Now, I don't follow wrestling. I'm sure some of you do, so I'm sorry I'm calling this pleasure guilty. But, for me, I only watched the WWE for about six months of my life-- when we got a second TV in the house. I was about fourteen years old, and finally I could watch any TV I wanted. My dad wasn't there to tell me to change the channel! So, naturally, I started watching the one thing I wasn't ever allowed to watch: wrestling. After a few months, I decided that the only reason I was watching it was because I wasn't allowed-- I barely even paid attention to it when it was on, instead focusing on my Game Boy.

However, during that six month span, I rented WWF Warzone-- and there began one of my biggest shames.

Back in those early PlayStation days, there weren't many games that offered a good level of player customization. Whenever there was a game that allowed me to create my character, I'd love it even more (which is still true today). These games brought that t a whole new level, however-- you could pick everything from your hat color to your boot size to the amount of hair on your stomach. It was awesome. Gross and awesome. A sequel was released, too, called Attitude, and it brought the level of awesome up even further. Since I wasn't watching wrestling anymore, I just made my own dudes and made thme battle each other. After a while, however, I was getting sick of Attitude's Mortal Kombat-esque combo system. However, the WWE weren't don't with me yet.



The Smackdown series was the next one to come out, and they drastically changed everything, and made it more like a "real" wrestling match. Gone were the arcane up-down-up-circle special attack commands, replaced by a grapple button and a strike button. They made the game's cameras more ridiculous, as well, with sweeping angles when you were landing your big move. This game was truly becoming a spectacle-- and I was still enthralled, despite all my best intentions. I remember asking myself, even as a kid, "why do I keep making create-a-dudes hit each other in these games?" In fact, at one point, I remember putting down Final Fantasy Tactics for almost a month because the second Smackdown title was released (I think it had some name like "Shut Your Mouth.")

Those four PS1 games were pretty much as far as my filthy addiction went. Once I got a PS2, I started focussing on other games, too filled with shame and fear of being caught to actually play another meathead combat simulator. I did rent Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 last year and played it for a bit, but realized that I should probably stop when I caught myself lying about what I was playing to my friends, or hurriedly replacing the game with something less stupid when my girlfriend got home.

Maybe, one day, I'll go back to the ol' wrassler genre, but like pirated games, hair gel or crack cocaine, I just can't look at myself in the mirror when I'm within its clutches.