Darkstar Diaries: Entry 2 by Darkstar Shady

I’ve been a WWE fan for over 20 years now, dating back to the tail end of the invasion storyline and just before the Ruthless Aggression era began. 

My connection to their video games actually goes even further back. 

I’ve been a gamer for more than 30 years now, and even before I was allowed to watch the WWE, a few of their games made their way into my collection. 

The start of my gaming journey came from hand-me-downs. I started with an NES and a box full of games in the early years, before a Sega Genesis came my way, as well. 

I won’t pretend they were all-time favorites. But my cousin and I would throw on WWF Raw, and a couple of NES wrestling games, when we wanted a competition. 

There weren’t a lot of names we were familiar with, since we hadn’t been exposed to any other wrestling content—yet. 

Once we started watching SmackDown, the cartridges found their way into the systems more often. Still not as frequent, because by then gaming had moved forward.

The SmackDown games on PS1 were amazing at the time. My cousins and I loved having wild matches and passing the controllers around. 

They were some of the first games that really made me connect with gaming on a deep level. It wasn’t just passing time or having fun, we were fully immersed in pro wrestling and we just wanted more. I thought I loved video games before, but wrestling deepened that connection.

I even ended up with a copy of WCW Mayhem on PS1 that I enjoyed.

I never got the chance to watch WCW, but some of the names were familiar and the gameplay was good enough to keep me playing. Gaming really was simpler and it didn’t take much for the younger me to be happy.

Saving up money and getting my own PS2 and GameCube just made the addiction stronger.

SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth and WrestleMania X8 on PS2 and GameCube were both phenomenal. My cousin and I would take turns restarting the story modes and playing matches against each other. When I visited my grandpa and had internet access, I’d print off instructions from forums on how to use the create-a-character mode to make superstars not included in the games.

My GameCube turned into just a wrestling console. Zelda and Mario games were ignored for WrestleMania X8, WrestleMania XIX, Legends of Wrestling, Day of Wreckoning and WWE Crush Hour. 

It was heartbreaking when my GameCube was stolen. Hours and hours of create-a-character and story mode playthroughs were gone, and I couldn’t afford to replace the console.  Thankfully I still had my PS2 and the SmackDown! series was running away with the title of best WWE games. My GameCube games turned into trade credit that kept me playing on PlayStation.

The first SmackDown vs. Raw game changed everything. The create-a-wrestler mode felt so detailed, and my cousin and I could create custom championships, stables and PPVs. The game became a whole new beast when we could customize so much of it and put on shows to defend our own creations. 

When I got my PSP, I had a couple of the sequels on it. SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 and 2007 were amazing, and I loved being able to play wherever I was. 

SvR 2006 was likely the start of my addiction to simulation games. GM Mode was the best thing I could have imagined. I played the games endlessly just booking shows and making up the storylines in my head as I went through them.

Over the years, I stopped watching the weekly product as my time was getting spread between more responsibilities, but I would still pick up WWE games because I genuinely enjoyed the gameplay. 

WWE 2K14 on PS3 was a standout for me, because I downloaded so many ridiculous things from the community creations that my matches were wild things like Batman vs. Pikachu for the WWE title.

Since getting back into wrestling, I’ve become addicted to the games again. I haven’t missed a release, and I spend a ton of time playing GM mode again. I have yet to master the mode, but I have so much fun booking shows and playing the matches I want to try and influence. 

GM Mode and custom content let me book stories and matches we’d never get to see in WWE. 

I’ve been playing 2K25 on my Series X, but I did just add it to my PC library as well. I’m excited to see what mods are available, and maybe do some streaming.

WWE games have stuck with me through most of my life, and I don’t see that changing.