Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

The first few matches can feel like a tug-of-war with the controls rather than your opponent. WWE Legends of WrestleMania is built around initiating grapples and working up a chain level, with directional inputs and face buttons determining what comes next. That means you do not get the immediate, button-mashing rush some wrestling games offer. You need to learn when a grapple has gone your way and how to capitalize before the other wrestler takes control back.

Once that rhythm clicks, the system has a pleasing rise-and-release structure. Successful attacks build the chain meter, and reaching the top opens access to stronger moves, so a match gradually shifts from probing exchanges into bigger payoffs. Taunts are more than crowd-pleasing gestures because they can briefly improve health, strength, or durability. Managers can interfere as well, adding a suitably underhanded option when you want to tilt a close match.

The real strength is variety. Exhibition covers the expected singles and tag matches alongside Steel Cage, Ladder, Hell in a Cell, Iron Man, Submission, Triple Threat, Battle Royal, Handicap, and Royal Rumble bouts. That gives you room to take the combat system into very different match contexts instead of grinding through one format. Create-a-wrestler options, custom entrances, move sets, and custom tag teams add a welcome personal layer, though the game is at its most convincing when it is leaning into its own legends rather than asking you to supply the fantasy.

Graphics

The game’s most effective images are its recreated WrestleMania venues, period costumes, and entrances. Seeing the older WWE themes and staging gathered in one place gives matches a stronger sense of occasion than the basic act of trading grapples would on its own.

Story

There is no conventional story campaign here, and that is the right call for the material. WrestleMania Tour treats WWE history as a playable scrapbook, built around classic events rather than a newly written plot. Its three branches—Relive, Rewrite, and Redefine—give you distinct ways to engage with the same historical matchups.

Relive is the most naturally satisfying mode because it asks you to recreate a legendary match by meeting objectives. That structure gives familiar bouts a purpose beyond simply winning, and it makes the nostalgia feel active rather than decorative. Rewrite has an immediate what-if charm: you enter a classic match and change its outcome.

Redefine is the loosest of the three, letting you alter the conditions and match types around these famous encounters. It will not carry the emotional weight of a story-driven wrestling career mode, but it does understand the fun of wrestling history: remembering the result, then deciding you would rather see it go another way. Unlockable costumes, exhibition venues, and movies make challenge completion feel tied back to that historical archive.

Overall Experience

WWE Legends of WrestleMania is easier to enjoy when you meet it on its own deliberately retro terms. The action has a more methodical, grapple-first feel than a free-flowing brawler, and that can be frustrating when you want instant control. Give it a few matches, though, and the chain system starts to create a workable cadence of escalation.

Its broad match list and WrestleMania Tour are the payoff. You can spend time faithfully recreating famous contests, reverse old outcomes, or turn the rules inside out, then step into a Royal Rumble or Ladder match for something less structured. The reward unlocks provide a solid reason to keep testing modes and objectives rather than treating the Tour as a one-night novelty.

This is not a wrestling game for everyone, but it knows exactly who it wants in the ring: someone who enjoys the larger-than-life WWE of the 1980s and 1990s and can forgive some awkwardness for the chance to revisit it. For that crowd, it is a flawed but affectionate time capsule with enough match variety to outlast the initial novelty.

Retro Replay Score

6.9/10