10 Wrestling Video Game Moments That Became Real

9. ECW Returns...For Good

Randy Orton WWE SmackDown vs. Raw TLC 2013
THQ/WWE

One of a kind!

Here's another 'year before it actually happened' moment. This time, it involves an entire pro wrestling company. Or, at least, a soft, relaunched version of it. In SmackDown vs. Raw 2006's Season Mode, Rob Van Dam took the WWE Title and announced that ECW was on the comeback trail.

Again, someone at THQ could've been tipped off on future plans here. WWE eventually brought ECW back as a third brand following the wildly successful One Night Stand 2005 pay-per-view. That, as most know, was supposed to be a strict one off, but the McMahons decided to put their own spin on Paul Heyman's magic in the summer of '06.

RVD went on to take the WWE belt from John Cena at One Night Stand 2006 too, thus echoing what had gone down in the game's story mode. This was just another example of art imitating life (and predicting it with quite amazing accuracy).

Contributor

Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.