Wrestling Empire builds on the successful formula of No Mercy (Nintendo 64) and Smackdown! (PlayStation) by keeping controls simple but adds a layer of pure chaos that casual players and streamers will enjoy.

Raw Career Mode Gameplay

Standout Features

Robust create-a-wrestler (CAW) that allows you to customize all aspects of any wrestlers in the game including entrances, layered clothing and color hues, move selection, wrestling territory, promotion they wrestle in, their role, if they are a heel or face and details like manager, partner, friends, and enemies. It. Is. Robust.

Game Customization to tweak the gameplay and camera system to your liking. Set the maximum number of characters in the ring at once (up to 30!), if you allow managers ring-side, the frequency of interference, level of blood/gore, and more. During exhibition matches you can also select from pre-defined match types (cage match, elimination, etc) or setup your own by choosing the style of the ring, if there is an audience and how full the stadium is (or have virtual fans displaying on screens), and all of the match variations you can think of. It’s a wrestling fans dream scenario.

With such an in-depth set of customization options it’s also important to note that the game has 350 different wrestlers in the game. So you can jump in and start playing immediately without going through any of that. There is even an option to immediately unlock all characters which helps. This game is not licensed so all wrestlers have fake names but it’s not hard to figure out who they are and changing their name only takes a few seconds.

Not being licensed allows this game to be over the top ridiculous and we are all better off because of that.

Career Mode kept me coming back to this game far beyond what I intended to play for this review. It was that fun. You start off by selecting an existing wrestler or customizing your own. Immediately you’re thrown into a grudge match with someone that isn’t very happy about needing to show you the ropes. Everything from that point on is pure chaos. Run-ins, backstage drama, interviews where you are quizzed on your career, bad promotors that force you to change your character, and random narrative elements that encourages you to keep playing to see what happens next. There is also a “Booking Career” mode where you manage talent and book matches to gain popularity and generate revenue.

To help keep things organized, Wrestling Empire features a weekly wrap-up report after your matches to show the popularity of the promotion, breaking news like injuries or wrestlers being fired or joining new promotions, and title changes.

Final Thoughts

While I played this on the Nintendo Switch I highly recommend hooking it up to a standard television for your initial playthroughs. The customization user interface options are extensive and often fill the screen. I found it difficult to see some of smaller details until I was on a larger screen.

Exhibition and career modes are easily played on the handheld device and are equally fun on the small screen. The portability was the primary reason I purchased this game on the Nintendo Switch instead of PC and I do not regret it.

Although there is a fairly long training mode the portions that I played through focused on the basics of gameplay like the strike, grapple, and pin buttons. To get the most of the game there are a lot of deeper control mechanics you will want to understand like additional grappling options, power moves, stealing your opponents finisher, and using different objects around the ring.

“The Insider” was fired after an illustrious 7 week career during Christmas, the week of a title shot, because the promotor demanded I increase my stamina by 4%. I didn’t realize I could change that setting, also known as “training”, from the career menu. There are a lot of gameplay quirks like that but it’s well worth it if you stick through moments like that.

To get the most out of the game check out MDickie’s online Wrestling Empire Instruction Manual and their official subreddit r/WrestlingEmpire.