This Sunday, WWE takes over Miami for the biggest show of the year; the grandest stage of them all, the showcase of the imortals — Wrestlemania 28. The mega match on the card features the world famous Rock against current WWE Journeyman and rising star John Cena. There’s also a Hell in the Cell match with HHH taking on the Undertaker and CM Punk defending his WWE Championship against Chris Jericho among others.

But why wait for Sunday? Blast took the latest WWE game, WWE 12 (reviewed here), and simmed the entire card.  We had to be creative with some of the matches, but thanks to the the cool Community Creations feature, we were able to fill in a lot of the gaps.

World Heavyweight Championship Match: Daniel Bryan (C) VS Sheamus

When mid card mainstay Sheamus won the Royal Rumble, it left a lot of people scratching their heads, but alas — he’s in the main event, taking on surprise World Heavyweight champion Daniel Bryan in the biggest show of the year.

So how did the match go? Pretty much how you’d expect. On a few different occasions, it looked like Bryan had the Pale Wonder beat by locking in his finisher — the Labell lock, but each time, Sheamus was able to break free.  After the second time, Sheamus seemed to have gotten his second win and nailed Bryan with a Brogue kick to get the win, and the championship.

Randy Orton VS Kane

So here comes a bit of a tangent. This match reminds me of why I stopped watching Wrestling for a bit. Why are these two fighting? It’s like someone over at Titan Towers said to themselves — “Crap! Kane and Orton aren’t in matches! What do we do?” Wrestlemania has always been the night where huge matches happen, and to be fair, the card has a few of them — but this seems like the main event for a Judgement Day Pay per View. Why not have Kane take on Zack Ryder, like they’ve been promoting for months now?

But I digress.

This was one of the most physical matches on the card, and both men sacrificed their own bodies for the match. Orton hit two RKO’s, even one through the announce table, but Kane was still able to kick out. Similarly, Kane was able to hit the chokeslam on two different occasions, but the Viper persevered. Three seemed to be too much for Orton though, as he missed with the Punt, and was caught by the Issac Yankem, The Christmas Monster, Fake Diesel, Big Red Machine, who hit a final Chokeslam, and got the win.

Kelly Kelly and Maria Menounos VS Eve and Beth Phoenix

Yep. That’s Maria Menounos, from TV’s Extra and some other shows I don’t watch. Apparently she’s a huge WWE fan, and thus will be hitting the ring this weekend. I guess the whole thing started when Menounos had two other Divas besides Eve and Phoenix on her show.  Go Figure.

In the battle of the perfectly timed beer run, Menounos (via creation station) hits power splash off the top rope (no really) for the win.

Intercontinental Championship: Cody Rhodes (C) VS The Big Show

This one is sort of like Orton VS Kane match, it feels like they’re fighting because they had nothing else to do. I’m a big believer in Cody Rhodes and his ability to be one of the company’s top stars, and it feels like he could be doing so much more at the biggest show of the year.  There were rumors that he would be taking on real life brother Golddust, but I would love to see him and former partner Ted Debiase Jr. put on a coming out party with one hell of a match.

As the story goes, Rhodes has been taunting Big Show about his terrible Wrestlemania record for weeks, and that seemed to have angered the big man, as he man handled the dashing one, Show finished off Rhodes with a big right hand to claim the Intercontinental Championship and the win.

Team Johnny VS Team Teddy

Let’s face it — the brand split isn’t working. There’s two shows, and supposedly two different brands, but each show has wrestlers from both..it just gets confusing. Hopefully, this match, which pits teams the General Managers from both shows put together against each other, with the winner getting control of both shows is a springboard for the company to finally end this failed experiment.

Since WWE 12 won’t allow 12 man tags, we had to do singles matches in a tournament style setting to figure out the winner of this one. It came down to Santino Marella from Team Teddy and Dolph Ziggler from Team Johnny, but sadly there would be no Cobra today – Dolph Ziggler pinned Santino to give control of Raw and Smackdown to John Lauranitis.

WWE Champsionship  CM Punk (C) VS Chris Jericho

When this match was hinted at, I was excited. Here were two of my favorite wrestlers — I had even seen Punk on several occasions as an Indie wrestler going tow to toe for the biggest prize on the biggest show, and that’s all they needed.

