Hmm . . .
I. Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 ~ Terrible gameplay but the roster is solid and it has the best GM Mode of all the games. Not going to lie, I still play GM Mode excessively, both by myself where I control both shows and one with a friend where I control Smackdown. I even have championship stats, Royal Rumble Stats, and all PPV & 5-star matches we ever gotten recorded down, among other various stats and figures. Maybe not my favorite but I play it more consistently than any other.
II & III. Day of Reckoning 1 & 2 ~ Both games have their pro's & con's and I'm not really sure which I prefer. But The Day of Reckoning series has the best gameplay in any wrestling game out there imo. Fatal Four Way Last Man Standing matches are super fun. Unfortunately, once you beat story mode there really isn't anything to do beside exhibition but the gameplay managed to carry us (my brother & I) playing those games for years. The first one had better physics while the second one had a better submission system.
IV. Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain ~ It probably has the best gameplay of any of the games in the Smackdown lineage (I don't count the WWE titled games in that by the way), and definitely has the best season mode out of them. It does have one fatal flaw, custom attributes for real wrestlers don't carryover when you don't select them. I went through an entire years as Edge for the sole purpose of elevating him to the main event where I like him to belong. I ended the year with his stats being in the late 80's early 90's I believe, and had won the World Heavyweight Championship by the end of the year. When I started a new season mode transferring the states over, I noticed he immediately dropped the belt because he got his stats reset. Killed my motivation to play.
V. Raw 2 ~ Another case where the gameplay is kinda terrible. It's not as boring as SvR 07 and there are a lot of unique ideas there that I'd love to see be implemented in the current games. For example, you can set up a chair and run to and jump off it for an attack like Sabu. You can exit the ring and fight outside during the Royal Rumble, you can enter the ring with a weapon, and you can even have 100 man royal rumbles. I don't even hate the idea of having finishers for every grapple situation either though that's not something I'm interested in seeing replicated too much. What makes this game fun though is the season mode, since it's four players and often times bananas if you have multiple feuds ongoing. It's a lot of fun to play three players with my friend and brother. Also, it allows you to do stupid stuff with your created character. One of my created wrestlers literally changes gender depending on if he's wrestling a match or she's backstage.
VI. WWE 2K17 ~ Recency bias! There's a lot I'm disappointed with in this game, like MyCareer mode still being boring and terrible but Universe mode is serviceable enough as a GM replacement (I also have plenty of stats saved for my Universe) and the gameplay & roster is better than a lot of the games prior. To be honest, a lot of these WWE games just kinda blend together for me, so it's victory is in part due to it being the last out. It just barely misses out on the top five.
VII. Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 ~ The complete package. Great gameplay, solid season mode, surprisingly good commentary, sweet roster, and GM mode, albeit a rudimentary version of it. No real complaints, it's a solid experience from top to bottom.
VIII. Fire Pro Wrestling Returns ~ I barely played this game before I had to sell it and the learning curve is really steep if you're use to WWE games but once I got the hang of it I've had some of the most satisfying matches ever. One of the matches I had was as Bret Hart against British Bulldog, it lasted about 18-20 minutes and is easily within the best matches I've ever played. Didn't play it enough to rank it higher but what I've played made a lasting impression.
IX. No Mercy ~ Would probably be far higher if my version of the game didn't have a glitch where it'd constantly reset my created character to his default out right killing my motivation to play it every time. Such a shame.
X. WWE All Stars ~ I was considering putting Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 or WWE 2K14 on here but instead I'm opting to place the over-the-top arcade battler on her for variety sake. Load times are annoying and the arcade-esque mode (forgot what it's called) is really boring but the gameplay and theatrics are pretty fun. I particularly like the countering system (one of the best countering system, along with WrestleMania 21 [which might have the best, and though it holds a special place in my heart, it's not very good, consider it a number 13 if you will]).
