2K25: Or How I Learned to love WWE again

[flyonthewall2983]

The preface to this is I only started playing video games on my own as an adult last year. I quit doing it in my teens but watched my brother and maybe joined in if I was too bored to do anything else but the new systems impressive as they were didn’t have a whole lot of sway towards my attention.

That was 20 years ago and in understanding how much has changed, I found last years game to be a bit of a wake up call. I also got tired of playing stuff on my phone to be honest. I see this years game as an opportunity to be as creative with how I pull things off as I do talking here.

I have found playing it to be invigorating to my sense of history with the custom roster I have now, largely of guys from the 80’s and 90’s I grew up watching over and over. And had action figures of. Most of them anyway, Brutus Beefcake and the Bushwackers didn’t last long with me this time around.

Universe Mode is where I am paying most attention, building up card after card of dream matches never seen but could have feasibly happened, if history changed. The what if’s are fueling the brain jibing well with my knowledge of what is a deeply fascinating history, as well as things going on right now.

Real recent highlight for me was having a six man Iron Match with more recent stars I know instead of the guys from childhood I admittedly prefer building angles with. Sort of enforces my respect for them all (Cody, Roman, Priest, Gunther, McIntyre, and Ethan Page) that I was able to be as invested in what I was doing on screen, and how well it all seemed to click.

But as much fun I am having playing it, it’s the aesthetic aspect of changing around characters looks that has me interested in some creative directions. Especially since I can have two different gimmicks with the same guy in each battling it out. That lends itself to some absurdism perhaps but it does blow my mind a fair bit just talking about it, but also speaks a lot more to how much I can feel myself in the game now.

Weird as it may sound this might be the cultural high point of the year for me. It’s rejuvenated my love of professional wrestling, which I can’t ever describe as waning but can and will often lay dormant if nothing connects. I like some of the directions WWE is taking this year, if even I find some of their recent decisions as a proxy to their corporate overlords, not to mention the ongoing saga of the McMahons, distasteful.

This isn’t reflective of how I feel about the product but it has to be mentioned, as much as it should that I always found wrestling as a common bond between me and my brother. We have more now as older men but our shorthand about this stuff is what has kept me going, because it is way more than just about the corporate side but appreciating the artistic value still to be had in it. And of those who practice it at the highest levels. 

[sek69]

the WWE 2K games have been very good the last couple years, and the amount of community created content is amazing. You can find just about every wrestler, title, and arena you can think of there (eventually, the search feature there still kinda blows). If you want you can have matches in Arena Mexico or circa 1988 JCP. You can book the IWGP title or make yourself the AAA mega champ. It's like the world's greatest pro wrestling sim. 

[flyonthewall2983]

My brother and I agreed if this came out 30 years ago we’d never leave home. Poking up against the games limitations has also weirdly inspired creativity. They don’t have Survivor Series matches, but with what tools are handy I was able to reinvent the formula a bit. 4 on 4 tag team 1-hour (or 3 on 3 half hour) iron man matches, and every pin or submission is a point added to each wrestler. 

One aspect I am impressed with is how 8 can be in the ring at the same time. For a long time it seemed you couldn’t have real battle royals in games but now they seem more possible with the AI limit now.