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WRESTLERS' FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES

By Kendall Jenkins on 2021-11-23 11:35:00

Intro

Back in the day, after a hard-fought match in the ring, wrestlers would just go to the bar and drink themselves silly or every night end up with a new girl by their side. But today the backstage landscape of wrestling has changed dramatically. None of Wild West’s days are gone for the most part and have been replaced by a culture much calmer and more reserved. As one of the biggest things that you would be likely to catch a wrestler doing during their downtime backstage nowadays would be playing video games. If you don’t know, many on the roster are avid gamers. In fact so much so that Ric Flair once quoted as jokingly complaining about how much things had changed, suggesting that in his day they were more likely to be playing poker than PlayStation. We for one think it’s fantastic that gamer culture has infiltrator wrestling so much as the lifestyle changes have probably increased wrestlers’ health and careers by years, and engaged them more with the youth culture of today. But what about wrestlers’ favorite video games?

Kenny Omega

Let’s start off word perhaps the most well-known gamer in wrestling today. Kenny Omega is a full-on video game enthusiast so much so that he is largely believed to be responsible for setting up a double use fighter first pay-per-view which was held in coalition with the community effort Orlando fighting game event. This was thanks to his ongoing relationship with the event’s promoter Alex J Bailey who even completed in a hardcore match with Michael Nakazawa and some other side guy from Pirate Bay Service. He has also littered many of his entrances at ring gear and signature moves with video game references in the past. Most Notably the V trigger, which is a reference to a game mechanic in the Street Fighter series. However, when it comes to his favorite game, Kenny has been on record professing his love for the Mother series, calling it his favorite series of all time. The Japanese role-playing game is legendary amongst video game fans and came to the west

with the second installment under the title earthbound. It's been noted for its humor and story and was even an inspiration for SouthPark creator Trey when developing his show. Omega said that he goes back and plays the game at least once a year loving how it portrays the contrast between eastern and western culture.

Xavier Woods

If there's any current wrestler who can lay claim to being a bigger gaming fan than Kenny Omega, it's the host of the hugely successful youtube gaming channel UpUpDownDown Xavier Woods. The channel’s title itself is a reference to the famous Konami code and features a large roster of WWE talent. He was even at one point even able to arrange a

Street Fighter battle between the new day and the elite on his channel, which marks the only WWE and AEW crossover we have at this time. 

Xavier’s fandom is no joke and he's proven that by showing off his own life-sized replica of Final Fantasy 7 iconic Buster Sword. But when it comes to his favorite video game, he is

confirmed that it's none other than Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The Sonic series needs no introduction, as it's one of the most iconic video games in gaming history. Suffice to say it's no surprise Woods will list it as his favorite. saviors talked about how the game got him through times in his youth when he felt lonely and was being bullied. Being able to escape into a world where he could be a superhero for a while kept him going. So it's clearly been a lifelong love affair for him as he still loves the game to this day. Xavier’s second big gamer passion is the card game Hearthstone. He likes to stretch his brain sometimes by competing with other players in the skill of mastering the deck. He even mentioned that he sometimes used hearthstone boost services to avoid routines, but never used services like this to rank up fast in the competitive game mode.

Nikki Cross, Alexa Bliss and Bayley 

It seems that these three WWE Superstars have similar tastes when it comes to games, with each independently naming their favorite video game series is Crash Bandicoot.  The series was huge in the late 90s becoming an unofficial mascot for Sony's PlayStation in the same line as Mario or Sonic. It has recently enjoyed something of a revival following the release of the insane trilogy in 2017 which featured remastered versions of the first three games. Nikki Cross has admitted to not being a huge gamer after finding it difficult to get into. But when she started playing Crash Bandicoot, she found herself hooked, saying it was the only game she found herself putting any energy into. Her tag team partners echoed her with similar sentiments mentioning that she bought a Nintendo Switch to play the remastered version and found it a lot more difficult than she had remembered. As for the Smackdown Women's champion, she has recalled hours of enjoyment playing the game as a child and a professed love for the orange bandicoot, saying that for her it's one of those games that never gets

boring. 

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