Final Roster for PS2's WWE SmackDown vs. RAW

[David Blazenwing 0]

Credit: IGN.com

 

Current Wrestlers

A-Train

Garrison Cade

Rico

Batista

Hardcore Holly

Rob Van Dam

The Big Show

J.B. Layfield

Sable

Booker T

John Cena

Scotty 2 Hotty

Bubba Ray Dudley

Kane

Shawn Michaels

Charlie Haas

Kurt Angle

Shelton Benjamin

Chavo Guerrero

Mark Jindrak

Stacy Kiebler

Chris Benoit

Matt Hardy

Tajiri

Chris Jericho

Molly Holly

Torrie Wilson

Christian

Randy Orton

Triple H

Chuck Palumbo

Rene Dupree

Trish Stratus

D-Von Dudley

Rey Mysterio

Undertaker

Eddie Guerrero

Rhyno

Victoria

Edge

Ric Flair

 

Legends

Andre the Giant

Bret Hart

Legend Kane

Legend Undertaker 

 

Non-Playable

Earl Hebner

Jonathan Coachman

Tazz

Eric Bischoff

Michael Cole

Vince McMaon

Jerry Lawler

Mike Chioda 

Jim Ross

Paul Heyman

 

Okay... I for one am pissed if this really is the final roster. I mean, the original SD for PS1 had a bigger roster than this! IGN claims that the small roster is due to improved graphics, but I say keep the damn graphics the same if it means putting another 20 wrestlers into the game.

 

I mean damn... no Eugene, no Rosey, no La Resistance (Rene Dupree doesn't count), no FUCKING HURRICANE!!!

 

[El Psycho Diablo 0]

The important thing is..will the CAW look as bad as last year? They looked pathetic compared to some of the newer modeled wrestlers..

[AndrewTS 0]

Kane is a legend?

[DangerousDamon 0]

What the hell? They don't even have the tag team champions of BOTH Brands.

 

There's no excuse for Eugene not being in the game.

 

 

What the hell is up with Yukes fucking up the rosters for their games?

 

 

If they took out pointless shit like Legend Kane,Bra and Panties, and the Parking Lot Brawl, maybe they'd actually get the rosters right.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

No William Regal?

 

Not getting bought

[Guest fanofcoils]

They don't need to make these things every single year. Quality over quantity would help. And also they don't need to make 3 different games for 3 different systems, instead they should focus on one game and develop it for the 3 systems.

[Guest The Decadent Slacker]

HAH! I figured it'd be this kind of variety. No London, no La Rez, no Noble, yet still chalk full of Albert & Palumbo goodness. How fun. Legend Kane...so it's SD1 Kane? Brilliant. Bret is great, but hell, THOSE are the fucking legends? I wanted DiBiase back, Cactus, Rude, Hennig & maybe a Ventura or a Hall of Fame guy. Fuck that. But i'm not overly suprised.

 

That said i'll end up buying in anyway. I'm a sheep, & i can accept that.

[Angle-plex 0]

There will be more legends announced this week.

[Guest Reservoir_Kitty]

They put Sable, A-Train, and Chuck Palumbo in the game, but missed the Hurricane?

 

I for one am outraged.

 

What's up with THAT?

 

 

I'll rent it, but I'll have to think thrice before buying it.

[The Tino Standard 0]

Considering kids buy a large portion of games and Hurricane is a character marketed to kids, I'm pretty surprised he isn't on there. Then again, the way the non-main event characters rotate on and off their shows, A-Train could just as easily be wrapped up in a PPV feud as any of the other lower card guys when the game comes out.

 

Look at a guy like Chavo. He was in a highly-promoted match at the Rumble. What's he doing now? And then you have a guy like Rhyno, who was non-existant for the first half of the year, but is now getting a PPV tag title shot.

 

With the lower card guys, it's a crapshoot as to who gets on.

 

About the only guy I have no explanation for is Eugene. He's been a main player on Raw for quite awhile. No reasonable explanation why he couldn't be included.

[AndrewTS 0]

OH BOY! GARRISON CADE IS IN!!

 

They don't need to make these things every single year. Quality over quantity would help. And also they don't need to make 3 different games for 3 different systems, instead they should focus on one game and develop it for the 3 systems.

