Wrestling GM 2026 - Version 1.6: A Living Wrestling World recovered draft

Version 1.6 is here

A living wrestling world.

Wrestling GM 2026 Version 1.6 is now available to everyone.

For a while now, I've been thinking about where Wrestling GM 2026 should go next.

I've spent a lot of time reading your feedback, looking through suggestions and thinking about what would make the game genuinely better in the long run.

And I kept coming back to the same thing.

The wrestling universe needs to feel alive.

Wrestlers shouldn't stay 28 forever.

They shouldn't all react to booking in exactly the same way.

Two wrestlers who've spent years working together should have some kind of relationship.

Rival federations should compete with you for talent.

And the history you've created shouldn't disappear when someone retires.

That's what Version 1.6 is about.

This update introduces several major systems across three areas:

• Living Wrestling World
• Living Wrestlers
• Living Wrestling Industry

And there are plenty of other improvements across Community, contracts, booking, customisation and stability.

1. Characters now age and retire

Every Wrestler, Manager, Staff member and AI General Manager now has an age.

Each January, everyone gets one year older.

Eventually, characters begin thinking about retirement.

This is one of the biggest changes to long-running saves, because the people running your wrestling universe are no longer permanently frozen in time.

Retirement isn't sudden

I didn't want a wrestler to randomly disappear while you're halfway through a major storyline.

So characters announce retirement in advance.

The notice period ranges from 8 to 48 weeks, with a fixed retirement date.

Until that day, the character remains active, paid and bookable.

You can still finish a Rivalry, book a final Championship match or give someone a proper farewell.

Retirement notices for your own roster arrive privately in your inbox. Other federations' retirements are announced publicly.

Retirement ages

Different character types have different retirement ranges:

• Wrestlers: eligible from 40, compulsory by 60
• Managers: eligible from 50, compulsory by 65
• Staff and AI GMs: eligible from 60, compulsory by 70

Retirement becomes progressively more likely as characters get older.

Custom Wrestlers and Managers are protected from early retirement and remain until their compulsory caps.

2. Careers have legacies

Retiring doesn't mean being forgotten.

Version 1.6 introduces and expands the Archive, preserving characters and their careers after they leave the industry.

The Archive includes:

• Career History
• Records
• Federation History
• Retired character profiles

You can follow the histories of Wrestlers, Managers, Staff and AI General Managers.

Wrestling records

You can now explore records such as:

• Longest Championship reigns
• Most Championship reigns
• Most completed matches
• Highest-rated matches

Historical records support year and Federation filters.

And importantly, they remain readable even if the original Championship or Show is later removed.

Your universe now has a history that survives beyond the current roster.

Life and death

Characters also have a very small yearly chance of dying.

It's deliberately rare, but it means the world doesn't always follow a predictable path.

Their career history, Championships and records remain preserved.

3. New generations enter the world

As older characters retire, new people can enter the wrestling industry.

New Wrestlers can appear through annual Free Agency.

New Staff, Managers and AI General Managers can also enter the world as replacements.

This means a long-running save can gradually develop a different generation of characters.

The people who were important in Year 1 won't necessarily be the same people who define Year 20.

The world keeps moving, even when your original stars are gone.

4. Wrestler personalities now matter

Every wrestler now has one of 18 defined personalities.

These include:

• Professional
• Ambitious
• Loyal
• Hothead
• Showman
• Workhorse
• Loner
• Ego Driven
• Mercenary
• Mentor

and more.

Wrestler Profiles explain what each personality means.

But these aren't just descriptions.

Personalities affect behaviour

A Showman values spectacle.

An Ego Driven wrestler cares more about card placement.

A Workhorse likes being used regularly.

A Loner doesn't enjoy being grouped with others.

Different wrestlers now react differently to the same booking decisions.

Managers have also received a matching personality system.

Understand wrestler morale

Morale changes are now recorded with explanations inside Talent Relations.

Instead of just seeing someone's morale drop, you can better understand what caused it.

