Tag: WWE2K

The latest on Kazuchika Okada & Mercedes Mone

Posted on by Joseph Currier

In the new edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer shared the latest news he’s heard regarding pro wrestling’s two hottest free agents.

Meltzer writes that the belief from AEW is that Kazuchika Okada and Mercedes Mone will both be starting with them soon. Meltzer notes that nothing is a lock with Mone unless a contract is signed. On Okada, Meltzer writes that the latest update he heard was that Okada hasn’t made up his mind between AEW and WWE yet. People within AEW range from hopeful to confident that Okada will be coming in.

Regarding Kazuchika Okada and Mercedes Mone, the belief from this side [AEW] is that both will be starting soon. Mone was doing acting work but there is talk her debut will be played up extremely big and that announcement could be soon. She has been back training to return to the ring. Her coming to AEW was expected for months, even before they showed her at Wembley. But she did negotiate with WWE after that and while they were far apart on money, unless the contract is signed nothing is a lock. For Okada, the last word was that he had not made up his mind. I know people here range from hopeful to I’d perceive as confident he will be coming. If he was to sign, the likely arrival would be around the Greensboro show with his final New Japan date on 2/24. If it was WWE, I could see them holding off until WrestleMania. But we do know that Tony Khan has been especially enthusiastic about 2024, between new signings and returns over the next few months of MJF, Adam Cole, Kenny Omega (hopefully), Bandido, Rey Fenix, Pac and Britt Baker.

Okada recently announced that he’ll be leaving NJPW when his contract expires at the end of January. Okada is still set to work three NJPW shows after that, appearing at the New Beginning in Osaka on Sunday, February 11 and the New Beginning in Sapporo on Friday, February 23 and Saturday, February 24.

Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi has been made official for the New Beginning in Osaka.

Earlier this week, Okada vacated the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team titles after a successful defense against Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls & Kosei Fujita. Okada, Tanahashi & Tomohiro Ishii had been champions together.

Mone hasn’t wrestled since suffering an ankle injury while facing Willow Nightingale at NJPW Resurgence in May 2023.

Mat Men: AEW Wembley Stadium sales stunner, WWE Draft fallout

Posted on by Mat Men

Andrew and Rich are back with another packed episode of Mat Men, talking about the latest in professional wrestling.

Tickets went on sale for AEW All In at Wembley Stadium in London, and the early numbers are leading to some records for a non-WWE event.

WWE held their Draft this past week. We talk about the new rosters and who might do well on their new brand.

WWE Backlash is this Saturday so we run through the card and wonder if Bad Bunny vs. Damian Priest might actually main event since they are in Puerto Rico.

On AEW Dynamite this week, the main event was set for Double or Nothing, but will MJF vs. Darby Allin vs. Jungle Boy vs. Sammy Guevara be the big draw for the show?

Plus, we talk changes to AEW programming, WWE financials, your questions, and a special appearance by everyone’s friend, “French Tony Khan.” 

Click Here To Listen for free or watch on YouTube above.

Machine Gun Kelly producing WWE 2K22 soundtrack, will be playable character

Posted on by Josh Nason

Ahead of next month’s release of the new WWE 2K22 video game, it was announced on Wednesday that musician and former Raw guest Machine Gun Kelly executive produced a soundtrack for the game and will also be a playable character at some point in the future.

All 12 tracks are available as a playlist in Apple Music:

  • Machine Gun Kelly: concert for aliens
  • Machine Gun Kelly (ft. YUNGBLUD & Bert McCracken: body bag
  • Wu Tang Clan: Protect Ya Neck
  • Motorhead: Iron Fist
  • Poppy: Say Cheese (live NXT version)
  • Royal Blood: Typhoons
  • Bring Me The Horizon: Happy Song
  • The Weeknd: Heartless
  • Turnstile: I Don’t Wanna Be Blind
  • Asking Alexandria: The Final Episode (Let’s Change the Channel)
  • KennyHoopla: Hollywood Sucks

WWE released a video in concert with the announcement that included MGK and The Undertaker where the WWE star said a song needs “more gongs.”

MGK will be available as a character after the March 2022 launch as part of a DLC expansion pack, but the specific date wasn’t announced, nor whether it would be a free or paid addition.

Born Colson Baker, the 31-year-old performed ‘Invincible’ at 2012’s WrestleMania 28 as part of John Cena’s entrance and then returned in 2015 to perform on Raw before Kevin Owens got his hands on him.

Report: NXT Stand & Deliver scheduled as matinee before night one of WWE WrestleMania 38

Posted on by Josh Nason

This year’s schedule for WWE WrestleMania 38 week continues to take shape with PWInsider reporting a discussed change regarding NXT that would have seemed unfathomable just a few years ago.

The website said that while this is still preliminary in the planning, this year’s NXT Stand & Deliver is currently planned for Saturday, April 2nd on the first night of WrestleMania 38.

While the venue has yet to be determined, the idea is the show would be a matinee running from noon to 3 PM Eastern.

If that happens, that would be the first time since NXT began running events during WrestleMania weekend that one of its centerpiece shows wouldn’t have its own night.

PWInsider also reported that the preliminary plan is to air the Hall of Fame ceremony on Friday, April 1st on both Peacock and WWE Network after SmackDown is off the air.

It’s unknown if that would mean the ceremony would be taped ahead of time as it was last year. If it went live, it would begin at 9 PM local time in Dallas, Texas.

WWE announced their slate of events earlier this week, but didn’t provide specific dates.

Fight Game: WWE releases, Page vs. Danielson II, Bron Breakker

Posted on by Garrett Gonzales

John LaRocca and I are back on the Fight Game Podcast to go over several big topics in the world of professional wrestling before tackling AEW Dynamite and NXT from this week.

Dave Meltzer joins us right at the top of the show to talk about the injuries that happened at AEW Dynamite and the Rampage taping, the WWE releases, and the best matches he’s seen this week.

Then John and I come back to discuss:

  • Which of the two Hangman Page vs. Bryan Danielson matches were better
  • CM Punk and MJF and where Wardlow fits in
  • The Dynamite main event which saw the Jurassic Express win the tag team straps
  • Bron Breakker winning the NXT title
  • Carmelo Hayes looking like a star
  • The fun of Matt Riddle & MSK vs. WALTER and Imperium

Click below to listen.

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WWE 2K22 to reintroduce MyGM mode, redesigned gameplay engine

Posted on by Skylar Russell

2K and Visual Concepts have announced some new details for WWE 2K22, the latest installment in the wrestling video game series.

In a video released Thursday, the titan of sports gaming revealed a top ten list of highlighted features in the game which includes reimagined features like a redesigned gameplay engine and stunning new graphics, but also reintroduced modes from past WWE video games like MyGM mode — something fans of the franchise have been clamoring for since its demise in the Raw vs. SmackDown 2008 game.

Brand new modes are also coming to the game. MyFaction mode is described as an experience that “puts players in control of building a legendary faction,” while the former MyCareer mode was seemingly rebranded and will go by the MyRise moniker going forward.

According to 2K, some of the staple features of the game will be better than ever as well with Universe Mode being described as “offering players more control than ever before over brands, pay-per-views, match results, rivalries, and much more.”

The game is set to be released in March 2022 with more details being revealed in January. The game usually comes out in the fall, but various delays pushed that back.

This will be the first WWE2K game in over two years as WWE2K21 was cancelled due to both fan backlash and the pandemic. 2K released the arcade-style WWE Battlegrounds game last fall in order to fill their usual fall release spot.