Wrestling Fanatic's Bible (Powerslam)

Member Name: Lbird99

Product:	Powerslam
Date:	08/05/09 (54 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: All the News a WWE or TNA fan could want

Disadvantages: Not enough content

Without making myself look really old, I have been reading Power Slam since its first issue in 1992 when it was known as Superstars of Wrestling, changing its name 30 issues later. It is now on issue 178, so that's a lot of wrestling I have read about in the past 16 years!!

I have been a wrestling fan since I was 11 - I'm not sure what it is about it that I love, perhaps its that the storylines are on par with Eastenders, but played out by some fit oiled hunks (and some right ropey ones too). Power slam was the first UK made wrestling magazine of its kind, and has seen of a few competitors. It now only has one other competitor - Fighting Spirit. Unlike the official WWE magazines power slam is written as a non-kayfabe publication, meaning it discusses the wrestlers as they are rather than the characters they portray. Therefore if you have a little one who believes that John Cena really is a chain gang soldier then this probably isn't suitable for them

The magazine covers all areas of professional wrestling but is heavily biased towards American Wrestling, only really playing lip service to the British and Japanese organisations. It used to be very WWE focused but has started to cover TNA and Ring of Honour more in the last couple of years, especially since both promotions started touring over here.

The magazine follows the same format every month. It starts with an article called 'What's Going Down' - This summarises all the action in the last month. It includes what has happened on TV, who has been hired and fired, plus any injuries and titbits of interest involving the wrestling stars. There are reviews of the latest wrestling DVD releases, a Q&A page, funny quotes from the last months television programmes, a letters page, and a glossy poster in the middle (I loved this when I was a teen, but find it pretty useless now I am 29) All this in addition to various articles and interviews which vary from month to month.

The main downside to Power Slam is it is only about 40 pages long each month, which means I can have it read cover to cover in less than an hour. At £3.00 a copy I would be better off using the money towards a book! The other negative is its lack of coverage outside of WWE and TNA - as someone who likes 1PW and MMA this gives Fighting Spirit a slight edge for me.

However I am sure I will still be buying Power Slam for some time yet, as hubbie loves it too, and is a slower reader than me so lasts him a bit longer. I usually an only find the magazine in WHSmith.

Summary: Great read for WWE and TNA fans