Unexpected Character / WWE Video Games

Due to the inevitability of the roster being out of date resulting from an earlier cutoff date (which is usually around WrestleMania) combined with yearly releases, there are some characters that appear in each game despite no longer being in the WWE by the time the game hits the shelves. There are also straighter examples within each installment:

Warzone

• Bret Hart appears in this game, provided his own in game dialogue and even filmed "grudge videos" for Championship mode despite leaving the company on very publicly acrimonious terms due to the Montreal Screwjob almost a year earlier and having been in WCW for several months prior to the game's release. It's most likely he had a contract with Acclaim who developed the game, hence why he made it in.
• British Bulldog went with Bret to WCW after the Screwjob so his inclusion in the game is also a surprise.
• Shawn Michaels had retired from wrestling after his Wrestlemania XIV match with Steve Austin several months before the game's release.

SmackDown!

• Ken Shamrock is in the game despite the fact that he left the company several months before to pursue his MMA career. He was also in SmackDown 2, where he was dummied out.

Know Your Role

• Both Goldust and Jeff Jarrett's parts are available in Create A Superstar mode under 'Standard'. Both were originally supposed to be in the previous game, but Goldust had left the company some time before, and Jarrett had jumped ship to WCW on bad terms. Jarrett also has his own move list.
• Royal Rumble mode randomly generates characters. It doesn't just do this with playable characters; it can extend to characters you haven't unlocked yet and even the otherwise Dummied Out Ken Shamrock and Big Show.
• One of the Unknown characters resembles Scott Hall (then wrestling for rivals WCW) to the extent that it must have been done deliberately. Though he seems to be wearing Harlem Heat's tights for some reason.
• The Kat is playable in this game, despite only being Best Known for the Fanservice and doing little in the ring besides participating in T&A fests. She was only in the WWF because she was the wife of Jerry "The King" Lawler at the time. She was fired three months later and retired on bad terms with the company.
• The Mean Street Posse are unlockable through season mode despite the fact that they'd faded into the background long before this game, having not been relevant since they broke away from Shane McMahon and most people had forgotten them.
• Pat Patterson, Gerald Brisco and Michael Cole are unlockable in this game, oddly enough. Patterson and Brisco were long retired by this point (though had wrestled a comedy "evening gown" match against each other for the hardcore title earlier that year) and Michael Cole wouldn't wrestle a match for over a decade after this.

Just Bring It!

• Fred Durst, who was included as part of a deal to include the band's song 'Rollin' (The Undertaker's Biker-era theme music) in the game.
• Jerry Lynn is playable despite not wrestling very many matches in WWF. He also was released three months after the game came out.

Here Comes the Pain

• The legends roster in this game seems to be a completely random assortment of industry veterans, consisting of the likes of Hillbilly Jim, Nikolai Volkoff (with his first name misspelled "Nicholai" in the game), The Iron Sheik (with his last name also misspelled as "Shiek") and George Steele. Most of this game's legends roster never appeared in a WWE game ever again.
• Jerry "The King" Lawler becomes your tag partner in one match in season mode. He has a complete set of moves, however, he's not unlockable in any form. You also cannot play as him if you tag out; he's controlled by AI no matter what. It's likely that the storyline was written before the decision was made to write out his character, but that it was too late to remove them from season mode.
• On rare occasions, Michael Cole of all people makes an appearance as a playable character in season mode where he'll wrestle in a tag team title match at Wrestle Mania and can be played as multiple times if his team wins and successfully defends them over and over.

