As much as it behooves me to say it, 2004 was just not that great of a year for wrestling games, or, hell, even wrestling in general--at least, not in the mainstream. Sure, the GameCube finally got a worthwhile WWE grappler in WWE Day of Reckoning, but THQ's main franchise, the SmackDown! series, took a step backward this year with SmackDown! vs. Raw. In fact, the best wrestling game of the year wasn't even really a wrestling game. EA's Def Jam: Fight for NY was far more rooted in basic fighting game mechanics than it was traditional wrestling, and yet it still out grappled the WWE competition handily. And now, with the WWE filing a lawsuit against Jakks Pacific (the middlemen between them and THQ in their game licensing deal), who knows what the future might hold for WWE licensed games.

　　Then again, that kind of speaks to the year the WWE had in general. With SmackDown! becoming mostly unwatchable, and Raw being only a marginal improvement, it grew increasingly difficult to watch as the WWE pushed aside more talented ring workers in favor of more obnoxious behemoths than Vincent Kennedy McMahon could possibly know what to do with. What's it going to take to get Paul London into the spotlight in that league, anyway? Clearly, a lot more than it took to get Gene Snitsky or Heidenreich there.

　　In fact, some of the best wrestling I saw all year came from promotions like NWA TNA and Ring of Honor. TNA's sloped downhill somewhat too, but I saw quite possibly the best match of the year on a RoH DVD, featuring a 60 minute slobberknocker between Samoa Joe and CM Punk. Absolutely classic. Why can't some publisher pick up this promotion's license and do something cool with it? It's not like there aren't good, knowledgeable developers *cough*AKI*cough* who could do wonders with a product like this. Then again, I imagine the sales figures would be dwarfed by even the worst WWE game, so I can see why a company might not want to go out on a limb.

　　What does 2005 hold? Well, we'll finally get to see what Studio Gigante can put behind their first attempt at a wrestling game, in Wrestlemania XXI. It seems like from the few, marginal details that have come to light thus far about the game, they're looking to try some new and potentially exciting things. Then again, that's what people thought about the original WWF Raw for the Xbox, and we all know how well that turned out. Oh well, here's to hope for change for the better, and not just for the sake of change.