WWE 2K23 Deepest Discussions ft. Jason Craig (Lofi Version)

In this episode, our host Sebastion Mauldin is once again joined by today’s guest, Jason Craig, a lifelong gamer, a Pro Wrestling Fan, and the host of The Bring Da Popcorn podcast.

Sebastion has been a massive fan of WWE Games. He's played almost all of them. Just like they do every year WWE and 2K released their annual video game with WWE 2K23. Jason and Sebastion have both played a ton of WWE 2K23. So is WWE 2K23 worth your time and Money?

In this episode, they talk about the highs, lows, and everything in-between for WWE 2K23.

Whether you’ve played the game already and want to hear about the experience again, or you want to know the ins and outs of this game before purchasing, tune in to hear more!

Tune in to learn about dope games to have in your video game backlog.

Sebastion and Alejandro dive into it and more on this episode of the Single Player Experience Podcast.

Sebastion and The Single Player Experience Links:

Head to Discord to join the FREE Single Player Experience Discord Server! https://discord.gg/YeCwD6gtDv

For more episodes, head to Apple Podcasts.

Connect with Sebastion:

Write In Here: https://pronerdreport.com/contact/82529402&sk=about

Listen to Jason Craig's podcasts:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brang-da-popcorn/id1607425000

What's up, and welcome to the Single Player Experience

Podcast, the premier podcast for single player gamers to find out about

good single player games to play.

And occasionally we dive in, do a deep dive into certain games that we think

you should know about, or that we have been playing lately, and the latest

deep dive that we're gonna be doing.

You heard our recent episodes.

We've been doing everything deep diving into Metro.

We've been deep diving into things like Star Wars.

We've been deep diving into God of War and other titles.

Well, the latest one we're deep diving into is, W E two K 23.

It's a game that I've been playing for a very long time now, but I say we

because I am not alone in this endeavor.

Joining me on this very illustrious episode of this deep, deepest

discussions is none other than Mr.

Brink, the popcorn himself.

Jason Craig.

jason, how you doing today?

Yo, how y'all doing?

It's your boy, Jason, Craig, AK the friendly neighborhood, dread head of the

Brand Popcorn podcast, and I'm doing good.

Sebastian, you know, I'm a huge wrestling fan, so I can't wait to go all in on the

bits and details of this WWE two K 23.

Man, that's exciting.

But before we get into all that, I gotta ask you a couple of questions,

a little preamble, so to speak.

For the people who don't know you and the people who haven't heard

the Bring the Popcorn Podcast, can you give us a little low down,

give us some introductions there.

Well, you know,

bring the popcorn podcast something I thought of.

I like movies, I like tv, I like animes.

I said, shoot my, my friend's like, you like to talk.

Why don't you try to make a podcast?

And I'm like, you know what?

I never thought of it.

And no, we've been doing that.

Also, keep the audience up to date with news around like, just entertainment,

news, world news, stuff that's going on.

Politics, try to keep it, uh, try like, you know, social injustice.

Try to keep everybody informed and, you know, different varieties.

We got bad movie reviews, current movie reviews, retro reviews.

Uh, end of this, um, end of May, we gonna be doing the spring recap for

anime, because you know, we've been

eating Oh, I, yeah, I've been on it lately too.

We've been eating, yeah, we've been eating

this, this anime season.

So that's, that's another thing.

Hopefully I can get you on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But uh, yeah, that's just what we all about.

We all about having fun.

Um, I'm all about community.

Like nobody, like I try to, I try to keep a well-respected community.

No toxicity in my community is allowed whatsoever.

Just fun.

Okay.

That's exciting.

That's exciting.

So, you know, give us a little sneak peek, um, a little like info of

what you've been working on lately.

Like what movies have y'all been talking about lately on the

pod?

Well, if we did talk about guardians, but the audio file got corrupted, so.

Oh no.

So the only way you can listen to that is go on to Facebook and bring

the popcorn podcast Facebook group.

That's the only way you can see it.

Cuz I cannot get the audio file.

Oh no.

Some of it's corrupted.

But this week, uh, this is, uh, per request of my co-host Adam.

Mm-hmm.

He wants to review, uh, the Knights of the Zodiac, the Saint Sayer movie.

Oh.

Did by Sony.

Mm-hmm.

So that it can either be, you know, decent or really bad.

I don't see it being really good.

Okay.

And we're gonna talk about the Michael J.

Fox documentary still, because, you know, I'm a huge, I'm a huge Michael J.