SmackDown vs. Raw

• Chuck Palumbo, somehow made it in to the game, even though he was only being used as a jobber on Sunday Night Heat for the majority of 2004.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2006

• Joy Giovanni appears as a playable wrestler in the game despite having been released in July 2005 after barely half a year in the company and never actually wrestling a match.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2007

• Tazz, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart probably weren't expected by most.
• Hardcore Holly, who was injured during most of the production cycle and was barely relevant.
• Vito made it in, under his original Heel trunks attire, despite a) switching to a dress wearing Face gimmick, and b) Nunzio not being in the game, even though Vito was Nunzio's bodyguard and Nunzio had held the Cruiserweight Championship that year.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2009

• Due to the release of Legends of WrestleMania the following year, the game took an unusual step and forewent the traditional "Legends" roster. Not even Stone Cold and The Rock made it in.^note Both have appeared in every WWE game since then Instead, we got the likes of Ric Flair, Vince McMahon, and...Tazz (again) who hardly anyone expected to see as a playable character.
• The game also included two bonus characters: Tony, a soldier friend of John Cena’s, and a mysterious masked man involved in Chris Jericho’s storyline.

Legends of WrestleMania

• Kamala and Michael Hayes are playable in the game, despite their only appearances at the event being in the famous "Gimmick Battle Royal" at WrestleMania X-Seven.
• Koko B. Ware somehow made it in, even though he was a jobber that never won a match, or even had a memorable moment, in the event's history. His inclusion was likely due to his Hall of Fame induction that year.
• Dusty Rhodes was definitely a legend of the the 1980s, but he wasn't exactly a "legend of WrestleMania", as his only match at the pay-per-view was a forgettable and poorly received mixed tag match with Sapphire against Randy Savage and Sherri.
• There's little denying Triple H is a "legend of WrestleMania", but as the "Hunter Hearst Helmsley" gimmick? Not so much.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2010

• Zig-Zagged with John "Bradshaw" Layfield. When JBL retired in April 2009 after WrestleMania 25, the next WWE game was several months out, and that made his appearance uncertain. However, being a legendary figure in the company and former WWE Champion, a lot of people expected he'd get the same treatment Ric Flair got in 2009 (and he himself go in 2008) and be an unlockable legend. Needless to say, he was unlocked from the start. This is understandable, as he is the main antagonist of Shawn Michaels' "Road to WrestleMania" story (who, coincidentally, was one of JBL's last feuds in real life), so it was virtually impossible to remove him from the game.
• While JBL's inclusion was probably not a surprise far fewer people, if any, expected Mr. Kennedy and Umaga, who left the company a few months after him, to be on the roster. While both were fairly big stars of the time, neither were on JBL's level of stardom. Futhermore, both spent most of the production cycle injured and both were gone within a month of returning. Mr. Kennedy's inclusion was more understandable, as he was Edge’s main rival in his "Road to WrestleMania" story, but Umaga was almost completely irrelevant in that mode. On a tragic note, Umaga died only about a month after the game came out.
• "Cowboy" Bob Orton is playable, thanks to his involvement in Randy Orton's "Road to WrestleMania" storyline. It's odd considering that he's not really one of the more popular Legends unlike the other two Legacy dads, and his son has almost completely eclipsed him in popularity.
• The Red and Green test dummies from Create-a-Move Set. It's actually a lot more awesome than it sounds.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2011

• Rob Van Dam may be the most triumphant example, let alone as one of the Legends, due to his debuting in TNA earlier in the year. This was largely down to the decision to include RVD & signing the deal to get him in the game happened before his TNA debut.
• One of Undertaker's Druids is a playable character.
• While he's much more well-known these days for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling, at the time Vance Archer was an afterthought lower carder whose inclusion was so left field that the commentators poked fun at his inclusion during the roster reveal and he was released from the company a month after the game's release.

WWE All Stars

• Hulk Hogan, who had been in TNA for quite a while at the time of the game's release.
• Randy Savage, making his first WWE video game appearance since the SNES-era. Sadly, he died only two months after the game's release. He made his debut in the series proper as DLC for WWE '12.
• On the superstars side, how many people expected Drew McIntyre to be on the base roster? He was presumably intended to be DLC before Chris Jericho’s sudden departure from WWE a few months before the game’s release had the two swapped at the last minute (hence why Jericho is merely DLC). McIntyre’s pairing in Story mode was with fellow "Scotsman" Roddy Piper, someone who could reasonably have been intended to fight Jericho (both being arrogant, loud-mouthed hosts of Talk Show with Fists).

