Wrestling video games can be a tricky thing to judge. It's easy to slam some games from the 1990s as being lacking, but considering the technology of the time, they were pretty good. It is telling how some games of the 2000s (especially SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain) are still regarded among the greatest wrestling games ever made and hold up well today.

Related
8 Best Wrestling Video Games On The Super Nintendo
Here's some nostalgia for all the old-school video gamers out there, highlighting all the best wrestling games to be released on the Super Nintendo!

Given WWE's stranglehold on video games for years with WWE2K, it's harder for another game to break out. Sadly, some games falter, are unable to pull it off, and come off worse thanks to how they should be better. The Metacritic site has specialized in gathering the reviews of scores of wrestling games over the decades and these stand out as among the worst there. While they can have defenders, these are the ten worst reviewed wrestling games on Metacritic, and some players may still wince at paying money for them.

UPDATE: 2024/03/01 12:18 EST BY BENJAMIN VIEIRA

Another year brings even more wrestling video games. In 2023, fans saw the releases of WWE 2K23 and AEW: Fight Forever, two of the most anticipated releases of the year for fans. Wrestling fans love their video games. Whether they love to fantasy book their own shows or just play as their favorite stars, there is something for everyone in them. However, some video games are, simply put, bad. They miss their goals or fail entirely with their concepts. With WWE and 2K gearing up to release their next installment in their partnership, let's take a look at the worst of the worst in professional wrestling video games.

10 Lucha Libre AAA Heroes Del Ring Was A Major Let Down For Fans

Overall Score: 49

Lucha Libre AAA Heroes de el Ring

Release Date

October 12, 2010

Consoles Available On

PlayStation 3, XBOX 360, PSP, Wii, DS

Making a game based on the beloved Mexican-based promotion must have sounded great. With so many high-flying masked characters, the potential was there for a terrific game. Sadly, it never came off as the game had decent controls and graphics, but nothing popping out from the WWE games of the time. It was heavily criticized for being far too slow, the total opposite of what lucha libre is about. It's not so much a horrible game as a horrible letdown to be sadly forgotten despite its good stuff.

9 Fire Pro Wrestling Was Too Cartoonish

Overall Score: 48

FirePro Wrestling Xbox

Release Date

September 21, 2012

Consoles Available On

XBOX 360

When the Fire Pro Wrestling franchise was announced as coming to the Xbox 360, fans were excited about a new generation of graphics to make the acclaimed realistic wrestling simulator shine like never before. Instead, what they got was a cartoonish game with wrestlers with giant heads in what amounted to a simple button-masher.

To waste the power of an Xbox 360 on this was bad enough without wonky controls and lackluster play. It's the black sheep of an otherwise fantastic family of wrestling titles.

8 Backyard Wrestling 2: There Goes The Neighborhood Was Worse Than The First

Overall Score: 46

Backyard Wrestling

Release Date

November 16, 2004

Consoles Available On

XBOX, PlayStation 2

The original, streamline what worked and cut what didn't. And then there are games that get worse as they go. The "roster" includes Insane Clown Posse, some long-forgotten underground wrestlers, and a few adult film stars.

Despite ideas like an "environmental attack" using your surroundings, the gameplay remained sloppy and even downgraded from the first. There could be glitches and other issues abounding and the create-a-star career path didn't work out. This belonged buried in a backyard.

7 WWE 2K20 Is The Worst Game Of The 2K Series

Overall Score: 43

Release Date

October 22, 2019

Consoles Available On

PlayStation 4, XBOX ONE, PC

This game is the only one from the WWE 2K series to be included on this list. And that is rightfully so. While 2K has released some truly great offerings to fans over the years, such as WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K19, WWE 2K20 really is the exception in many ways. The game was full of glitches and was broken, often crashing on players. It was so bad that 2K had skipped a year between releases, the first time that has happened since they took over the WWE video game license.

Related
Top 10 WWE Video Games Of All Time, Ranked
Looking into WWE's lengthy history with video games, they've had some incredible titles released over the years.

