Total Nonstop Action Wrestling has pushed itself to the limelight for wrestling fans and a suitable contender for title-belt raising WWE crowd. Midway, agreeing with TNA's ladder-climbing popularity, have scooped up the franchise and is set to release TNA iMPACT! in order to compete with THQ's WWE series later this year.
Today we bring your six fresh screens of the upcoming Xbox 360 and PS3 release, complete with body slamming action. While we can't say for sure which franchise looks like the true number one contender, we wouldn't mind watching these two go at it in a winner-takes-all cage match.
Note: Bonus points for anyone who can name all of my horrible wrestling references in this story.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-07-2008 @ 1:41PM
Jonah Falcon said...
Big beefy sweaty truck driver men in spandex - in high-res HD!
Lunch is coming back.
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4-07-2008 @ 1:50PM
Johnny ComeLately said...
Besides all the obvious references... you might've made one that you didnt even realise.
"The Franchise" was a name used by former ECW Wrestler Shane Douglas for many years.
I'm not a total nerd or anything though :P
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4-07-2008 @ 1:55PM
drdre74 said...
I'll have to see game play. I've learned over the years that just because something looks good doesnt mean it plays good. The controls on this can suck. Midway isnt the best game company thats for sure.
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4-07-2008 @ 2:05PM
LiquidPlague said...
They would have been better if they were actually wrestling references.
"If you smell what TNA is cooking, you'd know that this game looks to have 14 inch pythons that prove just how much they loooooove yoooooouu."
There's 3 quick and dirty ones right there. Now I challenge you, the writer, to know what these are.
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4-07-2008 @ 2:12PM
Jonah Falcon said...
A reference to Mean Gene would have been nice. :p
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4-07-2008 @ 2:37PM
Bac0nator said...
God damn thats alot of digital sweat.
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4-07-2008 @ 3:14PM
Kizzle said...
"Midway, agreeing with TNA's ladder-climbing popularity"
TNA's popularity isn't climbing at all, and has not been for a long time. Their ratings have been the same for years (no matter how many ex-WWE guys they sign) and they have yet to turn a profit. They're lucky that Midway even bothered to do this.
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4-07-2008 @ 3:22PM
Xav de Matos said...
Actually according to the research I did prior to making that statement the ratings for TNA have increased in recent months.
Here's one source: http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/TNA/article100898.shtml
4-07-2008 @ 7:19PM
Derick said...
Personally I couldnt care about the WWE guys. I watch it for the WCW guys that either didnt get their contracts taken by Vince or left WWE as soon as those contracts expired.
TNA has a strong WCW feel. Its more impressive than WWE and it doesnt take itself as seriously. Seems like everyone at WWE is under orders to not do anything that might hurt themselves nowadays.
4-07-2008 @ 4:08PM
RealDoubleJ said...
I'm officially scared for this game now.
The characters all have the same scary expression on their faces be it kurt angle nonplussed he's doing a hiptoss or christian cage not caring he's about to be hit with the angle slam (or a really dodgy torture rack...you decide!)
This has shades of the old Acclaim WWF games for the PSX & N64 & that ain't good :-\
and I don't know if it was your intentions but your referencing has reminded me of the finish to the Royal Rumble 2000 which led to one of the most boring feuds ever between The Rock & Big Show into a very underwhelming mania. Damn you.
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4-07-2008 @ 4:40PM
drdre74 said...
lol! TNA sucks. I tried watching it and the story lines are the worst piece of crap I've every seen and the wrestlers are just old washed up WCW people that should have retired back in the 90's. The game looks great but damn its TNA.
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4-07-2008 @ 4:51PM
CaptainHowdy said...
bad storylines? I think WWE takes the cake on this one sir.
4-07-2008 @ 5:06PM
andyface said...
These pics look pretty nice, although rhino seems to have let himself go a little, he used to look like a scary beast, now he's looks more of a fat waster.
I'm doubtful this'll be a good game but who knows.
Mostly unrelated but it tickles me that WWE had to change from WWF because of the clash with the World Wide Fund for Nature's acronym, big beefy men taken down by a bunch of nature lovers (GO Eco-warriors!!!), I realise how old news this is, but still fun.
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4-07-2008 @ 5:46PM
Bialvavave said...
TNA's popularity isn't on the rise actually. They've been hovering around 1.1 ratings for about a year now. They're peak highest rating in their entire history is only a 1.2 I think.
It sucks that this game's being made by the same people that developed Backyard Wrestling.
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4-07-2008 @ 6:59PM
joker ant said...
No, it's not. That was Eidos.
4-07-2008 @ 7:00PM
joker ant said...
Midway was responsible for super-freaking-awesome WWF Wrestlemania The Arcade Game and WWF In Your House. Not great "wrestling" games, but still pretty sweet.
4-07-2008 @ 7:05PM
joker ant said...
Damn, I stand corrected. Midway is developing this, but it's the Paradox team, who developed BYW2. Meh, everyone should have a chance to learn from their mistakes. xD
4-07-2008 @ 7:08PM
Bialvavave said...
Eidos published Backyard Wrestling. The development team that worked on the Backyard wrestling games was bought out by Midway and changed the name of their studios to Midway Studios - Los Angeles. That's the same development team that is now working on TNA iMPACT.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradox_Development
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4-07-2008 @ 8:13PM
d_gr8one said...
ihmo the last good wresling game came out in 1999.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WWF_WrestleMania_2000
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