Wrestlefest: the Arcade Game

If you were a kid growing up with the dawn of video games and spent your Saturday mornings watching the superstars of professional wrestling then the perfect combination was the arcade game known as Wrestlefest.

Released by Technos in 1991, the peak of the WWF heyday, the game let you pick from 10  wrestlers plus the "boss" tag team of the Legion of Doom, Hawk and Animal.  It was the first wrestling game to offer the Royal Rumble feature which allowed you to run through a stack of quarters while battling the entire roster of wrestlers.

As a kid fully immersed in the world of WWF make-believe, the game had everything.  It was a huge step up from the early wrestling games on Nintendo with grainy graphics and indiscernible characters and moves.  Wrestlefest had comic book style graphics that made each character jump off the screen.  Their graphic artists managed to do even the impossible of making Earthquake and Jake "the Snake" Roberts appear ripped.  This for two guys that if you met them outside of the ring you could have sworn they were two of the bad guys in Patrick Swayze's movie Roadhouse.

You tell me, does that look like the Quake and Snake or what??

Not to mention that the game included the real voices of "Mean" Gene Okurlund and WWF ring announcer Mike McGuirk.  Gameplay wasn't rocket science meaning you didn't need to be a Zelda expert to get it.  In fact if you liked just mashing buttons this game was for you.  Most versions I encountered had at least one jammed button and and the rest covered in a film of orange soda.

In 1992 my family took a family vacation to Disney World in Orlando, FL.  My memories should have included rides at Epcot, MGM or Universal Studios but instead perhaps the most vivid was playing Wrestlefest at an arcade in the Magic Kingdom and kicking out of Ted DiBiase's "Million Dollar Dream" sleeperhold as the Ultimate Warrior on no power and my last quarter.  The game stands the test of time and we homage to it here at Shoot That S.

Wrestler's LinkedIn Profile Pictures and Current Professions

The Million Dollar Man - Ted Dibiase

The Steiner Brothers - Rick Steiner

Bradshaw - John Layfield

Top Ten Wrestling Heels (1987-1991)

1987-1991 was arguably the greatest five year span in pro wrestling history (with 1996-2000 a close second). Largely responsible for the success of this era - along with steroids of course - were the following 10 heel wrestlers. Feel free to debate me, but you're clearly wrong already...

Top 10 Heel Wrestlers: 1987-1991*

10) Twin Towers - Separately, Ray Traylor and George Gray were pretty atrocious. And yes, they were only paired up from late-1988 through early 1990. But during that time, the two were one of the most entertaining / dominant tag-teams in the game, and largely responsible for the Mega Powers breaking up. We had to stomach Akeem's blue spandex tights, but the ridiculous dancing more than made up for it.

 

9) Earthquake - Vince certainly loves his big men. For being over 400 lbs, John Tenta could actually throw a pretty mean dropkick. This is the man responsible for crushing Hulk Hogan's ribs, sending countless jobbers to the hospital, and killing Jake Roberts' snake. Again, the blue spandex...















8) "The Model" Rick Martel - A drastic change from one-half of Strike Force - and ditching perhaps the worst entrance music in history. The Model first showed Tito who was the better half, then blinded Jake Roberts with his cologne (evidently a rough period for Jake...). Probably could/should be ranked lower down, but more of a mid-card type.

7) Sgt. Slaughter - Although a heel for a little over a year, The Sarge left his mark as one of the most controversial characters in history. Arguably the most hated heel over a one-year span ever. The man could sure sell, plus who didn't love this promo by Vince?

6) Andre the Giant - Getting the vote for this spot mostly for name recognition. In ring during this time, Andre was pure awful. His promos weren't much better. 

5) Honky Tonk Man - Never a big fan, but the guy could take a beating and make you hate him. The swinging neckbreaker was easily one of the worst finishers in wrestling history (couldn't even find a clip it is so bad). Performed this tasty lick live at WrestleMania 6 though...Also, hit Jake Roberts in the head with a non-breakable guitar (continuing our theme).

4) Mr. Perfect - The final four were a tough batch to rank. Could probably interchange any of them and still be correct. Mr. Perfect could sell the heck out of anything and put together some of the best vignette packages in wrestling history. 

3) "Macho Man/King" Randy Savage - Alternated as a face, but one of the best heels as well. Unfortunately saddled with stupid feuds against Jim Duggan and Dusty Rhodes, but also with main-eventers like Hogan and Warrior. Gave us plenty of great moments and survived carrying these two clowns.

2) "Ravishing" Rick Rude - The man could upset a crowd like no other. Airbrushed a picture of Cheryl Roberts on his tights, infuriating Jake. A true classic, whose career in WWF was unfortunately cut short when he discovered Warrior made about 10x the money, despite clearly carrying Warrior to some great matches. Stupid Warrior. 

1) "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase - This guy took a beating, made you hate him on the mic, feuded with the best, and had possibly the greatest theme song ever. #1 in my book. And who can forget this?

* Shawn Michaels (late-1991) began his heel run late during this period, and therefore was not included. Undertaker could be included, but I don't think he was a heel that truly defined this period of time in the way the others did. Wrestlers from WCW during this time were not included as it was clearly the inferior brand. If I were to include managers in the list, Bobby Heenan would be #1, hands down.