So, in order of release:
Pro Wrestling
NES wrestling titles where somewhat lacking, especially in the earlier days of the system. You had M.U.S.C.L.E. , Tag Team Wrestling and Pro Wrestling to choose from. The first two were pretty shit. Pro Wrestling was not. Seven total wrestlers, each with their own unique moves (well, like two each ), six of which were selectable, and one hell of a final boss match. Except for maybe Tecmo World Wrestling (which I'm omitting because I haven't played much of it), this was the best NES wrestling game. The WCW game sucked, the WWF releases were terrible. This was the king.
WWF Royal Rumble
So, 1993 was not a good year for professional wrestling. And I know what you're thinking when you see this box art: "Oh, that's an LJN title!" Well, the series with Acclaim that LJN did for the WWF was actually pretty decent (They also did Super WrestleMania and RAW).
So, Super WrestleMania, at least on the SNES, shafted the players because there were no finishers. Royal Rumble introduced them. It is a little akward using a Sharpshooter or Figure Four and then pinning the guy, but hey, we took what we could get. You had the following wrestlers on the SNES: Randy Savage, Mr. Perfect, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, Undertaker, Yokozuna, Tatanka, Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Crush, Razor Ramon and Ted DiBiase. Those that played the Genesis still had Bret, Savage, Crush, Luger, HBK, 'Taker and Razor, but the others were replaced by Hulk Hogan, IRS, Jim Duggan, Rick Martel and Papa Shango.
I did like this game a lot. The Royal Rumble mode was fun, and the Singles mode was neat just to see guys who never got the title finally get their big breaks.
The N64 Big Four
(I'm not posting a picture for four games)
So, come the N64, the first real wrestling title of note was WCW vs nWo: World Tour. I'll admit, I didn't watch very much of WCW back then in '97, the only show I really remember was a Clash of the Champions where Alex Wright won either the Cruiserweight or Television title. I wasn't completely ignorant of the rosters. I just didn't really care about WCW. The other info I did have about them came from some wrestling magazine I had. ANYHOW.
I first read about this one in Nintendo Power issue 100. I rented it, and I was hooked. I had no idea who the Japanese stars were (finding out later that while the models were accurate, the names weren't), but it was a blast. The Giant was pretty much my wrestler of choice, and I loved going through each fed just dismantling everyone with the chokeslams.
So, come WCW/nWo Revenge, I was amped up for more of the same. Still didn't know who the Japanese guys were (and they really changed the models this time), but hey, I could edit the way the wrestlers looked as well as their names. And oh hey, there's a mode to challenge for the titles! And they were they belts! And.....anybody in nWo Hollywood spraypaints the WCW title, for some reason 😕 . Oh well. Better action, a better roster (it excludes Ric Flair, but that was a bit of a clusterfuck from what I understand), more refined moves. A solid upgrade.
But it was nothing compared to WrestleMania 2000.
I was underwhelmed by Warzone and didn't bother playing Attitude. But WM2K, HOLY FUCK. The CAW mode alone was worth the price of admission, and the Road to WrestleMania was just nuts. And the E-Feds! The CAW websites! Oh, it was fantastic!
There are only two things I will say I didn't like about WM2K. One, the wrestlers didn't wear/carry the title belts, and second, it got a little tedious come a PPV when you're defending multiple titles in multiple matches. Oh, and a third: You have to win the Royal Rumble. Other than that, it was great.
BUT THEN ALONG CAME NO MERCY!
And No Mercy was an improvement. Gone was Road to WrestleMania, and now you could challenge for each belt, recreating famous WWF angles. It does get a little weird watching your character go from acting like The Rock or Mick Foley to Triple H, but whatever. While you could unlock wrestlers through the story modes, the other options were the SmackDown Mall or the survival mode.
The only thing I'll really say that gets under my skin is Steven Richards being given the Big Show's spot in the story mode.
And now, the most honorable mentions:
Virtual Pro Wrestling and Virtual Pro Wrestling 2.
I've played these via emulation. I'll say this, they are pretty much Japanese versions of WCW vs nWo: World Tour and WM2K, but they have just enough to make them their own separate games. If the US versions are a Ford Mustang, than these would be a Cobra, if that makes sense. VPW2, in particular, I feel works a lot better as a game than WM2K. An even more robust CAW mode (including the option to customize a mask), MMA style matches, MMA style wrestlers, select wrestlers from NJPW, AJPW, and so on, just wow. I imagine it'd be like having WCW and WWF guys in the same video game. It just didn't happen.
WWE SmackDown vs RAW
I had only played either the first or second SmackDown games and didn't care for them all too much. This, on the other hand, was one I loved. I really got into it and had a lot of fun (and frustration, if you go back in time to the beginning of this subforum). The only drawbacks I had with was the use of Ric Flair's old WWF theme for licensing reasons, somewhat lackluster voice acting, and again, weird story angles (I don't care. I refuse to buy the Undertaker's deadman revamped gimmick as 1) Going out with Trish and 2) Being the US Champ).
