Smark Out Moment

All Elite Wrestling released its first console video game outing, AEW: Fight Forever, on June 28, 2023. There was a lot of buzz surrounding AEW: Fight Forever initially, as it was the first licensed professional wrestling game outside of the WWE umbrella in over a decade. Promising a pick-up-and-play control scheme that would hearken back to the glory days of WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64, Fight Forever delivered on that particular promise, but it does so at the cost of presenting an overall package that feels generally behind the times as opposed to a nostalgic callback to the boom period of professional wrestling games.

To be fair to AEW: Fight Forever and the team behind the game, they had the unfair task of delivering a high-level video game, all while the brand on which the game is based was less than 5 years old and actively undergoing significant transformations and growing pains. For those unfamiliar, AEW is a professional wrestling promotion that began in 2019. Since its inception, the promotion has been branded as the first major North American alternative to WWE since the closure of World Championship Wrestling in 2001.

The action in a typical AEW match features high-speed action, numerous athletic maneuvers, and multi-man chaos, and it has been that way since the beginning. Therefore, when the video game celebrating this new company is released without features like multi-man Ladder Matches—a match type that has been a staple in games since 2000—it's a significant flaw that affects the game's ability to accurately recreate the AEW experience.

In that same vein, a regular part of a highly anticipated AEW match is the display of "Fighting Spirit" and the ability for wrestlers to kick out of their opponent's finishing move even after 20-plus minutes of combat. This not only keeps the match going but gets fans on the edge of their seats and upsets veteran talking heads who are easily displeased when wrestling is not as it was "back in their day." In AEW: Fight Forever, matches are over as quickly as they begin, with one finishing maneuver being all it takes to end any given contest in under five moments. Something like this is utterly unacceptable to anyone who wants to simulate what they enjoy about their favorite wrestling company accurately.

Entrances are another area where AEW: Fight Forever comes up short, quite literally, if we're being honest. Elaborate entrances are a fan-favorite part of the professional wrestling package. However, thanks to the insistence on making Fight Forever a more arcade-esque experience, the entrances are brief clips that, at times, are shorter than 60 seconds. Fans are given the ability to control pyro and special effects of that nature in the game. Still, it's not enough to overcome the shortness of the actual entrances, which significantly hinders the ability to simulate the true AEW experience properly.

The issues boil down to a disconnect in philosophy between the type of crowd All Elite Wrestling wants to attract with their television programming and the type of audience AEW Games expects to gravitate toward their game. AEW's slogan is "Where The Best Wrestle." AEW pounds its chest on the philosophy that, while WWE is too concerned with being "mainstream," AEW is for the hardcore wrestling fan, the sickos, if you will. On the other hand, AEW Games aimed to create an experience for casual, potentially lapsed, wrestling fans. Ultimately, the clash in philosophies has resulted in a disjointed experience, but this is not the only area where fans have felt let down by AEW's first console outing.

The DLC rollout has also received pushback.

AEW: Fight Forever did an excellent job in keeping its game up to date with the promotion's ever-changing roster. Downloadable content has allowed names such as Swerve Strickland, Adam "Cope" Copeland, Samoa Joe, Jay White, and others to be included in the game, despite Copeland's arrival coming well after Fight Forever was initially released in June 2023. However, each DLC package has come with a new price tag, and the overall price of the complete video game continues to soar, with some early players feeling that the core experience of the game just doesn't warrant continuous purchases.

So, how can AEW Games learn from its mistakes and make its sophomore outing a game worthy of being remembered? It's not as difficult as one may think, especially if they build on the solid foundation they already have with Fight Forever.

To start, the number of match types needs to be increased. Players, especially those who desire a heavy sense of simulation from their gameplay, simply need the ability for more creativity between the ropes and more match types that better represent what is shown on TV every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday night. Fight Forever can't even do Trios (3 vs. 3) matches, and in AEW, there's a whole division and championship belt for teams that compete in groupings of three. Additionally, we all love WWF No Mercy on the Nintendo 64. Still, it's been nearly 25 years, and it's time not to make the idea of living up to that game's particular control scheme the entire basis of one's opinion on whether or not a wrestling game is strong.

It would also help if the price of DLC were reduced or dropped. It would be foolish to expect the latter, as gaming development is a costly endeavor. Still, players need to feel that a game is worth the price and that they can trust the developer to do more than just try to make a quick buck off of them.

