Wrestling fans are a weird bunch. We remember the good times, sure, but we obsess over the beautiful train wrecks even more. If you owned an original Xbox in 2003, you lived through one of those wrecks. WWE Raw 2 was supposed to be the "SmackDown killer." It had the power of Microsoft's black box, a roster that was absolutely stacked, and graphics that made the PlayStation 2 look like a dusty calculator.
But then you actually played it.
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The game is a fever dream. It’s a mix of genius ideas and "what were they thinking?" execution. Developed by Anchor Inc. and published by THQ, it arrived on September 15, 2003, amidst a flurry of rumors that the entire dev team had been fired before the game even hit shelves. Whether that’s 100% corporate fact or just locker room talk, the final product feels exactly like that: a game that was 85% finished and then shoved out the door.
The Chaos of the WWE Raw 2 Season Mode
If you ask anyone about WWE Raw 2, they won't talk about the grappling first. They’ll talk about the season mode. It was—and still is—completely unhinged. Unlike the linear stories in Shut Your Mouth or Here Comes the Pain, Raw 2 gave you a sandbox of absolute malice.
You didn't just wrestle matches. You spent your "backstage time" essentially being a menace. You could:
- Set traps for other wrestlers (like the classic bucket over the door).
- Steal items from lockers.
- Encourage or manipulate allies.
- Attack anyone at any time in the locker room.
The AI didn't care about logic. I once saw Trish Stratus hold the World Heavyweight Championship for three years because the simulation just... let it happen. Titles changed hands on disqualifications. You could interfere in a match, hit one move, and somehow the game would glitch and crown you the new champion after the show. It was chaotic, buggy, and frankly, more fun than most modern "Career Modes" because you never knew if Scott Steiner was going to lure you into a trap involving a large fish.
Seriously, you could beat people with a fish.
Customization That Put Everyone Else to Shame
While the wrestling was clunky, the Create-A-Superstar (CAS) was lightyears ahead of its time. This is where the Xbox hard drive really flexed. WWE Raw 2 was one of the first games to let you rip your own CDs to the console and use those tracks as entrance music.
Nothing topped the feeling of walking down the ramp to actual licensed music you owned, rather than some generic MIDI track. You could even time the pyro and lighting to hit exactly when the beat dropped. People spent hours—literally hours—tweaking the "entrance video" creator, which was basically a primitive video editor inside a wrestling game.
The physical customization was just as wild. You could make a giant 10-foot tall monster or a character so small they were shorter than the turnbuckle pad. The game let you edit the default roster too, which was a godsend. If you didn't like Triple H’s gear, you just changed it. That level of freedom is something we're only just getting back to in the 2K era.
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The "Unique" Gameplay Mechanics
Let’s be real: the actual wrestling in WWE Raw 2 was... an acquired taste. It used a stamina-based grappling system that felt heavy. Too heavy.
Every move, even a simple punch, drained your energy. If you ran out, your wrestler would basically stumble around like they’d just finished a 60-minute Iron Man match. The AI was also notoriously "braindead" or "psychotic" with no middle ground. In a Fatal 4-Way, the computer would often spend twenty minutes breaking up every single pin attempt, making matches last until your Xbox started smoking.
But it had gems. It featured a Royal Rumble where you could actually use weapons. It had a Hell in a Cell where you could knock down the walls and do 450 splashes off the top onto the announce table. The lighting effects were also gorgeous for 2003. The way the arena lights reflected off the ring mat and the wrestlers’ skin (which had a weird, sweaty "Street Fighter IV" sheen) still looks decent today.
A Roster from a Transition Era
The roster was a snapshot of a very specific time in WWE history. You had the big "Ruthless Aggression" names like Brock Lesnar and Goldberg, but also remnants of the past.
- The Rock was in his "pre-Hollywood" persona.
- Stacy Keibler was still hanging out with the Dudley Boyz.
- Scott Hall and Jeff Hardy were famously cut from the final game due to real-life issues, though their moves and parts remained in the CAS.
- Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash were there, sporting models that looked slightly different from their PlayStation counterparts.
Why You Should Care in 2026
You might wonder why we're still talking about a 23-year-old Xbox exclusive. It’s because WWE Raw 2 represents a road not taken. After this, the "Raw" series died, and we got WrestleMania 21 (which was a disaster) before everything merged into the SmackDown vs. Raw brand.
Raw 2 tried to be a simulation of the drama of wrestling, not just the matches. It understood that backstage politics, petty thievery, and forming weird alliances are just as much a part of "sports entertainment" as a suplex. It was buggy, the collision detection was a suggestion at best, and the AI was a mess—but it had heart.
Actionable Tips for Playing Today
If you’re looking to revisit this classic, keep these things in mind to actually enjoy it:
- Use an Original Xbox or 360: While it’s backwards compatible on the Xbox 360, the performance is hit-or-miss. The original hardware is the only way to get the custom soundtrack feature working properly.
- Play with Friends: The Season Mode supports up to four players. Playing this solo is a lesson in frustration because of the AI. Playing it with three buddies is a weekend of pure, chaotic comedy.
- Abuse the CAS: Don't just play as John Cena. Dive into the creation suite. The "item" list includes things like anvils and those infamous fish. Use them.
- Watch the Voltage Meter: Don't just spam finishers. The game requires you to build "Voltage" through taunts and variety. If you just do the same move over and over, you'll never get your special.
WWE Raw 2 isn't a "good" game by modern standards. It’s a fascinating, broken, ambitious relic. It’s a reminder of a time when developers were allowed to take weird risks, even if they didn't always land the flip.
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Next Steps for the Retro Fan
- Check your local retro game shop for an NTSC copy; they usually go for $15-$30 depending on the condition.
- Look up the "hidden" moves in the CAS—there are dozens of animations for wrestlers who were cut from the final roster.
- Clear some space on your old Xbox HDD to rip a custom "Entrance" playlist before starting a new 4-player season.