Rey Mysterio headlines WWE 2K22’s launch this spring

Rey Mysterio, the 20-year veteran of World Wrestling Entertainment and an eight-time, belt-holding champion of the pro wrestling federation, will grace the cover of 2K Sports’ WWE 2K22 when the wrestling sim returns March 11 after more than two years on hiatus. The game will be available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.

A news release touting Mysterio’s pack shot said WWE 2K22, developed by 2K Sports’ in-house studio Visual Concepts, will add two career modes: MyGM and MyFaction. In MyGM, players will take on the role of WWE General Manager, organizing showcase events and pulling strings to create an all-new brand rivaling the company’s Raw and SmackDown brands. MyFaction is more focused to an individual wrestler, where players will assemble and direct a dream team of fighters and take them through weekly events with live service updates.

MyGM marks the return of a general manager career to the wrestling franchise for the first time since THQ’s SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. Thursday’s statement from 2K Sports also promised a redesigned game engine and new controls for WWE 2K22. Modes such as 2K Showcase and the MyRise single-player, created-wrestler career will also return.

Image: Visual Concepts/2K Sports

WWE 2K22 is the first mainline WWE video game to launch in March since 2000’s WWF SmackDown! for PlayStation. In the 20 years since, the franchise typically launched in late October or November. The WWE 2K series skipped a 2020 launch after 2019’s very poorly received WWE 2K20, the first game in the main series not to be developed by Yuke’s Future Media Creators. 2K Sports took over the series following THQ’s bankruptcy and liquidation in early 2013.

2K Sports canceled WWE 2K21 in April 2020 and later that fall launched WWE 2K Battlegrounds, made by NBA 2K Playgrounds developer Saber Interactive, while Visual Concepts retrenched its efforts on the main title.

Mysterio made his major fight card debut 30 years ago in Mexico’s AAA, the promotion now known as Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. The nephew of AAA’s Rey Misterio Sr., he is the first luchador to take the cover of a WWE video game. Although his real name is known (and he was unmasked in the middle of his tenure with the rival WCW), we’ll keep kayfabe and refrain from revealing his true identity.

Mysterio briefly performed in Mexico’s venerable Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre before joining the WWE in 2002, where he quickly became WWE Raw Tag Team Champion (with Edge), one of four times he has held that championship.

On his own, Mysterio is best known as one of the WWE’s premier technical and high-flying wrestlers of the past two decades. He is also a two-time WWE Intercontinental Champion, and has held the since-retired WWE Heavyweight and Cruiserweight championships two and three times, respectively. Mysterio also had a seven-year run in WCW from 1996 to 2002.