WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain
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40 free WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain came out in 2003, and reviewers at the time called it one of the best wrestling games made. A big part of its lasting reputation is the roster: main-event stars at their peak, future champions making a first appearance, and the first classic-era Legends the series ever included. This quiz walks through that roster. You will be asked to pick out the cover stars, the newcomers, the women's division, the unlockable Legends and the names that were cut before release, along with a few questions on who made the game and what it added. It is written for anyone who spent hours in Season Mode, and for wrestling fans who simply remember the era. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave knowing the roster better than when you started.
30 of 40 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which future UFC Heavyweight Champion is the cover athlete of WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain?
Brock Lesnar
Brock Lesnar leads the box art, and a 2003 WWE DVD about his career carries the same Here Comes the Pain title. He is the game's second-highest rated character at 91.
Q 02Which Here Comes the Pain Raw star had already played the lead in the 2002 film The Scorpion King?
The Rock
The Rock is rated 87, with only two Raw wrestlers scored higher. The Scorpion King, a spin-off from The Mummy Returns, gave him his first leading role.
Q 03Which Here Comes the Pain star lost at WrestleMania XIX and did not wrestle again for 19 years?
Steve Austin
Steve Austin is rated 85 on the Raw roster, in a game released seven months after knee and neck injuries forced him out of the ring.
Q 04Which rapper character from the SmackDown brand joined the game series for the first time in Here Comes the Pain?
John Cena
John Cena wore jerseys, backwards hats and a padlock chain as the Doctor of Thuganomics. All four of these wrestlers were new to the series, and he is rated only 75.
Q 05Which Here Comes the Pain newcomer later played Drax in Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy films?
Batista
Batista joins the Raw roster rated just 72, having entered the Evolution stable that January. He first played Drax the Destroyer in 2014.
Q 06Which masked high-flyer billed from San Diego is on the North American cover of Here Comes the Pain?
Rey Mysterio
Rey Mysterio had joined WWE only in 2002, so this was his first game in the series. His 619 kick is one of his two finishers in it.
Q 07Which wrestler, unmasked on Raw in June 2003, first appears bare-faced in Here Comes the Pain?
Kane
Kane lost a title match to Triple H with his mask at stake, then took it off on the June 23 Raw. No earlier game had shown his face.
Q 08Which wrestler appears twice in Here Comes the Pain, as a biker and as its top-rated Legend?
The Undertaker
The Undertaker is a SmackDown star in biker gear rated 85, and also a Legend in his original Deadman look rated 93, the highest score on the roster.
Q 09Which star and masked alter ego Mr. America were cut from Here Comes the Pain after a 2003 WWE exit?
Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan was in early beta builds in three guises, including his 1980s look. The idea of several versions of him in one game was realised two years later.
Q 10Which WCW star billed with a 173-0 unbeaten streak joins the series for the first time in Here Comes the Pain?
Goldberg
Goldberg signed a one-year WWE deal in March 2003 and enters the game on Raw rated 90, with the Spear and the Jackhammer as his finishers.
Q 11Which Osaka studio, later majority owner of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, developed Here Comes the Pain?
Yuke's
Yuke's was founded in 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi and kept making WWE games until 2019, when development moved to the California studio Visual Concepts.
Q 12Which California publisher, bankrupt by the end of 2012, released Here Comes the Pain outside Japan?
THQ
THQ filed for Chapter 11 in December 2012 and began selling off its assets the next month. In Japan the game's developer published it itself.
Q 13Which Sony console was the only platform Here Comes the Pain was ever released on?
PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2 was the game's only format, with no Xbox or GameCube port. It reached North America in October 2003 and Japan the following January.
Q 21Which Fiji-born Legend in Here Comes the Pain was famous for leaping off the top of a steel cage?
Jimmy Snuka
Jimmy Snuka, nicknamed Superfly, made his most famous cage leap onto Don Muraco at Madison Square Garden in 1983. One of his finishers in the game is simply called Superfly.
Q 22Which Here Comes the Pain Legend also became a character in the G.I. Joe toy line and cartoon?
