There are multiple factors that go into putting on the perfect show in WWE 2K23’s MyGM mode.

This guide breaks down all of the hidden ratings that determine whether your show will receive an amazing booking rating, or if it will turn out like Wrestlemania 27. Remember that one? You shouldn’t.

Overview

It’s important to realize that not every show will be flawless.

You want your best shows to take place at Premium Live Events, so the weekly shows can sometimes end up serving as “stamina savers”, which is a term I’ve come up with as I write this article.

What I mean by that is that you need your biggest stars and the most well developed rivalries for the events, so it’s vital that they have enough stamina going into that show and in order to ensure they do, you’ll need to rest them and put on some filler matches every now and then.

There’s nothing worse than having a level 4 rivalry between two popular stars ruined because one of them got injured on the weekly show before the event, so don’t feel like you need to put on blockbusters every single week.

The small amount of fans you’ll lose from resting your stars will be regained by the killer Premium Live Event anyway, so always work towards those.

Much like everything else in MyGM mode, this is a balancing act.

If you want to become the best GM in the game, you don’t want to be putting on shows with filler matches every week as you need to build up your roster’s popularity and rivalries as well.

And just because you’re putting on some filler cards, you still need to meet the drama curve and aim for a good booking rating at a minimum.

The Drama Curve

One of the biggest factors in whether or not your show is successful is the drama curve.

You need to be doing your best to meet this in every single show, regardless of if it’s a stamina saver or not.

To meet the curve, your opening match needs to outperform your first mid card match and your main event needs to be better than your second mid card match. If you achieve this, regardless of the actual match ratings, you’ll get a good booking result, then if the opener and main event get high match ratings, you’ll be rewarded with an amazing booking verdict.

Meeting the drama curve and getting high match ratings will make sure that you retain your fans from the show. This is crucial to do week after week so you don’t fall behind in the overall rankings.

Aim to achieve a good booking every week and take every amazing booking rating with open arms.

Match Ratings

In order to get the highest possible match ratings for each show, you need to know how matches are actually rated by the game.

There are 10 different categories that make up a match’s rating and each of them are ranked out of 5 stars.

This will be hidden to you when you’re booking the show, but after it’s complete, you can check it in the match report for each fight. This helps you know what to do differently next time if a match went badly, or can help you spot why a match performed well.

Here’s a breakdown of each rating and what you need to do to get the highest score possible:

Popularity

The popularity rating is determined by the average popularity of the superstars involved in a match.

This one is pretty self-explanatory, the higher the popularity of the competitors, the higher score you’ll get for this rating.

This is why it’s important to always have your stars appearing on as many shows as they can, so they can keep building or maintaining their popularity.

Match Type

The match type rating refers to the stipulation of the fight, if there is any.

A normal match receives 0 stars, a tables match gets you 1.5 stars, an extreme rules match is 2.5, Hell In A Cell gets you 5 stars in this category. Other match type ratings typically scale with how much stamina is being used (very high equals a very high rating).

Even though this will help your matches get higher ratings, it’s not plausible to have every match be a Hell In A Cell due to the impact on stamina and budget.

You can throw in a tables or extreme rules match here and there for ratings boosts in regular shows, then put on some bigger match types during Premium Live Events to ensure that the biggest shows are a success.

Role

The role rating is very simple. This is always rated as 5 stars as long as you have heel versus face opponents.

This isn’t hard to do so you should be getting a 5 star rating in the role category in every single match.

Match-Up

To get a high rating within the match-up category, you need to pair wrestlers correctly by their class type.

If you have a specialist matching up against anyone, you’ll get a 3 and a half star match-up rating.

You get 4 stars for a fighter against a bruiser and 5 stars for a cruiser against a giant.

Again, this is pretty easy to get high ratings on – assuming you’ve drafted your roster carefully and thought about who will be fighting who.

You can’t just have an entire roster of cruisers and giants, though. You need variety on your cards to win over more fans, too.

