WWF SmackDown! 2 : Know Your Role

WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role is a PlayStation professional-wrestling game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ. Released in North America in November 2000, it is the direct follow-up to WWF SmackDown! and draws on the World Wrestling Federation's late-Attitude Era television roster and presentation. The title takes its subtitle from The Rock's catchphrase, while its Japanese release was titled Exciting Pro Wrestling 2. It was made for the original PlayStation rather than a newer console, with its fast match action and licensed wrestlers forming the centre of the experience.

Matches put players in control of WWF Superstars in one-on-one bouts, tag matches and larger multi-wrestler contests. The basic action combines strikes, grapples, throws, running attacks, aerial moves, pins and submissions, with each wrestler built around an individual move list and signature finishing move. Timing and positioning matter in the ring: a player can use an Irish whip to send an opponent toward ropes or corners, set up a grapple when an opponent is vulnerable, and try to build enough momentum for a decisive finish. The design keeps commands direct so that exhibition matches can move quickly while leaving room for counters and the different conditions of specialty matches.

Know Your Role expands the selection of match types beyond ordinary singles and tag-team contests. Ladder matches turn the goal toward climbing to retrieve a prize suspended above the ring, while Casket and Hell in a Cell matches bring their own surroundings and victory conditions. Tornado Tag Team rules keep all competitors active at once instead of requiring the usual tag exchanges. The game also includes backstage locations, allowing fights to move away from the standard arena environment. These options let the same roster be used for short competitive matches, chaotic multiplayer sessions and bouts shaped more closely around WWF's television-style stipulations.

Season Mode supplies the longer single-player framework. Players guide a chosen wrestler through a succession of shows, matches and story scenes, with wrestlers, arenas and other content becoming available through progress. The mode presents rivalries and interruptions as part of a continuing schedule rather than treating every contest as an isolated exhibition. It also supports multiple human participants, so more than one player can follow a season. That combination of set-piece scenes, changing match cards and unlockables gives the game a campaign structure alongside its immediate pick-up-and-play modes.

Creation tools are another major part of WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role. Create-A-Superstar allows a custom wrestler to be assembled with adjustable appearance details and attire, while Create-A-Moveset lets a player choose a fighting repertoire. Create-A-Taunt extends that customization to mannerisms, and Create-A-Stable makes it possible to group wrestlers together. Managers can also be assigned to Superstars. The result is not merely a roster editor: it gives players ways to build original characters and teams, then take them into the game's exhibition and season formats.

The roster represents WWF programming from around 2000 and includes figures associated with that period, such as The Rock, Triple H and The Undertaker, alongside tag teams and other performers. Its predecessor had arrived on PlayStation earlier in the same year, making Know Your Role a rapid sequel that broadened the earlier formula with additional modes, match types and customization. The next main entry, WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, moved the series to PlayStation 2 in 2001. As a result, Know Your Role remains the second SmackDown game and a substantial PlayStation-era snapshot of the WWF license before the later WWE-branded installments.