Prior to the release ofWWE 2K24earlier this week, WWE co-founder and disgraced businessman Vince McMahon was removed from the game’s extensive roster of wrestlers. While McMahon can no longer be selected as a playable character, he does remain in a handful of cutscenes, butVisual Conceptsis hoping you won’t recognize him under that blurred image.
McMahon’s legacy was tarnished back in 2022 when allegations of sexual misconduct from former staff arose. It was then alleged that McMahon offered the former female employee a sum of $3 million in “hush money,” according to a report byThe Wall Street Journal. The allegations led to the WWE co-founder stepping down from his role as CEO before returning in January 2023.
While many WWE fans had already lost all respect for McMahon, things only got worse for the CEO when he was accused of sexual abuse and trafficking in January 2024, as reported byVariety. The lawsuit was filed by former WWE employee, Janel Grant, who claims McMahon and the WWE violated the Trafficking Victims Prevention Act.
WWE 2K24’s Season Pass Might Be The Series' Best Ever DLC
Wrestling legends, color commentators, and…Post Malone?
Shortly after the lawsuit was filed by Grant, Vince McMahon officially resigned from the board of TKO Group Holdings, where he was executive chairman. The news was broken byVarietyafter seeing an email sent to WWE employees by the company’s president, Nick Khan.
The media conglomerate TKO was founded in 2023 by Endeavor, merging the UFC and WWE under the same banner. McMahon has since gone on to sell over $411 million worth of stock in TKO.
WWE 2K24 Attempts To Erase McMahon From The History Books
In ablog poston the official WWE 2K website, it was confirmed that Vince McMahon and Brock Lesnar had been removed from the game’s extensive roster of wrestlers. Lesnar is also facing allegations concerning McMahon and the WWE’s sex trafficking lawsuit, although the wrestler and former UFC champion was not explicitly named in the lawsuit, but rather by a report fromThe Wall Street Journal.
While neither the wrestler nor former CEO are playable characters in 2K24, McMahon does appear in multiple cutscenes. As the cutscenes are likely vital to the game’s career mode, Visual Concepts had to get creative when removing McMahon from the game.
Asshown by a user over on Reddit, McMahon’s face has been completely blurred out in the cutscenes in what was likely a last-ditch effort to remove him from the game. While some users called the disgraced businessman “ratty,” others argued that, while still being a “scumbag,” Vince was a vital part of the WWE’s history.
“I think we can acknowledge the dude existed and is the most important person in wrestling history and also acknowledge he’s a scumbag. Just put a disclaimer and don’t praise him as the greatest man ever like they used too,” Reddit userdarfnarkmsaid.
It also appears that, despite being blurred out in some instances, players are reporting that McMahon still appears in other moments in the game. “He still appears uncensored, both in-game and video highlights, at the end of the Rock vs Austin X-7 match in the showcase mode,“HedKansasaid.
It’s unclear as to why McMahon has been blurred out in some scenes, but not in others. However, some theorize that McMahon is too integral to the ending of The Rock and Steve Austin’s match at Wrestlemania 17.
WWE 2K24 Review - Upgrades Across The Board
Every mode of WWE 2K24 has seen improvements over last year’s game, which is an impressive feat.
