Adrian Neville and I were in big, big trouble. I had chosen the excellently conditioned ring technician for a reason, and it wasn't just his beautifully animated finisher, the Red Arrow. In WWE 2K16

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Is this man even human?!

“ Even I couldn't believe what I was doing.

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People throw the term “game-changer” around like a hot potato at Thanksgiving dinner, but that's exactly what the new reversal stock system is. Against a smart, skilled human opponent like the one I was facing off against, managing that resource alone is a major factor, and the ramifications of how you choose to use it trickle down into every aspect of a match, providing meaningful context for many other parts of WWE 2K16's combat system.For instance, I found myself throwing plenty of strikes against grounded opponents to bait them into burning a reversal with little risk to myself if they were successful. Once their reversal stocks were depleted, I'd ramp up my offense significantly, saving finishers for when I knew they had no recourse. But in situations where I was the one who had fallen behind in reversal stocks, I'd apply one of the new working holds to slow down the pace of the match and give myself time to build one or two back up.Making these kinds of choices isn't just a subtlety that occasionally matters, it's an imperative if you want to succeed. By spending my reversal stocks like water against Bàlor as I had against Ryback, I was the one who found myself without the necessary resources to stop my opponent's relentless onslaught. That poor decision led to a couple of minutes of continual pummeling until I built up another stock, used it at a crucial moment, and then used that opening to begin mounting a smart, measured offense until I had re-stabilized. The damage had been done, and I was clearly behind, but the feeling of finally being back on my feet was incredible.It couldn't go on forever though. While I eventually landed a Red Arrow into a pin combination, Bàlor would kick out on two-and-a-half, and go on to wearily climb the turnbuckle, land a double foot stomp, and stumble over to cover me for the one-two-three. But unlike other long matches in previous wrestling games, I was making decisions until the bitter, weary end, and I felt like I had been outplayed instead of out-mashed.I don't remember a single multiplayer Destiny match from last week, but for what it's worth, it's going to be a long time until I forget this match in WWE 2K16. Take that however you'd like.

Vincent Ingenito is IGN's foremost fighting game nerd. F ollow him on Twitter and tell him what you want him to test out next time he plays Street Fighter 5.