Rage in the Cage: The 10 Best Wrestling Games of All Time

WrestleMania 30 is happening and what better way to celebrate than by counting down the best wrestling games ever.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Tomorrow we'll be celebrating a milestone, WrestleMania XXX, and though that sounds like a really hot porno, it's actually just the perfect time to relive our youth.

Growing up we emulated these masters of the squared circle. By day we recklessly practiced their moves on trampolines, beds, couches, or wherever parents eyes weren't watching. By night we gathered around the TV to see Stone Cold slam a beer and chase the chairman with an ATV. During sleepovers we shotgunned Mountain Dew and played a litany of wrestling video games until our (or our friends) dad came downstairs and said "Okay, boys that's enough. Time to go to sleep." The most brazen of us responded with a poorly timed "Suck it!" Someday we wished to be those titans of the mat. The beauty of youth is that there's an abundance of possibilities.

But then what happens? You grow up. You close your mind. You face reality. It doesn't take a lot of reading to realize that professional wrestling is an unrealistic career choice. When we were developing young people, the pros made it look so effortless. Now  that we're older we realize they were doped up on more painkillers than the entire NFL. There's a reason that Vince and his corporate crew don't offer health insurance, and that's because wrestling is dangerous as hell.

With a less limber body, and our own premiums to deal with, we realize we'll never again piledrive a friend saying "No, wait. Dude wait!!!...Fuck, my glasses!" The closest we'll get to reliving that special time in our lives is through our gaming nostalgia. Like the art imitating life, wrestling games peaked around the millennium. Surprisingly, most of them still hold up today. That's good news because if ever there was a weekend to look back, it's this one. Here are the Top 10 Wrestling Game of All-Time.

RELATED: Throwback Thursdays: "WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game" for the SNES Still Reigns Supreme

10. Tecmo World Wrestling

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9. WWF Raw

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8. WWF Smackdown!

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7. Def Jam: Fight for NY

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6. WWE 2K14

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5. WCW/nWo Revenge

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4. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns

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3. WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain

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2. WWF WrestleMania 2000

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1. WWF No Mercy

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