So I tried playing WWE SMACKDOWN: HERE COMES THE PAIN In 2023...

Following some of my personal disappointment with AEW Fight Forever, I had to "check myself" and see whether nostalgia had blinded me. I did so by returning to what is considered one of the very best wrestling games of all time: WWE SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain. It's my first time hopping into it and I was hooked from the first match.

#WWE #PlayStation #Wrestling

[retrorebound]

Hey, everyone! Apologies about the random skip in the beginning. 5 days after this video went live, WWE claimed what was originally a Here Comes The Pain trailer leading to it being demonetized which would also mean YouTube stops promoting the content since it can’t make money. In order to keep it monetized and have the video (hopefully) continue to be pushed to new audiences, I had to chop that segment out so sorry again if it ends up being a little jarring!

[masam]

There's a reason why "smackdown: here comes the pain" always gets brought up in conversation when you talk about old wwe/wrestling games, this one is just INSANE and packed to the brim with content

[DanYellowZena]

Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain is just absolutely amazing. The graphics for its time was jaw dropping and the content gives you hours and hours of replayability. The amount of hours I put into the game is insane. I never, ever got bored of the game. I moved on but its because I had so many other games to play but man, this game is just amazing.

[Simshady]

The season mode alone with all the open endings and choices that influence your whole campaign makes this game forever replayable

[ofofty]

this is what i’ve been waiting for!!! the holy grail of wrestling games

we need a svr2007 retrospective!!

[John-Doe-Lorem-Ipsum]

It has been 20 years but no other wwe games have given me more satisfaction than wwe hctp

[CrashingSpyro]

One of the best wrestling games ever made

[boomboominroom]

The hours I put into this game as a kid. One of the best wrestling games ever. Probably in my top 15 games ever.

[StealthE]

It's a small little detail, but one of the things that I miss from this era of games, is how FAST the ref gets into position to count a pinfall. Almost instant positioning. If you check out the ref counts for recent games (Fight Forever, 2K23), there's this lag in timing that just doesn't feel right to me. I miss how it was. Made pinfalls intense.

[drc]

No Mercy, SVR 06-08, WM 19, Day of Reckoning 1&2 Were my Childhood/PreTeen Year games. So much Nostalgia.

[tylerwatts]

Thank you Matty, there is no debate that here comes the pain is the greatest Wrestling game of all time. Just a suggestion but I'd love to see a WWF no mercy retrospective

[soulsnack]

Really loved playing this with you, always a good time!

[tmerchead]

One thing I love in this game is that you can add your CAWS to season mode an have rivalries and other interactions with them during the campaign .

[ProGriefer]

All I have to say is IF THQ made it to the present and somehow still had a hand in development of WWE games, with todays graphics??? It would’ve been golden. The freedom they gave in their wrestling games is what really immersed me playing hours on end as a kid, getting caught playing past midnight on school nights lol.
Made the best memories of my life.

[KeroValentine]

Wrestling fans in general and, in this case, AEW fans are very, let's just say.. passionate. That game rightfully deserved all the criticism you gave. People are too consumed with fanboying instead of asking for a better product.

[Boyahda]

By far the best wrestling game of all time and it isn't even remotely close. No Mercy can be argued as the best but HCTP eclipses it by a fair margin imo.

[moondough]

It looks so much better because of the little details, the Jericho kick, rvds hop, brocks clothesline are all unique, now 2k gives everyone the same moves

[bogeaqYT]

What a time for wrestling and wrestling games. We'll never see it this good ever again.

[miked]

I loved these games as a kid! My brother and I would play this game for hours. Such nostalgia, thanks Matty!

[NottyGurlStyle]

Rey is still going strong and fighting his son Dom 😂I love it!

I’m a long time wrestling fan since a young girl and still tune in and keep up with it.

I did try to play some wrestling games but it was frustrating for me because I couldn’t get the characters to move faster lol