WWE '12

• Brock Lesnar, especially since Brock hadn't been seen in a WWE ring again for nearly 8 years and didn't exactly have a decent send off. This example became Hilarious in Hindsight about five months following the release of WWE '12 due to Lesnar's return, so it's possible that his inclusion in the game was meant to hype his return.
• Demolition, of all tag teams, appear in the game as unlockable legends.
• Kharma was included as DLC and appeared on-disc in '13 as well. She never wrestled a single match during her time there ^note aside from participating in the 2012 Royal Rumble, only appearing on TV every so often to beat someone up.
• Batista being a DLC character was odd since he left the company over a year before the game's release.
• Despite them "wrestling" a few matches during the game's development, did anyone honestly think that Michael Cole or Jim Ross would be playable?

WWE '13

• John Laurinaitis of all people is a playable character.
• Gangrel, since no one expected THQ & WWE to license the character's name from White Wolf for the sole purpose of including him as DLC.
• Don't forget Brian Pillman in his "Loose Cannon" persona.
• Also, Chainsaw Charlie.
• Some people were shocked and pretty disappointed that The Great Khali was included, with some stating that they would've rather had Tyson Kidd instead, who was in the middle of having a decent singles push.

WWE 2K14

• Ultimate Warrior & Hulk Hogan; with the former's notable bad blood with the WWE & the latter being a part of TNA for three years prior to the game's release - however, with the game celebrating 30 years of WrestleMania, it wouldn't feel like a real celebration of the event's history without the two.
  • To take it further with Warrior, not only was he in the game, he was the Pre-Order Bonus character and appeared in the commercials for the game.
• Goldberg is another example, since it's common knowledge that he and WWE don't get along well, and his sole WrestleMania match at the time was the infamous match with Brock Lesnar, where the crowd had turned on both competitors due to their leaving the WWE after the show. They needed something to make up for the absence of the WWE and World Championship matches^note They already had Cena vs. Big Show, and the only other realistic options were Evolution vs. Rock n’ Sock and Kane vs. Undertaker, as Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit could not be included in the game because the former was still in TNA at the time and the latter will obviously never appear in a WWE game again after the murder-suicide, and Goldberg's only other appearance in a main-line game was in Here Comes the Pain.
• Bruno Sammartino makes his WWE game debut as a DLC character, marking the first instance of a pre-80s star appearing in a modern WWE game and the debut of a wrestler who has had an infamous grudge with WWE.
• Not a lot of people expected David Otunga to be in WWE 2K14, considering that he vanished after the Royal Rumble. Needless to say, that was his last appearance in the franchise.
• Aksana was a shocker too, being that her role in WWE at the time was largely that of a jobber.
• Fans were genuinely surprised to not see The Usos being playable, especially since they had been recently receiving more screentime, and many fans felt that others like The Great Khali and David Otunga could've been removed to make space for them.

WWE 2K15

• CM Punk is a semi-example. Whilst Punk was one of the biggest WWE names in recent years, his less than amicable departure from the WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble and the fact that WWE has since then been trying to Un-person him to near Benoit-levels made his inclusion in the game a surprise to some, especially since there was plenty of time to remove him; however, since he had an entire story mode centered around him, it would have been difficult to do so.
• Sting's inclusion was initially shocking to most. He had never wrestled for WWE (except for the last episode of WCW Monday Nitro, which is counted as a WWE show) at the time, and had repeatedly expressed a lack of interest in working for WWE. Yet somehow he made it into a WWE game. As a Pre-Order Bonus no less. As it turned out, Sting would appear in WWE for the first time a month after the game was released. His inclusion in the game may have been to build hype, fuel speculation, stimulate fan interest and/or introduce the character to younger fans who might not be aware of who he is.
• 2K15 marks the first time superstars in the developmental system would be included in the game's roster, with NXT superstars Adrian Neville, Sami Zayn, Corey Graves, and (albeit as DLC) the Ascension being included^note Bo Dallas and Rusev were also classified as NXT stars although they were both on the main roster by the time of the game's release; Adam Rose, Emma, and Paige as DLC, however, were all main stars according to the game. Graves, however, stands out amongst the group due to his last WWE match being in March 2014.
• Also, Vince McMahon not being playable came as a surprise to many, given he hasn't been an NPC since Smackdown vs. Raw '07.
• The WCW DLC characters pack consisted of Bam Bam Bigelow, Lord Steven Regal, Fit Finlay, Diamond Dallas Page and Lex Luger. Bigelow, Finlay and Regal are somewhat surprising since they were only midcarders at best and not guys you'd instantly expect to see in a WCW pack.
• NPC or not, not too many people expected Bill DeMott in this game.

