WWE 2K24 blurred out former WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon’s face from some archived footage in its Showcase of Immortals game mode, although there’s another instance where he appears fully uncensored, IGN has verified.
There’s been much speculation over how 2K would handle McMahon in the latest game after a former WWE employee filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of sexual assault and sex trafficking.
In Showcase of Immortals, players can relive 21 of WWE’s most iconic Wrestlemania matches. These matches span from Ricky Steamboat vs. Macho Man Randy Savage’s Intercontinental Championship match at WrestleMania 3 in 1987 to Cody Rhodes and Roman Reign’s Undisputed WWE Universal Championship bout at WrestleMania 39. Each Showcase match interweaves archived WWE footage of key moments from WrestleMania feuds as cutscenes.
While summarizing the storyline build for Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair, and Ronda Rousey match at WrestleMania 35, WWE 2K24 blurs out McMahon’s face. The Showcase segment also bypasses mentioning McMahon’s role in the feud — making a surprise appearance on Monday Night Raw and announcing Flair is replacing Lynch at WrestleMania 35 — by instead saying “WWE would replace her with Charlotte Flair.” You can see the clip below.
While McMahon’s face is blurred out and omitted in the WrestleMania 35 Showcase cutscene, he still makes a fully acknowledged and unblurred appearance in the cutscene for The Rock vs Stone Cold Steve Austin match at WrestleMania 17. However, reviewer Jarrett Green notes that players aren’t required to complete all of WrestleMania 17’s objectives to move the match forward and view IRL Showcase cutscenes. Meaning, players can finish the match without seeing footage of Austin turning heel and aligning with his long-time kayfabe rival, McMahon.
There’s also been speculation, too, about how WWE 2K24 would handle the inclusion of wrestler Brock Lensar. Prior to the game’s release, Lesnar was replaced by John Cena from the cover of WWE 2K24’s special Forty Years of WrestleMania edition. A source close to the situation told IGN that Lesnar’s removal relates to his reported connection to the lawsuit against McMahon.
Although the former multi-time world heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar’s WrestleMania 30 bout with The Undertaker — which saw Lesnar shockingly break Taker’s undefeated streak — is playable in Showcase, both Lesnar and McMahon cannot be unlocked as playable characters in WWE 2k24.
McMahon’s ongoing lawsuit comes after a 2023 Wall Street Journal report alleging McMahon paid four women $12 million in “hush money” over the past 16 years, including a reported $3 million payout to a former WWE employee he allegedly had an affair with. Developer 2K’s efforts to distance itself from McMahon are fairly significant when you take into consideration that McMahon was a playable character in WWE 2K23 amid the allegations revealed in the WSJ’s report.
2K did not respond to IGN’s request for comment.
In our review for WWE 2k24, we wrote, “While not drastically different, WWE 2K24 is better in almost every way, touting small but smart additions to well-tested systems and modes as opposed to taking bigger risks.”
Isaiah Colbert is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow them on Twitter @ShinEyeZehUhh.
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