Everything you need to know about WWE 2K22

Following the release of the disastrous WWE 2K20, the wrestling series has been in an odd spot. Developer 2K took a year off to refine the next entry, and with the departure of longtime developer Yuke’s, a lot is riding on the success of WWE 2K22. Here’s everything we know about WWE 2K22, from its release, trailer, roster, and what to expect from the game.

When will WWE 2K22 be released?

Roman Reigns will be featured in 2K22.

WWE 2K22 will launch on March 11, 2022. This is a major departure for the series since the 2K games have historically always launched in October. It’s unclear if the WWE 2K series will now shift to a March release window going forward or if it plans to move back to October with future installments.

One important tidbit here is that you can play early if you purchase the Deluxe Edition, which launches on March 8, 2022. This comes with the season pass, a ‘96 Starrcade Rey Mysterio pack, Undertaker Immortal pack, and a booster for the MyRise mode.

Who is in the WWE 2K22 roster?

Edge was confirmed to make his return.

While 2K is still holding the game’s full roster close to the chest, we do have a list of confirmed superstars that will make an appearance in WWE 2K22. The full list is over 140 strong, but you can expect to see the likes of AJ Styles, Becky Lynch, Bobby Lashley, Brock Lesnar, Edge, John Cena, Randy Orton, Seth Rollins, Triple H, and The Undertaker to name a few.

More superstars will likely be announced leading up to the game’s launch in March 2022. For now, we know a handful of legends will make an appearance such as The Rock and Kane, along with a boatload of other major names like Roman Reigns.

And of course, much of the marketing is centered around high-flier Rey Mysterio, who will also be included as the cover star.

Given how WWE has made a habit of getting superstars recently, it’s unclear how this will impact the final roster. Superstars like Nia Jax, William Regal, and Samoa Joe were likely planned to be included in the game, but will probably be pulled.

Is there a WWE 2K22 trailer?

There is a trailer! It was revealed at Summerslam 2021, and while it doesn’t depict any gameplay, it did confirm a handful of additional superstars that will be playable in WWE 2K22. You can watch the 30-second trailer above.

In addition, the official announcement trailer was released on January 20, showcasing many of the superstars and features. Check it out above!

What are the WWE 2K22 platforms?

WWE 2K22 will launch for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Despite previous iterations launching for Nintendo Switch, it doesn’t appear like 2K22 will make its way to the handheld hybrid.

Who is the WWE 2K22 developer?

The Rock and John Cena join the WWE 2K22 roster.

Visual Concepts has taken the reigns after the departure of longtime developer Yuke’s. Previously, Visual Concepts worked as a support team on the series, so the studio is familiar with the inner workings of the WWE games. You might recall this team as the studio in charge of developing the hit NBA 2K series year after year, which is also under the 2K umbrella.

Now that the developer has had over a year to work on the project, things should come together nicely — at least more so than 2K20.

What are the WWE 2K22 features?

Rey Mysterio performing his signature “619” move on Cesaro.

WWE 2K22 is exciting, not only because it will mark the first release since 2019, but also because of its features. Publisher 2K confirmed this game will have new controls, improved visuals, and is built on a redesigned engine that will hopefully make for a more immersive sim.

One of the highlights of 2K22 is the new Showcase Mode, which takes players through famous Rey Mysterio matches. You’ll face off against Eddie Guerrero, Shawn Michaels, and even The Undertaker. Other modes include MyGM, MyRISE, and MyFACTIONS.

WWE 2K20 was terrible due to its lack of polish and glitches that practically made the game unplayable. Weird hitboxes, terrible visual bugs, and inaccurate commentary plagued the last entry, so there isn’t anywhere for 2K22 to go but up.

Given that Visual Concepts has had ample time and the opportunity to make plenty of improvements, expectations for WWE 2K22 are high.

What are the WWE 2K22 pre-order details?

WWE 2K22 is available to pre-order right now across various retailers and digital storefronts. Pre-ordering any version gives players access to the Undertaker Immortal Pack, which includes three famous attire sets for the beloved superstar.

WWE 2K22 launches for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on March 8, 2022.

WWE 2K22

WWE 2K22 was released on March 11, 2022, for PS5, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, and on March 8, 2022, with Early Access. It is the successor to WWE 2K20.

WWE 2K22 will be available in four Game Editions: Standard Edition, Cross-Gen Digital Bundle, Deluxe Edition, and – in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the New World Order faction – nWo 4-Life Digital Edition.

Redesigned gameplay engine, new controls, incredible graphics, MyGM mode, and franchise-first MyFACTION are just a few to name among many more advancements, headlining the most impressive WWE 2K experience to date!