 

Especially since the non-Playstation games ****ing suck. Personally, I hated some of the changes they made to HCTP. So if those stay, the roster is irrelevant anyway, since I still won't like it, decent roster or no.

[Vyce 0]

If this is the final roster, than the CAW system had better have been updated to allow for something like 50 CAWS, so I can finish the roster they SHOULD have fucking done.

 

If not, this may not get bought. There will be PLENTY of other games I can spend my money on.

[King Cucaracha 0]

Holly and Jindrak made it?

 

Hallelujah.

 

That roster is way too small. There's at least 12 regular WWEers not on that list. London, Kidman, Rosey, Hurricane, Spike, Conway, Grenier, Regal, Eugene, Noble, Bashams, Reigns, Suzuki...

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Fuck Hurricane, I'm glad the worthless bastard isn't in.

 

Eugene, however, is really unacceptable. RAW TV has centred around Eugene for months now, and he really should have been included.

 

EDIT: BRET HART!? Well, they own his old WWF music, so they *have* to stick it in this game. No other music will be acceptable. The Hitman needs his WWF theme.

 

UYI

[Fökai 0]

About the only guy I have no explanation for is Eugene. He's been a main player on Raw for quite awhile. No reasonable explanation why he couldn't be included.

 

The real reason is that he came along after the models and storylines were finalized. And even then, the character would be difficult to capture without sacrificing the game engine. Like Zach Gowen, his wrestling style is much different than any of the other workers on the roster. Additionally, with the gimmick that Dinsmore is playing right now, most of the storylines a user would go through would be horribly unrealistic for Eugene's character (Starting a faction, hitting on female wrestlers, threatening other wrestlers).

 

That roster is way too small. There's at least 12 regular WWEers not on that list. London, Kidman, Rosey, Hurricane, Spike, Conway, Grenier, Regal, Eugene, Noble, Bashams, Reigns, Suzuki...

 

London wasn't in the spot he's currently in when the models and storylines were designed.

 

Same with Spike.

 

Same with Eugene.

 

Same with Regal.

 

Same with Reigns.

 

Same with Suzuki.

 

Kidman, Rosey, Hurricane, Grenier, Conway, Noble and the Bashams are notable omissions, but it's a given that all of the notable workers don't make it. Among others, the entire FBI was omitted from HCTP. On a personal note, I held my tounge on complaining about Hurricane's omission, after I had realized I didn't use him ONCE on HCTP. After the first few main-eventers and big names, the rest of the roster felt like cannon fodder for me. I personally won't miss any of these guys being on the game, save for La Resistance.

 

No London, no La Rez, no Noble, yet still chalk full of Albert & Palumbo goodness.

 

Well, Palumbo wasn't in the last game.

[Guest Ray]

Personally, I hated some of the changes they made to HCTP. So if those stay, the roster is irrelevant anyway, since I still won't like it, decent roster or no.

Just curious, what changes did you dislike?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and no one linked to the Bret screenshots!

 

 

 

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

About the only guy I have no explanation for is Eugene. He's been a main player on Raw for quite awhile. No reasonable explanation why he couldn't be included.

 

The real reason is that he came along after the models and storylines were finalized. And even then, the character would be difficult to capture without sacrificing the game engine. Like Zach Gowen, his wrestling style is much different than any of the other workers on the roster. Additionally, with the gimmick that Dinsmore is playing right now, most of the storylines a user would go through would be horribly unrealistic for Eugene's character (Starting a faction, hitting on female wrestlers, threatening other wrestlers).

 

That roster is way too small. There's at least 12 regular WWEers not on that list. London, Kidman, Rosey, Hurricane, Spike, Conway, Grenier, Regal, Eugene, Noble, Bashams, Reigns, Suzuki...

 

London wasn't in the spot he's currently in when the models and storylines were designed.

 

Same with Spike.

 

Same with Eugene.

 

Same with Regal.

 

Same with Reigns.

 

Same with Suzuki.

 

Kidman, Rosey, Hurricane, Grenier, Conway, Noble and the Bashams are notable omissions, but it's a given that all of the notable workers don't make it. Among others, the entire FBI was omitted from HCTP. On a personal note, I held my tounge on complaining about Hurricane's omission, after I had realized I didn't use him ONCE on HCTP. After the first few main-eventers and big names, the rest of the roster felt like cannon fodder for me. I personally won't miss any of these guys being on the game, save for La Resistance.

