WWE™ Crush Hour™ Ships

First World Wrestling Entertainment Licensed Car Combat Game Now Available at Retail for $19.99

CALABASAS HILLS, Calif. – March 18, 2003 - THQ® Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) and JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (NASDAQ: JAKK) today announced the release of their newest World Wrestling Entertainment™ (NYSE: WWE) licensed video game, WWE Crush Hour for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Nintendo® GameCube™.  WWE Crush Hour takes the intensity, competitiveness and brute strength of the squared circle and drops it into the world of vehicular combat.  The game is now available at retail outlets nationwide. 

“WWE Crush Hour is a fun and exciting new twist to sports entertainment,” said Phillip Holt, vice president, product development, THQ.  “We’ve given WWE fans everywhere the opportunity to get behind the wheel as one of thirty of their favorite WWE Superstars to wreak havoc on their opponents.”

“For the THQ/JAKKS Pacific joint venture, WWE Crush Hour represents our expansion into an additional genre of vehicle action gaming,” commented Nelo Lucich, Director of Interactive, JAKKS Pacific.  “This hi-energy game features WWE Superstars with fantasy, stylized vehicles that have the same hardcore attitude as their drivers.  Non-stop vehicle action meets WWE Superstar attitude, and the result is pulse-racing gameplay for WWE fans with a GameCube or Playstation 2.”

About WWE Crush Hour

WWE Crush Hour features more than 30 fantasy, personalized Superstar vehicles including Hulk Hogan’s™ fire red sports car, Brock Lesner’s™ devastating armored truck, The Rock’s® luxury sports car and Stone Cold Steve Austin’s™ jacked up monster truck.  Players will be able to compete in multiple match types including tag-team and hardcore matches modified for insane car combat.  World Wrestling Entertainment fans can also destroy opponents with multiple weapons customized for each vehicle or grab power-ups.   WWE Crush Hour utilizes unparalleled driving physics with the “Powerslide Advantage” allowing quick 180° turns, strafing attacks and pinpoint cornering.  World Wrestling Entertainment’s very own Jim Ross™ gives on-the-fly commentary and players will be able to taunt opposing drivers with signature phrases from their favorite Superstar. 

For more information about the THQ/JAKKS Pacific World Wrestling Entertainment videogame franchises and the rest of THQ’s 2003 line-up, visit www.thq.com.

About World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWE) is an integrated media and entertainment company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto and London. Additional information on the company can be found at wwe.com and corporate.wwe.com.  Information on television ratings and community activities can be found at parents.wwe.com.

About THQ

THQ Inc. is a leading, worldwide developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software for a variety of hardware platforms including PC CD-ROM, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., Nintendo and Microsoft. The THQ web site is located at www.thq.com.  The THQ Wireless site is located at www.thqwireless.com.

About JAKKS Pacific

JAKKS Pacific, Inc. (Nasdaq NM: JAKK) is a multi-brand company that designs and markets a broad range of toys and leisure products.  The product categories include: Action Figures, Arts & Crafts Activity Kits, Stationery, Writing Instruments, Performance Kites, Water Toys, Sports Activity Toys, Vehicles, Infant/Pre-School, Plush and Dolls.  The products are sold under various brand names including Flying Colors®, Road Champs®, Remco®, Child Guidance®, Pentech®, Toymax®, Funnoodle® and Go Fly a Kite®.  The Company also participates in a joint venture with THQ Inc. that has exclusive worldwide rights to publish and market World Wrestling Entertainment™ video games.  For further information, visit www.jakkspacific.com

Trademark Statement

The names of all World Wrestling Entertainment televised and live programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans and wrestling moves and all World Wrestling Entertainment logos are trademarks which are the exclusive property of World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

This press release contains statements that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections about THQ's business based, in part, on assumptions made by its management. These statements are not guarantees of THQ's future performance or the performance of WWE Crush Hour, including the respective media campaign and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or forecasted in such forward-looking statements due to numerous factors, including, but not limited to, those described above and the following: changes in demand for THQ's products, including WWE Crush Hour, product mix, the timing of customer orders and deliveries, the impact of competitive products and pricing and difficulties encountered in the integration of acquired businesses. In addition, such statements could be affected by growth rates and market conditions relating to the interactive software industry and general domestic and international economic conditions. Specific information concerning these and other such factors is contained in the Registration Statement on Form S-3 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 16, 2002. A copy of this filing may be obtained by contacting THQ or the SEC. The forward-looking statements contained herein speak only as of the date on which they are made, and THQ does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this release.