The Warrington Wolves official history documents their formation date as 1879, however there is much documentary evidence that records the playing of rugby in Warrington for many years before this date and there was a club bearing an identical name that existed prior to 1879. The Widnes Guardian reported many Warrington Wolves games in 1873 including a game between Warrington and Wigan, and Warrington and Zingari. The Warrington Zingari team was founded in 1879 and the team managed to get the use of a field located in Sankey Street. Unfortunately their first game did not go well with the side loosing to Walton three goals to nothing. Their first home game however resulted in a victory against Oughtrington, and in their first season the team went on to play eleven games, winning seven, loosing two and drawing two, hardly a bad record by anyone's standards. The club was then forced to relocated to Wilderspool after their ground at Sankey Street was purchased by the Warrington Guardian for use as offices.

Warrington merged with Padgate Excelsior (another local team) in 1881 to form a side that was representitive of the town of Warrington as a whole. The team later relocated back to Sankey Street in a different field located away from their previous ground. Then in another move they translocated back to Wilderspool with their new ground being only a stones throw away from the previous ground. In 1884 the Warrington Wanderers team also joined the Warrington town team meaning that it was formed from the best of three local teams. In only 1886 (a few short years after the clubs formation in 1879) they won their first major victory with Warrington taking the South West Lancashire and Border Towns Trophy. The team was also one of the founding members of the Northern Union formed when 22 clubs left the RFU over a pay dispute. In the 1900 - 1901 season a record crowd of 29,000 people turned up to watch Warrington play against Batley in the final of the Challenge Cup. Warrington were beaten two tries to nothing, however they were able to play to a draw in the South West Lancashire Cup against Leigh a few short days later. The replay never took place due to scheduling issues. In 1903 Warrington were able to defeat Bradford in a replay of their semi-final match which earned them a place in the final of the Challenge Cup. In the actual Challenge Cup game Warrington played well but were beaten to victory by Halifax who won 8-3. The next year Warrington were able to go on to beat Hull Kingston Rovers 6-0 to win the Challenge Cup final in front of a huge crowd of just under 20,000 people.

Warrington suffered a bad start during the 1921 season although they managed to turn their fortunes around and won 12 out of 13 matches played. They went on to reach the final of the Lancashire Cup beating Oldham 7-5 even though they were only playing with 12 men as their centre suffered a broken collar bone and was taken off. Warrington beat St Helens in 1932 to take the Lancashire Cup, it was a very close game with the final score being 10-9. The team also reached the Challenge Cup final for the seventh time, and it was the first time Warrington had played at Wemberley. They were beaten to the post by Huddersfield who won the game 21-17. Warrington played against Australia in the 1933-1934 season in an epic match but were beaten, Warrington also had the distinct pleasure of playing the first ever rugby league match against a French team. This proved to be a pioneering season with Warrington also going on to play in Dublin in an effort to introduce rugby to Ireland. Unfortunately these strange surroundings knocked Warrington off top form and they were beaten by Wigan 32-19.

The post war years saw a return to form with many rugby teams enjoying increased visibility and popularity; the sport went on to grow further over the next ten years. Warrington experienced something of a golden age during this period with their first major victory being against Huddersfield in the 1947 - 1948 league semi-final. This took place at Maine Road and Warrington beat Bradford with a sizeable margin of 17-5. In the next year the team went on to reach the Lancashire Cup final however Wigan took the trophy. Warrington only lost five matches throughout the duration of the entire season, and in 1949 Warrington set the record for attendance when 34,304 people watched Warrington play Wigan at Wilderspool. In the 1950 Challenge Cup final Warrington beat local rivals Widnes 19 - 0. Throughout the following decades Warrington continued to have excellent fortune with an exceptional league victory in 1953 - 1954 when the team made it to the top four play-off, with the final at Wembley finishing in a draw. The replay was held at Odsal and a massive 102,569 people paid money to see Warrington beat Halifax, however it is believed that many more people gained entry to the ground free so the total crowd could have been as large as 130,000.

Warringtons fortunes began to shift with a rather rough start to the 1970 season with the club winning only 11 out of 24 matches played. Whilst this is not a total disaster it was not in line with the teams earlier successes and many were dissapointed with Warringtons performance. The team was also gathering increasing debt which took some time to pay off and it was not until the Locker Cup that Warrington took their first trophy of the decade with a 14-9 victory over Wigan. The team went on to have something of a winning streak with a win against Rochdale in the PLayers No. 6 trophy, however Salford ended their streak by knocking out Warrington in the first round of the Flootlit Trophy. Warrington started the 80's with victory in the Lancashire Cup and the John Player Trophy, and they then went on to be runners up in the League Championship. 1992 saw Warrington win their last major trophy beating Bradford Northern 12-2 at Headingley in Leeds in the Regal Trophy.

When the new Super League was announced it was expected that Warrington would merge with Widnes to form a Cheshire team to compete in the league. Like many clubs Warrington resisted this merger and were awarded a place in the Super League anyway based on past performances, although Widnes were dropped and relegated to Division One. Warrington had a difficult time getting to grips with the Super League and remained firmly stuck in the middle of the table unable to repeat any of the successes they had seen in the past. The best Super League season that Warrington has had was in 2005 when they finished 4th place which earned them a home tie in the playoffs. They are one of a select group of teams that have never been relegated from the top tables of rugby league throughout their entire history. The 2006 season saw Warrington start promisingly in an early victory against Leeds Rhinos allowing them to progress to the second round of the playoffs, however they were not able to progress any further as they were knocked out by the Bradford Bulls 40-24. The team finished the 2007 season in 7th place which was viewed rather unfavourably by many, however their place in the 2008 season is secure.