Then WWE started with the wonderful storylines they’re known for. See, CM Punk is Straightedge, he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t smoke and he doesn’t do drugs. So what does Jericho do? Why he uncovers facts about Punk’s past to get in his head. Punk’s dad was a drunk! Punk’s sister did drugs. ..

Groan.

The talent of these two men speaks for themselves, and it did in this match, as the two stars put on one hell of a show. In desperation though, Jericho’s experience won out, as Y2J hit a powerbomb on Punk for the win and the championship.

Hell In A Cell: The Undertaker VS HHH (with special guest referee Shawn Michaels)

A lot of people were upset that there was no Money in the Bank match at this year’s show — so how does WWE compensate? How about putting three of the biggest stars of the last 20 years in a cell together. Sound good? Great.

This match is really three years in the making, resulting in HHH and HBK being unable to put an end to the Deadman’s 19-0 streak at Wresltlemania. The booking on this one is actually pretty cool, and these two should put on a great show, and the added factor of HBK being referee only makes things more interesting.

So we couldn’t have HBK as a special guest referee, but despite that, this match did not disappoint, and they had one of those classic matches you don’t forget very often. They broke the cage, they broke tables, they nearly broke each other; but in the end — Taker was able to keep his streak alive, giving HHH the last ride to get the win.

John Cena VS The Rock

After one year of talk, after some of the most unique promos and chants, the Rock and Cena finally get together in the ring this Sunday.  The Rock is in his hometown of Miami, so the cheers for his were even more deafening, but Cena would not be denied.

In a back and forth match, that saw plenty of near falls and epic moments, Cena hit the five knuckle shuffle, and then an Attitue Adjustment to the mixed reaction of the crowd for the win.

 That’s it! Who do you think will win this weekend! Let us know in the comments below!

Former WWE wrestling superstar Matt Hardy was arrested Saturday in North Carolina on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, according to TMZ.

TMZ reported that Hardy was arrested in the afternoon, taken to the Moore County Jail, and released around 7 p.m.

Hardy rose to fame in the WWE but left after a public real-life scandal involving his girlfriend Amy “Lita” Dumas cheating on him with wrestler Adam “Edge” Copeland, which was made into a story arc in WWE.

He eventually came back to WWE, but Hardy now preforms with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).

Hardy was driving his 2009 Corvette when he went off the road and hit a tree. Blood tests are pending, TMZ reported.

USA Network’s series "Psych" returns from its hiatus chock full of action, starting with a guest appearance by WWE’s John Cena. This marks the continuing fourth season for the show, and Shawn Spencer (James Roday) is a man whose unique observational skills has the Santa Barbara police mistaking him for a psychic. Along for the ride is one of the few people who knows the truth and continues the charade, Shawn’s best friend Burton "Gus" Guster (Dule Hill). Together they run the small business ironically named, Psych, as in a psychic detective agency.

Recently Blast was able to join John Cena and James Roday in a conference call prior to the premiere episode aptly titled, "You Can’t Handle This Episode." This latest chapter continues the show’s tradition of remarkable casting by introducing Detective Juliet O’Hara’s big brother Ewan O’Hara (John Cena), a military officer helping Shawn and Gus with a case situated on an army base.

When asked about his familiarity with "Psych" John Cena explained:

"Well, just because of the relationship with the network I’ve seen bits and pieces…[I] saw that it was my sense of humor and definitely when I got on set I knew I would fit right in. The show’s very well written…I love how it’s put together and I wasn’t a die hard fan, but have since become one. I really do like what they’re doing with the show and I’m happy that I can help kick off the new season, the new time slot…but it was it was an educational experience. I made some new friends and certainly had a newfound respect for what those guys."

As the character of Ewan O’Hara, Cena takes the familiar route of an action hero…at least, in the beginning:

"It was really cool, but at the same time, to have a bit of a mercenary type feel. It wasn’t the “Johnny-do-good” sort of baddest-man-on-the-planet style. This guy, the guy that I play, is a true mercenary. You know, he’s very good at what he does, but at the same time is certainly out to make money and knows he has to compromise some morality issues to get the job done sometimes, and I think that’s what leads up to a very interesting ending.

Speaking of the end, Cena answered questions about a possible return. Although uncertain, he did reveal his thoughts on the subject as well as the cast:

"I would certainly love to make another appearance. I’m so glad that they didn’t [end] my character…I would certainly love to come back if, let’s hope we get some good ratings for the premier episode. And if we do, then hopefully I’ll be seen again.

