WWF Backlash (N64)/WCW Mayhem 2 (PS2)/WCW 2000 (PS2)

For those unaware, in the late 90s, wrestling was in a boom period and there was a very popular wrestling video game called WWF No Mercy for the Nintendo 64. It was made by a company known as AKI and they made several wrestling games.

There's been a long standing rumour that they planned to make a sequel to WWF No Mercy called WWF Backlash for the N64. You can find several videos and articles talking about it (like this one for example: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQMZ8l_3uM)

I have come to the conclusion that this game doesn't exist. At least in the form that people said it was. As far as I'm concerned, there was never a WWF Backlash game in development for the Nintendo 64. All the information about this game is completely made up with no proof, at least.

Let me run down several claims made:
-AKI cancelled it because they didn't know that the Gamecube was coming out (the Gamecube was announced before WWF No Mercy was even out, they would've known)
-It included Hell in a Cell matches (no proof given)
-It was 30% done (no proof given, would've been based off reused assets anyway)

There's also been several screenshots circulated (this video for example passes itself off as footage: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sb9qp9a88RI) These are mods that you can easily find information on with a few Google searches so this isn't true.

Furthermore, on the Wikipedia page for syn Sophia (AKI), there is this quote: "A sequel to WWF No Mercy was in the early stages of development when it was shelved in early 2001 as Nintendo began to phase out the Nintendo 64 console. However, Sanders Keel mentioned in a podcast with Pro Wrestling X producer Dave Wishnowski that the AKI-THQ relationship had deteriorated when AKI requested to no longer develop for the Nintendo systems following the release of the Nintendo 64, proving the No Mercy sequel as a rumor." I have been unable to personally verify this, if anyone else could I would appreciate it.

One of the biggest factors in deciding this game was not real, however, was also untrue. That is the existence of WCW Mayhem 2. Many people have mistakenly assumed that we have seen this game and we haven't. I must also note that there is this article on IGN which says that AKI are developing a Gamecube WWF game but I don't know if that makes sense with the timeline we're going to discuss.

lostmediawiki.com/WCW_2000_(lost_work_on_unfinished_PlayStation_2_game;_2000) (This includes the scans I'll talk about and makes the mistake that this was WCW Mayhem 2)

For context, WCW was WWF's rival company who had a video game deal with EA Sports for yearly releases and had done for quite some time. AKI had worked on WCW games before.

The game mentioned in this scan cannot be WCW Mayhem, it says directly it is being developed by EA Canada, not AKI Corporation. The game here appears to be referencing to a game that did actually get released, WCW Backstage Assault. WCW Backstage Assault had infamously poor graphics and models (I personally like the gameplay but I understand why others wouldn't). It was announced, strangely, only a few months before it released in August 2000 (it came out in December) for the PS1. Considering the gameplay and environments described match up with WCW 2000 so well, it's pretty clear to me that these two are the same game and that for whatever reason, WCW 2000 was rushed on the PS1 as the PS2 version wasn't finished.

So this game is NOT WCW Mayhem 2, but that game did seemingly exist. We know because we have articles confirming that EA and AKI were working on a WCW game (which later became Def Jam Vendetta). This whole thing is a big tell that AKI couldn't have worked on a WWF game in 2001 as they were already working on a WCW game with EA the same year (they stopped because WWF bought WCW)

 

There's also a bunch of confusing stuff based on when WCW 2000 was announced and in different magazines and how based on IGN articles but that's another rabbit hole.

My point to posting all of this is that I need help determining what the hell happened here and if I'm right about WWF Backlash and this is an interesting rabbit hole that I've gone down. All three (actually two but y'know) of these games are completely gone and we haven't seen anything from them (apart from an unconfirmed animation test for Mayhem 2)

If anyone can help me with this I would be highly appreciative.