AEW: Rise to the Top hands you the booking sheet and lets you build an absolute juggernaut of a wrestling promotion from scratch. You aren’t just mashing buttons in the ring here. You are actively playing chess with a roster packed full of legitimately elite talent.

BUILDING AN UNTOUCHABLE LOCKER ROOM

Your entire promotion lives and dies by who you have under contract. You get to recruit heavy hitters like Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Adam Page, and Britt Baker to build out your ultimate stable. The game even lets you pull in absolute icons like Sting. You have to aggressively hoard these superstars to make sure your roster completely outshines whatever the competition is throwing out there.

BOOKING ABSOLUTE CARNAGE ON PAY PER VIEW

A standard singles match is fine for weekly television, but this game lets you get wonderfully chaotic when the stakes are high. You can book brutal barbed wire massacres, claustrophobic coffin matches, and dangerous ladder brawls to really pop the crowd. You just have to balance all that chaos with actual roster management. Keeping a close eye on nagging injuries and making sure your top talent actually recovers before you throw them into another massive main event is crucial.

LEVELING UP YOUR IN RING ASSASSINS

Having a massive name on the marquee won’t save you if their underlying stats are garbage. You have to grind out weekly matches to earn resources, then dump those points directly into your roster’s attributes. Beefing up their raw strength, technical wrestling skills, and microphone charisma unlocks devastating new signature moves that can completely swing the momentum of a tough fight.

WATCHING THE SIMULATION AND CRUSHING RIVALS

Once the card is finalized, you get to kick back and watch the AI run the simulation. It actually captures the flow of a real broadcast, complete with signature spots, highly dramatic false finishes, and plenty of referee mechanics. When you finally think your custom promotion is untouchable, you can take your top stable online. The PvP mode is a massive reality check where you climb competitive ladders by outsmarting other real life bookers in sweaty pay per view showdowns.

HUSTLING YOUR WAY TO INDUSTRY DOMINANCE

The massive career mode throws you right into the deep end, forcing you to guide a tiny, upstart promotion all the way to global dominance. You have to handle literally everything. You are booking petty backstage rivalries, signing major free agents, and trying to secure the biggest stages possible. It is a serious grind, but taking your custom promotion to the absolute top of the industry feels incredible.