Those guys, you know…they take everything in stride. They got a great sense of humor, they’re willing to laugh at themselves and wink at the camera and that’s really what I like to do…we had a bunch of laughs, but those guys have a wonderful sense of humor."

Despite the ambiguous fate of his character, Cena won’t have problems filling up his schedule with work:

"I’m actually wrapping a film that’s tentatively titled ‘Brother’s Keeper,’ but the title will change. It most likely will be released in August. Patricia Clarkson is in it as mother of the boy [who stars in it]. Danny Glover is also in it. It’s going to pan out to be a really, really good movie. It’s a drama about a young man who uses amateur wrestling as a backdrop to kind of bring a family closer together."

For fans of WWE wondering if Cena will continue to bring it to the ring or transition out into other projects like "The Rock" (aka Dwayne Johnson) did, it would seem he’s not entirely Hollywood bound yet:

"I really love what I do for the WWE. All these opportunities have spawned from my success in the WWE. So that’s, I guess that’s where my allegiance lies, but everything I do is pretty much to promote the extension of our brand, all the movies, all the TV spots.

There really hasn’t been a game plan. It’s just, I’ve learned since the first day I came on board in the WWE to be ready for anything. You know, I’m a gold recording artist. We came out with an album and I sold over half a million copies of that. I’ve done a couple movies now, I’ve had some TV spots, and all of this is opportunity is literally developed out of nowhere but it’s all been from the WWE. You just have to be ready for your opportunity and just make the best of it when it comes."

James Roday, whose portrayal of the witty and high energized Shawn Spencer, wasted no time in reminding all of us why viewers love him. When asked about the show’s theme song, Roday had to take a moment. One of several ongoing themes with "Psych," apart from finding the pineapple hidden in each episode, revolves around the theme song. Every so often, it will be revised to fit an episode. In a previous season, Shawn and Gus solve a crime revolving around the set of a Spanish telenovela, so the intro was translated into Spanish. Intro title credits were even altered to a Hindi script in order to match the recent Bollywood episode.

"Yeah there’s actually a couple people I’d love to see take a turn,” said Roday. “I think the Chipmunks should do it. I think that maybe we could structure, like, a holiday episode or something where the Chipmunks just come in and blast it and do their thing. And then I think David. A David Bowie cover of our theme song would probably go over pretty, pretty nicely as well."

With the recent departure of the show "Monk," "Psych" is now one of the longest-lasting original series’ for its network, having started back in 2006. When asked about how it felt to have lasted this long, Roday replied:

"I feel older. It’s a testament, I think, to the sort of “Little Engine That Could” mentality that we’ve had from the very beginning with the show. We have sort of stuck around long enough to be anybody’s flagship. USA does such a great job of branding and packaging their shows and you know, they move and you’ve got to keep up. You’ve really got to keep up with the train. And we’ve managed to sort of kind of continuously reinvent ourselves and become this sort of hybrid show that can stick around hopefully no matter what else is going on around it. So it feels good for us. I’m not sure if it makes any difference to anyone else, but it feels good to have lasted this long and still be standing, for sure. "

The new episode takes viewers not only into the military base, it also pays an homage to the love of WWE-style wrestling the characters Gus and Shawn share onscreen. With a surprising guest like John Cena, it begs the question as to what new identities Gus and Shawn would create if in the ring:

"I’m going to go ahead and call us Black and Tan, me of course being Black and Gus being Tan,” said Roday. “And I’m going to say that we come to the ring in our Black and Tan, (in) male model attire, and that we are what is known in the WWE universe as ‘jobbers,’ meaning that it is our job to come in and get our asses beat by whatever tag team that they’re trying to push at the time. There it is, there’s my estimation of Shawn and Gus as wrestlers."

Besides wrestling, Roday got into more detail about the setting for the episode, which was new for them:

"It was interesting because there is no military base where we shoot in Vancouver. So we managed to transform an old asylum for the mentally and criminally insane into a military base, and when you watch the episode, like, I mean I’m sure military experts you know, will probably be cringing, but I’d buy it. And anytime you put on fatigues and you get yourself into that military mindset, especially in these times…you have to take a moment to reflect. I mean, we’re obviously silly and we don’t take ourselves very seriously and we’re a comedy. But you know the truth is there are…there are a lot of young men and women out there wearing those uniforms that put their lives on the line every day. So there was that, there was that element going on as well where we would just stop and look at each other and be like, ‘Wow. Here we are making jokes but there are other people that don’t get to make jokes.’ So it was interesting."

