TIER LIST: WWE Major Console Video Games

The crazy, colourful and bombastic world of WWE was MADE to eventually become a video game - It just ticks all the boxes, so it's no surprise that there have been almost countless officially licensed WWE video games on major home consoles. Ross Tweddell and Andrew Hodkinson are here to take a look at a wide selection and decide which ones are the best and which need to get in the bin! From the esteemed heights of No Mercy on the Nintendo 64, all the way down to WWF Attitude. From Nintendo and Xbox's exclusive Day of Reckoning and Raw titles, to the modern day simulation heavy WWE2K series: This is the WWE Major Console Video Games Tier List!
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[@ThatHeelRyan]

SvR 2007 deserves more love, such a beautiful game

[@JaimeD.]

I played it with my cousin and was fun. I finished a match in a few seconds with Kane and could not believe I did that. 😂

[@mo.magas824]

Best wrestling game ever imo

[@midsectionmark8956]

It’s in the best I will have no debate about it… it’s not THE best but it’s in the best haha 😂.

[@terminatorgaming4356]

No 08 best

[@DrGanja99]

I agree. It’s definitely up there with the hotspots, GM mode, & roster. Not to mention the best soundtrack of any WWE game.

[@conorwhite8600]

Smackdown shut your mouth is so underrated imo!

[@USMNT1913]

I think Here Comes The Pain was so good it kind of overshadowed Shut Your Mouth

[@wilsonchadbenitez3021]

It's my second favorite game

[@lilt1037]

I didn't like it cus for some reason I could never have a successful save and I lost my progress every single time

[@DateMike22]

@@lilt1037 Never happened to me

[@matt77555]

That's my favorite above hctp

[@ItzBadger.]

30 years of Wrestlemania was in WWE 2K 14

[@ulti.matt04]

Came here just for this comment cos I was going crazy

[@LeeShields11]

I genuinely thought the Thumbnail was Ross trying to squeeze the life out of Andrew's head at first glance! 🤕😂

[@gavinhirst3136]

I loved using the analog stick controls in SDvR 7/8/9 to powerbomb people straight over the top rope to the outside. Gorgeously brutal

[@JaimeD.]

*SmackDown vs Raw 2009 ft ECW* holds deeply in my heart. Playing the "Road To Wrestlemania" storytelling were stupendous and hell a lot of fun in PSP.

[@NagatoNaoeProduction]

Raw 2 on Xbox was really fun. It also had a really unique feature that I liked as a kid. Because the Xbox had an internal hard drive, you could put music from CDs onto it, and it let you use those songs as entrance themes, so you could get around wrestlers having the wrong theme (Or censored, as Undertaker's was by default).

[@CGaz1812]

The Day of Reckoning games are the most underrated wrestling games in my opinion. They’re my favorite wrestling games ever.

[@envoy2500]

Same. I'm mostly here to see how those get ranked specifically.

[@GinkgoPete]

Fantastic games with such a good character creator

[@jhzwwe123]

Day of Reckoning 1 is the best wrestling game ever. No gameplay even now comes close to how good it was

[@nickdaniel3840]

Day of reckoning being alright pains me so much. Literally my favorite wrestling game of all time. I play the story mode every other year.

[@ChrisTomson]

Here Comes the Pain is so good, even now.

[@envoy2500]

Day of Reckoning had the smoothest gameplay with the best counter system of any wrestling game I ever played.

[@flippy7035]

OH YEAH, HERE WE GO, WRESTLING GAMES TIME! HCTP better be in the best.

[@LordBlakeWhitehouse]

Everyone who started watching wrestling in the 90s: “No Mercy is the greatest wrestling game” Everyone who started watching wrestling after the 90s: “No Mercy’s alright”

[@Hells333]

Used to have little tournaments with all the neighborhood kids when I was younger

[@Hells333]

Created a character named "Hells Guardian" name just stuck. Looked alot like Kane with that nasty Screw Driver finisher that I belive was Scott Stieners move.

