Who was The Sultan WWF? A Look Back at His Career

Okay, so you wanna hear about my “the sultan wwf” project, huh? Alright, buckle up, it’s a bit of a story.

It all started when I was messing around with some old game files. I mean, really old. We’re talking early 2000s wrestling game kinda old. I was just poking around, seeing what I could find, and I stumbled across the character models.

Then, I got this dumb idea, right? What if I could, like, put myself in the game? Or, even better, what if I could create my own wrestler? A totally original character? And, for some reason, the name “The Sultan” just popped into my head.

Now, I’m no artist, okay? I can barely draw a stick figure. So, the first thing I did was find some online resources. I found a couple of tutorials about modding old games, and a few websites with custom textures and models. This was key; I knew I couldn’t build from scratch.

I started by trying to swap out an existing character model. I chose a basic one, a jobber, someone nobody cared about. I downloaded the character’s files, then used a hex editor to try and figure out how the textures were stored. This part was a real headache! It was all trial and error, mostly error.

I spent days just changing colors, swapping textures, and basically making a mess. Eventually, I managed to get something that resembled a new character, but it looked terrible. The proportions were all wrong, the textures were blurry, and it just didn’t fit.

I almost gave up at this point. But then, I found a forum dedicated to modding this specific game. These guys were serious. They had tools, scripts, everything. I downloaded a few of their tools and started experimenting again.

This time, I focused on the face. I found a free 3D modeling program and started trying to sculpt a new head. It was awful. It looked like a potato. So, I cheated. I found a picture of myself, and used the 3D program to roughly map it onto the existing head model.

It still looked kinda bad, but it was an improvement. I then worked on the costume. I wanted something unique, something that screamed “The Sultan”. I found a bunch of images of traditional Middle Eastern clothing and tried to incorporate elements into the wrestler’s attire.

I ended up with a mix of a turban, some flowing robes, and wrestling trunks. It was a weird combination, but it kinda worked. I used the texture editing software to add some gold trim and some intricate patterns. It was starting to look like something I could actually be proud of.

Then came the hardest part: the moveset. I had to figure out what kind of wrestling style The Sultan would use. I watched a bunch of old wrestling videos and picked out a few moves that seemed appropriate. I then had to figure out how to assign those moves to the character in the game.

This involved editing the game’s script files. This was probably the most frustrating part of the whole process. I made so many mistakes, and the game kept crashing. But eventually, after hours of tweaking and debugging, I managed to get it working.

Finally, after weeks of work, “The Sultan” was ready. I loaded up the game and watched my creation strut down the aisle. He looked… kinda goofy. But he was mine. I played a few matches, and he actually wasn’t half bad. He had a decent moveset, and his costume looked pretty cool.

The whole thing was a learning experience. I learned a lot about modding, 3D modeling, and texture editing. I also learned that I have way more patience than I thought I did.

It’s not perfect, by any means. But it’s a fun little project that I’m actually pretty proud of. Maybe I’ll even try to make a sequel someday.