There’s a lot of subject matter the series has delved into from haunted houses, gunslingers, and even werewolves. But when asked about his dream episode, Roday had fun with it.

"Well, actually…okay, I have one and 1A. One is we do so much singing on our show and everybody sings. It just seems like we’re way overdue for a musical. We’ve just got to come up with a clever way to do it. And now that ‘Glee’ has sort of, captured the country’s attention and is in everyone’s subconscious, I think it’s probably the best time ever, because they do it so well that I think the expectation for us would be to just, just do it okay, and I know we can pull that off. So we should do a musical episode. Beyond that, I think an episode where Shawn and Gus agree to participate in some sort of dream therapy experiment where they could actually go into each other’s dreams. To me, that’s no boundaries. That’s like Shawn walking around Gus’ dream world, and everybody being able to see what Gus dreams about. I don’t know if we could top that."

Overall, "You Can’t Handle This Episode" proves that the new year looks good for the series; it’s a mixed bag of suspense, humor and drama. The most notable sequence is the departure of Shawn’s girlfriend Abby when she decides to follow her dream and work abroad for six months. This leaves the door open for a potential Shawn and Juliet union. And while it wasn’t amped up in its typical fare of hijinks, it did deliver memorable lines such as Gus’ refusal to meet up with Shawn on the docks: "You know how I feel about piers like this Shawn! They’re covered in pelican urine!" Despite its trend of "geek chic", the strength of show continues to be a product of witty dialogue and a phenomenal ensemble cast whose onscreen chemistry is easily one of the best on television.

Psych stars James Roday, Dul© Hill, Timothy Omundson, Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Corbin Bernsen airs on its new schedule Wednesdays 10PM/9C on USA Network.

One of the most iconic names in the history of sports entertainment is returning to the ring. “Hulkamania” is back as Hulk Hogan announced he would join Total Non-Stop Action Wresting, known as TNA,

“TNA iMPACT!” on Spike TV is one of the highest rated cable shows for young men.

“Hulk Hogan is one of the world’s top pop culture icons and the biggest superstar in the history of professional wrestling. We are truly excited to welcome him into the TNA family,” said Dixie Carter, president of TNA Wrestling, in a statement Tuesday. “Our goal is to become the world’s biggest professional wrestling company. Hulk defines professional wrestling and we look forward to partnering with him in a variety of ways as we continue to grow TNA globally.”

Hogan, who made waves in reality television after retiring from the WWF/WWE, said he was glad to be back.

“I’m thrilled to be jumping back into the world of professional wrestling,” he said. “My fans have been asking me to return to the business for many years on a full time basis, but the timing or the opportunity has never been right until now.”

Hogan recently wrote an autobiography with Mark Dagostino, “My Life Outside The Ring.” He is a member of the WWE Hall of Fame.

First time, long time.

For years, wrestling video games had done the way of the NFL: exclusive. With all due love and respect to them, THQ has had the WWE license forever, and before that they had the WCW license. They’ve been it for video game wrestling.

Enter Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, a scrappy little league featuring Kurt Angle, Sting, Booker T and a bunch of other guys who are fun to watch but just didn’t see themselves fitting Vince McMahon’s mold.

Now we have Midway’s TNA Impact!, giving Total Nonstop Action its own home entertainment franchise. And it’s a very decent first attempt.

While the storyline and character portrayals don’t go nearly far enough in capturing the essence and attitudes of the veteran wrestling names and personalities, the actual arcade-style gameplay is easy to pick up and offers plenty of thrills, suplexes, bodyslams and high-flying maneuvers.

The game features 25 TNA fighters and several of the specificities that make TNA an interesting wrestling enterprise like the six-sized ring and the Ultimate X match, where wrestlers have to climb ropes to a goal at the top — much like a ladder match.

The graphics and character models are excellent. Even in-game animations and moves look fluid and well-detailed. Attacks land with lots of force and really sell themselves.

In a way, “Impact!” feels a lot like some of the older wrestling games like the old LJN console hits like WrestleMania Challenge and WWF Royal Rumble. Obviously it looks and sounds great, even by today’s standards, but the persona of the game is very much based in the fighting and the moves, combos and animations surrounding the actual fighting. This isn’t surprising to me, because Midway is the company of Mortal Kombat. Even their previous WWF title, WrestleMania: The Arcade Game was regarded as an almost pure fighting game.

