Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style was originally titled "Thrill Kill", but development was soon cancelled due to EA acquiring Virgin Interactive. Electronic Arts' decision to cancel the game is somewhat reflective of their ethics in the 1990s, as they largely focused on family-friendly audiences at the time. Various publishers were interested in the Thrill Kill IP, but EA declined all offers except Activision's, so long as they agreed to green-light a fighting game idea based on the rap group the Wu-Tang Clan.

Paradox Interactive's end goal with Thrill Kill was to obtain an Adults Only (AO) rating from the Electronic Software Ratings Board, with Paradox viewing it as a stamp of approval. However, Virgin Interactive, the game's publisher, requested for a lot of the content be scaled back so they could obtain a Mature rating and sell the game at major retail stores. According to character model artist Dana De Lalla, some of the removed content included Belladonna having a finishing move where it appeared as if she was giving her opponent oral sex and moaned when she killed people, and thongs on certain characters being covered up and given panty lines, after being told by the ESRB: "You can't show that much ass."