7 Incredible Stories Behind The Making Of WWE Video Games

Time to play 'The Game', but only if he's winning...

by Jamie Kennedy
SmackDown Here Comes The Pain

Exactly what the best wrestling video game of all time is will forever be up for debate. To a certain vintage, the answer will probably be either SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain on PS2 or the N64's No Mercy. Others will look outside the WWE sphere, citing any number of Fire Pro titles (Returns? X?) as the greatest of all time.

Nobody's picking WWF War Zone on PS1 or King Of The Ring on the NES though.

Wouldn't you just know it, both those games are here, and both have more interesting tales to tell than their superiors. If you've ever wondered why some characters looked so unrealistic on Nintendo back in 1993, it had nothing to do with the crappy graphics. Well, it had a little to do with that, but more to do with unhappy wrestlers.

These are the stories behind the games you've grown up playing. To younger fans, they're a curious look back to a time when two pixelated messes awkwardly bumbling around the screen passed as top-tier entertainment. Y'know, sorta' like the 8-bit mode in WWE 2K19...

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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.