WWE 2K16

• The Terminator, since he's a fictional character and not even a wrestler.
• Few, if any fans expected Layla to make the game given that she was excluded from 2K15, had degenerated into a joke character and was inactive due to injury from November 2014 to January 2015 ^note The time period in which the rosters are selected. Upon her return, she only wrestled a couple of times on its C Show Main Event and made a brief cameo on Raw before retiring in July. It goes to show that 2K is more lenient than THQ was about including inactive or lowercard wrestlers to its roster.
• Like Layla above, Cameron was rarely appearing on TV and was eventually sent back down to NXT before being released seven months after the game came out.
• All of the DLC characters from 2K15 (except Hogan, who was pulled due to being unpersoned for his racist comments, and The Great Khali, who had left the company) returned for 2K16, among them are guys like Colonel Mustafa, General Adnan, Fit Finlay and Lord Steven Regal, which had baffled/pissed off some fans since they all seemingly have no business in the game. Adnan, in particular, was a footnote in WWE history, while Regal and Mustafa were much better known for their other gimmicks of The Iron Sheik and William Regal (Regal appears in the game as both William and Steven, but Sheik only appears as Mustafa). Bigelow had a decent career in both WCW and WWE but wasn't a big star in either, while Finlay is a legend in his native UK but wasn't a major star in the US.
• Santino Marella, who made the game despite retiring from in-ring competition in July 2014, through he did do backstage work for WWE and made the occasional non-wrestling appearance before being released at the same time as Cameron. What's especially weird is that Corey Graves, who's last match was in April 2014 but retired due to injury a good 5 months after Santino, was cut despite actually being an on-air personality for both NXT and the PPV pre-shows. Probably because Graves' career was far less memorable.
• Batista (again) since he had left the company to act in movies in June 2014 after his disastrous return in January that same year.
• Somehow Mikey Whipwreck made it in, thanks to "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's title match with him in ECW being featured in his 2K Showcase, which in itself is shocking since most people expected the WCW and ECW portions of Austin's career to be overlooked or outright ignored. Even with his early career in WWF, some people weren't expecting to see someone like Savio Vega in. And for the trifecta, Austin's WCW run allowed Colonel Rob Parker to be in as a manager, who would've had no chance of ever making it in a WWE game otherwise.
• Even though many fans predicted/hoped that Samoa Joe would be a DLC character for the game, the fact that it actually happened was shocking to many. He didn't debut in NXT until late May 2015, two months after the cut off date. However, his signing with WWE was known months in advance, so it probably wasn't that far-fetched.
• Bobby Heenan is included as a manager, and has a 100 rating to boot.
• Stevie Ray, who is about one step above Marty Jannetty as the "lesser partner" in Breakup Breakouts, was included as DLC in the Hall of Fame Showcase DLC, due to the inclusion of an Outsiders vs. Harlem Heat match for Kevin Nash.

