PLATFORM: WEB BROWSER / DEVELOPER: MAHIN / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW

Ever sat down to watch WWE Raw and thought “Man, my dog could book a better wrestling show than this”? Firstly, chances are you’re totally correct in that assumption, as Raw programming has been particularly brutal in recent years. And secondly, Mahin’s Journey of Wrestling now gives you the chance to try your hand at booking a wrestling company – as in, putting together matches, planning out segments, overseeing wrestlers and managers, choosing who gets the wins and who takes the losses, etc – as you find yourself in direct competition with the other promotions of the time.

While some pro wrestling simulators give you a totally blank canvas full of fictional characters, part of the phenomenal charm of JoW is that it allows the player to drop themselves directly into any genuine timeline in the history of the industry.

As a handful of examples, you can go back to the turn of the 19th century and shape the dawn of professional wrestling; there’s the glory days of Bruno Sammartino packing out Madison Square Garden; there’s the territory days and all that the all-reaching National Wrestling Alliance brought to the table; there’s the hard-hitting boom of All Japan Pro Wrestling or the ascension of New Japan Pro Wrestling; there’s the Rock ‘n’ Wrestling Era with Hulk Hogan leading the charge; there’s the New Generation that was put on the back of the likes of Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker; there’s, of course, the Monday Night Wars; and hell, there are even more recent scenarios that bring the likes of TNA/IMPACT Wrestling and AEW into the equation.

The point being, any key time in wrestling history can be played through. And if they can’t, there’s the ability to literally create whatever scenario you want. Likely even more enjoyable than simply taking charge of the dominant promotion of the time and mirroring real life, is trying to spin something different. For example, you can take charge of the AWA in the early ‘80s and attempt to stop the impending dominance of the then-World Wrestling Federation. Or in this guy’s case, have Tatanka ruling the roost as WWF Champion back in the ’90s, have Bret Hart constantly beating Shawn Michaels, and bring in a new super heel faction of ‘Stunning’ Steve Austin, William Regal, Bobby Eaton, Fit Finlay and a young Rob Van Dam. The point being, the possibilities and potential are totally unlimited in Journey of Wrestling.

By the sheer number of different timelines, promotions and options available, it adds such infinite playability (and replayability) to JOW. If you happen to find that your game is getting a tad repetitive or needs a shot in the arm, you can simply start a new game in a different era full of different real-life wrestlers. And that’s another great element of Journey of Wrestling: all of the names of companies and personnel are totally authentic, rather than having to use, say, ‘Luke Warm’ Steve Texas. Another way to shake up your game, is that you can just change a wrestler’s gimmick, try and trade talent with a rival promotion, explore which talents are available on the independent scene or see which rookies you have training in your developmental system.

Whether you’re a wrestling simulator veteran or a total rookie, Journey of Wrestling is a blast. After a quick five-minute learning curve of discovery, you’ll quickly be up to speed with what makes JoW tick and how the game operates. From there, it’s down to you to sink or swim and see whether those years of being the proverbial ‘armchair booker’ have taught you anything about how to master the wrestling business.

A browser-based game, JoW is easy to pick up, is visually perfect in its quirky simplicity, and best of all is free. There is an option to upgrade the game and make new options available for the price of $15, but the great thing is that you can explore so much of Journey of Wrestling for free before making the decision of whether or not to splash out the cash and open the game up further.

Journey of Wrestling is literally just a click of a mouse away at www.journeyofwrestling.com – and we cannot recommend this one enough!