On this page, you find a breakdown of all the WWE 2K22 Game Features.

1. WWE 2K22 GM Mode (MyGM)
2. WWE 2K22 New Gameplay & Controls
3. Stunning Graphics
4. Other Game Modes
   • New WWE 2K Showcase
   • MyFACTION Mode
   • MyRISE (Career Mode)
   • WWE Universe Mode
   • Creation Suite
5. WWE 2K22 Roster
6. Extended Production Timeline
   • Other Considered Features
7. WWE 2K22 Trailers

WWE 2K22 GM Mode (MyGM)

GM Mode has been by far the Top Community Request for WWE 2K22, and it has been officially revived after being missing since SmackDown vs. Raw games. In WWE 2K22 MyGM, players can step into the role of a WWE General Manager in a competition for ratings and revenue – choosing a WWE brand between Raw, SmackDown, NXT, or NXT UK. In MyGM you draft superstars, book matches and rivalries, manage contracts and call the shots on your way to run the most successful brand in the WWE Universe. The mode features a Draft, a Budget, a Social Media feed, and a tracker with the number of fans and Ratings of your show. Managing Budget is important, as you’ll need to have enough budget not only to sign Superstars and Legends but also to book Arenas and match types with special stipulations. See our dedicated guide with the full details and features of WWE 2K22 MyGM Mode.

WWE 2K22 New Gameplay & Controls

• WWE 2K22 comes with a new gameplay engine that “feels different”, being more fast-paced and unpredictable.
• New control changes in WWE 2K22 include different inputs to execute strikes and grapples, as well as a new Combo System and different inputs to perform finishers and signatures.
• Each individual Superstar now has Combos, and they can be customized in Create-A-Moveset.
• The reversals system has been completely revamped, and the limited reversal stock has been removed. There is a new ability to “Block” strikes, as well as a new “Dodge” mechanic. The pin and kick-out controls have also been changed.
• The physics systems have been completely overhauled for WWE 2K22: weapons (such as tables, steel chairs, kendo sticks and stop signs) now get damaged as they are used. Breaking tables is now completely dynamic, players will never see a table break the same way twice.
• More verticality has been implemented in the new backstage area. There is a new mantling system that allows players to climb and dismount from surfaces of various heights.

See the full WWE 2K22 Control Scheme Tutorial for all the details on the new controls, Combos, and how to reverse moves in WWE 2K22.

Stunning Graphics

WWE 2K22 boasts the best-ever graphics of the WWE 2K franchise. Scanning and animations are executed using the same industry-leading process as Visual Concepts’ NBA 2K franchise and the team overhauled lighting and relit the game from the ground up.

As part of the game’s development process, 85% of the in-game roster has taken part in facial scanning for ultra-realistic and updated character models, and more than 3,400 new animations have been captured.

Other Game Modes

New WWE 2K Showcase

In WWE 2K22’s Showcase mode, players can take a walk down memory lane and relive the most iconic matches and moments of legendary WWE Superstar Rey Mysterio.

The mode incorporates new features and updates, allowing players to relive the iconic moments behind Mysterio’s most famous matches.

Go beneath the mask to relive the 2006 Royal Rumble, Rey’s return, and more. Booyaka, booyaka! Check out the confirmed match list for the Rey Mysterio 2K Showcase.

MyFACTION Mode

In a franchise-first, the all-new MyFACTION puts players in control of building a legendary faction that rivals the iconic nWo. This is a single-player collectible card game, along with traditional WWE 2K series gameplay.

Players compete to collect Superstars Cards, battle with those cards, manage and upgrade their Faction, with weekly events and regular updates .

MyRISE (Career Mode)

An opportunity for players to experience the journey of a WWE Superstar from the humble beginnings of a Rookie, followed by the fanfare as a Superstar, and then immortalized as a Legend.

Choose your path between four character backgrounds, start your career and finish the competition by taking on not one, but two MyRISE adventures. Featuring unique male and female storylines, MyRISE lets you choose your journey like never before.

MyRise in WWE 2K22 lets you play across 3 brands (NXT, Raw & SmackDown), allows you to switch between face and heel, and features new branching storylines and rivalries, over 1000 playable matches, 9 unique arenas, and voiceovers from over 30 superstars – across over 50 hours of play time.

WWE Universe Mode

Universe Mode returns, offering players the ability to fully customize their WWE experience down to the smallest details. From taking control over brands to Pay Per Views, match results, rivalries, and more.

Plus, WWE 2K22’s Universe mode includes a new alternative option called “Superstar Mode“: this gives you the ability to play through WWE Universe by controlling one Superstar and focusing entirely on their storyline and matches.