WWE 2K17

• Goldberg is back, and this time is the Pre-Order Bonus, along with the WCW Monday Nitro and Halloween Havoc 1998 arenas. His bad relationship with WWE appears to have been somewhat resolved.
• Billy Gunn's return is a bit of a shock. No one expected him to be in 2K17 since he was fired from WWE in November 2015 after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs he was taking for a powerlifting competition. Road Dogg has also joined him, reuniting the New Age Outlaws.
• Stardust's appearance surprised many. He requested his release from WWE in May of 2016 and left on pretty bad terms (as he wanted to go back to being Cody Rhodes, but WWE wouldn't allow it), while other notable wrestlers who were released around the same time like Wade Barrett, Damien Sandow, Cameron and Ryback (who despite being removed from TV to sit out the rest of his contract, never officially left the company until August) didn't make it in.
• Two standouts from the "Legends Pack" were Brutus Beefcake and Tatanka, a couple of midcarders from WWF's Audience-Alienating Era (though they were both highly requested by fans) and the former being better known as Hulk Hogan's coattail-riding lackey (especially given that Hogan himself wasn't in) than for his wrestling merits.
• Greg "The Hammer" Valentine probably wasn't on many wishlists, but was a great addition nonetheless.
• Getting the nWo Wolfpac version of Sting in the HoF showcase was a pleasant surprise for many, as they were expecting a 1997 Crow Sting. But considering that Sting's biggest match with that persona was against a person who would remain on WWE's shit list for the foreseeable future and we already had a 1999 Crow Sting, the devs gave us a very nice alternative.

WWE 2K18

• Even though Paige was still under contract with WWE at the time of release, she had been out of action due to a neck injury for well over a year and had caused so much behind-the-scenes controversy with her fiancee Alberto Del Rio^note who returned in October 2015 and left the company again in August of 2016 due to frustration over how his booking and has bashed them for it ever since (two Wellness Policy suspensions, nude photos/a sex tape, passive-aggressive slander and reports of domestic abuse from both parties) that many were surprised that she was still employed at all, much less was included in the game (she was also included in 2K19 and 2K20).
• Summer Rae had also been off TV with an injury for ages, but her inclusion was a bit more expected than Paige's as she's been mostly scandal-free, though Summer was let go a couple weeks after the game came out and Paige made her return not long after that.
• Similar to Paige and Summer is Tyson Kidd, who despite being more or less retired since a severe neck injury in 2015, made it into both 2K17 and 2K18, with his appearance in the latter being far less expected than the former.
• Rick Martel was very unexpected, given how he was a midcarder at best, moreso that he was revealed during the big weekly roster reveals.
• Sawyer Fulton of SAnitY, who had barely lasted two months with the stable and hadn't been in action since November 2016. Made more egregious when he was released in November 2017 after being cleared for 7 months without ever returning.
• Gran Metalik appeared extremely sporadically throughout his time on 205 Live. Many were surprised to see him in.
• Lars Sullivan, a recently-debuted NXT star who only had a handful of televised matches at the time, was announced as DLC.

WWE 2K19

• Few expected Mike and Maria Kanellis to make it into the game (albeit as DLC) due to them being absent from TV for the majority of their time since their 2017 arrival, or return in Maria's case (due to Maria's pregnancy, Mike's injuries, etc.). Maria being a playable wrestler was also somewhat of a surprise since she hadn't yet wrestled any matches in her second run (though it would later turn out to be a late-00s version of Maria) and the likes of Lana (who has been an occasional wrestler since 2016) and Ted DiBiase were stuck as Non-playable managers for many years. Though both are playable this year, with Lana making her playable debut and Ted making his return after last being playable in 2K14.
• Booker T was expected to be in the game, as he had since 2K started making them, but few expected his King Booker persona to be in and not his normal Booker T gimmick.

WWE 2K20

• Bray Wyatt was expected to make it into the game, but it was surprising when they announced The Fiend would be DLC, as it had only debuted a few weeks earlier.
• The gameplay reveal trailer showcasing Tommaso Ciampa, who was missing from 2K19 for unknown reasons and had been on the injured reserve since March of 2019, was certainly a surprise. Especially considering how he'd made his return from injury the previous night on NXT television.
• The inclusions of X-Pac, who last made his appearance in 2K16, and Jerry Lawler, who was last playable way back in WWE 12, were major highlights of the gameplay reveal trailer.
• Somehow, Molly Holly was able to get in the game, her first appearance in 15 years. Needless to say, many people were shocked by this.
• Former Unpersons Hulk Hogan (in his 2002 Hollywood persona) and Chyna being announced as bonus for Deluxe Edition, after WWE began acknowledging them again (following an announcement during 2018 Extreme Rules and 2019 D-Generation X Hall of Fame induction, respectively).