[@TheNeonParadox]

Everyone who started watching wrestling in the 80s: "No Mercy is the greatest wrestling game."

[@pavement3931]

everyone who started watching wrestling in the 50s: how the fuck do I play this

[@morequick8842]

WWE’13 is where the attitude era started in the games, the soundtrack was amazing and the roster was great too, really underrated

[@allday87]

2k15, 2k20, Crush Hour would be in "Get in The Bin" on my tier list

[@causerDAguv]

LOLLLLL!!!!!!! fist bump

[@Walkerman404]

Crush Hour was ok, an effort to try something new that was meh. Completely agree with the other 2 though.

[@TarnishedCaveman]

That bin would be a LOT more full if they went older than N64/PS1

[@shaneyboy619]

I'm so glad to hear you both be so positive about Crush Hour! The only times I've heard it brought up over the years has been negative stuff, it was honestly one of my favourite games growing up so it's nice to see it get some well deserved love :)

[@_SSGB_]

THQ didn't make any of the WWE games, they were just a publisher. The N64 games were made by AKI, and from the PS1 Smackdown games to WWE 2K19 all the mainline games were developed by Yuke's.

[@OkieAllDay]

WCW vs NWO for N64 is the only wrestling game I've ever owned. Played that thing non-stop growing up

[@aporkpiepizza]

Best Wrestling game of all time!

[@bayleyaustin2202]

SmackDown vs Raw 2010 on DS was my favorite game as a kid! I would sit and play it for hours! And the story mode was really interesting and cool. It was different than the console version. It was almost like story/career mode on 2K games! You got hired as a new superstar and had to work your way up and collect titles. You also could train at the gym and improve certain skills and rebuild different skills. You also had a Medical Facility where you went to heal up. If not you’d carry damage over from match to match. So if you were hurt from show to show you had to actually heal. Then you had the GM office where you could request matches and your own house/apartment to go back to and rest to load the next level and do other stuff. You could also interact with different characters outside of the matches, you had funds and would actually get paid for working matches and could buy more gear or power ups, and you had a calendar with your upcoming shows and throughout the week you could prep for it! The only downside was there was limits to what you could do as far as match stipulations and match functions. But overall it was a blast!!

[@nate.draws.things]

It always confuses me a bit hearing people talk about Wrestlemania 21. As a kid, my friend had the Playstation and I got an Xbox for Halo, so I got that game and remember loving it lol. But I definitely remember knowing the SvR games were better.

[@coleymissions]

I'm glad SVR 2011 got some love. I spent an absolute fortune on that game. it's actually the only wrestling game I've ever bought. I used to get so mad when having placed a ladder in the center of the ring, you'd climb and you'd be nowhere near the briefcase. irish whipping into the corner was almost impossible and putting an opponent through a table was a mission because you'd always somehow miss the table. also, also if your friend chose to spam that running grapple there was nothing you could do.

[@jaybongs2040]

Oh shittttt, now this is the best idea for a tier list. Can’t wait to watch this.

[@BFYbn]

I'd love a special video on Triple Jump where Ross does this for the FIFA games with someone... I know it's often meme'd as "the same game every year" but people who play them definitely have preferences and recognise features changing (not always for the better... bring back the FIFA 2003 free kick system...)

[@rickiehathaway8649]

WWE:Aftershock: Am I a joke to you?

[@unstablebrother]

This is the video I've been anticipating for all week! Love me a Gary KZbin tier list

[@SugaFree2387]

My big four are the SVR 2006,2007,2011 and smack down here comes the pain

[@cousinchris802]

Honorable mention to WWF Raw and WWF Royal Rumble for Sega Genesis. Very underrated for their time and very nostalgic for me.

[@aaronhurst4379]

Man I LOVED Storyline Mode in SvR 2010, shame that ended up being a one-off. Also, I think Shut Your Mouth had the best ever Season Mode, there were so many storylines!

