Since its inception in the early 1950s, fans have flocked to stadiums to bear witness to some of life’s biggest characters. Despite numerous controversies and name changes throughout the years—from the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to its current company name holding as WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.—they have consistently grown with their fan base and evolved with the times. From such humble beginnings, the WWE has hosted some of the world’s most iconic matches: ladder matches, The Invasion, Money in the Bank, and the now infamous Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior title match. The company has even produced some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry at the moment: Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (who's an A-list celebrity and potential presidential candidate), John Cena ( who's a Make-A-Wish Foundation champ and meme gold), and Dave Bautista (who you'll know as an all around good guy and one of the current Guardians of the Galaxy). WWE has garnered this 🀅success and employed it to numerous prosperous avenues: partner♔ships with charity organizations, successful movies, and, of course, video games.

With WWE’s annual SummerSlam event less than a month away, we look at the franchise’s biggest winners and losers, pitting these wrestling games against each other to see who comes out on top. Fifteen candidates enter the ring, but only o♔ne game will walk away with the championship belt. Now, if you jabronis smell what The Gamer is cooking, let’s look at the 8 best and 7 worst WWE games.

15 ✤ Best: WCW/nWo Rev𝕴enge

The spiritual successor to the less than stellar WCW/nWo: World Tour, WCW/nWo Revenge builds on the previous World Tour by featuring an impressive roster of over 60 𝓰superstar wrestlers, enhanced ๊graphic presentation, and varied gameplay modes giving the game long-lasting appeal.

But what’s really outstanding here is just how WCW/nWo Revenge captured one of the most captivating wrestling storylines of the ‘90s. The New World Order storyline brought us some wrestܫling greats, thanks in part to Ted Turner and Eric Bishop. The strong roster of Diamond Dallas Page, Chris Jericho, Goldberg, Raven, and The Big Show nearly put Vince McMahon and the rest of the now defunct WWF out of business. Though the WCW didn’t emerge victorious with the belt in the end, it was a fun rivalry that sparked loyalties and division among wrestling fans.

14 🔜 Worst: WWF WrestleMania: ꦿThe Arcade Game

Usually, great things happen when two worlds collide–, Marvel vs. Capcom, and as previously mentioned, WCW/nWo. But when the collision is an attempt to simply cash-in thanks to corporate greed, then you get the disastrous results of WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game.

Part 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Street Fighter, part 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Mortal Kombat, and all-around terrible, WWF WrestleMania tried to ride the beat-em-up genre wave that swept through arcades in the ‘80s and ‘90s. The problem was, wrestling doesn’t easily translate to the fight genre. The ring has three-dimensional complexities making the game feel corny and gimmicky. The once nostalgic photorealistic graphics, much like the early Mortal Kombat games, have not aged well, and the attempt to capture the New Generation era resulted in this silly and cartoonish mess. Seriously, why did Bret Hart “bleed” hearts when he got hit? WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game is a goofy relic of wrestling’s past.

13 🃏 Best: WWF WrestleFest 𝄹

Speaking of nostalgic wrestling games, one of the best to ever do it has to be WWF WrestleFest. With its bright, cartoonish graphics and a variety of wrestling legends to choose from like Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, and Jake “the Snake” Roberts, WrestleFest was emblematic of wrestling’s Golden era. Originally released for arcades in the ‘90s, WrestleFest was a quarter eating, grapple-heavy, button mashing delight. It had two different modes–Tag Team matches or the Royal Rumble, which had surprising depth, as the gamepla🅠y featured counter-moves, usable inanimate objects such as steel steps and briefcases, ringside action, double-team moves, finishing moves, and even taunts and poses.

With the game’s roster all retired, and some sadly passed away, WWF WrestleFest isꦡ a nostalgic throwback to some of wrestling’s greatest moments, and perhaps one of the best precursor games for future wrestling games to come.

12 𝓀 Worst: WWF Royal Rumble

WWF Royal Rumble was slated to celebrate Sega’s newest gaming machine–168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Dreamcast. Sadly, what most fans received was not a new wrestling game, but rather, a port of an arcade game. Disappointing to say the least, considering Royal Rumble was Dreamcast’s one and only wrestling offering. Hollow gameplay mechanics and minimal game modes hindered Royal Rumble’s potential. But what really disappointed fans was the paper thin wrestling roster, starring only 20 wrestlers, significantly failing to tap into the rich and varied Attitude era roster. Sure you had some of wrestling’s greats such as Steve Austin, Triple H, and the Brahma Bull himself, but with only 20 characters to chose from, the game effectively ruins the whole concept of a royal rumble. And while Royal Rumble could be praised for its impressive grap⛄hics–ahem, for the time–this is as forgettable a game as 𓂃the gaming console it came with.