WWE 2K Battlegrounds

• Somehow Yokozuna was not only confirmed for the game, but also featured on the cover along with several other superstars. He was last playable in WWE 2K14.
• Jake Roberts was certainly a surprise, as he had been in All Elite Wrestling for a while before the game was even announced.
• Erick Rowan, Curtis Axel, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson were confirmed for the game despite being released shortly after WrestleMania due to COVID-19 related budget cuts, with Gallows and Anderson in particular leaving on very bad terms and debuting in Impact Wrestling shortly before the announcement, and several much bigger stars from the same wave of releases, like Rusev and Kurt Angle, failing to make the roster.
• Doink the Clown and The Boogeyman were confirmed for the game in IGN's roster reveal. Both were last seen in SmackDown vs. Raw 2009.
• The game added two non-wrestlers, Rob Gronkowski and Damian Lillard, under the names Gronkster and Laheem Lillard, as part of the second wave of DLC. While Gronkowski had appeared on WWE at Wrestlemania 36, and also appeared at Wrestlemania 33 to help Mojo Rawley, Lillard had never appeared on WWE AT ALL, which made his inclusion all the more surprising.

WWE 2K22

• Given the delays in the game’s release and the volume of releases that occurred during development, it was expected that there would be several wrestlers included that were no longer under contract. However, the final total coming out to THIRTY SIX superstars and stretching to nearly a full year prior was definitely harder to predict. Some of the most surprising names include:
  • Karrion Kross, who was shown very casually in the background of the official roster reveal. Kross had been notable for being a creative punching bag since his call-up from NXT, so his inclusion on the roster after his release in November of 2021 may come as a bit of a surprise. Even more surprising is the inclusion of Scarlett Bordeaux as his manager, as she hadn’t appeared in that role since the summer due to injury and had largely been phased out of Kross’ gimmick during his time on Raw.
  • Braun Strowman’s inclusion is especially notable considering how his release predates other wrestlers removed from the game like Bray Wyatt or Adam Cole. This also applies to Lana and Murphy, though Murphy at least has the excuse of being included in the final match of Rey Mysterio’s Showcase and on various storylines in MyRise.
  • Alexander Wolfe, as he was released all the way back in June of 2021 and wasn’t included as part of 2K20 due to him being off TV at that time.
  • Danny Burch, who had never been featured in a WWE game before despite having been an active part of television since 2019, makes his debut after transitioning to a coaching role and being released in January of 2022.
    • Similarly, Timothy Thatcher, as he had also transitioned to a coaching role in the WWE Performance Center months before his release in January of 2022.
• Due to the Showcase this year focusing almost entirely on the WWE career of Rey Mysterio, the inclusion of an alternate character from his debut year in WCW as preorder DLC comes as a surprise
  • And, as of the March 2nd Ringside Report, we now have confirmation that there will be additional playable versions of Rey and Eddie Guerrero…from their iconic match at Halloween Havoc 1997!
• Faarooq making his return to a WWE game for the first time since 2K16.
• William Regal being included as a selectable general manager surprised many, but not as much as him also being included as a playable character for the first time since 2K16.
• Jake "The Snake" Roberts returns as a Legend, despite the fact that just like in 2K Battlegrounds, he is still currently employed by AEW.
• Road Dogg comes as a surprise as this will be his first inclusion since 2K17, but it’s even more notable that 2K22 will be the first game of the modern era to have the entirety of DX playable…with the exception of Billy Gunn, who is now signed to All Elite Wrestling.
• Walter being included after skipping 2K20 (despite being the NXT UK Champion at the time) and retaining his name after a recent (and at the time unpopular) shift to Gunther.
• It was easy to predict that Brock Lesnar would feature in the game given his prominence on WWE television over the years…but an updated Lesnar with a beard and a ponytail squeezing in just around the time of the usual cutoff excited many when it was shown off during the Hit List trailer.
  • On a similar note, Baron Corbin was also expected to make it into the game, due to also having a prominent role on television. But few people expected him to have his Happy Corbin persona, as he debuted the gimmick around the same time as Brock returned.
