DOR 1 and 2 ruled IMO. I loved the Gamecube WWE games apart from WM18 which sucked.
Now HCTP was a very good game for its era, but it was not flawless. It had many bugs that became customary with the WWE franchise on PS2 and HD consoles, but the roster was epic! Gameplay wise it did have similarities to No Mercy, but that was mimimal!
For me! KOC, ASPW, VPW2, No Mercy own the WWE franchise. No Mercy is 12 years old now and yet the game has a strong fanbase and with the brilliance of WldFb who has found amazing new values and ways of hacking, that game will never die!!
Its funny, for a game like NM which has basic graphical appearances compated to the WWE games, it still can stand alone in its own right!