WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 Pro Gaming Lessons and games training for Xbox 360 & Playstation 3

One of the game most prominent features is the enhanced tag team match. Additions in the match include new ways of tagging the player's tag team partner such as the reversible hot tag, which can help save the player in the match if they are in trouble, and the forced blind tag, where the partner tags themself into the ring. The player's tag team partner has more of a part to play in this match and will aid the player by holding an opponent by the ropes while on the apron, and the pulling down the ropes for an opponent dashing towards them, sending them out of the ring. Teams will now share their own momentum meter, attributes and double team finishers.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 is the first WWE video game to include the Inferno match, a match where the player has to set their opponent on fire. Unlike the real life match which takes place with the ring surrounded by fire coming from gas fed pipes, the ring ropes themselves are on fire. To win the player must increase the temperature of the ring by performing more devastating moves. As soon as the temperature reaches 500°F (or in the EU version 300°C), the player can then begin to set their opponent on fire.

Several matches absent in previous games also returned to the series. The backstage brawl, where players can battle in either the locker room or the backstage "gorilla position" with a variety of weapons at their disposal, returned and replaced the parking lot brawl match featured in the last game. The Gauntlet match also is a newly featured match selection in the Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 series.

Fighting styles, a major feature from the previous version, were removed. However, the fighting abilities used there were kept and enhanced with each wrestler possessing six out of twenty different abilities that would aid the player in specific areas. New to the game is the inclusion of signature moves, moves secondary in importance next to their finishing moves. When in full momentum, the players can choose to store a signature move instead of performing a finishing move which they can perform later.

A new semi-auto targeting system was implemented into the game, which will generally automatically target a particular wrestler the player wants to attack but can also be controlled in-game by the player.

Japanese company TOSE took over from Amaze Entertainment in development for the Nintendo DS version. Unlike the previous year's game whose gameplay was focused exclusively on the handheld's stylus, this year's edition instead uses by default the D-pad for movement and the left shoulder button for finishing moves.