  • Even DLC has been able to get these shifts, as Xia Li and Sarray’s gimmicks were updated over the span of the DLC release schedule. Few were expecting Xia to maintain the AR graphics of her Smackdown entrance in the game itself, and while Sarray lacks the additional aspects of her entrance added in NXT, she has her updated hairstyle and costuming.
• The inclusion of Mia Yim AND her RETRIBUTION stable persona Reckoning as separate character slots.
  • The inclusion of the whole of RETRIBUTION could be considered this, given how the stable had disbanded back in March of 2021. MACE and T-Bar retaining their gear and trons from the group despite having been unmasked and at least shifting to a team together since April of the same year is strange, but even stranger is the inclusion of SLAPJACK, who hadn’t been on TV since RETRIBUTION’s demise and had reverted back to an entirely different gimmick prior to his release similarly to Mia Yim.
• MyRise is largely based off of the landscape of WWE in late 2020 and early 2021, so it makes sense that older gimmicks are included for characters like Alexa Bliss or Seth Rollins. However, one that surprised many to see was the inclusion of Dominik Dijakovic complete with trons and his entrance theme, especially considering how the superstar was originally unplayable outside of the mode and only made sporadic appearances with little fanfare in the NXT storylines. As of patch 1.12, Dijakovic is now available in all modes.
• Shawn Michaels has regularly made appearances through the series but few were expecting to be able to compete against a version of him in MyRise from his brief return in 2018, especially considering how that match was not exactly well received by fans and Shawn alike. As of patch 1.12, this version of Shawn is available in all modes.
• An unexpected shout-out to Sami Zayn's indie roots, El Ordinario, appears in MyRise as a part of your character's feud with Zayn in the mode. It isn't Sami under the mask though.
• Machine Gun Kelly producing a soundtrack for a WWE game makes some degree of sense, but the revelation that he would be appearing as a playable DLC character surprised many…and lead to a variety of jokes about repeating Kevin Owens actions from 2015. Funny enough, Corey Graves makes a point of referencing this repeatedly during commentary of MGK’s matches.
• Logan Paul being announced as DLC just a matter of weeks before his appearance at Wrestlemania 38 came as a shock, considering how his previous appearances in WWE were in a managerial capacity prior to the game’s release. His design in game is faithful to his debut on the big stage, complete with a MyFaction card to replace the Pokemon card he wore at the actual event. Even more interesting is that the DLC’s release coincided with his first appearance on Monday Night Raw as a contracted performer, which lead to a lot of fanfare around his entrance reveal and gameplay.
• Mr. T appearing as a DLC character is a massive surprise, despite him having wrestled more matches than other celebrity guests and being a member of the Hall of Fame, due to the fact that it’s been nearly a decade since he’d been acknowledged by the company.
• Stacy Keibler making her return to the franchise for the first time in 17 years, especially considering how WWE tends to downplay the Divas era. It comes as especially noticeable given the fact that her only contemporary in the game is Trish Stratus, who by contrast is held up as a gold standard in that era and has appeared many times on WWE since her retirement while Stacy has mostly stayed away from wrestling as a whole aside from scattered convention appearances.
• Umaga, who was last seen in SmackDown vs. Raw 2010, arrives as a part of the first DLC pack. This is especially notable considering how he was released from the company prior to his untimely passing and had largely gone unmentioned by WWE themselves until the past few years.
• While he also made an appearance in Battlegrounds, The Boogeyman, whose last appearance in the main series was in SvR 2009, making his return in the main simulation series was much more of a surprise. A surprise made somewhat sweeter considering he'd been campaigning on social media to be included since WWE 2K16!
• Though he made an appearance in Battlegrounds like Boogeyman, Doink the Clown returns to the main franchise for the first time since SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, with Matt Bourne under the garish white paint. But even more unexpected is the presence of Steve Keirn’s portrayal of the character, who replicates his WrestleMania IX interference (complete with a mannequin arm) if you select the run-in payback prior to the match.

