Wrestler appearances in other video games

Being a Wrestling watchdog, I've scoured the web in search of Wrestler appearances for a number of years now.

Up until recently, I thought the scariest Wrestler depictions were the ones featuring stolen Wrestler models in bootleg
Wrestling games found in the Google Play Store. Boy was I wrong.

Enter the world of A.I.



Using 3D graphics, Hulk Hogan is facing off against ....King Kong Hogan Bundy?




Roman Reigns meets his twin brother Reigns Roman?



Ric Flair vs Donald Trump.



Many A.I. apps merge Wrestlers together. Such was the case with Dwayne 'The Stone Cold Rock' Johnstin, Brock Lesnar
Straunman, and Big E the Referee.




These A.I. apps (some of which are available in the Google/Apple Play Stores, mind you) merge Wrestler artwork together, too.

Such was the case with Andre The Giant Rusev, and his little brother Lanny Poffo Rusev Jr.



One user even requested the A.I. to have a tea party between Wrestlers who resemble Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy.

Talented pixel artist Dylan Chadwick has created a number of animated Wrestler tributes using 8-bit graphics.


DISCLAIMER: if you are sensitive to animated GIFs/moving pictures, you may want to skip this post.













Ricky Steamboat turning into Raphael? New Jack & The Steiner Brothers.



Hayabusa and Jushin Liger in Mega Man style. Michael PS Hayes. Mike Rotunda.



Kevin Sullivan, Hawk, Rick Steiner & Steve Williams.



Sabu, Scott Norton & Gary Albright.



John Tenta as The Shark, The Giant/Andre hybrid, Vader & Terry Funk (you can tell the artist loved the bloody side of Pro-Wrestling).



More members of the WCW Dungeon of Doom faction: The Dungeon Master (Curtis Iaukea), The Taskmaster (Kevin Sullivan), The Zodiac (Brutus Beefcake) & Kamala.



Meng, Jimmy Hart, Eddie Gilbert & Lex Luger.

 

Surfer and Crow Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair & Steve Williams once again.



Ric Flair, Bruiser Brody, Abdullah The Butcher & Stan Hansen.



AJPW logo, NJPW logo, Johnny Ace in his corporate and AJPW looks & D-von Dudley.



Stone Cold, Mick Foley, Steve Corino, Road Warrior Hawk & Animal.


You can check out more of Chad's amazing pixel art here: dylanchadwick.com/pixelart/

This is from a fan fiction wiki

Most Fire Pro players roll their eyes at Wrestlers submitted to the workshop that are based on video games or pop culture properties.
In their eyes, the world of Fire Pro should be limited to just matchups involving real-life Professional Wrestlers.

Need proof? Look no further than the star rating of my first pop culture collection:


(Ouch.... ).



 

The characters are based on Virtua Fighter's Akira Yuki and Jacky Bryant, along with Kyo Kusanagi from King of Fighters and Terry Bogard
from Fatal Fury.

Since Virtua Fighter was owned by SEGA, I could see a potential tie-in with the Virtua Fighter series; alas, that collaboration would never
happen, as Virtua Fighter would side with All Japan Pro-Wrestling instead.

So, there you have it. Video game characters/pop culture references in an actual Fire Pro video game.

We're going back to the 50's for this post.

An era before video games.
27 years before the first Pro-Wrestling cabinet hit arcades.
26 years before the first Wrestling handheld made it's way to stores.
25 years before New Japan released the Burning Spirit board game.
An era before most tabletop card games, really.

The year is 1956, and your parents have just brought home the Verne Gagne Wrestling game.



Before becoming the owner and promoter of his own AWA promotion, Verne Gagne was a recognized World Champion in the NWA.
Wowing audiences in-person and on television during the golden age of Professional Wrestling, Verne would become one of NWA's
biggest draws. It was even rumoured that Gagne was one of the highest-paid Wrestlers of the 1950's.



The included manual and game board. I guess the manual offered additional playing techniques and rules (perhaps match stipulations)
akin to what Dungeons & Dragons would offer decades later with their core rulebooks and campaign ideas.

In that regard, Verne Gagne Wrestling may have been a trailblazer in tabletop gaming.



A look at the game board itself.

As Verne Gagne was still wrestling as a champion for the NWA at the time of this game's release, the illustration of the board
features the original design of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt.

Two years later, Rikidozan would defeat Lou Thesz for the NWA International Heavyweight Championship; a belt that was based
on the original NWA World Championship that Thesz created specifically for the occasion. The very same belt that would help
recognize Rikidozan as a world champion in his own right, and lay the foundations for forming the Triple Crown Championship
three decades later in All Japan Pro-Wrestling.




Four player game pieces depicting Verne with accompanying belt.

As to my knowledge, there were no other licensed Wrestlers featured in the Verne Gagne Wrestling game. There also doesn't seem
to be any official logos or endorsements from the NWA itself at the time.

When we started this thread four years ago, one of the first games that we looked at was Hammerlock Wrestling; a Super Nintendo grappler
that was released by Jaleco back in 1994.



As we discussed back then, Hammerlock's 12 man roster is based on real-life Wrestlers.