 

No London, no La Rez, no Noble, yet still chalk full of Albert & Palumbo goodness.

 

Well, Palumbo wasn't in the last game.

Eugene and Regal are unacceptable, they should have pushed back a little bit then. Get it right, first.

[Silence 0]

Chances are that the CAW mode will STILL only have 32 slots to create missing WWE wrestlers, since Yukes is so damn stupid anyway. Bleh.

 

I wish some other video game company was developing much better WWE games that would certainly include Noble and London, since Palumbo and Garrison Cade aren't worth a damn as wrestlers in real life.

 

Don't get me wrong, I liked HCTP, and I thought it was a big improvement over the earlier Smackdown games, but I think Yukes REALLY dropped the ball this year by including more wrestlers that no one will really play as and yet still continuing to leave out better low mid-card wrestlers like Noble, London (although now he's one half of the Smackdown Tag Team Champions), Nunzio, etc.

 

I think Yukes has become too much like WWE as far as favoritism of wrestlers is concerned.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

They'll have a template for Regal, and Eugene, and they'll have the moves... so why don't they just put it together? Do TitanTrons and music take up THAT much space?

[Silence 0]

They'll have a template for Regal, and Eugene, and they'll have the moves... so why don't they just put it together? Do TitanTrons and music take up THAT much space?

I'm assuming that the reasons some of the other wrestlers were left out were because of the pointless addition of the Parking Lot Brawl, the meaningless wrestler voiceovers, Sable being left in even though she's been released from WWE recently, the pointless additions of Hardcore Holly, Chuck Palumbo, Garrison Cade, Old School Kane & Taker, etc., the addition of other features that most of us probably don't care about (Face/Heel mechanics, chop battles, etc.), and the fact that Yukes may not follow wrestling as closely as we do to know who the current champions in WWE are (or, like I said, their recent favoritism of certain low mid-card wrestlers, just like Vince favors JBL as a main-eventer over Eddie Guerrero).

 

I don't know if those are actually the reasons, but remember that the last time the wrestlers in the WWE games had voiceovers, it was back during the ACK-Lame WWF days, and their Warzone and Attitude rosters weren't very up-to-date, either.

 

I'm not sure if I feel like buying SD vs. Raw anymore or not, but if the CAW mode has improved and there are more slots, along with non-frustrating gameplay, then I might still consider it.

[Skywarp! 0]

Online functionality probably takes up so much room.

 

I know there's games like Madden where hundreds of players' likenesses are in the game, but they are only a set of attributes, and not whole movesets and titantron videos.

[Silence 0]

Online functionality probably takes up so much room.

In that case, they'll have to take it out of the next game.

 

It still seems odd that Yukes hasn't included the current champions in WWE as of Summerslam, though.

[dubq 0]

Oh, for fuck's sake.

 

A-Train? When was the last time he was even on TV? Same goes for Palumbo and Cade.

 

Legend Undertaker? Legend Kane?! Why not just make them fucking alternate outfits? Or templates in the CAW?

 

And for Christ's sake can we just bite the bullet and fucking scrap the Smackdown diva's [and Stacy] as playable characters?! Fuck, I'd rather have Knoble, London & Kidman over Sable, Torrie & Stacy!

 

Seriously, WWE, THQ & Yukes need to get together and make two editions of these games. One with all the fodder [divas, pra/panties, etc] for idiot fanboys who get off on that shit. And another with a REAL game with characters WORTH playing.

 

Honestly, I'll at least rent this and if the season mode is that much improved, then I'll buy. But otherwise... fuck this noise!

[Aero 0]

Well, the smaller roster does suck, for missing La Resistance, Eugene, Regal, Noble, and the others... but my god does Bret Hart look amazing! And they put him in his best tights (IMO), with the pink top and black pants.

 

Anyone else think that they should make Legend Undertaker in maybe his 1997 look this time around?

[Fökai 0]

Sable being left in even though she's been released from WWE recently

Just as Rikishi was, she will be removed from the game.

