GTS: Grand Theft Smackdown?

While GTS may mean “Go To Sleep” in a WWE Ring, where World Champion CM Punk uses the maneuver as a match-ending move, it may be taking on a different meaning in THQ/Yuke’s Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, the latest game in the long-running and increasingly violent Smackdown series. “Grand Theft Smackdown” may be a more appropriate title, as it has recently been announced that SVR ‘09 will include an extra-brutal Inferno Match mode, a first for the series.

With origins in Puerto Rico, the Inferno Match takes place in a ring surrounded by flames, with the stipulation being that the only way to win is to set your opponent on fire. As one might expect, Inferno Matches are incredibly dangerous and therefore have been rarely used in the WWE ring. But now, Yukes, in their infinite wisdom, have finally given us the opportunity to see whether or not John Cena sizzles just as good as he fizzles when in a wrestling ring.

Although the Inferno Match further ups the violence of an increasingly-violent series, it is merely the latest addition to a long line of adult-oriented match types that have pushed the series’ perpetual “Teen” rating nearer and nearer to its limit. In the past, players could beat opponents senseless in order to force them to say “I Quit” into a microphone, bury them alive in a casket, throw them off the top of a massive cell, bash their head in with barbed wire bats and flaming chairs, and even strip a female opponent to her bra and panties after sharing a lesbian kiss, spanking each other soundly, and parading around in naughty lingerie while engaging in a pillow-fight.

It remains to be seen whether or not the added element of pyromania will give the series its first “Mature” rating.

Aside from the Inferno Match, it has also been announced that Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 will feature a drastically overhauled tag team match mode and an all-new “Create a Finisher” mode where players can create a devastating match-ending move by stringing together up to 10 out of over 500 pre-designed animations.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is scheduled to hit shelves in November 2008 for all major systems.