AEW: Fight Forever has strong ideas, a fun graphical style, unique mini-games, and even a Battle Royale mode. Be that as it may, AEW's first console outing came away looking like a young wrestler who may be ready for a television debut, but certainly isn't prepared to be the face of the company or carry its World Championship.

Here's hoping discussions of a sequel have already picked up, and wrestling fans can experience a more complete package from AEW Games in the near future. For anyone who hasn't picked up AEW: Fight Forever yet, it is available on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and the Xbox family of consoles. Pick up your desired copy here.

I was lucky enough to sit down recently for an exclusive interview with legendary games developer, Mat Dickie of MDGames, creator of the Wrestling Empire video game. Mat is in the top 1% of developers in this country, with one of his titles, Wrestling Revolution 3D, having a staggering 50 Million downloads. Mat spent the first decade of his career developing exclusively for the PC before branching out as a mobile developer, and, most recently, the Nintendo Switch.

How long have you been developing games for and how did you get started?

MD: Ever since I got a PC around 1998, I was getting creative in anything I could get my hands on - even if it meant abusing programs like Powerpoint to create my own point & click adventures! That naturally evolving into real programming when I was introduced to it at college and I never stopped learning.

How long have you been a wrestling fan? And do you have a favourite match or wrestler?

MD: My earliest memories are of the Ultimate Warrior replacing Hulk Hogan as the top guy in 1990, but I went on to become a bigger fan of Bret Hart for his creativity and commitment to the craft. I loved his match against Roddy Piper at Wrestlemania 8 from its emotional start to its creative finish.

How about your own favourite video game?

MD: The one I've gone back to most consistently over the past 20 years is Civilization in its various forms - but mainly 2 then and 5 now. Jagged Alliance is another one that never gets old to me. Most recently, I enjoyed Mario Odyssey and I'm enjoying Mario World 3D right now.

Right, let us talk about Wrestling Empire! Many see it as a spiritual successor to the THQ/AKI wrestling games on the Nintendo 64. Was this the reason behind you choosing the Nintendo Switch as the game's console home?

MD: It was certainly poetic to mark the 20-year anniversary of No Mercy by bringing my own brand of low-poly wrestling to a Nintendo console - at the exact moment that fans were clamoring for an alternative. If you told me I'd be doing that 20 years ago, I could never imagine it would even be possible! It has definitely been something to cross off the bucket list, and I feel somewhat vindicated to have taken my work that far when nobody ever believed I would.

You have been ridiculously prolific when it comes to adding updates and improvements to the game. What has been the most requested addition that you have successfully been able to implement?

MD: In the old days, you would finish a game and then take a break - but now that's just when things are getting started and it's difficult to see where you'll ever be able to take a break without being accused of "abandoning" the project! The most requested feature has always been multiplayer, so I was excited to offer that in the console version. Although they meant online play, everything about this game is old school so I'm happy to bring back the living room experience. New moves are always a popular request as well, but each one is a little work of art that takes hours to animate and program - so I have to choose wisely. People think they want finishers, but you only see those once in a while - whereas I get more excited about animations you'll see in every match.

This game features a stonking 350+ cast of wrestlers from many different leagues all over history, as well as notable famous figures such as Sylvester Stallone, Joe Rogan, and even Donald Trump! Hilariously, you have been able to do this by coming up with funny alternative names, such as Cliff Hanger (Edge) and Bobby Q (Jim Ross). What are some of your personal favourites?

MD: I like puns that force you to say the actual name without realizing it - such as "Mat Showman" or "Crispin Noir"! I wake up every day muttering fictitious names to myself, so these games have given me a kind of mental illness.

This game is a staggering achievement for a studio consisting of just yourself. How on earth do you manage it?

MD: Thanks for saying so, as not a lot of people have considered that aspect of it. The secret is that it's actually a lot easier to do things yourself, as you don't have to compromise with anyone or anything! Anything I think of is in the game within minutes with no quarrel or delay. On top of that, I suppose I'm very organized and live a very disciplined life. If I was a pool player, we might say I have good "shot selection." I know how to complete one project or task in such a way that it sets me up for the next in perfect order to clear the table. Completing a project is like completing a puzzle, and I've done it enough times to know what works and what doesn't!

