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In the wake of his ongoing trafficking and assault scandal, WWE has literally erased Vince McMahon from its WWE 2K24 video game as any real life footage involving him now has his face blurred.
It is also the first time in decades that he is not included as a playable character, according to Jordan Middler of Video Games Chronicle.
“McMahon, who is currently the subject of a sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit, appears in archival footage as part of the game’s WrestleMania Showcase, a mode in which players recreate famous WrestleMania matches,” Middler writes.
“Most footage of McMahon has been blurred, which, due to his prominence in several cutscenes, leads to some moments in which half of the screen is taken up by a blurred face.”
Vince McMahon does still appear as an in-game character during a match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, but that is most likely a result of that part of the game already being “locked in,” according to Middler.
Also of note regarding WWE 2K24, 10-time WWE champion Brock Lesnar is also for the first time in many years not a playable character in the game.
“Multiple sources have told Insider Gaming that while it was too late to fully remove Lesnar from the game, the plan shifted to simply make him unplayable for players upon release,” writer Mike Straw revealed. “Despite being unplayable, his character and game files are still within WWE 2K24. That means that there will be ways for those with the ability to get him to become playable, it’ll just take some work to make it happen.”
Lesnar, while not named in the lawsuit, was implicated by a description in the lawsuit which included mention of “a world-famous athlete and former UFC Heavyweight Champion with whom WWE was actively trying to sign to a new contract (and ultimately did sign that contract).”
Lesnar was also reportedly removed from the recent Royal Rumble event and did not appear in a video package about Paul Heyman’s upcoming induction into the WWE Hall of Fame despite Heyman being the mouthpiece for the former UFC champion from 2014 to 2020.