That said, the game could use more drama and story injected into its core, but if you’re looking for simple, pick-up-and-go action, TNA Impact! is a good way to go.

Blast has learned that THQ will announce brand new details regarding this year’s edition of their perennial Smackdown VS  Raw series as part of this weekend’s Wrestlemania festivities in Orlando, Fla.

Like last year’s title, 2009 will be available on most platforms, including Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, PSP and DS, each with more than its fair share of new features and content.

Heavily touted for this year’s PS3 and Xbox 360 edition is the new focus on tag teams.  Players will now be able to team up in the new “Road to Wrestlemania” career mode — a first for the series and wrestling games in general.  New tag-centric finishers, momentum systems and storylines have all been teased.

Also announced is the new create-a-finisher mode. Long on the “wanted” list for years, the new mode will allow players to choose between more than 500 animations to create their dream finishing move.

Expected to tie in to this mode is the newly announced downloadable content, another first for the series.

Smackdown VS Raw 2009 will be the series second go-round on the Wii, and this year THQ plans to learn from last year’s lowly rated game and take full advantage of the systems capabilities. Promising more match types and the debut of online play, the Wii will feature a slimmed-down version of the aforementioned “Road to Wrestlemania” mode along with exclusive features including interactive entrances and victory celebrations.

Gamers looking to take their grappling skills on the road will be proud to know that the series will be returning to the PSP and Nintendo DS. The same team behind last year’s Dragon Quest Heroes is developing the DS version: Rocket Slime and is said to feature a RPG like season mode, and feature a new create-a-wrestler mode.

“The ambitious cross-platform launch of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 last year yielded tremendous growth for the franchise, as we delivered multiple gameplay experiences across seven platforms and greatly expanded our audience of WWE videogame fans,” said Bob Aniello, senior vice president for worldwide marketing at THQ in a report by IGN. “With dynamic new features and the extension of our gameplay experience through downloadable content, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 will bring more console, handheld and wireless gamers together to enjoy the virtual world of WWE.”

WWE fans can expect all of their favorite grapplers, from HHH and John Cena to Chris Jericho and Batista to be included as well as the now standard WWE legends. Stay with Blast until the game’s release this fall for continued coverage!

WWE Raw vs. Smackdown 2007 is the best wrestling video game to come out in the past year.

It is also one of the only wrestling titles to come out this past year.

This isn’t bad for wrestling fans, but it’s not that great either. While Raw vs Smackdown 2007 is an excellent game, it’s very similar to last year’s version, and indeed, the whole "Smackdown" series itself.

Since THQ has the licensing for WWE games, and WWE is by far the most watched wrestling organization, there is little reason to change what has been working because there is not really any competition in wrestling games. Hence, the world has Madden NFL games,

The game does have some upgrades compared to last years version of Raw vs Smackdown. The General Manager mode puts players in charge of the show. Players can now send their wrestlers to Heat and Velocity to work on their techniques and gain popularity (much like sending a player to the minors in baseball) There is also the ability to hire writers for better storylines.

Other improvements to the game include:

• More than 40 original storylines for the season mode, where users pick a wrestler and try to bring him to the top, facing a number of obstacles on the way.
• “Money in the Bank" Match
• Some new wrestlers (and more that can be unlocked)

One thing that Raw vs Smackdown didn’t do very well was the roster accuracy in the game. Some of the gimmics are not up-to-date, like Booker T not being King Booker, which he has been for quite a bit of time now. The whole ECW brand that is on WWE programming now, isn’t in the game and many of the game’s superstars are branded on the wrong show. The game also includes a number of wrestlers like Mark Henry, Joey Mercury, Kid Kash and the game’s most dominant wrestler, Kurt Angle, who are no longer with the company, while it omits Jeff Hardy, Spirit Squad, Charlie Haas, among others who are prominently on WWE television. This may seem like a minor thing but wrestling fanatics love to choose from a large selection of wrestlers and in Raw vs Smackdown 2007 there really isn’t one.

The negatives and the feeling of a being a little bit outdated aside, WWE Raw vs Smackdown 2007 is still a fun game that players will enjoy. The season mode is very addicting and with all the new storylines it will keep the players entertained for awhile. I’ll be anxious to see what THQ does with Raw vs Smackdown 2008, however, as I feel wrestling fans may start to get sick of the same game with a new year.