If you close your eyes and listen to "Lonely Train" by Black Stone Cherry, you aren't just hearing a mid-2000s rock anthem. You’re sitting in front of a bulky CRT television or maybe one of those early, grainy 720p monitors. You’re looking at a virtual Triple H or a prime Kurt Angle. For a huge portion of the gaming community, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 isn't just a nostalgic trip—it is the definitive peak of the genre.
It was a weird time for tech. The Xbox 360 was still the "new" shiny toy, and the PlayStation 3 was barely a whisper on the horizon for most of us. THQ and YUKE’S were at the height of their powers. They weren't trying to make a hyper-realistic sports simulation like the modern 2K titles. They were making a fun, chaotic, and incredibly deep fighting game that happened to have a ring in the middle.
Honestly, the game felt dangerous. It had grit.
The Year Everything Changed for the Franchise
Before we got WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, wrestling games were largely arcade-style button mashers. You tapped a button, you did a move. Simple. But 2007 introduced the analog control system. It was controversial at the time. Fans hated change. You had to flick the right stick to grapple, a move that felt alien to people raised on the "No Mercy" or "Here Comes The Pain" layouts.
But once it clicked? It changed everything.
It allowed for a level of nuance in grappling that we hadn't seen. You could choose between light and strong grapples just by the direction of your flick. It made the matches feel more organic and less like a sequence of pre-programmed animations. This was also the first time we saw environmental hotspots. You weren't just fighting in a vacuum. You could drag your opponent to the steel steps, the announce table, or the crowd barricade and actually interact with the world. It felt like the chaos of the Attitude Era was finally being captured by hardware that could actually handle it.
The roster was also a lightning-strike moment in time. You had the legends who were still full-time, like The Undertaker and Shawn Michaels, alongside the "Next Big Things" like Mr. Kennedy and Bobby Lashley. It was the last game to feature Kurt Angle before his long departure to TNA, making it a "must-own" for technical wrestling fans who wanted to see him face off against the rising stars.
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Why the Season Mode Still Beats Modern MyRise
Let's be real: modern career modes are a bit of a slog. They are filled with menus, social media simulators, and voice acting that ranges from "fine" to "please mute the TV." WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 did it differently.
The Season Mode in 07 was the last of its kind before the series transitioned into the "Road to WrestleMania" era. It featured actual branching storylines, but they were concise. You picked a superstar, and you lived through a year of TV. The locker room was a 3D environment you could actually walk around in. You could check your mail, look at the trophy case, or just soak in the atmosphere of the backstage area. It felt lived-in.
The writing was peak mid-2000s WWE. One week you’re fighting for the title, the next you’re involved in a supernatural plot involving the Undertaker. It didn't take itself too seriously, yet it demanded your attention because the stakes felt high. If you lost a match, the story actually shifted. That’s a level of player agency that has strangely gone missing in many modern titles where losing just prompts a "Retry" screen.
The Xbox 360 Jump and That "Next-Gen" Glow
If you played this on the PS2, you had a great time. But if you played WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 on the Xbox 360, your jaw hit the floor. This was the first time wrestling fans saw sweat. Real, beads-of-moisture sweat that gathered on Triple H’s back as the match went on. It sounds silly now, but in 2006, it was a revolution.
The lighting was different, too. The arenas felt massive. The crowd wasn't just a 2D texture; they were individual-ish models that reacted to the action. This game was the showcase for why "next-gen" mattered. Even the ring mats looked like actual canvas that would scuff and stain as the match progressed.
There was a specific weight to the characters. When Big Show hit a leg drop, the camera shook. When Rey Mysterio flew off the top rope, he felt fast and precarious. The balance between heavyweights and cruisers was arguably at its best here. You couldn't just power-bomb a giant; the game forced you to work the legs, to play strategically. It was a simulation that didn't forget it was supposed to be a game.
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The Soundtrack: An Unintentional Time Capsule
We have to talk about the music. For a generation of gamers, this soundtrack is wrestling.