What is next for Wrestling Empire? What sort of exciting updates can fans expect in the next patch?

MD: We're just turning the corner on the basic career mode, so I'd like to get every move and story from previous games in there to solidify that. Then the way is clear for me to concentrate on adding a booking mode where you run your own promotion. Last year, fans were upset that the console had no wrestling games and now they're upset that they have no GM modes. Every time somebody fumbles the ball, I'll be there to score with it!

Thank you so much for your time Mat and congratulations on all your achievements.

To keep up on all the updates and future game development you can check out out Mat on Twitter, or learn more about Wrestling Empire on the Nintendo Website.

Also, be sure to listen out for Ross himself as the voice of some of the referees in the game once the latest audio patch has been added!

As of writing this, I've logged in well over 15 hours with the newest edition to the 2K family, WWE 2K17, spending an equal amount time between the game mode options and creation portion of the game. So as we go, I'll break down everything notable that's in the game, and things that I feel have been left out.

GLITCHES

Much like any video game launch nowadays, WWE 2K17 was rough. Many people reported game-breaking glitches in the first few hours of playing, and I experienced several of those same issues. That didn't sit well with the several people that pre-ordered the game, and some even spent $100 for the NXT Edition of the game. A lot of people have experienced things like Goldberg not being a playable character even with the pre-order, random crashing in the MyCareer mode, and the Universe mode is a whole other problem in itself that I'll get to that shortly. A few things I've experienced have been small graphical errors like AJ Styles coming out completely black, and then disappearing halfway through the match (though I still won). While playing as Shawn Michaels against Mankind in a Hell in a Cell match, I was able to hit Sweet Chin Music on top of the cell only to see Mankind disappear through the floor. Though it gave me the win and was pretty comical, it can really turn you off to the game. Luckily, many of the big time glitches causing the game to crash were fixed in the games first official patch a few days ago. Progress!

GAMEPLAY & ROSTER

I feel like the biggest part of a wrestling video game is how it plays and who you can play with. After all, characters and the superstars are why we love the business, right? I have very few complaints when it comes to the roster. They have several awesome unlockable characters, which I've gotten them all, but the rating system they used seemed a little funny to me. Brock Lesnar is rated a 95 overall. He is the cover athlete and a real life monster, so I expected this. He is two points higher than the next highest superstars which are John Cena and Seth Rollins at 93. Stone Cold Steve Austin is also a 95, but he is not a character in the modern day MyCareer game mode. Having Lesnar be that high of rating causes him to literally never lose. I've played four months worth of a career so far with two shows a week, and one pay-per-view a month. Lesnar has been the champion since day one and has yet to lose a match, and that can get rather boring at times.

The gameplay leaves a lot to be desired for me. They had a big time chance to fine-tune the combat system, but its still the same from its predecessor in 2K16. This makes me think its time for a full scale overhaul with the gameplay for 2K18, and not just some tweaking like I thought.

UNIVERSE MODE

Universe mode is a staple in the WWE 2K video game series. It gives you full control over everything that happens in the world of WWE. You can schedule your own matches, book your own PPV's, and start whatever rivalry you want between any two or more superstars you can dream of. With the new promo system implicated into WWE 2K17, it has gotten even better. Not only have the promo's brought something new to the table, but now with the new creation options you have you can create your own show alongside SmackDown & Raw. I created my show and along with it; its own arena, roster, and its own championship to fight over.

But with great advancements come great problems. As you can see by the picture, Universe mode has its fair share of glitches. This picture was pulled from the several online complaints/discussions on the game where the main point was that Sasha Banks had somehow been able to win the United States Championship. We all know Sasha has had a way of making history in her career so far with much more to be made in her future, but I don't know if this is something that should be happening. With so many moving parts in Universe mode, something is bound to slip through the cracks. This mode is by far the mode I've spent the least amount of time with, so I'm sure I'll find more as I go.

