NoNewTaleToTell: Wrestling MPirex Remix: Career Edition. I've created a character who knows exactly two wrestling moves besides punching and kicking and those moves are the Powerbomb and the Chokeslam. People who love workrate wrestlers may hate him but every match ends in two minutes or less.
Emob78: As a wrestling gaming fan, what would you say is the best wrestling video game so far? For me it's gotta be the WCW/WWF games that THQ did for the N64. WCW/NWO Revenge and Wrestlemania 2000 were great. They had crappy block textures and the sounds were horrible, but the game play and controls were amazing. IMO, no team has made a wrestling game that can even compare to the THQ series in the late 90s.
The Rock selling it like no one else can...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl1w8ZwSsyY I've played WCW/NWO Revenge a few times (rented from a video store) but I honestly don't remember much about it other than the wrestlers cutting promos at the character select screen. For some reason I was always either Alex Wright or Booker T in it even though neither was my favorite wrestler haha.
I would say that my all time favorite is Here Comes The Pain. It had a season/story mode that lasted two years (and included the NWO) and a large roster (even had Sean O' Haire and Ultimo Dragon). The gameplay itself was fun but your wrestler always oversold which is something that drives me crazy in wrestling games. The overselling made cage matches impossible so of course the season/story mode included several.
For realism you can't go wrong with Fire Pro Wrestling Returns (for the Ps2). The AI is the best of any wrestling game (in my opinion) and the realism is refreshing, you can't start the match off with power move for example. You also don't have stamina or health bars nor a "fill up this meter for a finisher" mechanic. Graphically it's great and the sound is good too.
MDickie's wrestling games are actually really good. The rough cartoony style makes them look amateurish but they have a lot of depth, including a large universe. The career mode has you start off as a wrestler in wrestling school and from there you can get signed by one of six promotions, win titles, lose titles, get fired, get signed by another company and (outside of Wrestling Revolution) make your own matches if you have creative control. Just as you can get fired/hired/etc so can the other wrestlers. You can decide to be a face or a heel (and change) have feuds, cut promos (though you have no control over the promos) and that type of stuff. You and other wrestlers can also be injured (including losing limbs) and you can even die. Yes, that's right, wrestlers can die in MDickie's games. Among the types of matches you can have includes the usuals plus hair vs hair, loser leaves town, electrified ropes, dynamite based hardcore matches (yes, dynamite) and a whole lot more. If you can look past the graphics there is a lot of fun to be had. All of his games are now free at his website.
Adam Ryland has two ongoing wrestling series though I've forgotten their names (d'oh!), both are text based and ultra realistic. One of them has you become a wrestler and wrestle matches (obviously) while trying to get signed and win championships, the other has you become a booker and lay out segments and book matches and feuds. You can find his games (which include demos) at Grey Dog Software.