This makes managing a roster about more than simply keeping everyone's morale number high.

You need to understand the people involved.

5. Backstage relationships

This is another major addition.

Wrestlers now build relationships through working together.

Two Tag Team partners may gradually become friends.

Other wrestlers may develop tension, dislike each other or eventually become enemies.

These relationships persist rather than disappearing after one show.

Backstage incidents

Personalities can also influence what happens backstage.

Incidents can include:

• Pranks
• Arguments
• Political manoeuvring
• Helping a struggling colleague
• Other personality-driven interactions

A new Backstage screen lets you follow relationships and incidents.

Wrestler Profiles also include their social history.

The people in your federation can now develop stories even when you haven't directly booked a Rivalry between them.

6. A more competitive wrestling industry

Until now, signing talent has often been too straightforward.

You identify a wrestler, make an offer and try to sign them.

Version 1.6 makes recruitment more competitive.

Other federations can now pursue wrestlers approaching the end of their contracts.

A wrestler may receive interest from several companies.

And you aren't necessarily the only one willing to improve an offer.

Competing offers

You can now encounter situations where:

• A rival federation approaches a wrestler
• Another federation makes a competing offer
• You submit your own contract proposal
• The incumbent federation responds with improved terms
• The wrestler considers their available options

You can inspect rival offers and revise your own bid.

Rival federations can respond with better wages or signing bonuses.

Future agreements

Wrestlers approaching the end of a contract can secure their next destination before their current agreement finishes.

This makes the last weeks of a contract much more important.

It also means you have to think about retaining your own stars, not just signing everyone else's.

7. The Watchlist

The new Watchlist lets you track wrestlers you're interested in signing.

Instead of repeatedly checking the Talent Market manually, you can monitor potential recruitment targets.

Watchlist alerts cover:

• Upcoming contract windows
• Free Agency
• Signings
• Championship wins
• Retirement

A new Contract Outlook helps you understand upcoming contract opportunities.

This makes recruitment something you can plan over time rather than simply reacting when a wrestler becomes a Free Agent.

8. Contracts and trust

Contract negotiations have also become more detailed.

A wrestler's personality and their trust in your Federation influence what they expect from a deal.

Different wrestlers value different things.

Some care more about money.

Others value loyalty, stability or their relationship with the Federation.

More reliable negotiations

Negotiations now persist if you leave the screen.

Accepting a contract also works as a complete transaction, preventing situations where only part of the deal goes through.

Contract expiration, renewal and Free Agency have all received reliability improvements.

The negotiation interface has also been redesigned with clearer offer states and navigation.

Keeping a wrestler happy and building trust can now make a genuine difference when their contract comes up for renewal.

9. A better inbox

With more happening across the wrestling world, Messages needed to become easier to follow.

The inbox has been redesigned to feel more like correspondence from actual people and organisations.

Messages now have clearer:

• Senders
• Signatures
• Contextual actions
• Navigation

Contract-market updates are also grouped into one weekly digest.

This can cover at-risk roster members, Watchlist opportunities and completed agreements.

Instead of receiving lots of disconnected messages, you get a more useful overview of what happened.

10. Rivalries get deeper

Version 1.6 adds Triple Threat Rivalries, allowing more than two wrestlers to become involved in the same ongoing storyline.

Rivalry screens have also been redesigned.

Repetitive booking has diminishing returns

Booking the same rivalry match repeatedly now produces diminishing rating and popularity bonuses.

You can still book rematches, but repeating the same match over and over is no longer as rewarding.

Better Demands & Promises

The Demands & Promises experience has been redesigned.

Urgent problems and progress are easier to follow.

Several issues involving promise timing and impossible Championship opportunities have also been fixed.

11. Better Show and Match Booking

Show creation and editing now use a clearer five-step wizard.

Custom Show Card backgrounds have also been added, with a live crop preview so you can see how your selected artwork will appear.