6 WCW Backstage Assault: A Wrestling Game That Had No In-Ring Action

Overall Score: 40

WCW Backstage Assault

Release Date

November 8, 2000

Consoles Available On

PlayStation, Nintendo 64

It makes bizarre sense that WCW's final video game had no in-ring action. Yes, WCW Backstage Assault, released just months before the company went under, has a strong roster of nearly 50 of WCW's top stars…all fighting outside the ring.

The action was only in parking lots, offices, backstage and more yet still using pinfalls or submissions to win. So no tag team matches or any actual wrestling bouts amid bad graphics and controls. Slammed with horrible reviews, it's a fitting end to WCW's video game history.

5 ECW: Anarchy Rulz Came Out Prior To ECW's Shutdown

Overall Score: 38

ECW Anarchy Rulz

Release Date

November 28, 2000

Consoles Available On

Dreamcast, PlayStation

Released just a few months before ECW went under, this has a lot of options from wrestlers to the styles of matches. Too bad more didn't go into the actual gameplay. It's a shame that the game boasts a lot of depth in the match types, from hardcore wars to more standard bouts and even Dusty Rhodes in his brief ECW tenure.

But the graphics were harsh, the controls wonky, and the Dreamcast (remember that?) version was far worse. Sadly, the failure of this game was an omen to ECW itself soon falling and not "ruling" anything.

4 Lucha Fury Was Boring For Fans

Overall Score: 37

Release Date

June 22, 2011

Consoles Available On

PlayStation 3, PC, XBOX 360

Lucha Fury is a little known wrestling game that was an arcade style, beat'em up video game. It combines the worlds of comic books and lucha libre, which is something that has often happened in the past. However, based on the reviews of Metacritic users, the game is boring and provides little fun and does not provide much replay.

3 The Simpsons Wrestling Brings To Mind A Comic Book Guy Quote

Overall Score: 32

Release Date

April 3, 2001

Consoles Available On

PlayStation

As the Comic Book Guy would put it: "Worst. Simpsons video game. Ever." The concept of the beloved cartoon show taking on wrestling sounded great…and then came the play. The camera is fixed in one bad spot and the action is less real wrestling, a more classic "best of three rounds" fighting game.

Related
Simpsons Wrestling: The Worst "Wrestling" (& Simpsons) Game Ever
The Simpsons Wrestling deserves the label of not only the worst wrestling game ever but the worst Simpsons game too.

The bad designs and sloppy controls ruined would-be fun bits of the characters integrating their personalities into moves. It was less wrestling, more just slapping and somehow pinning someone when they were face down. As both a wrestling and Simpsons game, this fails hard.

2 Mucha Lucha! Mascaritas of the Lost Code Was Not Good Looking Or Fun

Overall Score: 26

Mucha Lucha Gameboy Advance

Release Date

November 18, 2003

Consoles Available On

Game Boy Advance

Mucha Lucha was a popular CW kids cartoon about a trio of friends learning the secrets of Luchadores. This Game Boy Advance entry has them trying to find a lost "code" and battling their way through various villains.

It's less a true wrestling game, more a side-scrolling beat 'em up…and it's horrible. Even given this is based on a cartoon, the graphics are bad, and the attempts at "wrestling moves" amid punches and kicks are atrocious. Even the most diehard fan of this show couldn't put up with this game.

1 Hulk Hogan's Main Event Was Not Main Event Worthy

Overall Score: 26

Hulk Hogans Main Event

Release Date

October 11, 2011

Consoles Available On

XBOX 360

The Xbox 360 Kinect is remembered as a decent idea but horrible execution. It's hard to pick any Kinect game that was actually playable, and this is a prime example. The idea was Hogan himself being a "coach" to the player, letting them rise up as a star in the business.

As bad as some wrestling games can be with controls, trying to mimic moves with waves and steps was like a horrific interpretive dance gone wrong. The cartoony style also threw folks off and makes this another failed project with Hogan's face on it.