WWE 2K22: 49 Playable Characters Unlikely to Return

WWE 2K22 is returning to your consoles very soon. However, there might be certain things which could be quiet upsetting for some fans.

WWE 2K20 proudly showcased 266 wrestlers (some of them were different versions of the same player from different timeline). Out of those 266 wrestlers, 259 were fully playable in matches, which was pretty incredible. However, due to its insane amount of technical problems and a disastrous launch which carried more bugs and glitches than ever, WWE 2K’s last game was a huge flop which made everyone think that this is the end of 2K series for WWE games.

WWE 2K22 is coming out with intent of fixing some broken promises and expectations.

Around 49 playable wrestlers will not be there in the next-gen WWE 2K game. In this list we have tried picking up 10 of the most notable ones, and with following articles we may give you the entire list of confirmed roster and characters who will not be there.

It is hard to believe that some of the most loved characters will not be seen in WWE 2K22. AEW is largely to blame for that – so many stars who crammed the WWE roster back in 2019 now ply their trade on Tony Khan’s dime, not Vince McMahon’s.

A lot of them have vanished from mainstream North American wrestling altogether, and one has sadly passed since 2K20 was the talk of Twitter.

No doubt, this game will offer something different. Here, is the list of some of the most notable wrestlers, you are probably going to miss in WWE 2K22.

10. Luke Harper

Rest in peace, Brodie Lee.

A not too long AEW run of Brodie Lee came to an end on December 26 2020 when he sadly passed away from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. His untimely death put the entire wrestling industry in a shock, and it’s quiet upsetting to think that Lee would never ever get that proper run he deserved outside WWE.

Brodie, as Luke Harper, was featured in 2K20 and this will go down in history that it was the last game in which he was featured (unless, AEW decides to put him in one of their upcoming games as a tribute to him). For now you can go ahead and play as Luke Harper only in WWE 2K20

It is quiet unlikely for Luke Harper to return in WWE 2K22. It’d be nice to see them run a tribute of their own, but Vince McMahon may elect to steer clear of this entirely and get 2K to shove somebody else onto the playable roster instead of the ex-Wyatt Family (and real life family) man.

9. Matt Hardy

If you had ever dreamt of reuniting The Hardy Boys in WWE 2K22, you will have to rely on CAWS, because you won’t be seeing Matt Hardy teaming up with brother Jeff Hardy on the roster in this game. So, brace yousrself for some disappointment.

That’s as good as it’s going to get.

Having just one Hardy on the video game books and missing the other just doesn’t seem right, does it ? It’s like team says Dudley Boys but it has only D-Von Dudley and misses Bubba Rey Dudley, or maybe even akin to them spotlighting Big E and Kofi Kingston without including Xavier Woods (to use a modern/current example). It doesn’t make any sense right ?

To be honest, this should not have happened. Matt is under contract to AEW, which means you can not expect Vince McMahon to feature him in his gaming payoffs again. It doesn’t really matter to him if fans will have to download some potentially-crummy CAW model.

8. Aleister Black

Aleister Black has been an amazing character to play with in the last couple of WWE games. His combat and agility actually reminds us of Rob Van Dam back in the old SmackDown days, but unfortunately those days are over for now.

Black was released as part of a mass talent cull in early-June; and there were rumors that he might return future, but now a full stop has been put to that as he is seen in AEW. To be clear, Aleister won’t be coming back to WWE, atleast anytime soon.

Some hardcore fans of WWE games might even complain if it was too late for WWE 2K22 to remove Black from the game. Well, that depends on the stage of development at which WWE 2K22 is. The end product probably hasn’t been shipped for production quite yet, so Aliester Black fans may have a ray of hope.

Don’t count on it as the chances are pretty slim, due to his AEW appearance.

7. The Revival

The Revival against formerly known as Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson made their WWE 2K debuts back in 2K17. Just all the above mentioned WWE former Superstars, these two also moved to AEW.

The renamed Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood were never fully recognized in the WWE. Despite performing brilliantly, especially in NXT, the pair seemed to be swimming upstream constantly against a certain leader’s vision, and they’re much more at home in All Elite. Unfortunately, bang go the fat gaming cheques with that jump.

Now if you wish to play as The Revival, then you’ll have to download Cash and Dax from the best CAW-makers after 2K22’s launch.

6. Christian

Christian was absolutely perfect when he was inn WWE, because AEW’s Christian Cage is no longer what he was WWE games. Frankly, that’s all he was really good for in WWE 2K games.

The reason why Christian has been excluded from WWE 2K22 is to give him an opportunity to stand on his own merits in AEW’s forthcoming release. Plus, it won’t make any difference to gamers as they are most likely to play as Edge and go against his current formidable foe on TV Roman Reigns.

One thing not about Christian Cage is that his character model was horrible in WWE 2K20. He was one of those characters which looked nothing like real life. It was pretty evident, not much work was done on him. Come match time, Christian resembled a waxy Ken doll more than his real-life self.