New Show Card backgrounds

There are now:

• 5 free backgrounds
• 8 premium backgrounds

Premium backgrounds can be purchased individually or accessed through the relevant bundle.

More Championship match options

Tag Team Championships can now be defended in:

• Tag Team Triple Threat
• Tag Team 4-Way

Manager presentation

Managers now appear in a dedicated In the Corner card rather than cluttering the match stage.

That presentation also remains visible on results.

More booking fixes

Steel Cage matches no longer incorrectly finish in a No Contest.

On mobile, Next Week is hidden while creating Shows, Matches and Segments to give the booking interface more room.

12. Community & GM Club

Version 1.6 also introduces new Community features.

Community page

The game now has a dedicated Community page.

Announcements can be published directly into the game, and once received they remain available offline.

GM Club Arena

Supporters now have their own arena inside Wrestling GM 2026.

Their seating area depends on their supporter tier:

• Ringside
• Floor
• Lower Bowl
• Upper Deck

Everyone appears as an anonymous GM by default, unless they choose to show their name.

Linking your account claims your seat, and Find My Seat takes you directly to it.

13. Safer Shop and purchases

Another major part of this development cycle has been improving purchasing reliability.

The Shop now selects the appropriate checkout provider automatically.

Purchases require an account, making it easier to link orders and recover them.

If a checkout fails, the game provides a support reference.

Fixes include:

• Patreon checkout on mobile
• Cash payment options
• Faction purchases
• Discount codes
• Interrupted Tag Team purchases
• Manager bundle pricing
• Cosmetic purchase recovery
• Premium Cosmetic Bundle ownership

Purchased portraits are also saved locally, reducing unnecessary downloads and improving recovery when a network request fails.

14. Better privacy and account controls

Privacy settings and account management have been redesigned to make controls clearer.

This includes:

• Updated privacy onboarding
• Clearer Settings and Profile controls
• Account deletion with a review of shared data
• Improved sign-in error messages

Advertising has also been switched off on iOS.

Work on browser-based rewarded Sponsor Ads continues, but availability still depends on Google's approval.

15. Better Roster and Profile information

Wrestler cards and profiles now more clearly show how long remains before an injured, loaned or away wrestler returns.

Fatigue, rest and injury recovery also continue correctly while wrestlers are away.

An Underused filter is available in Match and Segment Booking to help identify talent needing screen time.

Portrait handling has received further improvements for Managers, purchased Wrestlers and desktop profiles.

16. Stability and reliability

There's also a substantial collection of fixes underneath the larger features.

These include:

• Cloud backup compatibility with compacted saves
• Persistent warnings and Retry when an exit save fails
• Better portrait-generation retry behaviour
• Recovery from damaged cached files
• Android push-notification crash fixes
• Android 15 compatibility improvements
• Correct update prompts
• Improved sign-in error feedback
• More reliable purchased portrait downloads

Several Help Center FAQs have also been refreshed.

What comes next?

Version 1.6 is the beginning of a much bigger direction for Wrestling GM 2026.

The goal is to keep developing the game around three connected ideas:

Living Wrestling World

People age, retire, leave records and make way for new generations.

Living Wrestlers

Personalities, morale, relationships and backstage behaviour give characters more identity.

Living Wrestling Industry

Contracts, competition, recruitment and rival federations create a world that keeps moving around you.

These systems give me a stronger foundation for future updates.

And as always, your feedback will help determine where they go next.

Thank you

Version 1.6 is one of the biggest steps forward for Wrestling GM 2026.

The wrestling world can now develop stories that go far beyond one Show or one Championship.

Wrestlers remember how they're treated.

Relationships change.

Other federations compete for talent.

Careers end.

New generations take their place.

And the history you build remains.

Thank you to everyone playing, supporting development and sharing feedback.

Play Wrestling GM 2026

Version 1.6 is available now.

• Update Wrestling GM 2026
• Join Discord and share your feedback
• Visit the Community page
• Join GM Club to support continued development