Despite being based on professional wrestling, WrestleMania's digitized graphics and fast-paced gameplay make it more of a fighting game in the vein of Midway's Mortal Kombat series. The game is regarded as over the top for its use of attacks. While some actual wrestling moves are present, matches consist primarily of insane combos and special attacks, such as the Undertaker casting spirits at an opponent and Doink shocking the opponent with a joy buzzer. There are other similarities to the Mortal Kombat games, such as the winner being the victor of two out of three rounds and players being awarded flawless victories, which are simply called "perfect" here.

WrestleMania's one-player mode has the player choose one of eight wrestlers (Bam Bam Bigelow, Bret "The Hitman" Hart, Doink the Clown, Lex Luger, Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker or Yokozuna) and then go for either the Intercontinental Championship or the WWF Championship by fighting through several matches. In the Intercontinental Championship mode, the player must win four one-on-one matches, two two-on-one matches, and one three-on-one match to win the title. In the more difficult WWF Championship mode, the player must win four two-on-one matches, two three-on-one matches, and finally a "WrestleMania Challenge," where the player must defeat every wrestler in the game in a gauntlet, starting with a three-on-one setup, with each eliminated opponent being replaced with another until all eight have been defeated.

The game also features two multi-player modes; head to head, a one-on-one match between two players, or cooperative, where the two players team up in a tag team version of the WrestleMania Challenge in which they must defeat the game's eight wrestlers in groups of two to become the Tag Team Champions.