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Alittle shy of 500 wrestling/video game fans piled in the Gem Theatre to watch 16 WWE Superstars battle it out in the 5th Annual THQ Superstar Challenge. There is some major league bragging rights that goes to the winner of this annual event. The past four years, Shelton Benjamin has dominated this tournament. During the pre-event interviews, everybody talked about Benjamin's reign as WWE video game champion. These athletes don't have alot of time to play games. They're either working out in the gym, performing in the ring, traveling between shows, or resting. I guess not alot of them heard of Sony Playstation Portable or Nintendo Gameboy DS?
Competing in this year's event were: World Heavyweight Champion Batista, ECW Champion Bobby Lashley, MVP, Carlito, Mr. Kennedy, Jeff Hardy, Kenny Dykstra, Johnny Nitro, Chavo Guerrero, Elijah Burke, CM Punk, Tommy Dreamer, WWE Women's Champion Melina, Mickey James, Ashley and Kelly Kelly. Before talking about the Superstar Challenge, I want to give a shout out to Ashley, Mr. Kennedy, Kenny Dykstra, Johnny Nitro and Melina. All five of them gave me great interviews backstage. Those interviews can be found on detnews.com.
I was disappointed that the Superstars that I wanted to interview; Batista, Lashley, Dreamer, Mickey and Kelly were unavailable. The weekend's not over yet.
In opening round matches: Carlito beat Johnny Nitro; Mickey James lost to Ashley; Lashley lost to Dreamer; MVP beat Batista; Jeff Hardy beat Kenny Dykstra; Melina beat Kelly Kelly; Elijah Burke beat CM Punk; and Chavo Guerrero beat Mr. Kennedy.
Quarterfinal results included: Melina (using Johnny Nitro) defeated Jeff Hardy; Dreamer upset MVP; Carlito beat Ashley; and Chavo Guerrero lost to Elijah Burke.
In the semi-finals: Carlito defeated Dreamer and Elijah Burke beat Melina.
And in the finals, Elijah Burke gained a questionable pinfall victory over Carlito. Just before the referee made the final three-count, the XBox 360 system Burke and Carlito were playing on malfunctioned. When it came back on, the ref completed the three count. Who tried to shut down the system?
Perhaps, we might never know. Anyway, Elijah Burke is the 2007 THQ Superstar Challenge champion.
More WrestleMania 23 stuff tomarrow. Later.
Darrin Hill is a freelance writer and a longtime Detroit-area wrestling fan. You can reach him at: insideslam@hotmail.com.
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