Professional wrestling is fake. This we all (I hope) know, although the existence of Internet ads teasing an answer to the question of ‘Are WWE fights staged?’ makes me hesitant to assume anything. I bring this fact up not to spark a debate about how some aspects of wrestling truly are real (there’s a reason WWE doesn’t let guys hit each other in the head with chairs anymore), but as the reason for why wrestling simulation videogames can never hope to fully recreate wrestling. How can a scripted sporting event be acted out without all of its participants being in on the ruse?
I tend to be fairly good at wrestling games, at least when it comes to squaring off against the AI. Over time I learn what works and what doesn’t, and pretty quickly I find myself with ability to take down a computer opponent without him getting much offense in, if any at all. In professional wrestling such a match would be called a squash. Squashes do have their purpose, as they can be used to establish an individual as being dominant and help him or her to stand out in some way. But this is thankfully not the formula followed by your average match, or else wrestling would get boring in a big hurry.
