The High 10 WWE Video games of All Time

For the common wrestling fan, turning to WWE’s video games is a safer approach to dwell out your sports activities leisure fantasies than, say, leaping off the roof of your storage via a flaming desk. For the reason that late 80s there’ve been nicely over 50 such video games which have averted numerous such ill-advised* makes an attempt to be a professional wrestler at house, all carrying the WWF/E banner. And whereas it’s as tough to parse out the incremental enhancements from one yr to the following as it’s to kick out of a Tombstone, right here’s an try at narrowing down the ten finest WWE video games of all time.**

To start out with, we didn’t ebook this checklist all by ourselves with out consulting our roster. The IGN viewers participated in a Face-off, giving us a capability crowd’s value of knowledge to work with. There are a handful of surprises and no small dose of nostalgia for the Angle Period that confirmed up within the outcomes, however with out additional ado or wrestling wordplay,*** let’s ring the bell.

Each IGN WWE Recreation Overview Ever

At quantity 10 with a win share of 65% in our Face-off, we discover ourselves within the heady days of the mid-aughts with 2004’s WWE SmackDown! Vs. Uncooked. The sport represents a reasonably main shift for WWE as nicely. The Angle Period was coming to an finish and the foolish Invasion storyline was getting smaller within the rearview mirror. In the meantime, the model break up between Uncooked and SmackDown that occurred just some years prior was fashionable sufficient to gamble on rebranding the SmackDown sequence of video games.

The Clear and Soiled mechanic was a bizarre little blast as nicely, giving even the kayfabe-iest followers an opportunity to lean right into a gimmick and be rewarded for it. In the meantime, the stare down and check of power fashion mini-games, together with a bra and panties match spanking mechanic that snuck in on the tail finish of the Angle Period’s affect, supplied a bit extra of what the dwell wrestling occasions featured on TV. You would additionally create your individual belt in a Create-a-Championship mode for when creating your self in a wrestling sport simply isn’t sufficient.

The Royal Rumble of WWE video games, SmackDown! Vs. Uncooked at quantity 10 seems like the brand new man within the promotion that lasts for a good run within the ring, however finally you neglect he was there by the following pay-per-view.

Counting right down to quantity 9, we return to Y2K and the beginnings of what grew to become the WWE 2K sequence, with WWF SmackDown! It was a welcome change from earlier entries on the PlayStation that went again to the extra arcade fashion motion we knew from the N64 video games which, to not give an excessive amount of away, would possibly do a run in and assault this checklist with a chair right here in just a few spots.

SmackDown! can also be a bit infamous for the issues it removed. With no commentary, you needed to wrestle to a weird mixture of inventory house-adjacent music and a gentle hum of fan noise (it was actually a bit worrying…) whereas the weird non-entrances for the wrestlers in entrance of matches felt like a wonky corner-cutting measure greater than a artistic selection.

On a private word, nevertheless, the hardcore and metal cage match had been an absolute should of an inclusion. What are we even doing if, on the top of the Angle Period, we don’t have unimpeded violence on the menu. I feel I received injured simply watching the TLC matches with The Dudley Boyz, The Hardyz and Edge and Christian.

All that to say, it’s a strong sufficient approach to kick off a brand new sequence. It is a sport that may’ve had 2 memorable spots throughout a Royal Rumble earlier than getting dumped over the ropes by the fifteenth entrant instantly, so touchdown at quantity 9 on our checklist feels proper.

For our eighth choose with a 65.8% win charge that’s not even a full share level larger than our quantity 10, we bounce forward to the 2007 version of WWE SmackDown! Vs. Uncooked. Touchdown on the Xbox 360, it’s the primary WWE sport for a seventh era console, and instantly took benefit of these candy, candy joysticks. The analog management system launched within the sport made the motion extra real looking the place vital grappleman ways like throwing a man into the viewers are involved.

Maybe probably the most real looking a part of the sport although is how moist Triple H is on the duvet. This can be my very own bias, however nothing says “2007 within the WWE” fairly like a soaking moist Triple H screaming on the apron, child oil from his hair streaking down both aspect of his chest, having undoubtedly simply spit half a bottle of Crystal Geyser onto the entrance row. It was a sticky, greasy time for the WWE in these days and “soggy Triple H” as the duvet picture for this sport makes probably the most sense. In truth, the sport would possibly’ve gotten bonus factors in our Face-Off for being a much bigger spotlight for wrestling followers than the precise wrestling occurring in 2007.

That 2007’s SmackDown! Vs. Uncooked made this checklist seems like extra of a testomony to one thing being the primary. On reflection it isn’t spectacular for something extra notable than being our first likelihood to play WWE video games on seventh gen consoles. It looks like that nostalgia may’ve been the tie-breaker between this sport and the video games that completed eleventh or twelfth, only a share level or two behind it.

So to sum up, Moist Hunter 2007 within the quantity eight spot is just like the time Diamond Dallas Web page entered the Rumble to advertise his yoga program. It’s good to see a man whose higher days you keep in mind.

