TNA World Champion Joe Hendry has experienced a lot of highs over the last year including winning the title, being a key part of the NXT/TNA crossover, and making his WWE main roster debut in this year’s Royal Rumble match.
During the last year, Hendry feels like he has improved like no other in that time period and said just that during a radio appearance Thursday with Z100 in New York City to promote Friday’s Sacrifice streaming special.
He said he changed his approach several years ago to being committed to wherever he wants and not necessarily calling his shot where he wanted to be and what title he wanted to win.
“I just wanted to get better all the time and that’s what I’ve held to this day. I feel like I vastly, genuinely, I feel like I’m the most improved wrestler in the world over the last year. That’s my opinion. If you look at where I was and what I was doing and where I am now, I really feel like I’m the most improved. If you strive to be the most improved, then titles and opportunities are going to come,” he said, adding that things happened organically.
“I thought, ‘Well, 2025 can’t possibly get bigger than 2024,’ but we ticked that one off by February 1,” he said, alluding to his Rumble appearance.
In a social media post that he released Friday, Hendry said multiple video game developers have got in touch with him and that an announcement will be coming soon. He happened to be standing in front of a PUBG Mobile videoboard in Times Square which heavily nods to the company making that very announcement.
Hendry will be in action Friday in a 10-man cage match at Sacrifice.
AEW expects to produce more video games in the future, but the company’s focus still remains on its first installment of Fight Forever.
AEW Fight Forever — the promotion’s first entry into the console video game market — was released to largely mixed reviews in June 2023. While being interviewed by Mr. Wright Way on Monday, Tony Khan was asked if AEW plans to have more console video games in the future and how long it will be until that happens.
“Well, it’s a great question. I think it was a great experience for us. And now it’s going to be something for AEW as a multimedia conglomerate, a worldwide corporation — definitely, it was a great first entry with AEW Fight Forever. People can still play AEW Fight Forever all over the world. And I think, eventually, absolutely we’ll keep putting AEW games into the world,” Khan responded.
“But right now, we’re fully supporting that [Fight Forever]. And I’m excited about AEW Fight Forever. There’s still more wrestlers and exciting things happening with the game. And, you know, I think there’s a lot of opportunities in the world of gaming, to your point.”
Fight Forever was developed by Yuke’s. This September, it was reported that AEW is strongly considering working with a different development partner for its future games.
AEW has also released a few mobile games throughout its history, including AEW Rise to the Top and Figure Fighters.
On today’s Wrestling Observer Live, I present a throwback to the 90s with Mark Flitman, the producer of the WWF Royal Rumble, WWE Raw and Rage in the Cage video games for Sega and Super Nintendo.
He answers your questions like who picked the rosters, the finishers, plus great anecdotes including a funny Bobby Heenan story and much more.
If you grew up playing these games, you’ll want to check this out.
According to a report from Fightful Select, WWE has met with EA Sports regarding the future of its video game licensing.
Recent talks between the two companies were said to have been prompted due to the disastrous response to WWE 2K20 and the similarly poor reviews of WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
WWE’s latest console game, WWE 2K22, is set to be released on March 11th with pre-orders being able to download it starting Tuesday. It is the final game as part of the contract WWE has with 2K Sports and its parent company, Take-Two Interactive. There are options to extend the deal if the game is deemed a success, however. It is being seen as a “make or break” game for the future of the franchise.
WWE has had discussions with EA in the past, including in 2016 before its deal with Take-Two Interactive for the 2K series was extended.
Response to WWE 2K20’s release was so negative that plans for WWE 2K21 were scrapped in favor of allowing more time to create a better game.
“WWE has shown a lot of frustration with the reception and lack of success of recent games,” one source said to Fightful. “The gaming market is a major selling point for them, and they believe they’ve fallen behind the competition.”
Dave Meltzer and I are back on Wrestling Observer Radio with special guest Kenny Omega.
We talk to Kenny about his injuries, winning the Lou Thesz/Ric Flair award for Wrestler of the Year, favorite matches in 2021, Cody Rhodes leaving, memories of the early days of AEW, an update on the AEW video game, and more.
A pre-taped edition of SmackDown Friday didn’t update the Roman Reigns situation or that Braun Strowman is Goldberg’s new opponent at WrestleMania, so we’re talking wrestling video games on the Saturday edition of Wrestling Observer Live.
