WWE 2K24 Seemingly Cut 14 Wrestlers from the Roster

gamerant.com:

It seems as though WWE 2K24 potentially cut 14 wrestlers from the roster, as evidence of their existence in the game's files has been discovered. The recently-released WWE 2K24 has a massive roster of wrestlers for fans to choose from, from old-school grapplers to modern-day stars. But even though the WWE 2K24 roster is admittedly rather massive and comprehensive, there are still some wrestlers that didn't make the cut for one reason or another.

Perhaps the most glaring omission from the WWE 2K24 roster is CM Punk. Punk made his shocking return to WWE at last year's Survivor Series event, and so many fans hoped that there was enough time to get him added to the game. Punk isn't part of the WWE 2K24 base roster, but will be added as DLC. Whereas Punk is being added to WWE 2K24 post-launch, there were other wrestlers who were apparently considered for the game, only to be removed or not have their work completed in time for launch.

According to renders and in-game data shared by Twitter users WhatsTheStatus and JoeMashups (via Ringside News), there is evidence of at least 14 wrestlers who were seemingly considered for the WWE 2K24 roster, but ultimately are not featured in the game. The two most significant names are Edge, who now wrestles in AEW as Adam Copeland, and Sasha Banks, who just recently made her AEW debut under the ring name Mercedes Mone. Other wrestlers that didn't make the cut include Top Dolla, Dana Brooke, Brie Bella, Eddy Thorpe, Emma, Jakara Jackson, James Drake, Lacey Evans, Mace, Mansoor, Matt Riddle, and Mustafa Ali.

It seems that most of these wrestlers exist in the game through menu tiles and renders, so it's unclear how many of them were actually considered for the game at a serious level. It's possible that some of this is just leftover from previous WWE video games, and so fans should keep that in mind. However, there are some cases where it does seem like the wrestlers were indeed meant to be part of the roster, like with Lacey Evans for