Fox fan and there's, it brings an insight on his career and you know,

what he's dealing with right now.

So we gonna be talking about that and possibly Bellaire, because I have

to catch up and so we can talk about

and review it.

You know, I've only seen one episode of Beller, period.

I, you know, I hear good things about it.

I just did, like, there was, around that time when Bayler came

out, there was so much out around that time that kind of like, took

my attention away from the show.

And it has nothing to do with like, the quality of the show, it's just

like we were eating at that timeframe.

Yeah.

But with like, especially with streaming shows and I, I haven't

like, jumped back into it.

So I'm curious to see what the, the second season has been like

and all that kind of stuff.

Cuz I hear good things.

Yeah,

like, like I said, I was, uh, I was surprised.

I like, this is probably gonna be another soul, another soulless, lifeless reboot.

But yeah, no, it, it was actually really good.

Uh, you know, it showcases black excellence and, you

know, uh, I like the cast.

I think the cast does really well.

It touches on a lot of, you know, racial issues that do need to be talked about.

And I really enjoyed the show.

I just gotta binge it.

I anime is taking my

time.

So speaking of like, habits that probably take up way too much time,

you know, like on the gaming spirit, what have you been playing lately?

Uh,

I have been playing, uh, well, I'm kind of on and off with Jedi Survivor.

First of all, I think it is a huge, like, it, it is a, it is a huge step up

for the, uh, for, from the first game.

Only thing is, The performance issues was a problem for me at

first, but then I realized I wasn't plan on performance mode.

Mm-hmm.

It defaulted the quality mode.

So everything was just choppy, but we're not supposed to performance mode.

It ran smooth in it yet.

That's just fun.

Um, like, I'm like, uh, how many hours am I into?

I am 50.

Well, wow.

I'm only an hour into the game, but I feel like I, I feel like

I've been playing forever.

I feel like I've been playing

a playing for quite some time.

Yeah.

I'll just be exploring.

So that's fun.

That's fun.

So what else you been playing besides, um, Jedi survivor?

Uh, resident E before Great game.

Uh, okay.

I think it's going to be there for, for a game of the year because like I said, it,

it already, it already improved itself on what already, what it was, in my opinion,

the masterpiece of the original re before.

So I feel like that's a, that's a heavy game of the year contender.

Okay.

Okay.

This year is stacked, man.

Yeah, we got a lot of, lot of strong game of the year

contenders as of this recording.

I think like we got what, um, you know, probably Dead Space

will probably be thrown in there.

Mm-hmm.

For at least like right as of right now, um, you probably have dead space.

You probably have resume before, um, high Five Rush.

You'll probably, as of right now, probably be considered one

of the best games this year.

Um, tears of the Kingdom just dropped that.

That's probably going to get a lot of consideration.

And then, yeah, it's like, uh, you know, as of right now, you know, if

we were just doing top six, maybe Hog Wests legacy and then are you four?

Yeah.

It's been a strong year for gaming.

Yeah.

Now

I'm just waiting for one game to drop.

I already requested the day off at my job.

When that Final Fantasy 15th, when that Final Fantasy 16

come out, nobody texts me.

Nobody called me.

I'm on that game.

I, I love Final Fantasy and all new trailers have been

looking like straight heat.

So I'm, I'm just ready for that to come out.

June.

Need to hurry

up to come on.

I feel you.

So you got Final Fantasy, um, 16 on the horizon.

I'm, I'm like that right now with Spider-Man.

Like Spiderman was the end of the year.

It's gonna be on, bro.

Yeah, it's gonna be on, uh, that's how I feel about Spiderman.

But yeah, like if Spider Spiderman hits, if, um, final phase six, 16 hits,

if, um, and if Starfield actually, you know, doesn't end up like red fall and

actually hits like out of this world, then it might be in consideration.

This is a stack to year man.

Yeah, man.

Hey,

I ain't gonna lie.

I'm glad I, I, I'm glad I game share with my, with my homie.

It's too much money to be spending out here.

Like, we, like we had dead out too.

Rest of the evil.

Mm-hmm.

Dead out survivor.

Wo long.

We had all that back to back, to back, like barely any time for a

break.

Nah, na ain't no break.

This is, this might be the greatest year in game we've ever had, bruh.

Yeah, yeah.

I, I, it's hard to say like, cuz we still have quite a few, like, I guess

we still have like half a year left as of this recording, but man, I can't,

I can't think of anything above it.