5. Rusev

If you were looking forward to re-create just so awesome and hilarious feud with Bobby Lashley from a few years ago in WWE 2K22, then my friends I feel sad to burst this news to you all, cause that won’t be happening. But with all honesty, except a few knuckle-headed, nobody would want to do that anyway.

This gamer enjoyed using Rusev properly in-game, admittedly. Ignoring crappy real-world WWE booking and turning the ‘Bulgarian Brute’ into a pixellated force (and multi-time World Champion) was fun, but the ride is over. Ru-Ru is also one of many who would’ve been cast out for 2K21 had 2K not skipped a year in their long-running franchise.

That, much like his leap to AEW, was probably for the best. As Miro, the formerly-overlooked favourite is finally coming into his own. Almost hilariously, the reigning TNT Champ would be exactly the kind of worker ripe for CAW treatment in WWE games too.

Now, that’s your only choice.

4. Andrade

Same goes for this stud.

Andrade only managed two video game appearances during his run as a WWE star. He made his debut in 2K19, popped up again in 2K20 and…well, yeah, that was it. Now, Andrade El Idolo is strolling around the place looking like a million bucks on Dynamite, and the future looks bright for Charlotte Flair’s future hubby.

Like Aleister Black, he was always fun to play around with in-game. Andrade had untapped potential under WWE’s umbrella, and that’s one of the selling points of these games: WWE fantasy. In other words, you can put right the wrongs that happen on TV every week.

That won’t be possible with Andrade in 2K22 though. This handsome bastard will be posted missing from the roster, and that’s a crying shame for those who liked pushing him as one of the focal points of their Universe Mode saves.

Oh well. So much for that epic WWE Title reign.

3. Braun Strowman

Next-to-nobody saw Braun Strowman’s release coming when it happened on 2 June. The ‘Monster Among Men’ seemed like a WWE lifer, not least because of his Vince-pleasing physical size and marketability as a larger-than-life human wrecking ball.

Then, suddenly, he was gone from company programming.

There will be no more running power slams or jobber squashing antics in WWE 2K22, at least not from big Braun. He’s a shoe-in to be ousted from the on-disc roster completely – WWE, as mentioned earlier, aren’t in the business of rewarding those outside the promotional sphere with meaty residual payments from in-house projects. That’s understandable.

It’s going to be f*cking weird to boot up Community Creations and see all those CAWs of Strowman littering the download pages. Some will be awfully-made, whereas others will be carefully-crafted. One thing’s for sure: Braun isn’t part of the official line up anymore.

Presumably, his character model had already been made.

2. Big Show

Weeeeeell, he’s a no show.

Big Show seems destined to skip his first WWE video game in a long-ass time. One can’t remember off the top of his head when Show wasn’t part of one of these things, but there’s a decent chance it might’ve been all the way back before he signed with the company in 1999. In fact, yeah, WWF Attitude could be it.

If so, that’s crazy. Paul Wight has been picking up cheques for these games since the PSOne was Sony’s main console, people. Tony Khan’s claim that AEW would revolutionise the business probably didn’t include, ‘Yeah, we’ll stop Big Show’s WWE gaming run’, but here we are.

Show won’t be included on the main roster or Legends tabs in 2K22. 2K20, the miserable excuse for a release that it was, will be known as his digital swansong as a WWE performer. There’s something oddly unsatisfying about that considering his length of service under McMahon rule.

1. Sting

Where, WWE 2K20 offered two different versions of the Sting for fans to choose from, WWE 2K22 gives none. The first version was from the 80s and early-90s. Then, there was the much more popular ‘Crow’ version from the mid-to-late-90s, or you could say the one from the days, when WCW was competing against WWF (now known as WWE).

Both versions of Sting were fantastic and added value to the Legends roster of WWE 2K20

Past WWE 2K games had also had current-day playable model of the icon. None of those will be in WWE 2K22 Reason being, Sting, much like most of the others in this list, is now an AEW guy. That brings an end to the story that started back in 2014 with 2K15.

There will be no more Stinger for WWE 2K games, which is a very very unfortunate.

He was such a huge part of the Legends wing, and could be considered a genuine selling point for older fans who loved the WCW influence from guys like Sting, the nWo, Ric Flair and more. Who the hell will wrestle Flair in that Great American Bash ’90 arena now?!

Other Playable Wrestlers who won’t return to WWE 2K22

Brace yourselves, because this is going to be a long list.

• AOP
• Alicia Fox
• Ariya Daivari
• Bo Dallas
• The IIconics
• Buddy Murphy
• Curt Hawkins
• Curtis Axel
• EC3
• Eric Young
• Breezango
• Jack Gallagher
• Heath Slater
• Jake Roberts
• Kairi Sane
• Kalisto
• The Good Brothers
• Kassius Ohno
• Lana
• Lars Sullivan
• Maria Kanellis
• Mike Kanellis
• Mark Henry
• Mickie James
• Mojo Rawley
• No Way Jose
• Rowan
• Ruby Riott
• Sarah Logan
• Sin Cara
• Tony Nese
• Tucker
• Velveteen Dream
• Zack Ryder

All of those playable characters from WWE 2K20 have been released from contract for various reasons and will be bumped from the roster in WWE 2K22.