As rough as the world of professional wrestling may be at times, there is a lighter side to it. It’s not all steel chairs, piledrivers and stitches. This is where the WWE Divas come in. Here you have a group of amazingly beautiful and athletic women who put their bodies on the line and take risks the same ways that their male counterparts do. One of the great examples of a woman building herself into that role is the WWE’s Kelly Kelly.

Five years ago at the age of 19, Kelly Kelly debuted on ECW where she danced as an exhibitionist. And then she continued dancing as a part of Extreme Expose. Eventually, stories developed for Kelly that allowed her to begin an in ring career that didn’t involve dancing. In our interview with Kelly at Comic Con, she talks to us about the change in her career and achieving something that many quickly discounted as even being a possibility for her, holding a championship in the WWE.

Kelly also talks about her first Comic Con experience, gives a sneak peek behind the scenes of being a WWE Diva and her long road to the top. Kelly has also had success outside the ring this year as she was named to the Maxim Top 100 too, the only WWE Diva to receive that honor while still at the company.

Take a look below to check out our full interview with Kelly Kelly and stick to the Flickcast for more still coming to you from this year’s Comic Con. The Con may be over, but our coverage keeps on coming!

WWE’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 helped the franchise reach the momentous 50 million unit mark with sales. With SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, THQ and Yuke’s hoped to continue the sucessful tradition of the annual franchise by taking the franchise’s stalwart features like the godlike level of character customization and great in ring action and adding some new ones, most notably WWE Universe Mode, an expanded backstage arena during the Road to WrestleMania mode and the upgraded physics system.

Gameplay:

As we talked about in our review of last year’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2010,  the biggest strength of SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is how fun it makes the matches available to players. The control scheme proves itself to be easy to learn but a challenge to master allowing players of all levels of skill to enjoy bouts against the computer. This quickly changes however in player versus player combat where a novice has next to no hope against an opponent with more experience with the franchise.

New to this year’s in ring gameplay comes an improved physics engine. The physics in WWE games has varied over the years to the Gamecube days where contact with a ladder could take out a ring full to competitors to even last year’s SmackDown vs. Raw where instead of colliding with a ladder on a big fall, superstars would hit the ground and have the ladder gingerly slide over. Now, items like tables, ladders and chairs are interactive set pieces. Instead of moving aside when a competitor is aimed at it, tables shatter on contact and pieces will remain in the ring as the action goes on around it.

Wrestlers now react to being tossed on top of chairs and a kick to a ladder can send both it and the superstar climbing it to the floor. This feels like a step towards more added realism for the game’s in ring product. (And yes, we understand the irony of talking about realism in reference to professional wrestling… er, sports

With its release date under a week away, THQ has revealed a new trailer for SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 featuring all of the biggest moves in the WWE, the finishers. Much like the real WWE, in SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 a match can be ended in an instant if a player is able to hit their big finish out of nowhere.

In the trailer below, you will see just how good SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 looks in action and how much effort was put into making the finishers look as realistic as possible.

Some of the highlights below include classic’s like the Undertaker’s Tombstone, Shawn Michael’s Sweet Chin Music, Bret Hart’s Sharpshooter and Jake “The Snake” Robert’s DDT. In addition, SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is doing a great job of highlighting some of WWE’s newer and younger talent with the likes of Santino Marella’s Cobra, Zack Ryder’s Zack Attack and Kofi Kingston’s Trouble In Paradise.

Make sure to take a peek below and stick to The Flickcast for more on WWE’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 including a review once the game is released.

Back in November, we gave you our review of WWE’s latest Smackdown vs. Raw 2010. Now, SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is on the horizon and WWE has just announced the superstars for the game’s cover as well as some of its key features.

In the US, John Cena, the Big Show and the Miz, the latest addition to the Money in the Bank club, will be gracing SmackDown vs. Raw’s cover art (seen above). If you scan down to the gallery below, you will also see the European cover art featuring the Undertaker, Randy Orton and Sheamus.

“WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 is on track to deliver the most incredible WWE simulation experience to date in our storied franchise,” said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ. “This year’s game will offer players a variety of intuitive new gameplay features, impactful upgrades, industry-leading creation and customization tools, as well as unparalleled freedom to experience their own virtual WWE moments in line with those seen weekly in WWE.”