Once upon time, wrestlers never entered with fireworks, put people in body bags, and never lead soap opera lives.  These were the guys who piledrived, bodyslammed, and suplexed for the sake of entertainment and for the blue collar man!  Nowadays, wrestling is a steppingstone to the Hollywood A-list and Saturday Night Live appearances.  Back when I was a kid, wrestling was a steppingstone to the hospital!  Acclaim’s Legends of Wrestling brings back the bruisers of old to the Xbox for a bit of nostalgic knock-outs. 

Forget the Rock, forget Steve Austin, and forget all those backwards McMahons.  Legends of Wrestling is all about King Kong Bundy, Nikolai Volkoff, and Jerry “The King” Lawler.  With 42 old-timer wrestlers to choose from and a cool create-a-wrestler option, the match-ups are nearly endless. 

Legends of Wrestling offers a good amount of game modes for amateur grapplers to enjoy.  The mandatory exhibition match allows players to jump right into a contest, and select between a variety of mano y mano matches such as versus, three-way dance, and four-way dance where it’s every wrestler for himself and winner is the last one standing, or various tag team modes including up to eight wrestlers, with four on each team.  Career mode pits a pre-created or created wrestler into a quest for regional belts, and finally the Ultimate Heavyweight belt.  Tournament modes have individuals or tag teams competing in a round-robin style tourney, a good mode for gathering six friends for a little amicable animosity.  Performing well in career and tournament modes unlocks several of the wrestlers previously unplayable. 

One of the best features of Legends of Wrestling is the Create-a-wrestler mode.  Create-a-wrestler lets thousands of young males live their ultimate fantasy, to start your way from the bottom and make a name for yourself as an overgrown and bulky entertainer.  This mode offers a variety of options to customize your gladiator, from appearance, to wrestling style, to entrance music.  Almost any combination is imaginable.  Players can create an overweight masked avenger dressed in pink tights or a skinny buxom woman with a fetish for tight shirts.  The options are plentiful.  The amount of appearance choices is almost endless, and choosing a shtick is quite entertaining.  Almost any wrestling style is there.  Masks, boots, and countless other accessories number in the double digits.  The color for most clothing is malleable, allowing perspective thugs to color-coordinate their unitards in any way they choose.  Entrance gear is also customizable, so your wrestler can be decorated with crowns, cattle prods, national flags and much more.  

After settling on a look for your character, nearly 400 hundred moves are at the player’s disposal for his repertoire.  Move sets are determined by choosing moves for specific situation, i.e. grappling from behind, with an opponent on the ground belly-up, or jumping off a turnbuckle at a standing stunned opponent.  The animations look fantastic on each move.  Don’t be surprised if you find yourself wincing on the realism of a piledriver, or cringing at a headbutt to the groin.  Several of the classic moves such as powerslams, camel clutches, and DDTs are in there, as well as some more acrobatic moves like planchas, somersaulting splashes, and tornado kicks. 

It does take quite a while to create your own wrestler, but the payoff is worth it.  Such details as entrance taunts, crowd reactions, and managers may seem unnecessary at first, but it’s all about bringing your wrestler to life with a lil’ personality.  The coolest feature without a doubt is the ability to play soundtracks from your Xbox’s hard drive as your wrestler’s entrance theme.  When all was said and done, my created wrestler was garbed in a yellow spandex suit, could do Koko B. Ware’s bird dance, and entered to Tom Jones’ “She’s a Lady.”  Talk about entertaining.  With these options, players can even alter wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan into the NWO Hulk Hogan with a little work. 

Career mode is the closest thing to a story mode, but really isn’t much more than fighting a long tournament.  Captain Lou Albano will show you the ropes, progressing through each region of the United States before moving on to the World Heavyweight belt.  After a series of wins, Lou will send you to the gym where you can beef up your fighter, add moves, and improve techniques.  Career mode pits you through versus matches and all kinds of tag team modes.  You never know who your partner will be, but it adds to the fun.  Legends of Wrestling stresses wrestling as entertainment, and in order to reach title belts, the crowd has to get into it so your wrestler can gain popularity.  Break out a folding chair, perform a finishing move, or fly high off the ropes for extreme damage and maximum excitement.  Cutscenes are unfortunately little more than Lou talking to you.  A bit more story or added cutscenes would have been a fantastic addition to the game.  

The fighting system of Legends of Wrestling looks like it may have set the bar for grapple/fighting games.  The standard punches and kicks are in here, from roundhouses to uppercuts, as well as a host of devastating grappling moves.  Positioning your wrestler strategically allows for a variety of holds, which in turn opens up a whole slew of spine-breaking gymnastics.  Once trapping your opponent in a grapple, pressing any one of the four face buttons preps your victim for a little pulverizing by setting him up in what is called “Intermediate Start Positions” or ISPs.  You can put your victims head between your legs, set him up for a variety of suplexes, as well as lock him in a full nelson.  After setting your opponent up in an ISP, wrestlers have a few options for which moves to execute. Wrestlers are able to perform two or three moves from each ISP, depending on their move list.  Each situation has its own set of moves.  Locking your opponent in the turnbuckles has its own variety of moves, grabbing your opponent from behind has its own set, and even stunned opponents outside the ring open up a variety of axehandle chops and acrobatic flips. 

What really shines in the fighting is the counter and combo system Acclaim has installed.  Below each wrestler’s name, a cursor will cross a meter from the left to the right when a counter or reversal is possible.  A small portion of the meter is highlighted in green, and the button needed to press is shown just below it.  Pressing the appropriate button when the cursor crosses the highlighted area, similar to hitting a golf ball straight in many of the video golf games, leads to a successful reversal.  Combinations are performed on the offensive, and chain combos are possible, but rare.  Executing a combo works similar to performing a reversal, but slightly more complicated with more buttons to push and a shorter period of time to do so. 

The overall look of Legends of Wrestling is pretty good.  The animations on the wrestling moves looks fantastic and has some of the smoothest, realistic movements I have seen on any console.  Acclaim likes their wrestlers shiny, which almost gives them a wax figurine look.  It really doesn’t take away from the graphics, however, and shouldn’t bother gamers who don’t mind a little bit of a cartoonish look.  

Legends of Wrestling is often hit or miss with the audio.  The soundtrack that comes with the game is pretty weak, minimal anthems are proposed for each wrestler and the quality isn’t great.  Adding your own soundtrack is a must.  On the plus side, some of the maneuvers are accompanied with bone crushing sounds, making even the most hardened players cower at the thought. 

Legends of Wrestling is a game that must be played a few times before a final judgment can be made.  Once the controls are found to be comfortable, Legends of Wrestling is an all out pleasant pummel-fest. 

Gameplay: 7

The fighting system is the highlight of the game, and creating a wrestler is a grand old time.  It can be a little repetitive at times though. 

Graphics: 7.5

While the animations are smooth, the atmosphere could be a little more legendary. 

Sound: 7

The customizable music option earns major points for LOW, but the standard issue music isn’t all that. 

Difficulty: Medium

Initially, Legends of Wrestling seems like it might a little too difficult to enjoy.  Playing further reveals a system that’s perfect for players of all skill levels.

Concept: 8

Bringing back the classics was a great idea.

Multiplayer: 8

Beating up your friends or allying with them to take on the computer is something everyone should experience.

Overall: 7.5

Legends of Wrestling is a great game for wrestling fans of old.  The counter/reversal/combination system is definitely a heavyweight champion.