My History with Pro Wrestling
WCW Starrcade, December 28th, 1997; Sting would challenge Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. A clash of icons. A tenacious tussle of tremendous titans. A match-up regarded by many as one of the worst of all time, but, to a young Jayonnaise6105, well, this beautiful mess was the first pro-wrestling match that I had ever seen. I mean, how could I not be enraptured? These were larger than life characters battling it out for gold & glory in over-the-top theatrical combat. It was as though the characters from my comic books had leapt from the page and onto my TV screen.
From this point, I was hooked on professional wrestling. I would stay up late to watch episodes of WCW Monday Nitro at my grandmother's house, I would watch episodes of Monday Night Raw that my friend had recorded onto VHS tapes and, perhaps most importantly, I would start to rent wrestling video games. WWF No Mercy, WCW/NWO Revenge & Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64. Smackdown! 2, WCW Mayhem & ECW Hardcore Revolution for the PS1. Here Comes the Pain, Smackdown vs Raw & Legends of Wrestling for the PS2. If it had wrestling in it, I wanted to play it. This era of late 90's to mid 2000's formed a sort of golden age of wrestling games for me, and this is the era that Wrestling Empire looks to recapture.
From this point, I was hooked on professional wrestling. I would stay up late to watch episodes of WCW Monday Nitro at my grandmother's house, I would watch episodes of Monday Night Raw that my friend had recorded onto VHS tapes and, perhaps most importantly, I would start to rent wrestling video games. WWF No Mercy, WCW/NWO Revenge & Wrestlemania 2000 for the N64. Smackdown! 2, WCW Mayhem & ECW Hardcore Revolution for the PS1. Here Comes the Pain, Smackdown vs Raw & Legends of Wrestling for the PS2. If it had wrestling in it, I wanted to play it. This era of late 90's to mid 2000's formed a sort of golden age of wrestling games for me, and this is the era that Wrestling Empire looks to recapture.
Wrestling Empire
Wrestling Empire is a pro wrestling video game developed and independently published by Mat Dickie, and was released in 2021 for PC, IOS, Android & the Nintendo Switch. Dickie began developing games in the 2000s, and would release several low-budget wrestling games on PC that would go on to form the basis for what Wrestling Empire would become.
Visual Style: Less Is More
At first glance, the visual style is low-budget. It is reminiscent of the N64 wrestling games developed by AKI Corporation, and, when combined with its arcade-y gameplay, goes a long way in helping the game stand out amongst the more realistic, simulation-based WWE 2K series. Not only does it look different, but this lower-fidelity graphical style allows more focus on developing the gameplay aspects and helps the game run more smoothly, either at 30FPS or 60FPS, as selectable in the options menu.
A big part of Empire's charm is the tongue-in-cheek nature in its design. The default wrestlers in the game are a mix of original Mat Dickie creations, and parodies of existing professional wrestlers/celebrities with legally distinct names. Using the in-game customisation options, however, or select mods on the PC version, you can freely change the legally distinct parody wrestlers to more accurately reflect their real-world counterparts.
A big part of Empire's charm is the tongue-in-cheek nature in its design. The default wrestlers in the game are a mix of original Mat Dickie creations, and parodies of existing professional wrestlers/celebrities with legally distinct names. Using the in-game customisation options, however, or select mods on the PC version, you can freely change the legally distinct parody wrestlers to more accurately reflect their real-world counterparts.
Game Modes
You have your standard exhibition mode. Pick your match types, wrestlers and get to the grapplin'. You have some pretty deep customisation options between selecting the ring, the crowd and the match types. You can have up to 30 people in a match at once, or more with mods, and special bonus points for being able to have a dog-collar match! There's an editor for you to customise the wrestlers and in-game wrestling promotions, and a career mode for both a wrestler and a booker.
The Life and Times Of A Pro-Wrestler
Besides the exhibition mode, you can also jump into the career mode. Career mode is pretty open-ended: You wrestle matches as your chosen character week to week, trying to earn money, win championship belts and angle for the best contracts possible from the several different in-game wrestling promotions, all until you manually retire or your character dies. The matches you get booked in, and events that occur as you play, are randomly generated, adding a rogue-lite feel to the game.
This feature was pretty standard at launch, but has been expanded significantly through free updates over the years: New random events and a free roaming option. The free roaming option is especially interesting, as you are able to explore around a little town, but you also become responsible for managing your hunger & sleep, as well as making sure you get to the venue on time to wrestle your matches. You can legitimately miss or no-show your matches in the free roam option!
There is also the booking career mode, although I never really liked it that much. You pick your character similarly to the wrestler career mode, except you are responsible for drafting your roster and making the matches on your show each week. The problem for me is that the UI is kinda clunky, and there isn't a lot of explanation on what to do or how to do it. It was another free update to the game, and, for the sake of variety, I'm still glad to see it included.
This feature was pretty standard at launch, but has been expanded significantly through free updates over the years: New random events and a free roaming option. The free roaming option is especially interesting, as you are able to explore around a little town, but you also become responsible for managing your hunger & sleep, as well as making sure you get to the venue on time to wrestle your matches. You can legitimately miss or no-show your matches in the free roam option!
There is also the booking career mode, although I never really liked it that much. You pick your character similarly to the wrestler career mode, except you are responsible for drafting your roster and making the matches on your show each week. The problem for me is that the UI is kinda clunky, and there isn't a lot of explanation on what to do or how to do it. It was another free update to the game, and, for the sake of variety, I'm still glad to see it included.
Some Closing Thoughts
As I get older, I don't find quite as much joy in watching wrestling as I used to as a kid/teenager. Real world behind-the-scenes stuff can take some of the fun out of it, and the fandom can be overly toxic at times, no matter which wrestling companies you choose to watch. It's not all that fun to talk about anymore. I still love a good wrestling game though, and the WWE 2K games can still be fun, but they're annual releases nowadays. A new game every year with minimal differences; Microtransaction-heavy and anti-consumer. Wrestling Empire came out in 2021 and has only ever had free content updates. I would love to see more indie games like Wrestling Empire find success in the future.
Show the girls some love, you'll be surprised how many amazing AEW/WWE female wrestlers are ex stardom champions or had a stint in the circuit. Aussies, Brits, Mexican all pop up too.