Sgt. Slaughter
Sgt. Slaughter played a former Marine drill instructor in a campaign hat. His finisher in the game is the Cobra Clutch, and he is rated 85.
Q 23Which Here Comes the Pain Legend won the WWF title in 1983 and has the Camel Clutch as a finisher?
Iron Sheik
Q 14Under which title was Here Comes the Pain sold in Japan, where its developer was also its publisher?
Exciting Pro Wrestling 5
Exciting Pro Wrestling 5 was the Japanese name, carried over from the earlier games in the series. Japan's Famitsu magazine scored it 29 out of 40.
Q 15Which caged match, first held at Survivor Series 2002, made its game debut in Here Comes the Pain?
Elimination Chamber
Elimination Chamber joined the game as a six-man match. WWE built the real thing by mixing a giant enclosed cage with the timed entrances of the Royal Rumble.
Q 16Which 2002 game, the first in the series under the WWE name, did Here Comes the Pain directly follow?
Shut Your Mouth
Shut Your Mouth was the fourth SmackDown! game, released months after the company changed its name from WWF. Here Comes the Pain was the fifth and last before the series was renamed.
Q 17Which cable channel's first Video Game Awards, in 2003, named Here Comes the Pain Best Fighting Game?
Spike TV
Spike TV held the show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where the game beat Soulcalibur II and Def Jam Vendetta to the fighting prize.
Q 18Which 2004 Konami wrestling game reused the engine built for Here Comes the Pain?
Rumble Roses
Rumble Roses has an all-female cast, each wrestler with a good and a bad persona. The two games also share a producer, Norifumi Hara.
Q 19Which Here Comes the Pain star won Olympic freestyle wrestling gold in 1996 with a broken neck?
Kurt Angle
Kurt Angle is the SmackDown brand's second-best wrestler at 89, behind only the cover athlete. His two finishers are a slam and an ankle lock that both carry his name.
Q 20Which Here Comes the Pain Legend played the lead in John Carpenter's 1988 film They Live?
Roddy Piper
Roddy Piper is among the first Legends the series ever had, rated 84, with a Sleeper Hold as one of his finishers.
Iron Sheik is rated 83 in the game. Born in Iran, he had been a bodyguard for the Shah's family before moving to the United States to wrestle.
Q 24Which Here Comes the Pain Legend created his own diamond-studded Million Dollar Championship belt?
Ted DiBiase
Ted DiBiase, the Million Dollar Man, made the belt after failing to buy or win the real WWF title. His finishers in the game include the Million Dollar Dream.
Q 25Which tag team, with spiked armour inspired by Mad Max, do Hawk and Animal form in Here Comes the Pain?
Legion of Doom
Legion of Doom was the name the Chicago pair used in the WWF. Both members are Legends rated 90 in the game, level with Triple H.
Q 26Which former WWF champion was dropped from Here Comes the Pain over legal issues after beta builds?
Ultimate Warrior
Ultimate Warrior was pulled before release, while unfinished data for other cut wrestlers such as Al Snow and William Regal is still on the disc.
Q 27Which former WCW boss, Raw's general manager in 2003, is a playable character in Here Comes the Pain?
Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff makes his series debut rated just 52, the lowest of any man on the roster, with kung-fu strikes for finishers.
Q 28Which Here Comes the Pain cover star's brother Jeff was cut from the game after leaving WWE in 2003?
Matt Hardy
Matt Hardy stayed on SmackDown with his acclaimed Version 1 character, while his brother was released by WWE in April 2003. He is rated 70 in the game.
Q 29Which former Miss Galaxy winner is the only woman on Here Comes the Pain's North American cover?
Torrie Wilson
Torrie Wilson shares the box with five male wrestlers. She won the Miss Galaxy fitness title before signing with WCW in 1999.
Q 30Which Canadian former fitness model is among the Raw Divas on the Here Comes the Pain roster?
Trish Stratus
Trish Stratus took up fitness modelling after studying at York University to become a doctor. She is rated 50 in the game, the joint-highest score among the Divas.