WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth

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WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth (Known as Exciting Pro Wrestling 4 in Japan) is a professional wrestling video game released on the PlayStation 2 console by THQ and developed by Yuke's. It is part of the WWE SmackDown (now WWE SmackDown vs. Raw) video game series based on the professional wrestling promotion World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). This game was the sequel to WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It and was succeeded by WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. It was the first game not to have The Rock on the cover, although he appeared on the cover of the PAL version along with Hulk Hogan.

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Gameplay

Season mode was re lengthened to two game years, as opposed to the abbreviated season mode in its predecessor. It was the first game to feature the Brand Extension featuring Ric Flair's Raw and Vince McMahon's SmackDown! Players compete exclusively on the show they are drafted to for the first few months of year 1, consisting of four Raw or four SmackDown! events, plus a pay-per-view event per month. If the superstar is a created superstar, or if the original superstar is below a rating of 60, he will start (or be demoted) to wrestle on Sunday Night HEAT. Eventually, the player will have the freedom to fight on the two major TV shows, appearing on two RAW and two SmackDown! shows and the PPV event, even if he did not hold the Undisputed Championship. One of the major angles featured is based on a nWo storyline featured in early 2002 that included Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and X-Pac, who replaced Scott Hall from the original televised storyline, after Hall was released for his problems arising from his alcohol-related actions. This was also the first game in the series in which female wrestlers could not participate in season mode.

Like its predecessor WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, Shut Your Mouth's championships cannot be contended for in Exhibition mode and can only be defended in season mode. All of the major titles of the time, except for the Women's are included in the game: WWE Undisputed, Intercontinental, European, Tag Team, Cruiserweight, and Hardcore championships.
Televised and pay-per-view events are televised from the SmackDown! Arena, which is based on Madison Square Garden, as seen from outside the arena and within the main foyer. Though each week, each event takes place from a different city (as announced by Jim Ross at the start of the events), the areas outside of the arenas remain in Manhattan, New York. Notable areas are a New York Subway stop named SmackDown! Station, Times Square, and The World. Although this game was seen as a vast improvement over Just Bring It, it still had several problems and limitations, many of which are corrected by its successor, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. The game features several arenas that WWE held events at in 2001 and 2002. There are also arenas based on each WWE television show. In certain arenas, players could make their wrestlers scale the TitanTron and jump off it. In addition, The Undertaker's motorcycle could be ridden in some matches.

In terms of graphics, some wrestlers were greatly improved, and included realistic facial features. Fully animated entrances for each character are featured, with their entrance video playing on the TitanTron, and their respective themes playing in the arena. The only exception is Maven, who instead was given the SmackDown! theme (although an instrumental of his real theme can be unlocked with a cheat device) and both Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy who gets a similar theme (Reasons for all of them are unknown. The title belts are also displayed in the entrances realistically (i.e. if The Rock held the title, he would carry it to the ring and toss it above his head in his salute to the people, as opposed to wearing the belt on his shoulder or around his waist). The belts move according to natural physics, as well. This game was also the first to include alternate attires which the player could unlock through Season Mode (the game also holds the record for most alternating costumes in the SmackDown! series with 37 individual superstars collecting either one or two extra costumes).

For wrestler entrances, most of the themes used in the televised and house shows were incorporated into the game. Along with the in-house music from Jim Johnston, remakes of Johnston's originals from bands such as Breaking Point (for Rob Van Dam), Our Lady Peace (for Chris Benoit), and Saliva (for The Dudley Boyz) were featured. Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler provide sporadic commentary. However, ring announcer Howard Finkel returned to provide his voice for match introductions and wrestler entrances.
Create-A-Superstar mode gives the freedom to manipulate any part of the superstar's body. It also offers over 58 move sets from a combination of wrestlers in WWE not featured in the game or working in different promotions. A gripe, however, is that created wrestlers do not show any teeth when they open their mouths.

This would also be the last game not to feature any blood, later being featured on the 2003 sequel, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain.

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Roster

This is the first game to feature wrestlers on different brands, Raw and SmackDown!. In this game, all the wrestlers, including champions are eligible to be drafted on both brands, except for the WWE Undisputed Champion, who is available on both brands, as long as he is the champion. Scott Hall originally appeared as a member of the nWo. However, because of his release a few months earlier he was removed from the game, also Mick Foley and Bret Hart are not in the game but their created faces and features are. Shawn Michaels appears as a playable character in Exibition mode and also can be used as a special referee but as an NPC for Season Mode. Vince McMahon and Ric Flair and Stephanie McMahon are NPCs but can be played in special match types. This game marks the first appearance of Randy Orton as a playable character. This game is also Jeff Hardy's last appearance in any WWE video game until WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2008 was released over 5 years later in November 2007.