It’s not everyday one previews 2K’s latest WWE game with longtime referee and WWE Senior Manager of Talent Relations John Cone in their ear talking about his on-screen digital counterpart.
Then again, previewing said game in WWE Headquarters isn’t exactly an everyday occurrence. That’s where I found myself a few short weeks before WWE2K26 launches for millions around the world this March. Now, one of the most important bits of info I can and should pass along is that the game I pushed to its limits is not the final version. There were some minor kinks that any iron could easily straighten, and the 2K team gave explicit instructions for when to stop playing certain modes to avoid spoilers.
But if my almost six hours with the game are any indication, 2K’s championship reign is far from over.
WWE2K26 feels designed for the longterm. There are endless possibilities in almost every feature. So much so that I felt I only saw the tippy top of the iceberg, even after spending almost a whole day with this build. Universe Mode, which comes complete with its own draft, provides infinite combinations of feuds and stories. There’s the revamped MyGM mode, where the show literally never stops. The amount of choices at my fingertips in the creative suites felt daunting. If I chucked every ounce of discipline I have out of a window, I know that mode would’ve taken all of my time. So instead of chasing my tail down rabbit holes, I stuck to MyRise while dabbling in this year’s CM Punk Showcase.
Why? Well, the latter because the man is on the cover and it felt disrespectful not to test drive his mode. And the former because I find it offers the opportunity to experience almost everything the game offers while packaging it in a neat, compelling story. MyRise is also one of the best examples of 2K’s motto for this year’s edition. This year, 2K’s story campaign is all about forks in the road, harkening back to WWF No Mercy or WWF WrestleMania 2000 where stories branched based on player choice. More on that in a bit, I promise.
The first thing I noticed is the graphical improvement. While one can argue that chasing better graphics leads to long development cycles that sometimes takes games off the calendar entirely, 2K’s managed to up their ante annually. Playing on an Xbox Series X, I saw a notable difference between last year’s concoction and the 2026 offering. The bruising became more visible as matches progressed, and the sweat intensified. The wrestlers look more lifelike with their expressions and movements.
One bugaboo of mine for many a WWE game is the shoddy movement in and out of the ring. That jittery nature always showed itself when running the ropes or attacking an opponent running in my direction. 2K26 has no such issues. It transitions smoothly while never slowing down the action. I never expect these games to move as fast as a real life match with living, breathing humans, but they get closer every year to making that a reality.
A big part of that is the gameplay. When 2K gave the game a soft reboot with WWE2K22, they simplified. Even beyond the technical issues that plagued WWE2K20, that game was too complicated for its own good. It was the obvious outcome for a franchise that put more emphasis on simulation than accessibility. At its core, this is still a fighting game that shouldn’t require high arithmetic or the fast reflexes known to humankind just to pull a grapple power move. That’s a thing of the past as 2K26, like its predecessor, feels welcoming for everyone from novices to highly-seasoned vets. The matches are difficult but I never felt at a loss with the controller in my hand.
That said, for those of you who play competitively or for pride, note it’s not as easy to counter this time around. The reversal window felt like a gaping canyon in 2K25. 2K26 makes the window a bit smaller but not so small that it’s impossible to catch the other wrestler slipping. The less amount of time to successfully block or reverse meant even taking my eyes away from the screen for half a second to say peace to Oba Femi as he walked by put me on the wrong end of a suplex. That emphasis on speed provides devotees a learning curve that some may relish while others may detest. My feet are firmly planted in the camp of the former. 2K26 challenged me, especially during the CM Punk Showcase. Bottomline, this is a fun game that pushes but never punishes, which is a very fine line for games of this ilk to walk; 2K26 does so with ease.
As promised, let’s dig into choice. Decisions are crucial to most gaming solo campaigns these days due to RPG influences. That lends itself naturally to wrestling storytelling because pro graps is all about cause and effect. Wrestler A does something, Wrestler B reacts. Wrestler C says a few choice words, the crowd reacts. Those choices determine character, which is exactly how they work in this year’s MyRise. While I could play as either a face or a heel, the story starts the same: My wrestler is attempting a comeback after several years away from the ring. Besides alignment, an early decision determined why he went away. Did he try conquering Hollywood only to fall flat on his face? Did he take a timeout to become a family man? Or was he beat up and needed all that time to recover?
The reasoning dictates future dialogue and how others interact, which affects the experience. And while one might start their path as a good guy or a bad guy, even that can change at points throughout the journey. Theoretically, there’s endless hours of replay not only because of the option to play as a man or a woman, but through the multiple outcomes based on decisions big and small. My moves took me from Raw, to NXT, to Mexico. Each plot development kept my attention but definitely made me ponder about the road not traveled.
The best thing I can say about my time with WWE2K26 is that even with people like Bayley, Paul Heyman, CM Punk, and Trish Stratus walking around, the game kept my full attention. Consider my appetite whetted and I eagerly await more time to dive into the finished build when the game drops on March 13, 2026.