Sept 21, 2007

One constant complaint from fans of the long-running SmackDown! franchise has been that the wrestlers control the same for the most part. Oh sure, specific wrestlers have been tweaked annually to reflect their real-life counterpart and weight class, but now you can choose primary and secondary fighting styles, forever changing the way you play WWE’s pinnacle sim.

We just got a hold of all primary and secondary from the WWE fanatics at THQ so you can start planning your future bouts of strength accordingly. As we discussed in our earlier hands-on preview, the fighting styles you choose can mean the difference between a sweet win and punishing loss. Here’s how you do it: every time you select a wrestler, you choose a primary fighting style such as Powerhouse or High-Flyer and a secondary fighting style. When your momentum meter is full, you can either execute a finishing move at that time or store a fighting style icon, which can then be used to perform the primary ability. The primary style allows you to use all of that style’s abilities, while the secondary style only provides access to that style’s secondary abilities.

So read on! Hit that Forum tab above and start planning what crazed grapplers you’ll be designing when WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 ships this fall.

Brawler

Brawlers primarily let their fists do the talking, but they are also equally skilled at performing traditional, high-impact maneuvers like Suplexes, DDTs and Scoop Slams.  The end result may not be pretty, but it is always effective.

Primary Ability:

Wreck Shop – For a limited amount of time, your Superstar will reverse all of your opponent’s strikes, and all strike attacks performed by your Superstar will be unstoppable.

Secondary Abilities:

Ground & Pound – Mount the upper body of downed opponents and suffocate them with a barrage of rights, lefts and the occasional headbutt for good measure.

Fists of Fury – Automatically unleash a flurry of three successive blows, pummeling opponents and knocking them to the canvas.