WWE 2K24 launches in just a few weeks, as early as March 5 for some players, but the wrestling company’s real-life legal troubles have led to questions surrounding the game. CEO Vince McMahon was named in a lawsuit filed by a former WWE employee over allegations of sexual misconduct, with subsequent reporting also implicating in-ring talent Brock Lesnar. The question of the two individuals being playable characters in WWE 2K24 had become a burning one. And while they won’t be part of the main roster, they are not entirely absent from the game.
2K shared the official WWE 2K24 roster earlier today, and after much speculation, confirmed that McMahon and Lesnar won’t be in the game’s lineup of 200+ playable characters. However, speaking with a source familiar with the game’s development, GameSpot has learned further details about their presence.
“We are always in lockstep with the WWE on how our game reflects what’s happening in the WWE universe,” the source explained to GameSpot. “Certain personalities play a role in the historical 2K Showcase and in the narrative-driven MyRise experience, but are not available on the playable roster.”
GameSpot has reason to believe the Lesnar vs. Undertaker match from WrestleMania 30 will still be featured in WWE 2K24. Lesnar’s 2014 match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 30, in which Lesnar ended his opponent’s WrestleMania winning streak after a record 21-0 start, was widely expected to be featured in 2K24 but has yet to be announced officially.
This match remains one of the most famous in WWE history, but it wasn’t included in the series’ Showcase mode 10 years ago when 2K first centered the experience around WrestleMania’s greatest matches simply because the match happened a few months after the launch of WWE 2K14. With 2K returning to this concept for the first time in a decade with 2K24, it stands to reason that this match is one of several that players can play in Showcase mode. A different match already confirmed for Showcase mode is Stone Cold Steve Austin vs. The Rock at WrestleMania 17, which included an appearance from Vince McMahon, so it’s likely this sequence will play out in-game, too.
Given what GameSpot’s source said, it stands to reason one or both of the individuals will also appear in the game’s story mode, MyRise. With the series’ robust create-a-wrestler toolset, Lesnar and McMahon will likely even appear as downloadable community-made characters very soon after the game launches. Therefore, though the characters have been removed from the roster of playable characters, they will still appear in-game in both official and unofficial ways.
WWE 2K24 arrives on March 8, with an early March 5 launch for players who purchase the game’s Deluxe or WrestleMania editions.
