WWE 2K22just had its official launch, and it’s starting off with a rather extensive roster of playable characters for fans to choose from. The base game alone has a whopping 163 wrestlers to play as, while those that spring for the $119.99WWE 2K22nWo 4-Life Edition can get their hands on five more wrestlers to increase the roster size to 168. 2K Sports and Visual Concepts will be expanding the already-impressiveWWE 2K22roster even further with the game’s Season Pass, set to add 28 more wrestlers to the mix spread across five different DLC packs.
2K Sports recently pulled the curtain back on theWWE 2K22DLC packs, revealing everyone that’s coming to the game post-launch. TheWWE 2K22DLC packs will add some notable stars to the roster, including popular old-school wrestlers like Yokozuna and Rob Van Dam, as well as newer stars who didn’t make the cut for the base game. However, there are some notable omissions from theWWE 2K22DLC lineup that have some fans upset.
RELATED:WWE 2K22 Roster Features Controversial Wrestler Brian Kendrick
Women in particular appear to be getting the short end of the stick when it comes toWWE 2K22DLC, and while there’s at least one woman in each DLC pack, the DLC is dominated by male wrestlers. This is despite the fact that theWWE 2K22roster is missing notable women that would have made great additions to the game, like modern stars Aliyah and Queen Zelina. Queen Zelina, previously known asZelina Vega, is an especially glaring omission since she is currently one half of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions and won the Queen of the Ring tournament.
Women’s wrestling legends are also left off the DLC lineup. Alundra Blayze, who is perhaps better known as Madusa and for tossing the WWE Women’s Championship in a trashcan on an episode of WCW Monday Night Nitro, is nowhere to be found. Lita, one of the most popular women’s wrestlers of all time, is also not coming toWWE 2K22. This is despite the fact that Lita is currently under contract with WWE, appeared in the Royal Rumble this past year, wrestled Becky Lynch at theElimination Chamber pay-per-view, and is in the WWE Hall of Fame.
On top of all that, Paige and The Bella Twins are also not included in theWWE 2K22DLC packs.Paige has publicly criticizedWWE 2K22for not including herself, The Bella Twins, or other notable women, though it seems this did not help her secure a part on the game’s roster. Paige has not been featured on WWE television for quite some time, but The Bella Twins still make occasional appearances and in fact both of them competed in the latest Royal Rumble match.
When it comes to men, theWWE 2K22roster is fairly comprehensive, and the DLC adds plenty more men’s wrestlers to the game. Some of the notable male exclusions likely happened due to those wrestlers not being in WWE any longer, but there are some active male AEW wrestlers who are still playable in the game. In any case, most of theWWE 2K22DLC snubs on the men’s side of things revolve around NXT 2.0, as the game is missing pretty much everyone from the re-branded show.
It’s especially surprising that rising star Bron Breakker is not coming toWWE 2K22as DLC. For those who haven’t been watching NXT 2.0, Bron Breakker is being pushed as the primary star of the show, with the whole thing built around him to help him get over. It’s clear that WWE has big plans for Breakker, and so it’s odd to see that he’s not going to be added toWWE 2K22as DLC. Then again, the game tends to ignore NXT 2.0 in general, though that is likely because the rebranding happened after the developers already had the classic NXT made for the game.
Some fans have pointed out that theWWE 2K22DLC includes celebrity guests, with some arguing that those celebrity guests are taking up spots that could go to actual wrestlers. However, it’s worth mentioning that celebrity involvement has been a key part of WWE’s DNA since the first WrestleMania, when Mr. T teamed withHulk Hoganto fight “Rowdy” Roddy Piper and “Mr. Wonderful” Paul Orndorff in the main event.
The celebrity guests coming toWWE 2K22as DLC include the aforementioned Mr. T, as well asmusician Machine Gun Kellyand social media star Logan Paul. All of these celebrities have been featured on WWE television in varying capacities, with Machine Gun Kelly being powerbombed off the Raw stage by Kevin Owens and Logan Paul actually set to compete at WrestleMania 38, teaming with The Miz to take on Rey and Dominik Mysterio.
But sinceWWE 2K22DLC is adding celebrity guests to the game, it’s rather bizarre that rapper Bad Bunny is not one of the DLC guests. After all, Bad Bunny has made numerous appearances in WWE, wrestling at last year’s WrestleMania and competing in the latest Royal Rumble event. If there was any celebrity guest to add to theWWE 2K22roster, one would think Bad Bunny would be the first choice.
Of course, there’s always next year, and it’s possible the next installment in theWWE 2Kfranchise will make up for some snubs on the current roster. There are rumors thatWWE may go with EA for its next game, but considering the positive reception toWWE 2K22, hopefully Visual Concepts and 2K Sports can build on the incredible work done on this year’s entry and produce something even better next time around.
WWE 2K22is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