7-6-5: A Triple Risk Match of The Rock’s Catchphrases

Earlier than we transfer on to the following few picks, I need to keep in mind how stupidly fashionable The Rock was within the Angle Period. That in all probability goes with out saying, however don’t neglect that in the true world of Decided Final result Grappling, SmackDown as a model was mainly The Rock’s spinoff present. Like if The Rock went to be a radio psychiatrist in Seattle whereas Stone Chilly saved working the bar in Boston.**** Having popularized “laying the smack down on sweet asses,” the sport sequence moved on to borrow extra of Dwayne’s fully over verbiage for the following three video games within the sequence, which additionally occur to be the following three spots on our checklist. As a result of I’m, frankly, a bit confused as to how that occurred, I’m going to speak about them in a single outsized section. So for our numbers seven via 5, we’ve received Know Your Position, Simply Deliver It and Shut Your Mouth.

7: WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Position (2000) – 67.7%

So going again to when the WWE was coasting via the height of its recognition, at quantity seven, profitable 67.7% of its match-ups in our Face-Off, is WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Position. Dropping simply months after its predecessor WWF SmackDown! in 2000, the sport had choices galore. Whereas earlier wrestling video games featured them, Know Your Position had the primary correctly superior Create-a-Celebrity mode. Crafting your individual gimmick full with individualized taunts actually will get what being a wrestling fan is all about: telling your self “I may try this with out severe damage” and believing it.***** Know Your Position, which now that I give it some thought is a thematically excellent subtitle for a sport with the primary correct Create-a-Celebrity mode, supplied you the possibility to show you perceive the best way to be a wrestler.

6: WWF SmackDown! Simply Deliver It (2001) – 67.8%

A yr later in 2001, WWF SmackDown! Simply Deliver It dropped one other of The Rock’s mic gems to herald the return of commentary to the motion. However whereas it was the primary SmackDown sport to function Michael Cole and Tazz speaking you thru the matches, it was the final to function the WWF branding earlier than the World Wildlife Fund landed a frog splash from the highest rope of a courtroom. Whereas Simply Deliver It additionally contains six- and eight-man match codecs, these had been subsequently ditched for over a decade and a half, and the sport is the meat of a SmackDown sandwich. It’s a midcard gimmick match within the forgettable stretch of a pay-per-view destined to be outshined by the primary occasion. Or, to proceed my thread of Royal Rumble allegories, a Mark Henry/Massive Present confrontation close to the midway level of the Rumble the place they one way or the other get rid of one another as a result of no person else is robust sufficient to get them over the ropes.

5: WWF SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth (2002) – 70.3%

Two years after Know Your Position, the SmackDown! Sequence lastly completed The Rock’s signature catch phrases with Shut Your Mouth in 2003. It’s one other incrementally higher sport within the sequence, with a bump within the graphics so the wrestlers regarded extra just like the wrestlers and, whereas I personally love having the ability to climb and bounce off the jumbo tron, it’s fascinating to search out this sport together with its two predecessors occupying all three spots in the course of our checklist. Maybe it’s a nostalgia factor and these years had been the primary the vast majority of IGN’s viewers received into wrestling video games. It is also that this stretch of the sequence will get combined up with each other so all of them form of break up the vote. Regardless, SmackDown’s early 2000s entries generated some fond reminiscences. Like how possibly you possibly can’t keep in mind which Rumble it was that Kane eradicated himself when the orderlies tried to take him again to the insane asylum, however you possibly can slender it right down to a few years window.

Arguably the primary formally nice WWF sport, dropping in 1999 (a yr that may very well be thought-about the excessive watermark for professional wrestling’s recognition), Wrestlemania 2000 gained over 70% of its matchups in our Face-Off. It’s additionally a sport that makes me really feel protected saying that N64 stuff was all unimpeachably nice whereas additionally taking no follow-up questions on the matter.

Whereas it was the primary time you could possibly edit the Superstars, and the concept of placing Chris Jericho in Shane McMahon’s tracksuit could be definitely worth the value of the cartridge simply in case it was potential, the really unimaginable factor about this sport is how the event of it mirrored the enterprise of the time. The Monday Night time Wars weren’t actually a contest anymore, with the WWF lapping the WCW in recognition by 1999. It might be one other two years earlier than the McMahons straight-up purchased the competitors, however the rivalry between the 2 firms prolonged into the online game house within the late ’90s.

WCW/nWo Revenge from developer AKI and writer THQ was a very beloved wrestling sport from 1998, so the one pure response could be for WWF to ditch Acclaim and swoop in to accomplice with AKI and THQ. The end result is kind of the identical sport as the favored WCW/nWO Revenge, simply with wildly extra fashionable Superstars from the WWF roster. The large database of transfer units and customizable choices within the create-a-wrestler space that already existed within the sport’s engine from the WCW title truly made it potential to imitate the WCW wrestlers that received left behind, which is such an on-brand center finger from the WWF to their on-the-verge-of-vanquished competitor. It was a pile on after the bell had already rung.