In Superstar Mode, players follow their Superstar through matches each week, developing rivalries, starting tag teams, and competing in championship matches.

Creation Suite

• The Creation Suite is back and better than ever, with more focus on increasing the quality of the creations. Players can be themselves or someone/something entirely different, with all sorts of wild options and fantasy elements, then step into the ring at any time and anywhere in the world .
• Create the ultimate custom Superstars, Arenas, Championships, MITB, Entrances, Movesets, Videos and more.
• Share creations with the global WWE 2K22 community, for the first time ever with Cross-Platform Community Creations between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC!
• Sorting through Community Creations is now easier with a new landing page to more easily narrow down specific content types and an upvoting system to find the top-voted content.
• There are 75 body templates in the Superstar Creation (39 male and 36 female), coming in a wide range of sizes, shapes, and musculature, now also allowing for super-heavyweight bodies in the style Keith Lee/Otis/Earthquake.
• The ability to upload Custom Renders for the character select screen has been added.
• There are still 100 Created Superstars Slots available in the game, also for the PS5/Xbox Series X|S versions.
• Other additions include “Personas”, which arestarting templates for Created Superstars, the ability to tag favorite parts, filter them by Persona, and set a Parts Color theme to give your attire a consistent color scheme.
• However, other features from years ago such as Create A Finisher and Create A Story will not be making a return this year.

WWE 2K22 Roster

As always, the WWE 2K22 Roster includes a huge list of Men and Women superstars from Raw, SmackDown, NXT, and NXT UK, as well as WWE Legends.

Counting DLC, there are 228 selectable characters.

Extended Production Timeline

After the cancellation of WWE 2K21, for the first time since the beginning of the series, the production timeline has been extended for one more year, to ensure that the Visual Concepts development team can create a great game with WWE 2K22.

A new Executive Producer has been hired to lead the WWE 2K development at Visual Concepts: he’s Patrick Gilmore, who has over 25 years of experience in video games. 2K is confident that the extra year will lead to better games in the future, saying they’re taking the time needed to deliver the quality that fans deserve.

A formal feedback project was run in May 2020 to collect feedback and discuss specific aspects of the game, such as Creations, Gameplay, Match Types, MyCareer, Showcase, and more.

Other Considered Features

Other features high on the list of the WWE 2K Top Community Requests, and that 2K has acknowledged and were surely considering for WWE 2K22 are:

• Reviving Missing Match Types, including Special Referee
• Ongoing Live Updates
• Not locking Create A Superstar content and parts
• DLC with actual Superstars instead of 2K Originals

Some other improvements that the developers mentioned they were looking at are:

• Inspiration from previous games of the series regarding Gameplay and Story Modes
• In Create-A-Superstar, the ability to show/hide appearance and attire parts while working on the face and body
• A Character Selection Screen separated by the Brand the Superstars appear in

WWE 2K22 Trailers

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@justinwright Show more respect please Justin the way you talk is very rude and disrespectful to the lgbtq+ community

2k23 needs to be 100% current roster, including everyone still currently actually working for WWE (best source is Wikipedia for this, WWE.com doesn’t list ambassadors, trainers etc).

The game needs to get rid of people who don’t have anything to do with WWE, such as Bret, Austin, Hulk, Nash etc, and the same legends we get every year = they are who the DLC packs should be. 2k22 was stupid in that you were expected to pay for current wrestlers as DLC, we had wrestlers who were fired on disc plus identical Legends, irrelevant people, ang AGAIN so many wrestlers who missed out.

Also, if they’re going to include MyFaction then the alternative characters need to be unlockable for use in Universe, same as all characters you encounter in MyRise should be unlockable

@Betterthan2k22 I respect, but somewhat disagree with your opinion. I agree that the irrelevant people should be DLC, if even that, but people like Austin, Bret, Nash, Hogan, and other legends that pretty much everyone knows should stay as content you can buy with tokens. Besides, they need to first find out a way to patch that face-paint bug. This isn’t 2k20, 2K, fix your game.