- "Lonely Train" by Black Stone Cherry
- "Animal I Have Become" by Three Days Grace
- "The Enemy" by Godsmack
- "Bullet with a Name" by Nonpoint
It was the height of the post-grunge, nu-metal influence on the WWE product. It fit the vibe of the game perfectly. Rough, loud, and aggressive. Even now, if one of these songs plays on a random Spotify shuffle, a specific segment of the population immediately thinks of the 07 loading screens. It’s a pavlovian response.
General Manager Mode: The Addiction
If you want to know why people still complain about modern WWE games, look no further than GM Mode in 2007. It was the second iteration of the mode, and it was nearly perfect. You were tasked with running either Raw or SmackDown, drafting a roster, managing budgets, and—most importantly—beating the other brand in the ratings.
It was a spreadsheet simulator hidden inside a wrestling game, and it was glorious. You had to worry about superstar fatigue. If you ran Undertaker vs. Kane every single week, the fans would get bored, and the wrestlers would get injured. You had to balance "heat" and "popularity." It was stressful. It was punishing. And it was impossible to put down.
Modern "MyGM" modes have tried to recapture this, but they often feel restricted by "classes" or limited match slots. The 2007 version gave you the keys to the kingdom and told you not to crash the car. Most of us crashed the car, but we had a blast doing it.
The Misconceptions and the Flaws
I’m not saying it was perfect. Honestly, the AI could be incredibly stupid at times. If you climbed a ladder, the computer-controlled opponent would often just stare at you for three seconds before deciding to intervene. The "Stamina" system was also a point of massive frustration for many. In an attempt to be realistic, THQ added a meter that depleted as you moved. If you ran too much, your superstar would literally double over, gasping for air, leaving you wide open.
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A lot of players hated it. It slowed down the frantic pace of the previous games. But looking back, it added a layer of strategy. You couldn't just spam running strikes. You had to breathe.
Also, let's acknowledge the "Money in the Bank" match in this game. It was notoriously difficult. Trying to grab the briefcase while five other AI opponents converged on you was an exercise in pure patience (and occasionally, throwing your controller).
How to Play It Today
If you’re looking to revisit WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, you have a few options. The easiest, obviously, is owning the original hardware. A used Xbox 360 and a physical disc is the "purest" way to experience it, especially since the 360 version hasn't been made backwards compatible on modern Xbox Series X|S consoles due to licensing nightmares.
Licensing is the real killer here. Between the music rights and the wrestlers who are no longer on good terms with WWE (or are now with other promotions), a "Remaster" is basically impossible.
For the tech-savvy, emulation via PC is the way to go. Running the 360 version on an emulator like Xenia allows you to bump the resolution up to 4K. Seeing those 2007 character models in UHD is a trip—you can see just how much detail YUKE’S actually crammed into those files.
Actionable Next Steps for Fans
If you're feeling that itch to return to the ring, here is how to make the most of it:
- Hunt for the 360 version: While the PS2 version is legendary, the 360 version is the "definitive" experience with better textures and the full soundtrack.
- Try the "No-Stamina" Challenge: Go into the options and tweak the sliders. If you hated the stamina system, you can actually minimize its impact to make the game feel more like the arcade-heavy "Here Comes The Pain."
- Explore the Modding Community: There are still active forums (like SVR-Mods) where people have figured out how to inject modern rosters into the 2007 engine. You can literally play as Roman Reigns or Cody Rhodes with the 2007 gameplay mechanics.
- Master the Analog Grapple: Don't give up on the right-stick controls. Once you master the "Strong Grapple" vs. "Ultimate Control Grapple" (where you can physically carry your opponent around), you'll realize why this system was so ahead of its time.
This game remains a high-water mark because it had a soul. It wasn't just a corporate product meant to fulfill a yearly contract. It felt like a love letter to the ridiculous, high-octane world of professional wrestling. Whether you’re defending your title in Season Mode or bankrupting Vince McMahon in GM Mode, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 still hits just as hard today as it did nearly twenty years ago.