glimpse of the seven new fighters in action. Yang gets the most attention, showing off how she can use her signature weapon, Ember Celica, to perform quick, short ranged attacks.
Yang excels at juggling other fighters and preventing them from attacking, and can use Ember Celica to boost forward and close the distance between her and an opponent trying to escape. She can also fire off a blast while in midair to give her a diagonal range attack, the recoil of which fires her back and offers her an opportunity to create some breathing room. Yang is voiced in-game by the same actress who voices her in the RWBY anime: Barbara Dunkelman.
In our BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle review, Michael Higham gave the game a 9/10 and said, "Whether playing through the story mode alone or against hardened opponents online, Cross Tag Battle is an absolute joy with a surplus of possibilities within its wide roster and versatile fighting system. Even with all the ridiculousness of the overarching plot, I reveled in the charm of my favorite characters and embraced the many moments of fan service. It's a masterful unification of styles and mechanics from four different universes that compels you to dig deeper and dedicate the time to getting the most out of the beloved members of this cast."
A new patch is around the corner for the PC version of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Coinciding with the update, developer PUBG Corp. is introducing a new type of progression system called the Event Pass, which gives players a new avenue for earning items in the game.
Much like the Battle Pass offered each season in Fortnite, the Event Pass allows players to earn rewards while playing PUBG. Event Pass holders will have a variety of daily, weekly, and map-specific missions to undertake; completing these challenges will level the pass up and in turn unlock exclusive rewards.
In contrast to Fortnite's Battle Pass, the Event Pass can only be purchased with real-world money, and it lasts for four weeks, rather than the span of the entire season. Regardless of whether or not they purchase the pass, players will still be able to complete missions and "temporarily" unlock rewards (as well as earn one "special item" permanently). Those who decide to buy the Event Pass at a later date will earn rewards for any missions they've already completed.
PUBG's first Event Pass will be offered on the same day Sanhok arrives in the live game, on June 22. "This first Event Pass is all about celebrating the launch of Sanhok, so it includes an item set that fits the map Sanhok thematically," PUBG Corp. wrote on Steam. The developer hasn't provided any further details about what the Sanhok-specific missions will entail, but the Event Pass is currently available on the game's test server, giving players a chance to try it out before it is implemented in the live game.
In addition to Sanhok and Event Pass, Update #15 introduces a new weapon to PUBG: the QBZ95, an AR found exclusively on the new tropical map. The patch also makes a handful of sound and UI improvements to the game, particularly to the inventory, map, and results screen. You can read the full patch notes for Update #15 on Steam.
It took 14 long years to get a second Incredibles film from Disney/Pixar. However, it seems as though the latest installment in the superhero franchise didn't miss a step. As GameSpot's Incredibles 2 review points out, the new film is a worthy sequel--and just might be even better than the original.
It's also well on its way to earning Disney/Pixar's best opening weekend at the box office, with $18.5 million in Thursday night domestic preview screenings. That news comes via Deadline.
With seemingly everything working in its favor, it's only natural to wonder what happens next. After all, Pixar wouldn't wait another 14 years to revisit the Incredibles universe, would it? There have been three Cars movies since the first Incredibles movie hit theaters, proving the animation studio isn't afraid of sequels. You should stop reading now if you haven't seen Incredibles 2, as we're going to discuss spoilers.
So when should fans expect Incredibles 3? "Yeah, don't go there," writer-director Brad Bird tells GameSpot. "It's best not to talk to the mom who's just delivered a child about, 'How about the next child?' Don't do it. Don't do it, man."
Given that Bird and his team are just now closing the book on Incredibles 2, it's easy to understand why he's reticent to discuss another sequel. However, there are plenty of opportunities to explore in the new film. Whether it's the introduction of a new generation of supers or the fact that the Underminer is still at large, there are plenty of plot threads to address in another movie.