 

the pointless additions of Hardcore Holly, Chuck Palumbo, Garrison Cade, Old School Kane & Taker, etc.

They were at a higher status than most of the notable omissions were, when the characters were captured.

 

And even so, do most of us care about most of these omissions? Outside of my usual cast of 6-8 wrestlers to use, I didn't bother using any of the lower mid-carders in HCTP. The movesets are indistinguishable from each other, and most of the these guys have no personality to make care about them.

 

the addition of other features that most of us probably don't care about (Face/Heel mechanics, chop battles, etc.)

Wait...I forgot...it's not actual depth to the engine that we want....we want MORE WRESTLERS!

 

It's the little things implemented into past Smackdown games that I liked. For one, the see-saw submission meter on HCTP, which if you do or do not remember, we had an argument about last November. You see, before the game was released, we argued about the usefulness of the new addition to the engine. See a coincidence here?

 

If they're going to implement a new "face/heel" meter to further the realism of a match, where a face (w/ a full meter) can maintain a degree of invincibility, or a heel can do no wrong with low blows and foreign objects, I'm all for it.

 

If they're going to implement a new "chop battle" meter to eliminate the dead spots in a match in place of banal punching and kicking transitions, I'm all for it.

 

If they're going to implement a new "elimination" meter to enhance the realism of the "Royal Rumble" mode, where wrestlers have to be beat on (or suprised by a devastating move) for an extended amount of time in order to be eliminated, I'm ALL for it. Heck, this will make the decision to buy the game much easier.

 

and the fact that Yukes may not follow wrestling as closely as we do to know who the current champions in WWE are (or, like I said, their recent favoritism of certain low mid-card wrestlers, just like Vince favors JBL as a main-eventer over Eddie Guerrero).

 

Recent favortism?

 

Paul London appeared out of nowhere recently and won the tag team title. Same with Kidman.

 

Regal STILL hasn't had a regular match yet.

 

Eugene, as I mentioned earlier, would be a headache to put together in order to satisfy hardcore fans this late into production.

 

This game is only two months away from release. Should Yukes delay the game in order to put NICK DINSMORE into the engine? The best question is, who will be omitted in February upon the game's new release date? After all, there will be a new crop of mid-carders you will all want to bitch about being absent from the roster.

 

I'm not sure if I feel like buying SD vs. Raw anymore or not, but if the CAW mode has improved and there are more slots, along with non-frustrating gameplay, then I might still consider it.

 

But wouldn't you want more wrestlers instead?

[IllustriousOne 0]

No Rock either.

 

Odd.

[Exslade ZX 0]

A couple of other boards this has been posted at...many are saying that they've learned this actually isn't..the final roster. There will be a few more legends, and quite possibly more to the regular roster.

 

I think this might be true, but I'm not sure. But I've also yet to actually go to IGN and read up on it though.

[Guest Dazed]

A couple of other boards this has been posted at...many are saying that they've learned this actually isn't..the final roster. There will be a few more legends, and quite possibly more to the regular roster.

 

I think this might be true, but I'm not sure. But I've also yet to actually go to IGN and read up on it though.

http://ps2.ign.com/articles/539/539783p1.html sez:

 

Full roster included.

we've confirmed the final lineup of wrestlers for SmackDown! vs. RAW

no new names will be added other than what we've already confirmed.

for this year's edition, the grapplers listed above will have to do you.

 

Luckily, there are actually more legends than the ones we've highlighted above; but as a special favor to the team, we're going to officially reveal the remaining six over the course of the next two days to keep readers curious as the week comes to a close.

[dubq 0]

 

Wow, the energy/status/smackdown meters for these games are getting huge. Looks like it's gonna be hard trying to follow the action in 6-player matches... combined they take up half the screen.

[AndrewTS 0]

"Eugene, as I mentioned earlier, would be a headache to put together in order to satisfy hardcore fans this late into production.

 

This game is only two months away from release. Should Yukes delay the game in order to put NICK DINSMORE into the engine?"

 

Eugene could probably be made very easily--they even had the Airplane Spin in HCTP, after all.

 

If they continue to use the stat system for HCTP, I don't mind the omissions. They'd give the missing wrestlers such shitty stats they wouldn't be worth using anyway.