WWE '13 Roster Reveal Impressions

New blog, new place, so I figured I'd start things off with my personal impressions on the WWE '13 roster reveal that was hosted live on WWE.com and IGN.com as part of SummerSlam weekend. The roster is as follows below:

Modern Era WWE Superstars:

• Alberto Del Rio

• Big Show

• Booker T

• Brock Lesnar

• Brodus Clay (Naomi & Cameron in Entrance Only)

• Chris Jericho (Light-up jacket in Entrance)

• Christian

• Cody Rhodes  

• Damien Sandow (DLC)

• Daniel Bryan

• David Otunga

• Dolph Ziggler

• Edge

• The Great Khali

• Heath Slater

• Hunico

• Jack Swagger

• JBL

• John Cena (The Doctor of Thuganomics)

• John Laurinaitis

• Justin Gabriel

• Kane (Current appearance and entrance)

• Kevin Nash (2011 Attire)

• Kofi Kingston

• Mark Henry

• The Miz (current entrance attire)

• Primo

• Randy Orton

• John Cena

• Rey Mysterio

• The Rock

• R-Truth

• Santino Marella

• Sheamus

• Sin Cara

• Epico

• Ted DiBiase

• Triple H

• The Undertaker (current 'bald' look)

• Jinder Mahal

• Wade Barrett

• Zack Ryder

• CM Punk

Modern Era Divas:

• Alicia Fox

• Beth Phoenix

• Brie Bella

• Eve

• Kelly Kelly

• Kharma

• Nikki Bella

• Lita (Heel Rated R Superstar attire)

• AJ Lee (RAW General Manager -- DLC)

Attitude Era WWE Superstars:

• Road Warrior Animal

• Big Boss Man

• Billy Gunn

• Bradshaw (APA)

• Bret Hart

• British Bulldog

• Cactus Jack

• Chris Jericho (Y2J)

• Christian (Edge & Christian)

• Dude Love

• Eddie Guerrero

• Edge (Edge & Christian)

• Faarooq (APA)

• The Godfather (Ho Train during Entrance Only)

• Road Warrior Hawk

• Hunter Heart Helmsley

• Kane

• Ken Shamrock

• Mankind

• Mark Henry (Nation of Domination)

• "Iron" Mike Tyson (Pre-order DLC)

• Mr. McMahon

• "The Big Show" Paul Wight

• Road Dogg Jesse James

• The Rock

• Shane McMahon

• Shawn Michaels (D-Generation X)

• "Stone Cold" Steve Austin

• Triple H (D-Generation X)

• The Undertaker (The Lord of Darkness)

• Vader

• X-Pac

Attitude Era Divas

• Lita (Attitude Era -- Hardy Boyz attire)

• Stephanie McMahon (The Billion Dollar Princess)

• Trish Stratus (T&A wrestling attire)

So yeah, that's the entire roster announced at this time, minus the truck load of DLC that they haven't announced yet. I've spoken with a few of my close friends about this and read a lot of the debates spanning several online forums and discussion boards concerning the roster. Here's my thoughts on the reveal. 

Pros 

• From a fanboy prospective, this is a dream line-up. Several fan favorites are more than well represented, with multiple versions of their favorite Superstars ripe for the picking. Go nuts people.
• For Diva fans, Steph and Lita make their returns to the series for the first time in several years, alongside powerhouse Kharma and current fan favorite AJ Lee joining the ranks via DLC shortly after release. 
• This marks the first time since the PSone era that the ENTIRE D-Generation X faction is playable in WWE title. Sure, Tori and Chyna are omitted but the boys are all there. 
• Ken Shamrock, Big Bossman, and Vader? Big surprises there. I definitely applaud them for Shamrock, one less CAW I have to download this year off of CC. 
• Brodus Clay has BOTH Naomi and Cameron in his entrance while The Godfather has the Ho Train? About damn time THQ put those resources to good use on their programming department...
• The inclusion of a lot of these older Superstars and favorites will usher in the return of several moves that have been removed out of Create-A-Moveset over the years. 

