Play Pro Wrestling Online

Summary

Pro Wrestling is Nintendo’s third foray into NES wrestling, joining the likes of M.U.S.C.L.E. and Tag Team Wrestling and sitting alongside other Nintendo sports titles such as Tennis and Ice Hockey.

You pick one of six wrestlers, each equipped with a distinct move set – from Hayabusa’s back‑brain kick to The Amazon’s piranna bite – and then you can punch, kick, lock‑up for slams, climb the turnbuckles for aerial attacks, or even haul a downed opponent back onto the mat for a pin. The in‑ring referee actually runs to the spot of a pin and counts, giving you a brief window to escape if he’s on the far side. Leaving the ropes triggers a 20‑count; fail to re‑enter and you lose by count‑out or draw.

In two‑player mode the same mechanics apply, but matches become best‑of‑three‑falls bouts with no five‑minute timer, and the game forces each player to choose a different character.

The roster reads like a world tour: Giant Panther (head‑butt, iron claw), Kin Corn Karn (karate kick, Mongolian chop), King Slender (back breaker), Starman (somersault kick, flying cross chop) and the mysterious Amazon, whose bite and choke later inspired Street Fighter’s Blanka.

Programmer Masato Masuda designed the system while at TRY, a credit later tied to Human’s Fire Pro Wrestling series. Critics gave it solid Famitsu scores (7‑8/10), CGW named it 1988’s best sports game for Nintendo, Game Informer placed it 79th on its all‑time list, and it even topped U.S. sales for about two months.

Storyline

In the NES classic Pro Wrestling, the single‑player campaign is split into two distinct phases. First, you battle a series of increasingly tough CPU opponents, and after five victories you earn a title shot at the VWA Champion, King Slender. If you chose King Slender as your character, the challenger becomes Giant Panther, though some releases contain a bug that forces Slender to win more than five matches before the title bout is unlocked.

Once you capture the VWA Championship, the second stage begins: you must defend the belt ten times, facing each of the remaining five wrestlers twice. After those successful defenses, a final showdown against the Great Puma, champion of the rival VWF, crowns you the inter‑promotional VWA/VWF champion and concludes the game.