MYCAREER

MyCareer is really what 2K seems to be hanging their hat on with WWE 2K17. With several complains over the MyCareer in WWE 2K16, they did a great job with changing things up this year. MyCareer gives you the power to create your very own custom superstar, and take him through the ranks of the WWE winning titles, rivalries, and making your own story/history. From the superstars appearance, ring/entrance gear, move-set, and entrance its all up to your creation. After creating your appearance you are sent to the performance center to see head trainer, Matt Bloom, and several other trainees. You put on your first match, which will serve as a tutorial for those who jumped straight to this without playing a quick match, and he'll then tell you what he thought. You'll get to have your first promo by yourself in the ring, and then you'll go one on one with Enzo Amore in a verbal bout to teach you the ins and outs of each promo. You'll have one more Performance Center match against NXT Champion, Samoa Joe, and after that you'll be set free. I was able to defeat Samoa Joe, so I was thrown into the U.S. Championship hunt right away. I'm not sure if anything is different if you were to lose to Samoa Joe while in training.

The only complaint I have on the MyCareer mode is that is taking me forever to progress. For those who played WWE 2K16, the way you advance through the championship ranks is the same. You start at #10 on any given title, and then you have to work your way up. I started at #10 in the United States Championship hunt, and I've had three big rivalries. One with Randy Orton, one with Dolph Ziggler, and one with John Cena(who is currently the U.S. Champ on my game). I won all three rivalries but yet I'm still only #4. I am not allowed to go after any other title until I win my first one, and I'm not allowed to advance in the "Paul Heyman Guy" storyline until I win my first main roster title. I've done everything and then some over what has been an in-game four months and I have barely made a dent. Other than that, the new addition of giving promo's has changed the MyCareer completely in the best way, and definitely what I've spent most of my time on.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So far, I've really enjoyed myself with WWE 2K17. Being able to play as my favorite wrestler of all time in Shawn Michaels, and have him win all the current championships as well as every title WWE or WCW ever had(all title belts are unlockable) has been a lot of fun for me. From an incredible playable roster, that with pre-orders and getting the NXT Edition could include Goldberg and Shinsuke Nakamura, and awesome game modes this is everything I expected it to be. Yeah the glitches can be pretty annoying sometimes, but also bring some humor every now and then. I'm sure 2K is already preparing the next patch to get rid of these glitches permanently, and that will only make things better. The MyCareer alone is something I'm really enjoying besides the painstaking climb to win any championships, but I have a feeling once I finally get there then it'll open the door to do so much more in the game mode. It's gameplay can be frustrating and seemingly useless at some points, but its something you can get used to and even begin to read when it might mess up. With everything I've experienced so far I'm very comfortable giving this game an 8/10, and something wrestling fans and video game fans alike will definitely enjoy.

WWE's latest video game WWE 2K16 was released last week, and after a bit of time playing the game, there are a few things that we have decided you should consider when deciding whether or not you should get the game for yourselves.

Career Mode

WWE 2K15 had arguably the worst career mode of any game ever. Not only were there a limited number of storylines, they didn't even pretend to have anything interesting for you to do. You got the same message week in week out about how there was nothing lined up for you this week and you just had to choose one of two random matches. This was even the case when you were champion, and even if you did somehow get a championship match and won it—which you would, because your superstar was 100 rated by the time you got to SmackDown—you were only allowed to defend it 10 times before they took it off you. The whole mess concluded in the worst way possible with you winning the WWE Championship and then getting a message saying it's time to retire. Therefore, there wasn't much WWE 2K16 had to do to improve on this, but they have actually made quite a good career mode.

You can defend the title as many times as you want, but you don't just get a random title shot, you have to choose which title you want to fight for, then work your way up the rankings to get the title shot. You can also choose who your rivals are and who your tag team partner is, which is much better than ignoring the tag titles like last year. This gives a real sense of developing a career like many WWE Legends have with great singles and tag team accomplishments. They have also solved the ending to the career mode as now you can become WWE World Heavyweight Champion as many times as you like, and to end the career, you have to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. To do this, you have to complete either one main goal or three sub-goals. However, just because you have been inducted it doesn't mean you have to retire. You can go on to complete all of the goals and then retire, within a limit of 15 years. Overall, this year's career mode has potential to be the best WWE video game career mode ever, and with 3 save slots, there is a lot of potential for 3 very different career modes.

Match types

WWE 2K15 also had very few match types, with things like singles ladder, tornado tag and handicap matches all missing the cut. But this year, all of those—as well as many more—are back, and it means that you can really put on some great matches and not feel limited in your options. There is still a maximum of 6 people at any time, which means Royal Rumble matches will still feel a little odd, but there are now 10-man and 20-man rumble matches. I'm not sure I'll ever use those, but at least the option's there. The inclusion of all these different match types can only ever be a good thing, and hopefully, next year's game will see the inclusion of even more. Take not, 2K. More is better, even if no one is asking for more.

