There are as many wrestling games as there are active wrestlers on the WWE roster. The very first pro wrestling game was released all the way back in 1987, by the name of 'Micro league Wrestling', and was released for Atari, Amiga, MS-DOS, and Commodore 64.

Over the years, as gaming evolved from 8-bit pixels to immersive virtual reality, the professional wrestling industry kept up with the change of times and pumped out video games on the newer consoles, year by year, system by system. Unfortunately, the pro wrestling genre in gaming culture leaves a lot to be desired, even on the newest consoles of today and the relics of the past.

The WWE 2K series has been a disaster and the franchise is pretty much non-salvageable according to most people. But the issues regarding WWE 2K have been discussed and criticized ever since the company published the first game, so it pretty much feels like beating a dead horse.

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Aside from 2K and the many botches of the company, there is another wrestling game worth mentioning. At the time of its release, said game was an anomaly among its peers and still stands out today as being one of the most bizarre WWE games of all time

'WWF Betrayal' Is An Anamoly Among WWE Games

'WWF Betrayal' on Game Boy Color was a unique fixture in the extensive library of wrestling games. The game was released in 2001`and around that time, companies were trying to incorporate realism into the genre, which was eventually realized during the 'SmackDown Vs. RAW' series, but WWF Betrayal moved away from the status quo and instead ventured into unfamiliar territory; the Beat ’em Up genre.

The game is pretty basic, as expected for a title on the Game Boy Color. There are four playable characters — The Rock, Steve Austin, Triple H, and Undertaker. The wrestlers share the same base model, with only little bits of differentiating material such as Rock’s sunglasses and Austin’s jersey.

WWF Betrayal

The gameplay itself is simple but tedious, with the chosen wrestler possessing a basic punch and kick attack, along with a very limited grapple system. As players progress along the stages, they fight off referees, construction workers, and even businessmen, all looking to beat up the hero on a mission. What makes this even more interesting is that the wrestler you pick is the babyface and the rest of the playable wrestlers are portrayed as the villains of the story.

Speaking of storyline, the plot of the game is personified cringe, but at the same time, nostalgic and hilarious for those who witnessed the Attitude Era. The story begins as angles usually do in the world of wrestling, with the heel costing the hero the match, this time by tossing a literal trash can into the ring and then running off after a generic, evil speech.

The player then walks on to Vince McMahon having a meltdown in the backstage area, yelling that his daughter, Stephanie McMahon, has been kidnapped. The boss then promises that if Stephanie is saved, he would give the player another shot at the title.

The story moves on from there as the player progresses through the stages, beating up on referees and bystanders and locking horns with the other three wrestlers on the way to rescue Stephanie McMahon. The last level takes place at Titan Towers — the headquarters of WWE — and in a major, unexpected twist, it is revealed that the whole thing was a sham orchestrated by the heel wrestlers, McMahon and Stephanie for the sole purpose of…. nobody knows.

The Climax Of 'WWF Betrayal' Is Bizarre

Stephanie was kidnapped for apparently no reason at all as once the grand reveal is rolled out, the game returns to mindless brawling. This scene is especially depressing if the player is Triple H as he gets somewhat of a heartbreaking explanation. McMahon did not consider him good enough for his daughter and so he kidnapped her. On second thought, an explanation is an understatement, but talk about a massive burial for the King of Kings!

The last boss fight is against Triple H (In the case the player selected Triple H himself; the final boss is Steve Austin.) And said battle takes place on the rooftop of Titan Towers, with Stephanie McMahon waiting on the side in a helicopter.

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Once the criminally anti-climactic battle is over, the player is awarded the world championship because somehow, the fistfight on the rooftop was a sanctioned match for the championship. Gotta send the crowd home happy, after all.

Vince Russo WCW Champion

That concludes one of the weirdest storylines in wrestling video games history. 'Day of Reckoning' on the GameCube is another example of unorthodox storytelling, but that game was made well, and the narrative actually made up for a compelling storyline. 'WWF Betrayal' is a jumbled mess, in a narrative sense, and it isn't really helped by the gameplay.

However, we do know who bears the brunt of this catastrophe. The storyline was taken out of WWE programming in 1999, in which Undertaker kidnapped Stephanie, as the bidding of a higher power, who was then revealed as Vince McMahon.

Vince Russo took credit for said storyline and his legacy lived on in 'WWF Betrayal'. Turns out, Russo ruined video games as well.