Development for WWE games are pretty simple, for the most part. Every year, the devs at Visual Concepts try to come up with a Showcase theme, updated roster, and new game modes to keep this series fresh. That’s not easy to do every year, but the devs have managed to do it pretty regularly.
However, before they became a machine for these games, their mettle was tested with WWE 2K22. After they disappointed fans and critics alike with 2K20, a lot was riding on this new entry. They even opted against making 2K21 in order to have more quality for 2K22.
Because of that cancellation and the whirlwind year for WWE in general, WWE 2K22 has to be the strangest game in this franchise’s history. Much like Daredevil: Born Again on Disney Plus, there are times where it feels like this game is held up by duct tape and glue. With a roster that’s more outdated than usual, and odd choices made with the Showcase and MyRise modes, this was a really weird game.
Outdated rosters are nothing new with the WWE series. Every game has wrong character gimmicks, tag teams that broke up, and an odd commentary team. In fact, 2K25 still doesn’t have Pat McAfee as a commentator, even though he’s a playable character in these games.
However, WWE 2K22 takes the cake here, with superstars who were fired for months or years still being in the game.
The culled cruiserweight roster from 205 Live were still here somehow, including Ariya Daivari, Gran Metalik, and Buddy Murphy. Main event star Braun Strowman had been fired before the game was released, so it was a huge surprise seeing him here.
AEW fans were quite happy with the WWE 2K22 roster, because a ton of wrestlers who became All Elite were still in this game. Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, Keith Lee, pre-Timeless Toni Storm, pre-Athena Ember Moon, Isaiah “Swerve” Scott, and maybe a few I’ve forgotten. Just to make sure they didn’t have a huge AEW roster, it seems like Daniel Bryan and Adam Cole were requested to be removed.
Reports also came out about some of the canceled stories that were supposed to be in the game. Bray Wyatt would have had a huge Fiend-related storyline, but he was fired, with specific requests to keep him out of this game. There was also some advertising made for Rey Mysterio’s WrestleMania 22 match against Kurt Angle and Randy Orton, but that never came to be.
DLC also had plenty of struggles. Zachary Wentz, going by Nash Carter at the time, was hastily removed from the WSK DLC with Wes Lee, due to some social media controversy. They ended up replacing him with one of those rubbish MyFaction cards no one cares about.
Lastly, there’s Rey Mysterio’s Showcase Mode. While not horrible, there’s a lot of matches that were skimmed over, likely due to copyright issues. After a WCW match with Eddie Guerrero, we immediately head to 2005, which skips a huge number of opponents he fought. No matches with Chavo Guerrero, Psicosis, Juventud Guerrera, Chris Jericho, or his other iconic enemies. These aren’t signed to WWE, so it made sense, but it felt like the focus on Mysterio’s career was hastily put together.
And yet, despite all of these faults, WWE 2K22 is somehow the game that brought this series back from the brink. It introduced the new control scheme where you try to counter moves by matching the button your opponent presses. This game also introduced the unique combo system that’s still being used today. The wrestling simulator also looked great, and you could argue that 2K25 looks just like 2K22.
Visual Concepts need to be commended for their efforts here. We can’t imagine how hard it must have been to okay such an outdated roster with odd story choices for the various single-player campaigns. But they did it and have been steering the WWE 2K ship ever since.
It’s a shame that WWE 2K22 has been de-listed, since this is such an interesting part of WWE history. Fans can probably get physical copies of the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series versions.