So far as the precise sport goes although, it laid a sturdy groundwork for subsequent titles, together with the one which landed at primary on our checklist. Form of just like the man that’s already feuding with the champ coming into the Rumble within the twenties someplace. You simply know he’s going to finish up profitable to allow them to sq. off at Wrestlemania.

WWE 2K24 gained 71% of it’s match-ups in our Face-Off, incomes it a spot on the rostrum on this High 10 checklist, which is wild contemplating the place the sequence was just some years in the past. WWE 2K20 was such a trainwreck that they only stated “nevermind” in 2021 and began from scratch for 2k22. So, if 2K20 was the top of a heel flip angle earlier than a wrestler takes a bit break day, 2K22 was his return to the lively roster constructing as much as his title run in 2K24.

With a extra dependable basis constructed with the yr off, 2K24 was the third yr in a row that has been about layering the bells and whistles again into the gameplay, and consequently 2K24 feels full in a method that WWE video games simply haven’t in a really very long time.

WWE 2K24 constructed on the strong basis of its predecessor by not solely sharpening and enhancing each function throughout the board, however including far more than maybe anybody anticipated for an iterative WWE sport. Ambulance and Casket matches had been a welcome change to the grappling motion, and the return of particular visitor referee mode – the primary time we’d seen it in over 10 years – was as shocking as Shane McMahon flipping Austin twin birds when he placed on the black and white stripes himself.

There’s recency bias with this one, certain, however WWE 2K24 does really feel like a feature-complete wrestling package deal, an accolade beforehand reserved virtually solely for our high two on this checklist.

We have now to leap again to the run of profitable WWE SmackDown! Video games for our quantity two spot with 2003’s follow-up to Shut Your Mouth, the equally threatening Right here Comes the Ache. Profitable over three-quarters of its Face-Off match-ups, it may need been one of the best of the SmackDown! bunch earlier than the sequence modified to 2K.

The Elimination Chamber confirmed up in a sport for the primary time, as did the Bra and Panties match (though the aforementioned spanking mechanic that unlocked a lower scene of the 2 feminine wrestlers kissing must wait one other yr). The sport additionally featured Legends for the primary time, with all-timers exhibiting up like Rowdy Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter and The Iron Shiek. That you just couldn’t pit The Undertaker’s Lifeless Man gimmick towards George The Animal Steele in a Bra and Panties match feels each not shocking and like a missed alternative, nevertheless.

The factor that provides this sport an enduring legacy although must be its profession mode. It had an RPG really feel to the locker room maneuvering. Gamers had been free to speak to extra folks backstage and chart a course in your Celebrity that felt a bit extra off the rails. This sport is the face that takes a very good long term via the Rumble, the one you need to win the entire thing, however comes up quick ultimately by just below three share factors.******

So right here comes the payoff to my TLC match remark from method again in quantity 9. On the checklist of issues that tug on my wrestling nostalgia strings like a determined Bubba Ray Dudley making an attempt to free a tag staff belt 20 toes above the ring, the highest two are grimacing via ladder matches and huddling in entrance of a really small tube TV with three buddies, Swanton bombing from the highest of a ladder on an N64.

WWF No Mercy has been a benchmark for wrestling video games for greater than 20 years now and at only a tick over an 80% win share, we’ve received the proof that it continues to be everybody’s favourite (or extra precisely, not less than 4 out of 5 folks’s favourite). As a part of the category of the N64 period (on which I’ve already made my emotions clear), additions just like the ladder match and backstage brawls introduced extra of what was fashionable in-ring on the time, whereas the create-a-wrestler operate continued to develop and a profession mode that branched in every kind of instructions was an apparent improve over Wrestlemania 2000.

There’s one thing about that mixture, catching the whole lot that was wild in regards to the top of the Angle Period and channeling it via simple to get grappling mechanics, that has made this sport extra enduring than each different one on this checklist. Modders are nonetheless actively including new wrestlers to the playable roster and even AEW Struggle Ceaselessly was an try at recreating No Mercy’s magic.

The sport wasn’t excellent (it chugged as quickly as 4 gamers confirmed up) nevertheless it nailed a very powerful factor: capturing the essence of a wildly fashionable time in wrestling historical past, which is why we expect it’s among the finest WWE video video games ever made.

What do you assume? Agree with this checklist? It’s form of yours truly, on account of you guys voted within the Face-Off, however be happy to disagree with it down within the feedback anyway!

*severely, don’t fucking yard wrestle

**on this case “all time” refers back to the final 40-ish years, which continues to be some time, however within the grand scheme of issues it’s solely 4 many years and “of all time” is generally simply right here for a budget warmth

***needed to sneak yet one more in and didn’t really feel like deleting this promise

****yep, it’s 100% precisely like that

*****my gimmick was named “Smug” Dandy Blaine, and he was a vicious and muscly heel, similar to me

******I’m conscious Royal Rumbles aren’t scored on a share level foundation