Roster

WWE 2K15 had 67 playable characters at release, while WWE 2K16 has 120. To go back to what I just said, more is always better. This year's game has seen many more of the current main roster along with NXT stars included, which helps make things like Career Mode and Universe Mode much more authentic. However, there are still some key names missing or only available through DLC. Examples of this include The Dudley Boyz, Los Matadores, Samoa Joe and perhaps most importantly, the Four Horsewomen of NXT. 2K said that the reason for this was that they weren't big until the game was late into development, but if that was the case, when was Eva Marie big? There is also the problem of the inclusion of many, many, many legends—some of who really aren't needed. The reason for this is the Showcase Mode, but with some important people being left out, they could have easily downplayed the legends a little.

2K Showcase

2K Showcase this year was based around Austin's career, starting with him winning King of the Ring and the "Austin 3:16" quote and ending at WrestleMania 19. It gives a good overview of his career and doesn't take a ridiculous amount of time to complete, but also takes long enough that it's worth putting some effort into. It allows you to unlock many characters and arenas and is definitely a good way to get into the game.

Universe Mode

Universe Mode in 2K15 was one of the few areas where not much improvement was needed, and not much has been changed for this year's game. Small improvements have been made, such as allowing stars to wrestle on more than one show and improvements in how storylines develop, and the increased roster obviously makes for a more realistic experience.

So what have you made of this year's game? If you haven't got it yet, do you think you will after reading this? What do they need to do to convince you to buy 2K17?

Let us know in the comments below and be sure to check out the review on Fanboys Anonymous as well!

Last week, it was revealed that Stone Cold Steve Austin would grace the cover of the latest WWE2K game and it got me thinking back to old wrestling video games and the first one that came into my mind was the video game was the game that introduced me into wrestling:

(Look at Hogan's face in the bottom right corner. Even he's horrified of this game. Was there really no better image of him to put in the cover. NONE?!)

For the uninitiated, WCW/nWo Thunder was a PlayStation 1 game released on New Year's Eve in 1998 by THQ. It is the follow-up game to their Nitro game that was released a year earlier and Thunder features a larger roster than it's predecessor. It was made as a way to cash in on the "success" of WCW's Thursday night show in the late 1990's. The game's roster is mostly comprised of the biggest names of the nWo faction and non-nWo wrestlers but it also contains members of smaller factions like the Four Horsemen and Raven's Flock. But how does the game stack up almost 17 years after its initial release? Does it stack up against other wrestling games?

Presentation:

The game opens up with a full motion of video showing highlights from the Thunder TV show that made Thunder appear to be better than the atrocity it ultimately ended up being known for.

The roster contains 32 wrestlers to start off with, including Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Sting, The Giant, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart, and many more.


What's cool about this game (and a few other games at the time) was that you could actually listen to a little rant/promo from each of these 32 wrestlers and I have to admit, they're pretty fun to listen to.

The music in this game is, lackluster to say the least. the soundtrack is extremely limited and you get tired of it very fast. Before a match, you're introduced to a small cut-scene of each wrestler with either any of the nWo themes, the Four Horsemen theme, Raven's theme, or the Thunder theme. The commentary during matches is bland and just there. You occasionally hear Tony Schiavone call out a move and that's about it. It adds nothing to the game. Even WWE 2K Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler is better than this, and that's saying something. Overall, it's pretty bad.

The graphics also do not help things either, but I do give the game developers a bit of a break because designing human characters in sports games at the time was tough and a lot of the time, they would come out as pretty bad and low-resolution. At the very least, the motions and the wrestling moves come out as fluid as they could and looked pretty decent at the time of release. Don't get me wrong. It still looks bad, but not downright terrible.

Gameplay:

The game's controls are complicated and downright terrible. Pulling off combinations and finishers are pretty hard to do, especially when there were times that I had to deal with input lag. And in a fighting game, this is the biggest sin of them all. There's now excusing that.

