It’s been a few years since we entered a new boom period for professional wrestling. Match quality is higher, storylines are more compelling, and the presence of true competition outside of the Fed has made the industry far more exciting. Similarly, the WWE 2K series is a few years into its miraculous comeback from disaster that kicked off in earnest with 2K22. With the rebuild starting from the foundations, it took a little while for the grappling sim to find its feet, but the last few entries have tightened the ring ropes and dusted the apron, marking a completed face turn. Now, as the annual release schedule marches on, we look to new content and innovation to answer whether it’s worth investing in the latest launch or if last year’s offering is still good enough to get you by.
I recently spent four hours going hands-on with WWE 2K26, exploring the new match types, gameplay additions, and Showcase content, and, while I can’t give you a definitive answer just yet, this year’s iteration is shaping up to be another Dwayne Johnson solid entry.
During my preview session, I was able to spend time with each of the four new match types: I Quit, Inferno, Dumpster, and Three Stages of Hell. Getting the simplest one out of the way first, the Dumpster match is essentially a pallet swap for any of the other put-your-opponent-in-a-blank stipulations. That’s not to say it’s bad, and it’s got thematic relevance for folks who like to book their own reality in the My Universe mode, but it just plays the same as a Casket or Ambulance match in practice.
Duke Droese will have a real advantage here
The same is true for Three Stages of Hell, which allows you to pick three stipulations that play out back-to-back in a best two out of three situation. You can mix and match to your heart’s desire, making for plenty of potential combinations, but it’s standard fair otherwise. The Inferno match mixes things up a bit, with fire engulfing the ring apron as the contest unfolds. The blaze will intensify as you hit big moves and damage each other, culminating in a wall of fire. At this point, the first competitor to send their opponent into the blaze has their hand raised. It’s mechanically novel and fun, and the special attention paid to make the wrestlers progressively sweatier as the bout drags on gives it a nice, realistic quality.
Oddly enough, it was the I Quit match that I gravitated to the most. What I thought was going to be a reskinned Submission match ended up being a resource-managing brawl, with buffs awarded to the player who could pull off the most elaborate moves and sequences. Doing so would give you a better chance of victory when it came to your opponent playing the timing-based minigame that determines if they utter those important words. Out of the four, this is the one I’m most keen to come back to next month.
In terms of core gameplay, the combat systems remain largely untouched. The main changes come in the form of new weapons and a reworked Start of Match system. Stackable tables are as chaotic as you would assume, and the addition of thumbtacks to the arsenal is more impactful than you would think, as they create a permanent high damage wherever they’re scattered. The new Start of Match Actions system only affects, as you would expect, the beginning of a bout, but first impressions matter.
Rack atTACK
Before you lock up, you’re given several options to choose from using the D-Pad. Playing to the crowd can give you a buff, and so can offering a handshake, but only the latter gives you a chance to sneak in a cheap shot. You could immediately launch into a hockey fight, come together for some chain wrestling, or attempt a surprise attack to get an edge. It’s quick and doesn’t alter the match in any huge way, but it’s another step towards making the fights feel closer to what you see on TV.
I also spent time with this year’s Showcase mode, which focuses on the career of the Second City Saint, CM Punk. As with years gone by, this mode acts as a retrospective and a fantasy booker. The opening matches against JBL and Rey Mysterio flipped back the calendar to 2008, while others will see the Straight Edge Superstar lock horns with legends he never actually got the chance to wrestle. Certain unlocks are still tied to timed objectives, which will forever frustrate me, but a new gauntlet challenge, wherein you’re asked to take on 20 challengers back-to-back, does give you the opportunity to unlock everything in one go. Good luck.
A brief dalliance with this year’s MyRise campaign and the live-service-styled The Island mode proved a little too brief to form an opinion, but even the briefest of glances was enough to have me worried about 2K26’s DLC deployment method. Opting for a battle pass system (referred to as the Ringside Pass) isn’t inherently awful, but during my four hours of solid play, I only gained enough XP to unlock one of the 40 levels. I love that the first DLC drop is themed around the Mexican promotion AAA (yes, Mr Iguana is unlockable), I’m just not sure how rough the grind will be.
Trying to get around to everything that WWE 2K26 has to offer in four hours was a tall task, and that speaks to the work Visual Concepts has put in over the last few years. I had a good time with the new match types, and the overall cinematic quality of the product continues to go from strength to strength. My only concern, now that the series is firing on all cylinders, is how monetisation practices might sneak in and threaten to turn an otherwise great game into a heel. We’ll just have to wait and see.
WWE 2K26 is set for release across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, and PC on March 13.
Previewed on PC using code provided by the publisher
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