Cons

• Multiple versions of existing characters, Triple H and Foley have 3 versions each, while other favorites have 2 versions to cycle through. I honestly didn't need TWO Cenas. I always end up changing his theme to Basic Thuganomics and dealing with his current look. The multiple character concept has me wondering who else could have fit on the roster if these extra characters were just alternate attires or costume swaps. 
• With multiple characters of existing Superstars in the past, THQ has have a running history of glitches and crashes with this in their past titles, especially concerning mirror matches. I hope they have learned their lessons after the glitchfest that was WWE '12 and actually addressed the glitches early. 
• I think the Trish Stratus fans will be quite pissed that Lita gets 2 versions while she's left with her less than stellar incarnation as playable. Is Trish's Unforgiven 2006 attire THAT hard to render in a video game? I'm not even a Trish mark and I just find it odd that her retirement match attire hasn't appeared in any of these games to date.
• Kinda lame that after all of the verbal abuse we have to deal with on commentary on a weekly basis, there's no signs of getting to make Micheal Cole our personal punching bags this year. I still wouldn't mind seeing the "Cole Mine" as a part of one of the environmental hazards during matches.

What I would have done differently?

• The Attitude Era would NOT be in this title at all. Before people bitch and moan, hear me out. I would do another All-Stars/Legends of WrestleMania-themed game, and focus it all on the Attitude Era. Then if players wanted to bring in the modern era into the game, they could do so with an import roster option similar to Legends of WrestleMania had to import the entire WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 into the game for even more replayability.
• Attitude Era was cool and all, but that's still not a selling point for me. If I want to relive that, I'll turn on my N64 and play either WrestleMania 2000 or No Mercy if I want to relive those moments and roster. I really feel like the inclusion of the past is going to take away from the focus to the current era of wrestling that WWE and mainstream wrestling needs to pay attention to in order to keep the spectacle alive. 
• The cut-off date for existing talent really needs to be addressed. From the looks of the Modern Era roster, it seems like the cut off date was last year's Summerslam, with a few tweaks and fancy bells and whistles added to the more popular folks (current gimmicks and updated entrances) to keep the marks happy.
• Some of the alternates' inclusions don't even make sense at all. Basic Thuganomics Cena? Hardy Boyz Lita? I would've tossed in Esse Rios and did Lita's attire from her time managing him. Then if the people wanted it so bad, Hardyz Lita would be DLC later. 
• No Too Cool, Hardy Boyz, Kurt Angle, nor Dudley Boyz. Sure, some of those guys are in TNA but I'm sure they could have worked out SOMETHING. I mean seriously, this was the same company that got Hulk Hogan in All-Stars while he was working for TNA. Same for RVD in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011. You got Edge and Christian in and none of their top rivals. Pretty weak there. WWE could've made a deal with TNA to use some of their guys that are former talent that could leave the door open for a cross-promotion wrestling title down the road. Seriously, who wouldn't want to see wrestling title equivalent of Marvel vs. Capcom, but with TNA vs. WWE?
• So far, there's NO representation from the new NXT. That's pretty sad to say those Superstars and Divas are putting on some great work, and I'd thought at least NXT Redemption would've made it into the game if the current crop of NXT Superstars and Divas didn't make it in. WWE, those stars are the future of your product and you didn't give them no kind of representation in this title. 
• NO inclusion of the current Divas Champion Layla. I mean, really, they announced uber fan-favorite AJ as DLC, but not even a mention of the current champion's possible inclusion in the game? I could forgive them if they said she was going to be DLC too -- like she's been for the last 2-3 years now.
• Like I told one of my close friends earlier, I can't do THQ's thinking for them -- unless I'm getting paid for it. 

Final Verdict:

• If you're a WWE/WWF fan from either Era, then there should be something for everyone here in this entry. If THQ doesn't do anything else right with this title, they've done a great job providing something or someone for all of WWE's fans from both ends of the table. 
• I will be renting the title, but no pre-order. I haven't seen enough gameplay nor wow factor to convince me otherwise. THQ's let me down more than enough over the last few years to drop $59.99 on release day. Don't get me wrong though, I'll keep my eye on the title to see if they clean up their act in the coming months.