Extreme Rules: 10 of the Greatest Match Types in Wrestling Video Games

Image via Complex Original

Whenever we felt like bulldozing through a few jabroni’s, we made sure to run a Slobberknocker match. Pick your superstar, load up on the finishing moves then it’s off to the races. 

Players ran the gauntlet in some of the games in the WWE Smackdown! series. We tended to pick the Undertaker and make sure everyone know whose yard it was. And if we were bored, we’d pick Perry Saturn just for the hell of it. Death Valley Driver’s for everybody! WHAT ARE YA LOOKIN’ AT?

Now we know you wrestling fans are used to hearing the champ go on about facing everyone and anyone. Now when four of those challengers happen to be across the ring from the champ, oh…it’s on.

We enjoyed the awesome multiplayer sessions this new match concept brought on. Pin any competitor and you become the interim champ. Hold on tight to it though cause if you caught with the three count when time runs out, kiss that title goodbye. We felt some type of way when our compadres took our belt with The Miz when we clearly had someone better. REALLY? REALLY? 

30 Men Enter. Only one shall remain the winner. Which means we don’t have to hold anybody down or save somebody’s hide when the bell rings. It’s every superstar for him (or her) self. The Royal Rumble happens to be one of the most recognizable match types in wrestling video games.

The old RR games for the Sega Genesis, Super Nintendo and Sega Dreamcast let us go hard in a super battle royal. It was an absolute joy with four players all trying to dump each other over the top rope. We always picked the Big Show or Kane. Unfair advantage? Yeah, so. We’re going to Wrestlemania! 

Now for all you barbaric wrestling fans out there, this one’s for you. If you’ve ever picked up and played any of the Fire Pro Wrestling titles, then this match should be much more familiar.

The dreaded Barbed Wire Deathmatch was a one on one battle that determined who was more hardcore. For us, it determined who had to wash the dishes for a week. Anyways, the ropes were replaced by strands of barbed wire. Running the ropes wasn’t such a great idea for anyone. Forcing your opponent to hit the ropes was the right thing to do. If we picked that Abdullah the Butcher look-a-like, that ass was finished! 

Now here’s another beloved Fire Pro Wrestling staple. The Landmine Death Match placed two wrestlers (or four) in the ring. Barbed wire tables were laid out in all four corners. The outside of the ring is where you really didn’t wanna go though.

Exploding, barbed wire deathtraps awaited those who took a spill over the top rope. The crimson started flowing early and the action stayed intense throughout. But when that landmine went off, a true sense of victory was felt. Make sure you take a peek at Cactus Jack vs. Terry Funk in a King of the Deathmatch bout. Then try and re-enact it with FPW. 

RIP Hardcore, Long Live Extreme Rules. When Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 graced all consoles, the introduction of the ECW brand and its signature match happened. 

We loved the Hardcore match type, but Extreme Rules surpassed it. Specific weapon finishers, flaming tables and scaffold dives made for some fun college dorm showdowns. You couldn’t see us when we had Tommy Dreamer on our side. Now if you picked The Sandman, you had more of a chance of layin’ us out. Not very likely, though. 

BY GAWD, HE MIGHT HAVE BROKEN HIS BACK! Peace to Good Ol’ J.R. Tables, Ladders and Chairs matches brought out our creative side every time. Five-Star Frog Splash of a ladder through a table? DDT onto a steel chair? How bout’ a suplex off the highest rung of the ladder? We did ‘em all.

Whether it was a one on one match or a tag team free for all, the TLC match was all types of fun. We can’t tell you how many times we cringed when we heard the crunch of our opponent’s back off a ladder. Fear the Swanton…

Got 15 minutes to kill? How bout 30? Oh, you can do both? Then maybe you wouldn’t mind…A WHOLE FREAKIN HOUR? Did we scare you enough, gamers? Nah, we didn’t. These 60 minutes are worth all the German suplexes and Boston Crab’s in the world. 

The Iron Man match separated all the softies from the superior steel grapplers. Those WWE games gave us the choice of whatever time limit we wanted. Once we picked our guys, it was time to see who could get the most pins before the clock hits 0:00. We always went with the more technical cats (Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle) and broke out their entire moveset. Complex: 10 pins. Our competitors: 0. 

Any self-respecting wrestling fan knows exactly why this match is so well known. Mankind vs. Undertaker? King of the Ring 1998? Nuff’ said. Imagine how joyful we were when we got the chance to run around the cell in digital form.

The Hell in a Cell match had so many dangerous options. We could rub our opponent’s face against the cage, throw them into some steel steps, climb up the cage, put em’ though the middle section and even dive off the darn thing. If you missed…well, you just gave up the win. The later WWE games blessed us with the six-man Hell in A Cell match. Break out that Multitap, yo!

Chris Jericho is a genius, ain’t he? When Wrestlemania 21 came along, Y2J’s brain concocted the Money in the Bank ladder match. When Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 let us finally play it, we instantly fell in love. 

Six guys or more could enter the ring and vie for that year-long title shot. Ladders were of course present, but we had no idea what we were allowed to with ‘em this time.

Picking someone quick like Shelton Benjamin would let us have all the fun. Anyone else ever run up one ladder to clothesline someone else off another one? Ever seen six dudes all collapse off three separate ladders? When we finally grabbed that suitcase, time stood still.