Sunday, May 18, 2014

On The Air: WWE Slam City (2014)

Nearly 30 years after Hulk Hogan's Rock & Wrestling. the WWE is moving back into animation.

March saw the release of the "Scooby-Doo Wrestlemania Mystery" on DVD, along with the launch of the online series, Slam City, a serial series of short (2-3 minute) toons featuring your favorite superstars in unusual roles. Slam City is tied into a namesake toy line from Mattel, of which I haven't really seen too many ads yet. Then again, I haven't been following WWE-TV like I used to.

The plotline has a mystery man taking over the WWE, firing all of the wrestlers, and forcing them into comparatively menial jobs. For example, Sheamus is a theatre usher. John Cena, who in real life has a fleet of cars, is, predictably enough, an auto mechanic. Rey Mysterio is a school crossing guard. Just who the mystery man is, we don't know, but it seems he's even overcome the maniacal Mr. McMahon.

It looks to me like they're using claymation for these toons, which isn't too bad, except that they're supposed to be in the likeness of the action figures in the line, hence the exaggerated limbs.

In "Perky the Penguin", former champ Mark Henry is stuck working at a restaurant that is meant to be a knock off of Chuck E. Cheese. If you don't have a computer, don't despair. Time Warner Cable has some of these shorts available On Demand-------via Kabillion. Go figure. Here's "Perky the Penguin".



These cartoons were made before CM Punk left the company at the end of January. I think once this serial is over, they'll release it on DVD so you can watch the whole thing in one sitting. If you can stand it, that is.

 Rating: B-.

No comments: