Thing is though, WWE career modes tend to fall into two varies: The SVR c. 09-11 style where it's just "Pick X, Y, and Z to wrestle, then face W for a title shot against V champion", and ones with linear, story-driven careers. Here Comes The Pain came closest to what you're wanting and even that had a handful of storylines, as well as other design flaws (Want the title? Have fun facing Brock Lesnar every week forever). Plus if you didn't have a storyline, you'd be put into situations that sucked for you either way (Talking to Stephanie; interrupt her call and get punished for being rude, or let her finished and get punished for being polite).
Something like Universe Mode as a single player would be awesome though; but really, I'd take any career mode that isn't like the original Smackdown vs Raw (aka the one where you either wrestle for a belt or make a harem out of the divas by either saving them from an abusive foreigner heel if you're a face or contractual slavery if you're a heel, culminating in a ladder match for Trish Stratus' panties... and that's where I stopped buying WWE games for a few years because that was just the worst).