Thunder can also be pretty exploitable in which you can do certain things to win the match in as little as 30 seconds, such as keeping your opponent and yourself locked in arms to wear your opponent's energy out or immediately roll out of the ring to force your opponent out as well and once the referee is at 8 out of 10 to get back in the ring, simply press the Select button to call for another wrestler to come in and help you and just go back in the ring while the enemy is distracted to win by count-out. It feels cheap and unrewarding winning that way but sometimes you're forced to do it because the controls are bad.


You can hit your opponents with weapons and let me tell you, it feels great hitting your opponent with a baseball bat or kendo stick and you can feel the impact from those hits and it is so gratifying.

After that, the game doesn't really innovate in the way of controls, it's pretty much the same controls as Nitro but you can customize it. It doesn't bring anything exciting to the game and it feels kind of bland to be honest.

Features:

Right off the bat you're introduced to a menu of different match types and whether or not you want them to be single-player or multi-player. You have different match types (Steel Cage, Battle Royal, Tag Team) but you also have tournaments for the different championship belts in WCW like the World Heavyweight Championship, the US Heavyweight Championship, and the TV Title in which you fight. It's good and bad at the same time. Good because it already is more variety than the Nitro game, but bad because it felt underwhelming at the same. maybe it's because we're exposed to many more match types today but in the late 90's, WCW was experimenting with different match types and looking back, I wished there was more to offer, like an item on a Pole match where you put the title on a pole or even Viagra.

After you beat a tournament with a wrestler, you get to unlock another WCW wrestler and each wrestler unlocks another wrestler. So that's so far a total of 64 members of the roster which is incredible for a game at that time. If you get tired of having to unlock every character and going through the grind, there's always cheat codes to unlock every single unlockable wrestler. But it wouldn't be a 90's video game if there weren't a number of cheat codes and they do not disappoint.

There's cheat codes that lets you change the ring look at will, there's the obligatory big-head mode that was so popular as well. You could even change a wrestler's offensive and defensive stats. But the granddaddy of them all was the cheat code that lets you unlock the entire video game roster. It doesn't just automatically give you access to the 64 wrestlers but another 64 characters that the developers really enjoyed putting there. Why you ask? Because you can play as many other people such as Mean Gene Okerlund, Miss Elizabeth, the WCW Nitro Girls, and a Cow.

Nope that's not a typo. You can play as a cow! That needs to be said again. There is a WCW licensed video game for the PlayStation 1 where you drop kick, punch, kick, and body slam The Giant (a.k.a. The Big Show) who's billed as taller than seven feet and weighs in at 500 lbs. as a FREAKING COW!!!!!


You can also play as a sailor, a giant praying mantis, a horse, a robot, and even members of the development team themselves. This is so hilariously awesome it adds so much to the game having one of the most versatile wrestling video game rosters of all time.

Final Thoughts:

This game is bad and boring. It doesn't do anything overly exciting in terms of controls or atmosphere. Yes you can compete in a steel cage or have a battle royal but it feels pretty much the same.

The graphics aren't great, the music is terrible, commentary is uninspiring and the controls have input lag and complicated. All of those blend together to bring in a pretty bad experience, much like the original Thunder television show.

But for some reason, I found parts of the game to be really fun. The roster in total gives ample opportunity to create some hilarious fight scenarios (Horse vs Cow. Who is better?) and you'll have tons of fun unlocking the characters and using them if you can get past controls.

You can do worse with a wrestling video game and playing with a friend can be somewhat enjoyable if your patience and pain tolerance is high enough. It got pretty bad reviews when it was first released and I can completely see why. But it's not a complete waste and if you were a huge WCW fan like I was, it's not a terrible pick-up. It only costs less than $10 online and let's face it. If you spent your life playing video games, then you definitely payed more to play worse.

Final score: 2.5/5

WWE has announced the full roster for the WWE 2K14 video game, split in two sections based on the current roster and the relics of the old "30 Years of WrestleMania Mode".