However, the biggest "unexploded bomb," as Bird refers to it, is Jack-Jack. The youngest member of the Parr family has a ton of crazy superpowers, and the writer-director teases there may be even more to see beyond what's in Incredibles 2. "He's all potential, right?" Bird asks.
Whatever the case, another Incredibles movie seems like an obvious road for Disney/Pixar to go down. As for when it will happen, that's anyone's guess.
At first thought, it might not sound like it, but it took a very long time for Incredibles 2 to become a reality. In fact, 14 years have passed between the first and second movies--a lengthy period of time for any sequel.
By comparison, since the release of the first Incredibles, all three Cars movies have hit theaters--along with 10 other Pixar films. So what took so long? According to producer John Walker, the answer is simple. "We all had other movies to make and other things to do, and also life goes faster than you think," he tells GameSpot.
That's especially true of writer-director Brad Bird, who returns for the new film. Since the first Incredibles, he's gone on to make movies like Ratatouille, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, and Tomorrowland. Still, this franchise was always at the back of his mind.
"That's the most fun I ever had making a movie so far is the first Incredibles because it's the first time I got to take something from a tiny seed to a finished film," he says. "I always intended to return to it, and I dipped my toe-in, right before Mission Impossible, and we worked on the opening sequence, and then I got distracted."
The ideas he wanted to explore in the sequel stretch all the way back to the first movie, though. The idea of switching the roles and having Elasti-girl go off on her own superhero adventure first occurred to Bird while promoting the original film. Of course, there was also that other thing. "I had the unexploded bomb of Jack-Jack, the family not knowing that he had the powers," Bird teases. "I knew he was going to play a big role if we did another one."
Thankfully, as producer Nicole Paradis Grindle tells us, "Pixar always had the door open." So once the time was finally right, it was off to the races for the new film.
That said, while Bird and the movie's producers were confident Incredibles 2 would eventually happen, the same can't be said for the cast.
"When it hit like it did, then you expected the sequel to be right behind it," Craig T. Nelson, who plays Mr. Incredible, says. "At least three, four years maybe. But about the fourth, fifth year you're going, 'Well, it's not going to happen. There's no scuttlebutt, no rumor. It's done. Weird. Why not do this again?'"
Holly Hunter, the voice of Elasti-girl adds, "It definitely went over the sell-by date of most sequels, so I was surprised." Thankfully, for her, at least, the movie's fanbase never truly went away. "My experience was that because people continued to come up to me over those 14 years and say 'Hi, I love The Incredibles,'" she admits."The movie feels very much in the public consciousness right now."
That's exactly where it belongs. While there's been a glut of superhero movies over the years, the newest Pixar movie is striving to be something more and, based on GameSpot's Incredibles 2 review, it might have just achieved that. You can find out for yourself when it arrives in theaters on June 15.
WWE's global expansion just took a major step forward. Appearing at WWE's UK Title Tournament taping on Monday, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent, Live Events, and Creative Triple H announced the United Kingdom was getting its own NXT brand, with taping for the new show beginning in July. The news comes on the heels of another major announcement from the company, which revealed current WWE Champion AJ Styles would be featured as the cover star of its next video game, WWE 2K19.
NXT UK will showcase wrestling's top talent in the United Kingdom and Ireland, with three championship titles being up for grabs. In addition to the WWE UK title, currently held by Pete Dunne, the UK Tag Team Championship and UK Women's Championship will also be featured on the new series.
"The UK has an amazing talent base and incredibly passionate fans that are deserving of their own showcase," Triple H says in a statement. "This is the next step in our ongoing strategy to create localized content and further develop our brand globally."
At this point, a roster of potential talent for the new series is not known, though it's very likely that reigning WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne will play a major role. Tickets for the first eight tapings of NXT UK go on sale June 29. You can find out more information through WWE's website.
It will be interesting to see what this offshoot of NXT means for future WWE global brands. Perhaps eventually there will be multiple NXT brands that represent various parts of the world.
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7 new characters have been added to BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle. GameSpot anime boys Jean-Luc and Ben show them off.
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