[@dallaslucci1884]

WWE 2k15 is actually my favorite wwe of all time I had the most fun of my entire life playing wwe with my friends and creating characters and we even created a storyline and it’s still going on I streamed the game for a whole 2 months of just not even me playing just watching the bots fight each other and betting who would win while they do stupid ass moves there’s just something about the games mechanics like the entrances the fact you can make somebody come from the crowd and teleport onto the ramp

[@agentorange1156]

Here comes the pain & shut your mouth are my favorites specially because of how chaotic and fun the royal rumbles are. And I like the 2k simulation style because I like to book my own cards and make my own shows so the simulation style makes it more life like.

[@adilrashid9517]

Keep up the excellent work lads

[@corbinthepieguy0249]

I remember playing the beat the streak mode and I beat him once as Batista. He never reverses signatures so I’d spinebuster him a million times then hit a few Batista bombs but I remember he’d reverse finishers like no tomorrow

[@wilsonchadbenitez3021]

Smackdown! Here comes the Pain is my all time favorite console game!

[@Taluien]

Heel!Andrew is real. He can, will, and probably already has hurt you!

[@TheKAlltop]

Nah he's fine mate

[@misterblakk3690]

At first I was wondering why they didn't get Ben on for this, but then remembered Ben is gone until later in July!

[@nicktorres3285]

Love the tier lists

[@Mattack82]

Wrestlemania 2000 might be the wrestling game I played the most ever. Would always create characters based off Steve Blackman for some reason.

[@frankgt5004]

Day of Reckoning 1 & 2, WWE'13 are my favorite games

[@manmythmothman]

Interesting here. I'd put 2K19 in Best, 12 in Lovely, All Stars in the Bin and Legends in Alright. 2K19 was my first back since 2K14 (which I loved), 12 was iconic for its changes and I put soooo many hours into it (especially superstar threads), All Stars is horrendous to actually play and whilst Legends had many flaws, the graphics, the ability to put your 09 save in and create dream matches, and live out your dreams of being a star at mania with creation suite, it was good fun. Just took some getting used to.

[@UncensoredMMA]

All stars in the bin ? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard

[@johnnycheckpoint8431]

No Mercy, HCTP, SvR ‘06/‘07, and SvR 2010, I would all put in my top tier.

[@jackojacks3255]

Svr 2011

[@midsectionmark8956]

I agree with all those and put 2k14, WWE 13 and probably 2k19

[@danieljackson7074]

Ten seconds in, a Loki reference, love it!!

[@ethanbenfield2285]

Shut your mouth is very underrated because Here Comes the Pain was right after. It was my first and still favorite

[@scottarmstrong2808]

Remembered tooo many of these Solid list

[@Babl069]

Bought Shut your mouth used from this one guy this year, went home, opened the case... It didn't have the disc in it for Shut your Mouth... For some reason it had Here comes the Pain and I was so god damn happy about it :D

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

I've played most WWF games since NES to PS3. I'm 38 years old and love the PS1 WWF Games still

[@emilygradyrko]

Oh I love Andrew, the kettle/thumb story made me die🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@btr9160]

Think you’re missing WWE 2K Battlegrounds on the list and before anybody says, this tier lists isn’t just exclusive to mainline WWE titles. Since they’ve All Stars in the video.

[@unstablebrother]

Battlegrounds is forgettable tbf. It would be in the bin anyways

[@liamdoes8580]

@@unstablebrother I think just about bearable is fine

[@gjones86]

Also missed WWF Royal Rumble on the Dreamcast

[@crazedgamerhd]

Idk if i got this mixed up but I think it was here comes the pain, where you could do a tag hell in a cell match and chokeslam your opponent off the top but if your friend walked into you doing it, it would glitch and you would chokeslam your partner off instead. that was fun to do

[@YourAverageFan]

If they just made HCTP with updated things like moves through tables and GM mode and modernize it. It’d be in a tier of its own.

[@NotQuiteCupid]

2006, 2011, '12, '13, 2K14, and 2K17 are my personal favorites. Edit: 2010 on DS was also fantastic.