CURRENT WWE ROSTER MEMBERS:

AJ Lee
Aksana
Brodus Clay
Christian
Cody Rhodes
Damien Sandow
David Otunga
Dean Ambrose
Drew McIntyre
Eddie Guerrero
Heath Slater
Jack Swagger
Jinder Mahal
Justin Gabriel
Kaitlyn
Kane
Kofi Kingston
Layla
Lita
Mark Henry
Mr. McMahon
Natalya
R-Truth
Roman Reigns
Santino Marella
Seth Rollins
Sheamus
Sin Cara
Stephanie McMahon
Tensai
The Great Khali
Titus O'Neil
Wade Barrett
Zack Ryder

30 YEARS OF WRESTLEMANIA ROSTER:

Alberto Del Rio
Andre the Giant
Batista
Big John Studd
Big Show
Big Show (Retro)
Bret "Hit Man" Hart
Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar (Retro)
Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho (Retro)
CM Punk
Diesel
Edge
Goldberg
Hollywood Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan (Retro)
JBL
John Cena
John Cena (Retro)
Kane (Retro)
King Kong Bundy
"Macho Man" Randy Savage
Mick Foley
Randy Orton
Razor Ramon
Ric Flair
Ric Flair (Retro)
Ricky Steamboat
Sgt. Slaughter
Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels (Retro)
Stone Cold Steve Austin
"The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase
The Miz
The Rock
The Rock (Retro)
The Undertaker
The Undertaker (Retro)
Triple H
Triple H (Retro)
Ultimate Warrior
Yokozuna

30 Years of WrestleMania Mode Eras & Matches:

Hulkamania Runs Wild

WrestleMania: André the Giant vs. Big John Studd
WrestleMania 2: Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy
WrestleMania III: Ricky the Dragon Steamboat vs. Macho Man Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth)
WrestleMania III: Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant (with Bobby Heenan)
WrestleMania IV: Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth and Hulk Hogan) vs.Ted DiBiase (with André the Giant)
WrestleMania V: Randy Savage vs. Hulk Hogan
WrestleMania VI: The Ultimate Warrior (Intercontinental Champion) vs. Hulk Hogan (WWF Champion)
WrestleMania VII: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter
WrestleMania VIII: Randy Savage (with Miss Elizabeth) vs. Ric Flair (with Mr. Perfect)
WrestleMania IX: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (with Mr. Fuji)

The New Generation

WrestleMania X: HBK vs. Razor Ramon Intercontinental Championship Ladder Match
WrestleMania X: Bret Hart vs. Yokozuna (c) (with Mr. Fuji)
WrestleMania XI: The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) vs. King Kong Bundy (with Ted DiBiase)
WrestleMania XI: Diesel vs. HBK
WrestleMania XII: The Undertaker (with Paul Bearer) vs. Diesel
WrestleMania XII: Bret Hart (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania 13: Bret Hart vs. Steve Austin

Attitude Era

WrestleMania XIV: The Undertaker vs. Kane (with Paul Bearer)
WrestleMania XV: The Rock (c) vs. Steve Austin
WrestleMania 2000: Triple H (c) vs. The Rock vs. Big Show vs. Mick Foley
WrestleMania X-Seven: The Rock (c) vs. Steve Austin

Ruthless Aggression

WrestleMania X8: The Rock vs. Hollywood Hogan
WrestleMania X8: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Triple H
WrestleMania XIX: HBK vs. Chris Jericho
WrestleMania XIX: The Rock vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
WrestleMania XX: John Cena vs. The Big Show
WrestleMania XX: Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar
WrestleMania 21: John "Bradshaw" Layfield vs. John Cena
WrestleMania 22: Edge w/Lita vs. Mick Foley
WrestleMania 23: Batista (c) vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania 23: John Cena (c) vs. Shawn Michaels
WrestleMania XXIV: HBK vs. Ric Flair
WrestleMania XXIV: Randy Orton (c) vs. John Cena vs. Triple H

Universe Era

WrestleMania XXV: Edge (c) vs. John Cena vs. Big Show
WrestleMania XXV: Triple H (c) vs. Randy Orton
WrestleMania XXVI: Chris Jericho (c) vs. Edge
WrestleMania XXVI: Batista (c) vs. John Cena
WrestleMania XXVI: The Undertaker vs. HBK
WrestleMania XXVII: Edge (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio
WrestleMania XXVII: The Miz (c) vs. John Cena
WrestleMania XXVIII: The Undertaker vs. Triple H
WrestleMania XXVIII: CM Punk vs. Jericho
WrestleMania XXVIII: The Rock vs. John Cena
WrestleMania 29: Brock Lesnar vs. Triple H
WrestleMania 29: CM Punk vs. The Undertaker
WrestleMania 29: The Rock vs. John Cena 2