11 ไ Best: WWE 2K17 𓆏

The latest release of one of the biggest video game franchises in WWE history, WWE 2K17 continues the progression that developer Yuke has implemented in steering away from WWE’s extensive lineage of arcade-style gameplay so successful in past iterations. But, change is always good and WWE 2K17 is a strong candidate for one of the best wrestling games ever made. With new features such as the ability to battle in the backsta𝔍ge, new camera angles gives the game cinematic🌌 depth, an enormous roster, organic gameplay with varied moves, and of course, a rich and diverse creation mode.

By constantly pushing the limits of what fans come to expect in wrestling games in terms of visual and gameplay, WWE 2K17 delivers an abundance of enhance𒅌ments that gives an absolute🌞ly stellar performance, cementing its place as one of wrestling’s greats.

10 Worst: WW♒E Legends Of WrestleMania

Wrestling is one of the greatest over-the-top spectacles and for g🥃ood reason, larger than life charact🐽ers and its hard-hitting, high flying action makes it an unforgettable experience. Not the same could be said for this next inclusion.

Despite the strong nostalgic factor of WWE Legends of WrestleMania, giving fans the chance to pit their favourite classic wrestlers against each other in historic WrestleMania matches, the game suffers from the developer’s decision to favour accessibility over complexity. It’s an easy pick-up-and-play game for sure, but that highlight quickly loses its shine as the action becomes ౠbland and repetitive. Wrestlers look and feel overmuscled, digital armoured carapaces that look like ballooned versions of the real thing. Certain game modes such as the Legend Killer mode is merely an exercise in patience and ♐tolerance for boredom. It’s a clunky, sluggish experience that’s easily down for the count.

9 Bes🌸t: WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2007 🤪

The 2007 release of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw was a m⛦emorable edition in the franchise for several r💖easons.

For one, this edition of SmackDown vs. Raw was a departure from the arcade style of wrestling gameplay we’ve come to love from the franchise, instead opting for more of a simulation gameplay mechanic requiring wrestlers to take break🎃s after several big moves due to the implementation of a mandatory stamina bar. There was also more environmental involvement –hardcore outside ring action, locker room interfaces in story mode, and the variety of weapons available inside the ring. It was also the first time ECW characters were featured in a WWE since the company monopolized both WCW and ECW.

But perhaps the most important reason SvR 2007 was so memorable is the inclusion of Chris Benoit in his last WWE⛄ vide𒀰o game feature due to the untimely circumstances surrounding his death.

8 ♊ 🦹Worst: WWF Betrayal (2001)

The WWE’s extensive library of fight games have discovered the formula to their success. Regardless of any additional enhancements games have included to their in-game mechanics, the central theme has always been the pivotal wrestling ring. WWF Betrayal decides to buck that trend and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:channels vintage games of old, the side-scrolling beat-’em-ups like Double Dragon and Final Fight. Mind you, this isn’t actually a wrestling game, though you do get to play as one of four wrestling superstars–The Rock, the Undertaker, Steve Austin, and 🔜Triple H–as you coolly clothesline, suplex, and bodyslam your way through Stephanie McMahon’s captors.

Like any other classic beat-’em-up, the gameplay suffers from repetitive mechanics. Despite the star-calibre cast, eac⭕h character has the same repetitious actions, the game’s AI meaning battles are tedious one-sided affairs, and with only six levels to wrestle thro👍ugh, this is a game worth considering purely for its novelty factor.

7 Best: WWE Day Of🐎 Reckoning

When Nintendo’s GameCube first debuted, wrestling fans were still reminiscing of good ol’ days from Nintendo 64’s marquee grapplers. Luckily, when WWE Day of Reckoning was released, developer Yuke gave theꦉ fans what they wanted–a near carbon copy of the classic play styles found in the N64’s library of wrestling titles.

Day of Reckoning featured the greatest hits from the 64’s quality wrestling games–arcade style play mechanics, an impressive gameplay engine, solid controls and a decent grappling system, stellar graphics, and a story mode captivating enough to want to play through. It also introduced new fighting elements that delivered complex depth to the gameplay. Momentum shifts during matches added layered variance to each match’s pacing, and the new weight system ensured that Rey Mysterio wasn’t bodyslamming The Big Show left, right, and centre. Day of Reckoning is a great WWE game, and that’s the bottom line.

6 🍷 Worst: WWE Aftershock 𒐪

An often too forgotten ‘rassler video game, WWE Aftershock may only be remembered by true die hard fans, and for good reason. After all, the game debuted on the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:now defunct Nokia N-Gage–an odd-looking smartphone and handheld game console hybrid that vanished as quickly as it appeared. With only 58 released games for the N-Gage, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Aftershock was the device’s only wrestling game.

Featuring perhaps one of the most nominal rosters (12 WWE superstars!), Aftershock suffered from many shortcomings, from boxy graphics and wooden animations to discouraging controls. And while the game may have offered online multiplayer via N-Gage’s internal Bluetooth feature, the N-Gage retailed at $299, so no opponents were ever to be had. If there’s any consolation to be had here, it’s that Aftershock was the best (and only) 🍎wrestꦺling game found on the N-Gage.