[@BobbiHiru]

Why 2k17?

[@Steeldragon493]

They finally did it

[@MrTheSmurf]

Svr 2008 was great holds special place in my heart did alot of hours in it on my psp haha

[@scottfitzgerald5309]

I was hoping the old games for nes, snes and mega drive would be on here

[@aporkpiepizza]

Ditto and the WCW and ECW games!

[@MJWild250]

They didn't even include in your house even though the prequel game for it is included

[@FryV2]

HCTP is my all time favorite wrestling game.

[@joshuahurtado9359]

I wish I played more of these.

[@Elliot419Music]

Attitudes move list can be accessed at the start menu. How did Ross miss that? Unlike WCW Nitro/Thunder.

[@McGomezAddams]

Pretty good list

[@tbspromotions]

The psp is heat, I personally loved SvR 2008 to 2011.

[@emanueltwr]

Loved me some Wrestlemania 2000, made me play with my hands thinking they were wrestlers in class and my 6th grade teacher was like....what the heck is this kid doing

[@THPLINKtheLEGEND]

No mention of the royal rumble game for dream cast Or battlegrounds?

[@RyanShortt]

You should make a tier list of wrestler face paint.

[@gunnerstation2226]

Shut Your Mouth should have been in the best tier, not sure why Ross had bad memories of it, was so much better than Just Bring It

[@Nbflowers1989]

Nice!

[@garrett1433]

All I need is a story mode for my wwe games xD

[@theboogeyman7973]

Same

[@britneyspearsvillarosa]

I still love The SmackDown series (PS1 & PS2 only)

[@thedeadmanfan09]

I remember Taz from just bring it saying "The arener is packeddd" all the time

[@JESK-lx4js]

“What’s he going to do from behind?”

[@MJWild250]

Can't help but notice that you've missed royal rumble on Dreamcast and WWF In Your House which was sequel for wrestlemania arcade game that you did include. So even if Dreamcast titles were arguably omitted this should've been in there Good watch regardless though

[@TyFtI34]

Got to do ALL wrestling games now

[@alexphillips1304]

Missed out royal rumble for dreamcast and raw arcade for mega drive and royal rumble for mega drive

[@ryanteacher8134]

03:58 WWF Warzone was not released on the Dreamcast.

[@DashieNegan41]

No Mercy is the best Wrestling game of all time then Here comes the Pain and then Smackdown 2

[@gavinhirst3136]

Fully agree mate 👌

[@JimProfit357]

I don't know much about the more recent entries, but I see a few glaring flaws that, respectfully, I think need proper consideration. First, how the heck is the original Smackdown VS Raw in the top tier? The pace was sluggish, it was riddled with bugs, had a dull visual style, gimped CAW mode, was much less flexible when assigning moves to each grapple types than it's predecessor or successor. Part of what makes HCTP so fondly remembered is because it clearly wasn't topped by something else soon after. On the other hand, if you replay SVR2006, I hereby suggest that is is in fact as good or better than HCTP in most respects, the decent Legends roster compensates for the slightly worse regular roster (of WWE at the time), and all of the flaws of SVR were corrected. And much better graphics to boot. Also, I humbly submit for your consideration that Shut Your Mouth was about as cult as HCTP, just in a different style. It was the last and best to have a quick grapple system before the new locking-up grapple system (a la AKI), which had its advantages for fast paced action. It looked great, had a great roster, had incredible backstage possibilities, throwing people off the Smackdown fist, or whatever arena's scaffolding that wasn't replicated in the sequels. It fixed everything that disappointed in Just Bring It, the graphics, the inaccurate Hell In A Cell, the story mode,...If the first two games are considered top-tier, there's not one reason that SYM wouldn't be above them.

[@logankerr8090]

do Tier List: ALL Jim Johnston theme songs!

[@quothetheraven79]

That would take forever lol

[@aprentissdaye]

Smackdown 2: Know Your Role Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Those 2 are my all time favorite and go to WWE games for the season modes and 2000/2002 rosters respectively.