Something I wish they would change within the universe mode is the ability, once you choose which show your superstars are on, they’re show specific rosters at that point. Not every superstar when you go to setup matches for that show.

real shame there’s no MyFaction wiki stuff in here. Out of all the useless stuff they slap on here you’d think they would have at least a list of every card to use

Hi, I Love You guys , I’m @TelleyTell on Twitter, & @TelleyJackson8 on Twitter, I wish someone could help me to figure out how to sell my games that I don’t play anymore, WWE BattleGrounds, UFC 3 and NBA 2K19 so I can get WWE 2K22 when it was what I wanted for my birthday but No one never believes me or really listens to me

Does anyone know if the nwo edition will eventually be available for all WWE 2k22 editions. I bought the deluxe and I was hoping they’d eventually let every have what came in the nWo edition.

still outdated smfh where’s nxt 2.0 arena? why the hell is Tegan nox in this game? she was release like earlier this year the same with Scarlett and mickie james was released last year.

all that artificial hype and rumors about everything is gonna be up the date lol also WWE Evolution, WWE Mixed Match Challenge, WWE Mae Young Classic arenas was already in 2k20 change it up wwe owns ecw and wcw u telling me u can’t find different arenas to choose from? like how many times are they gonna put in wcw havoc into the game? that ppv was trash in real life. and also wwe has a partnership with impact u telling me u can’t reach out to them to add one of their arenas into the game? smfh lol “it hits different” more like it hits the same 🤣😆😂 i wish THQ inc was resurrected and somehow got back in business to take the license back and away from take two bcuz just the same old thing every year fake hype surrounded each release just to be disappointed just so tired of 2k like since when microtransactions is cool now to be in a wwe game this game sucks glad yukes still around they saw the writing on the wall if they stayed around long enough with 2k they might end up like thq, acclaim and midway. still mad that tna impact 2 got cancelled bcuz midway went bankrupt smfh can’t wait for AEW and virtual basement wrestling game.

so tired of outdated “roster updates” all these legends year after year with the same attire instead of nxt 2.0 upcoming stars that should’ve been the ones that’s added smh they so creativity bankrupt when it comes down to making a wrestling video game that its mind blowing. and all this hype about graphics meanwhile the character models still looks like they’re plastic and the hair still looks like crap how tf tna impact on ps3 looks more realistic than every wwe 2k ganme combine including this 2022 game it’s ridiculous and that game came out in 2008. and i shouldn’t have to pay 100 dollars just to get less features and “updated roster” that’s not really up the date and why is mandy rose a smackdown gm in this game? crazy that only little bit of ppl is talking about that. its like they don’t even watch WWE while having to game license to.

@just keep it real 2.0 arena just came out. They have been working on this game waaaay before 2.0 started that’s why it’s not in the game. But as far as half the released wrestlers I agree it’s a bit confusing since half of them have been gone for awhile. Yet Adam Cole was released well after Stroman and some how Stroman made it in the game but not Cole. I get he’s in AEW. Not that I’m complaining about Braun being in the game. I personally think it’s because they wanted more sales if they kept half the released stars in the game otherwise the roster would like kinda lame.

@Mitch sounds like another excuse bcuz wwe 2k22 teaser trailer was released on 08/21/21 nxt 2.0 started in September 14, 2021 they had plenty of time to implement that arena into this game from September to this month instead its all outdated arenas and ThunderDome as much as i like that arena finally being put into the game still no excuse for adding arenas like raw 2020 and 2019 arenas and evolution and may young classic that’s already in 2k20 its lazy. yeah i agree they did thought it would generate more sales by keeping but by them doing that hurt this game even more bcuz stars thats already in the roster that should’ve been in this game like:

Elektra Lopez
Cora Jade
Amari Miller,
Gigi Dolin
Jacy Jayne
Ivy Nile
Lash Legend
Kayden Carter
Nikkita Lyons
Persia Pirotta
Zoey Stark
Yulisa Leon
Wendy Choo
Tatum Paxley
Valentina Feroz
Tiffany Stratton
Andre Chase
Zack Gibson
Xyon Quinn
Brutus Creed
Brooks Jensen
Bron Breakker
Bodhi Hayward
Boa
Carmelo Hayes
Dante Chen
Edris Enofe
James Drake
Marcel Barthel)
Malik Blade
Kushida
Julius Creed
Josh Briggs
Joe Gacy
Ikemen Jiro
Harland
Guru Raaj
Grayson Waller
Duke Hudson
Odyssey Jones
Ru Feng
Von Wagner

is not in this game and nobody should have to wait til next year just to get stars that’s should’ve already been in this game. but somehow all these didn’t make it but Stacy Keibler somehow made it to this game roster? wtf? just misplace overstuff legends that should’ve been cut from the game that’s overshadows stars that’s currently in the roster since last year and 2020 when this game was announced. if the roster is gonna be this outdated then they might as well add b-fab and hit row in this game along with everyone that was from 2020 they already put most of that in this game anyway smh how u gonna have mandy rose current look right now from nxt. 2.0 and not have nxt 2.0 arena LOL