As both a longtime wrestling fan and gamer, I have been playing wrestling video games nearly since their beginning. We talk about everything from Tag Team Wrestling in the arcades, Pro Wrestling on the NES, WWF Royal Rumble on both the SNES and Sega Genesis, WWF No Mercy, WWF Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, WWF Day of Reckoning, the WWE 2K series, and Fire Pro Wrestling World.
We take your calls and tweets on WWF WrestleMania 2000, WWF WrestleFest, WCW Superbrawl, WCW vs NWO World Tour. and some very obscure games like FMW and Antonio Inoki. I also tell you my all-time favorite game, a choice that isn’t very common.
“Left My Wallet” returns talking wrestling arcade/video games with friend of the site, “Death of WCW” co-author and WrestleCrap pioneer, RD Reynolds!
RD and I talked about his love of arcade games, his all-time favorites, his opinion on the greatest wrestling video game of all-time, our shared love of WCW/NWO Revenge, NES Pro Wrestling, the time he was pronounced “dead”, the Indianapolis Colts, and a whole lot more.
Video game developer Spike Chunsoft announced last night that Fire Pro Wrestling World, the latest in the long running franchise, will be coming out for the PlayStation 4 and PC this year.
Since some are unfamiliar with the franchise (there hasn’t been a main series release since 2005’s Fire Pro Wrestling Returns), I’ve taken the liberty of creating a quick, nifty FAQ for those who are looking for basic information on the franchise and how it differs from WWE’s video games.
So, what is Fire Pro Wrestling?
It’s a longtime pro wrestling video game series that was very popular in Japan during the height of the wrestling boom in the mid-nineties. The more recent games featured deathmatch and MMA modes, along with the ability to customize your own wrestlers and rosters any way you like.
Beyond the deep customization abilities, the gameplay itself is noted for its complexity, which kind of takes you by surprise once you play it at first. But the game does reward you once you put enough effort into it, making it a pretty rewarding experience once you get the hang of things.
The biggest difference between Fire Pro Wrestling and the WWE 2K series is that Fire Pro has almost always been in 2D, save for a few spinoff titles like King of Colosseum. You’ll find that while WWE 2K17 looks like a modern video game by every stretch of the imagination, Fire Pro Wrestling World will look archaic by comparison. But hey, substance over style, right?
Will this feature rosters from New Japan Pro Wrestling or any other promotions?
No. It has been indicated there will be 30 original wrestlers at launch. From what it sounds like, however, people will be able to share their create-a-wrestlers with one another. Given that there is already a strong community out there for the CAW mode in previous Fire Pro Wrestling games, you shouldn’t have that big of a problem finding who you want.
What will this new game have that previous games in the series don’t?
So far, it’s been announced that the CAW mode will be making a return, filled with over 2000 moves and 2000 create parts to choose from. And for the first time, players will be able to battle one another online for up to four players. It also supports offline multiplayer too, with the PC version supporting up to eight players.
Beyond that, it will be familiar fare for those who have played Fire Pro Wrestling in the past — same gameplay but now in high definition for modern gaming consoles.
When will this come out?
Gamers will have the chance to have early access to the PC version in the second quarter of 2017 (between April and June). This means that there will be some sort of playable version out at that time, but all the options intended for final release won’t be out yet until a later date, which isn’t known as of right now.
Is there a trailer?
You can check out the announcement trailer below:
Will this be coming out in the United States?
Yes. The PC version coming out will be on the Steam client which, unless specifically noted, anyone can access any game they’d like regardless of country of origin. The PlayStation 4 version will also release worldwide, Spike Chunsoft has confirmed, once the game leaves the early access stage of development.
Is there another version of the game I can play in the meantime? Are there other games out in the US?
The easiest version to nab is Fire Pro Wrestling Returns on the PlayStation 3. It’s up for download on the PlayStation Store for $9.99. There are other versions for the Game Boy Advance that were released in the United States, and if you want to import you can always look up titles on eBay. A full list of games can be found here.
What can I do in the meantime? Anyone I can follow on Twitter for information?
Well, you can always follow me if you want! You can also follow Spike Chunsoft or the new Fire Pro Twitter account.