[@jacobstubits6866]

I’m kinda sad SvR 2007 wasn’t in the best I played that game so much when I was a kid it was so good to me

[@mo.magas824]

I think it’s the absolute best

[@jeremywilliams5141]

Forget the bin. WWE 2K20 belongs in the landfill where the Atari 2600 E.T. games are.

[@firehead850]

I do absolutely love this channel tho, sorry if I seemed hateful. Not tryna be like that at all. Just didn’t particularly agree with a lot of these choice of ratings on the games. Love Cultaholic tho! Keep it up guys.

[@I....l....I]

You really put SvR 2005 over SvR 2007 and SYM LOL

[@Christiantheforestdweller]

Hey guys thanks for the great video. How about a wwe champions tier list

[@jakeycakes12345]

I really like this video

[@quothetheraven79]

Paul Bearer was a playable wrestler in Attitude so that should go in the best

[@Amber_xo_133]

Trish,Stacy,Victoria and Molly are the 4 female Wrestlers in DOR 1

[@ultraexcalibur1728]

Hello Fellow Asuna Profile Pic

[@RF81]

Just Bring It should be at least lovely lovely lovely. The last ever WWF game and Howard Finkel doing ring announcing.

[@SleepySheepy99]

Andrew is just flat out wrong about SvR 08. That one deserves to be in the bin

[@XTesT15X]

Truth

[@artminusme]

Woah the disrespect the Shut Your Mouth is crazy. Best story mode in any Wrestling game, The best game using the original SmackDown formula. A better CAW system than HCTP. Basically HCTP has a better roster and GamePlay SYM has a better Story Mode and CAW system. I think a replay of SYM is a must

[@BLCKSMTHApparel]

classic tna themes tier list

[@garyhen1707]

Do the early SNES games make this list?

[@artminusme]

I know this is just WWE games but for all wrestling games it's this.... The Bar: 1. Here Comes The Pain DEFINITIVE EDITION 2. Shut Your Mouth DEFINITIVE EDITION 3. Fire Pro Wrestling World 4. Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 5. No Mercy 6. Def Jam Vendetta 7. Revenge 8. WCW Vs nWo World Tour 9. WWE SVR 06' 10. Super Fire Pro Wrestling Special ⬇️ Honorable Mentions: All-Stars, Day of Reckoning 2, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, WWE SVR 07 08 11, WrestleMania 2000, Def Jam Fight For NY (Stella game... Not a Wrestling game tho, hip-hop street fight game, Vendetta is the Wrestling game)

[@MikeWilsonBarrett]

Wrestlemania 21 was awesome. The career mode is one of the best career modes in any wrestling game. Straight in lovely lovely lovely. So wish the game was on Xboxs backwards compatiabilty list but it isnt 😟

[@AaronWright360]

I agree the career mode in that doesn't get enough love I really enjoyed that as a kid.

[@daisyruth24]

LMFAO WrrestleMania XIX was my first WWE game on the GameCube and revenge mode was such freaking shit 🤣 My 27-year-old self would put that straight in the bin.

[@megatron9339]

Yesss!! 2K19 is indeed LOVELY, LOVELY, LOVELY!! 🍻🍻🍻

[@armstararmy]

ECW games where made on the same engine as warzone.

[@sadiazahid6768]

my goat svr 11

[@FoxeyeValkyrie]

I thought Gary KZbin was about my age...then he said he was born in 1992. I'm old.

[@logankerr8090]

really hope 2k22 is good. they had 2 years to make it.

[@JaKaJaEm]

Battleground And royal rumble don't count?

[@felixgifford1]

For a sec I thought you were gonna leave hctp at the bottom of the best 😂

[@hypobonix]

Andrew is a treasure

[@hypobonix]

@@graemenicol6377 you say that like its a bad thing

[@gspvideo5543]

2k19 would be top tier if had a very good universe / gm mode/ story designer mode