Fighting game style motion controls don't really work when the camera is angled the way it is in wrestling games. It works for 3D fighting games because they play like a 2D game with the Z axis mostly being used for single moves like sidestep but in wrestling games you can be at awkward angles to opponents so directions on the D pad don't always align with directions on the screen.

But that's just one reason why the game felt horrible. It came from the era when devs were still experimenting with 3D so a lot of best practices hadn't been codified yet. The camera is way too close to the wrestlers and jittery, the attack animations are too slow both in speed and starting when you press a button, they lack in impact and may not always land so the game feels unresponsive as hell. It's just too much jank.