Specialists can come in handy if you don’t have a correct match up, you can always get a guaranteed 3.5 star rating when using one.

Performance

Performance ratings seem to be completely random.

You can put on what seems to be the best match ever and it could only get a 2-star for performance, so don’t worry too much about this one and focus on what you can control.

There needs to be an element of RNG in the game, otherwise you could get perfect shows every single time with simple calculations.

Rivalry

The rivalry rating is dictated by what level the rivalry is between the two stars going into the match.

If they have no rivalry, you’ll get no stars. For level 1 you’ll get 1 star, for level 2 you get 2 stars, level 3 gets you 3 stars, and a level 4 rivalry will get you 5 stars if it’s at a PLE.

If a level 4 rivalry is used on a regular show, the first time you do this, you’ll get a 4-star rating for the rivalry and it will go stale.

Every time they fight after that, they will only receive a 2-star rating for their rivalry, so always save level 4 rivalries for PLEs if you can, but if you have to use them on a weekly show for stamina, only use them once.

Title Matches

The rating you’ll get for a title match is either 5 stars if it is a title match or 0 stars if it isn’t. Throw a few of these on your shows now and then to boost the ratings up a bit.

Tag Team Chemistry

Tag team chemistry rating is based on how well certain partnerships perform together. You will be told about good or bad partnerships in your inbox and social media feeds.

Specific duos will like teaming together and will get bonus ratings here – you should try to pair them up more often. Other duos do not like teaming together and do not get bonuses.

Match Type Specialties

Match type specialties is only applicable if a wrestler involved in the match has a specific match type preference. Certain superstars perform well in tables matches, for example, so you want to put them into more tables matches where you can.

If you know that stars have a preference, you can get an extra ratings boost by putting them in their favorite match.

Hometown

The hometown rating is decided by whether or not a person in the match is fighting in their hometown. They’re almost never in their hometown.

You’ll know whether you can get this boost or not before you book your show as you’ll get an email from the wrestler saying that they’re back in their hometown. Put them in a match for a small rating boost.

Logistics Bonuses

You have to constantly max out your logistics to ensure that your show performs the best it possibly can.

Logistical upgrades will increase your show quality, revenue earned and can even offer bonus rewards if certain criteria are met.

Here’s how to achieve each logistics bonus:

Arena

You need to put on a set amount of matches with a certain rivalry level in order to achieve an arena bonus.

For example, you need to book a level 1 or higher rivalry in the show to gain the bonus from the first arena you buy. This will reward you with extra popularity on your wrestlers as well as boosting the show quality by a good amount.

These rewards and challenges all scale with the size of the arenas that you buy, so once you get to the last arena, you need 2 or more level 4 rivalries in the show to gain plus 13% show quality and +2 popularity for any superstar with 2 star power or above.

These are definitely worth doing every week if you can as most of them aren’t too difficult and it all adds up in the end.

Crew

You need to book a certain amount of special match types on the show for crew bonuses.

This will earn you added morale for your superstars as well as another buff to your overall show quality. This is easy to do so keep it in mind when booking.

Special Effects

You will achieve special effects bonuses by booking superstars with a certain star power rating.

This will give you another boost to your star’s morale and another big boost to your show quality.

Advertising

Finally, for the advertisement bonus, you need to book superstars with a minimum popularity rating. This provides some extra popularity alongside boosting your show quality yet again.

Not only is it important to upgrade your logistics from a financial standpoint (because maxing out your arena is the best way to generate revenue), but it also helps massively with your show’s performance as well.

You can boost your show’s quality considerably by opting for the best logistics, so this will make a massive impact when trying to put on the perfect show.

Power Cards

Power cards are incredibly useful for a wide range of things in MyGM, but a few of them can actually affect your shows.

All of the power cards that boost the ratings of certain match types are really good for getting an extra rating or two for your show.

These all cost a fair amount of money to buy, but if you’re desperate to put on the perfect show at a Premium Live Event they’re worth having and will make a difference, so always look out for these in the store when you go into a new week.