I'm here live in Los Angeles for the SummerSlam weekend of festivities, and although at time of writing we're still several hours away from the big show itself the weekend has been anything but short of big news and even controversies heading into the WWE's second biggest pay per view of the year. As has become the tradition before some of the WWE pay per views this weekend started with WWE SummerSlam Fan Axxess, an event which allows members of the WWE Universe to get up close to some of the Divas and Superstars of the WWE, with highlights being in ring matches from the stars of NXT and in ring promos from the likes of Paul Heyman. One of standards of the SummerSlam Axxess event is the focus and promotional highlighting of the new WWE games that come out each year, with Jim Ross and Jerry The King Lawler being live to announce the roster for the '30 Years Of Wrestlemania' mode which allows you to play through some of the biggest matches from each of the first twenty-nine Wrestlemanias. They were joined for the reveal by Mr Money In The Bank Damien Sandow who provided some old school cheap heel tactics and witticisms to bring some added entertainment to what was otherwise a ten minute list of former WWE Superstars, and also provide a suitable cue for Ric Flair to join them in ring and give The Intellectual Saviour of the unwashed masses a history lesson of why he's the man. During the roster reveal some of members of the crowd shouted out support for Chris Benoit to be included in the game's roster, but needless to say this calls were ignored by the in-ring Superstars. Whilst this announcement was highlighted as not being the entire roster for the game, and it is possible that currently unannounced legends could later be added as download content, the inclusion of the former World Heavyweight Champion who murdered his wife and son before committing suicide will never happen. The game which will release in the US on October 29th and in the UK and other territories on November 1st will feature the following Superstars as part of it's 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode: Hulk Hogan The Ultimate Warrior The Rock Macho Man Randy Savage Andre The Giant CM Punk The Undertaker Sgt Slaughter Shawn Michaels Stone Cold Steve Austin Diesel Razor Ramon JBL Brock Lesnar Triple H Ric Flair Chris Jericho The Big Show Dave Batista John Cena Kane Mick Foley The Miz Yokozuna Bret Hitman Hart Ricky The Dragon Steamboat Randy Orton Big John Studd Alberto Del Rio The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase King Kong Bundy Edge Bill Goldberg
A few of the wrestlers were featured twice on the list to reflect the changes in look they've had over the years. For example we'll get both Hulk Hogan and 'Hollywood' Hulk Hogan, and we'll get Triple H with long hair as well as (you guessed it) Triple H with short hair. This didn't really deserve announcements as separate roster inclusions, but certainly made the roster seem bigger. The biggest reveal from the list was the previously unannounced Bill Goldberg who wrestled Brock Lesnar in his only Wrestlemania match, in a match which didn't really go over with the crowd as it was known to be both men's final match in the WWE at the time. Still, as Jim Ross pointed out in the roster reveal the full roster won't just allow you to replay classic matches, but also put together dream matches that have yet to or will never be able to happen, such as Bill Goldberg vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin or CM Punk vs Bret Hart. I'll have more coverage of WWE 2K14, SummerSlam Axxess and the pay per view itself in the coming days including videos and photos from the weekend, impressions of the game, interviews with superstars and some controversial antics from Ric Flair which saw him swiftly replaced by Jerry Lawler at a special legends Q+A session. Be sure to check them out!