WWE European Superstar Challenge Press Trip Diary

A blow by blow account of VideoGamer.com's WWE adventure.

Each year THQ organises a summer event where WWE superstars convene to test their game playing skills, demonstrating the latest SmackDown VS RAW title. This year's competition took place in Madrid, Spain, attended by the crème de la crème of professional wrestling - everyone from heavyweight champion Chris Jericho to the lovely Kelly Kelly. Naturally VideoGamer.com was there to monitor events... Read on for our blow-by-blow account of the trip, from a crack of dawn start to the crowning of the tournament's champion.

4.30am: It's never nice to wake up at 4.30am - but it's a particularly unpleasant experience when you open your eyes and find yourself in a Holiday Inn near Heathrow Airport. This room feels like the kind of place that someone feeble might die in. In fact, I think someone already did - me.

4.32am: Body still asleep. Shower looks a bit skanky; wash head under the tap instead. Classy! Stuff clothes into bag. Must. Escape. Hotel.

4.46am: Our group convenes in the lobby. Journalists from assorted print and online publications lie sprawled over chairs and tables. There isn't much conversation going on, just a lot of tired staring into space - and in some cases, a bit of dribbling. Here we are, professional writers from the realms of print and online media. We may be half dead at the moment, but our resolve is unwavering. We are on a mission: we must fly to Spain to watch muscle men play video games in their underpants. This is important stuff. This is journalism.

5.59am: After catching a bus to the airport and checking in, we head to Terminal 2's departure gates. THQ's PR man kindly pays for a small mountain of pastries, sandwiches and scalding hot cups of coffee. Processed ham and cheese has never felt so good.

6.30am - 9.20am: We stumble onto our plane and collapse into our seats. Fall asleep in one country and wake up in another - always a weird experience.

10.09 - 11am: Madrid's airport has an interior design that sits somewhere between your local leisure centre and one of those dome-shaped cities that will one day be built on Mars. We gather our bags and board a coach. People have started to wake-up now - a few journos have pulled out their DSs (DSes? DSsses?). Main discussion topic for the journey: Was The Dark Knight actually any good? The verdict: yeah, sort of.

11.04am: Hotel Urban is decorated with lots of rather strange African artwork. Some of the rooms are still being cleaned - because this is Spain and even the maids like to chill out, apparently. We kill time by slobbing in expensive-looking leather chairs and gawking at some freaky looking tribal sculptures.

11.11am: One of my fellow hacks informs me that there is a conspiracy theory about the time 11.11 - apparently it has something to do with the human body synchronising itself with numerical systems. "It's like that Jim Carrey film, 'Number 23'. Only less crap."

12.10pm: Our posse finally arrives at Shoko - the swanky club venue that will host this year's European Superstar Challenge. Assorted media types are milling around in the street outside, since the entrance to the building is being guarded by a rather fierce-looking ape man in a suit. I decide to take some photos of two scally-ish blokes who are putting up a banner. Using the camera requires both hands, so I leave my water bottle on a nearby ledge.

12.20pm: Uh-oh. The bouncer-ape man has found my bottle, and he's not pleased. He picks it up by the tip - as if it were something that fell out of a dog's arse - and heads for the nearest bin. I decide that I will not ask for it back.

12.21pm: I notice that my fellow journalists have already been inside to collect their press passes, and are now proudly clutching red goody-bags. I stand in front of the bouncer and look pathetic until he eventually lets me in.

12.29pm: I join the queue to collect my credentials. Two European journos are in front of me - one bloke who looks like a game show host, and a rotund bearded man with an enormous video camera. They appear to be arguing with the pretty Spanish ladies behind the front desk. I don't speak the local lingo, but it seems like there's some kind of problem. Beardy looks like he's going to cry. I wish someone would give him a hug.

12.35pm: My turn! I collect my pass, which has my name spelled correctly for once. But what's this?! No goody bag! I politely ask if I can have one. "Eh, you bag is in you hotel room." But that can't be right, I say. I don't even have a hotel room yet. "Si, it's in your room." BUT YOU GAVE ALL MY FRIENDS ONE! "Si! Is in your room." Now it's my turn to cry.

12.40pm: The event doesn't start for a while, so I rejoin the rest of the group at a bar around the corner. THQ PR man hands me a rather scary-looking legal form that must be signed before I can take any photos of WWE's wrestlers - or Superstars, as they prefer to be called. I scribble my name down - but not before I've managed to spill beer on the paper. I suspect this may hurt my case, should I end up in court.

1.04pm: We're finally allowed into Shoko, and are swiftly herded into the press area upstairs. We're in large room with a bar with an enormous glass window that overlooks the arena below, where the Challenge will later take place. Everyone gets stuck into free beer, and a buffet lunch that includes deep-fried olives stuffed with cheese - presumably aimed at all the pregnant women in attendance.