Though, I don't think we went into detail about the original Japanese version of Hammerlock Wrestler ...Tenryu Genichiro Pro-Wrestling Revolution:



Released the same year, Tenryu Genichiro Pro-Wrestling Revolution features the official likeness of Genichiro Tenryu and Tenryu's WAR
promotion.

To avoid additional licensing costs to Western audience who weren't familiar with Tenryu (despite appearing at WrestleMania VII while
teaming with fellow Sumo-turned-Wrestler Koji Kitao), Tenryu's name was changed in Hammerlock Wrestling to Oga Prime
(no relation to Optimus Prime).




In typical Japanese fashion, Tenryu Genichiro only features one licensed Wrestler (that being Tenryu himself). The other 11 Wrestlers
appear under fake names just like the western port. Though, most of the Tenryu roster are listed under completely different names
from Hammerlock Wrestling.

The names of the other 11 Wrestlers in the Super Famicom Tenryu Genichiro version are:


ストロングホン Strong Hone - Stan Hansen


イース 若多 Ace Wakata (same name in both versions) - Jumbo Tsuruta


ヘラクレスドルガン Hercules Dorgan - Hulk Hogan


エーガルウオリアー Eagle Warrior - Hawk
Note: Some players have confused this Wrestler as Big Van Vader over the years. Due to his aerial techniques and slimmer fame,
this Wrestler is in fact based on Road Warrior Hawk. Furthermore, Hawk was known as 'Hawk Warrior' in Japan.


ダックスルドガー - Dax Ludger - Lex Luger
Note: the only non-WWF game to feature Luger up until that point. I think Luger's highly-publicized feud with Yokozuna in the
WWF from 1993 may have been a crucial factor as to why Luger has made in into the Tenryu/Hammerlock roster. Luger also
had a lesser-known match against Masahiro Chono in the NJPW promotion back in 1992.


三島光 - Hikari Mishima - Mitsuharu Misawa


不動大志 - Taishi Fudo - Keiji Mutoh


グレート・F - Great F. - The Great Muta
Note: this is purely fan speculation, but since Taishi Fudo is the name of Keiji Mutoh in Tenryu Genichiro, I'll assume that
Great F is short for 'Fuda' ergo: Great Fuda.


アブドルキラ - Abdull Killer - Abdullah The Butcher


ミスターズ大関 - Mister Ozeki - Yokozuna
Note: around this time, Yokozuna had two special matches against Genichiro Tenryu. The first happened in 1994 for
a Japanese WWF event, where Yokozuna teamed with Bam Bam Bigelow against The Undertaker and Tenryu. The second
took place the following year in the WAR promotion where Tenryu faced off against Yokozuna in a singles match.


滝本陣矢 - Jinya Takamoto - Shinya Hashimoto


So, if you've ever wondered why Wrestlers in Hammerlock Wrestling on the SNES such as Spud Marmoset, Alpha Bozak and
Sid Bieniek have such weird names, it's because Jaleco wanted to be extra precautious in regards to not getting sued by the
WWF and WCW with Wrestlers that sounded too similar in name to either promotion's talent at the time.

Months ago, we talked about the NFT Wrestling app called Blockchain Brawlers, where players could collect, battle, purchase
and even sell Wrestling avatars acquired through the Brawlers server.  At the same time, the WWE made their debut into the
NFT marketplace with 'Moonsault'.

In 2022, New Japan Pro-Wrestling stepped in on the NFT action once again by offering four NFT avatars of the promotion's
biggest superstars on the Japanese NFT server OpenSea METABA:


Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Hiromu Takahashi and El Dorado.

The official press release for the NJPW avatars:

“New Japan Pro-Wrestling”), will sell digitally signed NFT avatars with special videos of wrestlers from New Japan Pro-Wrestling for four consecutive
weeks starting on June 8, 2022 (Wednesday). METABA, operated by Cork, is an NFT avatar service featuring the ability to not only own and view NFT
avatars, but also use them as avatars in the Metaverse space and dress them up with NFT items.

Cork and New Japan Pro-Wrestling teamed up for the first time in May 2022 to launch an NFT T-shirt (Lion Mark Raglan T-shirt) [*1] present campaign
for METABA avatars to commemorate the sale of official New Japan Pro-Wrestling NFT avatars, and many people applied.


One the exclusive signed plates offered to buyers of the NFT NJPW avatars.


For the first round of NFT avatar sales, one NFT avatar of each of the four most popular professional wrestlers in the world, Hiroshi Tanahashi,
Hiromu Takahashi, El Desperado, and Tetsuya Naito, will be sold in the form of an offer. Each NFT avatar is one-of-a-kind, digitally signed by
the athlete. Purchasers will receive a special video featuring a message from the player as well as a metal art plate with images and signatures
of the player and avatar for the first owner.

Cork and New Japan Pro-Wrestling plan to release more NFT avatars and NFT items that allow users to experience the world of New Japan Pro
-Wrestling in various metaverse in the future."


Cork's first NJPW offering: the Lion Logo T-shirt NFT.


As of writing this, the NJPW NFT avatars are no longer available. Presumably, all quantities were sold out, or NJPW's partnership with Cork was
discontinued.