WWE 2K23

• Tyler Breeze being included as a WWE Legend, after being released from the company nearly two years earlier, before returning as trainer at the Performance Centre in 2022 and only making on-screen appearances as part of the Up, Up, Down, Down channel since then.
  • Connected to the above, Breeze and Xavier Woods being selectable as playable General Managers in MyGM, stemming from their popular "Battle of the Brands" series on Up, Up, Down, Down in which the two play MyGM/GM Mode against one another.
• Triple H was expected to be featured, both in his current and his 2008 model, but fans were shocked to see his WCW character Jean-Paul Levesque featured.
• Bruno Sammartino, for only the second time in the series history, and the first in 8 years, being playable was quite a surprise.
• Harley Race makes his main series debut, after only being in mobile games beforehand.
• Eve Torres making an appearance as DLC was completely unexpected, as she has not actively wrestled since her retirement in 2013 and her last onscreen appearance was in 2019.
• The inclusion of Zeus from No Holds Barred as DLC was certainly unexpected, especially since Zeus (in the actual WWE) only wrestled for a few months before disappearing.
• While this game featured many variants of John Cena due to the game's Showcase Mode being focused on highlights from his storied career, fans were surprised to find out that the game featured an unlockable variant known as Super Cena. Super Cena is John's current model... except that you can't see him, because his model is literally invisible. Fans were pleasantly surprised to see the "real" John Cena finally being added to the WWE 2K franchise.
  • On the same lines... Elite John Cena - an action figure variant of John Cena - would be playable in MyFaction. Just to be clear, this was a wholly unique model that was literally an action figure version of John Cena, and not a version of John Cena wearing a unique attire from an action figure.
• With the full DLC cast revealed, it was expected that Candice LeRae and Mia Yim would miss out on the game due to a slightly late return to the active roster. However, their character models from WWE 2K22 would show up in the game files and would eventually be patched in properly as a free update with updated music and commentary.
• The inclusion of Uncle Howdy alongside Bray Wyatt in the "Revel with Wyatt" pack, as the character had never wrestled a match in WWE and had only been utilised as a mysterious figure in Wyatt's return to the company.

WWE 2K24

• "Superstar" Billy Graham makes his debut in a WWE video game, as part of the "Nightmare Family Pack". This same pack also includes Stardust and "Undashing" Cody Rhodes, plus a MyFaction manager card for Cody's dog, Pharoah!
• Muhammad Ali was announced as a character at the end of the first gameplay trailer, which kind of makes sense, as the game is dedicated to celebrating 40 years of WrestleMania, and he was at the very first one, serving as the honorary timekeeper for the main event, Hulk Hogan and Mr. T versus Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff, but the match itself isn't included in the Showcase. His inclusion was probably used to hype his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2024.
• George Steele and Ken Shamrock make their returns to the mainline WWE video game series, both unlocked through the "40 Years of WrestleMania" 2K Showcase.
• Similarly to MGK in 2K22, Post Malone was announced as curating the soundtrack, and as a future DLC character.
• CM Punk started a campaign to ask fans to ask 2K Games to include him in WWE 2K24 as part of the DLC, due to him just missing the cut-off. When the DLC was announced later that day, he was front and center and part of the first pack.
• When the new tag partner controls were revealed, one of the commands reawoke a infamous meme involving The Dudley Boyz, since there is a command to literally GET THE TABLE(S)!. They were also confirmed for the first pack.
• The Sandman makes his playable return as part of the first pack, his only prior appearance was in SmackDown vs. Raw 2008.
• Michelle McCool makes her return in the fourth DLC pack, making this her first playable appearance since WWE '12 back in 2011.
• Whilst Sheamus was widely expected to be in the game due to his presence on WWE TV, no-one was expecting a 2009 version of the character to be included as the first MyFaction unlockable that carried over to the main game.