Like if I'm being real.

Yeah.

I can't, I, I can't, I'm pretty sure there was a year where it was really staying.

I just can't think of it right

now.

I can't, I can't think of anything like, man, this has been a banger after banger

after banger time and I'm loving it.

We're eating over here, so.

Oh yeah.

I'm curious though, like, okay, so you've been playing a lot of

these, but you've also been a longtime gamer of the w e games.

Especially, especially the two K games, I think.

Like, what is your lineage with the WWE games?

Have you been a, um, hey, did you start with the two K series?

Have you been playing since Here Comes the Pain, were you like, Uh,

like old school, like ww Bras war kind of gamer, like, what's your

lineage like with the franchise?

My

lineage goes all the way back to W w F attitude there,

like, uh, WW attitude for the N 64.

Mm-hmm.

I like, man, I, I'm a huge wrestler fan.

I, I'm off and on, but that's one thing I've always been a fan of.

So been playing since that.

Of course, you know, smack not, here comes the pain, that's Golded.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Let that, that's Golded.

Then we got this man Richard Ross series, you know, had some hits, had some misses.

Then, uh, the two K series, now you wanna talk about some hits and misses.

Uh, we going, I'm gonna save it, but two K 14, you know, two K 14.

It, it, it, for me, it goes up there with one, with one of the, be with some of

the best wrestling games out, out there.

Yeah.

And uh, uh, two K 20 is one of the worst.

We, we don't, it's like, we don't wanna talk about that

one Ain't gonna lie.

I ain't gonna lie.

Like with two K 20 come like, oh, well, I guess, I guess uh,

the two K gave is dead now.

W w two K's dead now after this then, you know, two K 20, was it 22?

You know, gave a little bit of hope.

Mm-hmm.

Now we got this one.

You I've been, uh, I put about, lemme, lemme look at it cuz I

got, I got it up on my screen.

I have 129 hours

in this game.

Woo.

Okay.

Okay.

So not, not a little by the time.

A lot of time.

I got a lot of time in this game.

All right.

So it is safe to say this might be your most played game of 2023, right?

No, no.

Let me, if all there a no, if, if you wanna know, I don't know why this game

always just has me playing it so much.

N NBA two K

23, all the two k, three, three

hundred and twenty eight hours, 328 hours, and a lot of, a lot of those

300 hours of just pure frustration online.

So it, it is like one of those love hate relationships at this point.

Right.

Look, if

it wasn't for my homies playing it, I probably wouldn't

have that many hours in this.

But because my homies play a lot, we love basketball.

Yeah.

This hasn't been, I, no matter how many stupid teammates I run into

and how many headaches and migraines I have to deal with by playing

that game.

Okay.

So it's safe to say you are, you lean more towards the online

facet to playing N B A two K.

Right.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I, I'm not good enough to play against the computer.

That's all I play against, to be honest.

Like,

like Hall of Fame, they don't, they don't crack on Hall of Fame.

Oh

man.

They are busted.

I'm doing about like straight o o like op on that game.

But like, that's like the crazy thing is that's how I play, like, to me, like

that's how I get my competitive drive.

And that's also like, One of those things to where like, I, I don't wanna

play against people over and over again.

And to me it holds it, I want sort of like a long-term narrative

that is like the, the franchise mode, which is my, like my eras.

So it's like we're the opposite ends of the spectrum here, but we both put

a, a hell of load, lot of time of that.

That's at the end of the year.

I, I like whenever like PlayStation does their, like, you know, like

their, the wrap up to where like they say, what's your most played

game and all that kind of stuff.

I, I probably have that probably within my top three at the end of the year,

every year, regardless, I'm, I'm, I'm,

I'm hoping that final Fantasy six 16 at top there.

Cuz every time I see that, I, I'll just be looking at like, why, why do

I, why do I torture myself for this

many?

Mm-hmm.

I understand.

I understand.

But on the WWE two K front, like I've.

Um, so you gave us your past lineage with a series.

Mine is very similar.

I've been playing this probably since, um, raw, back in the day, like Raw is War.

And then I, um, jumped on the SmackDown.

Um, the SmackDown series just crumbs the pain, right for me is probably one

of my favorites, if not my favorite wrestling game of all time as well.

Um, wait, A bit of No mercy.

Uh, no Mercy is wild is good.

And I know why a lot of people hold that in High Esteem.

Didn't really click for me as much as like this SmackDown, um, SmackDown versus Raw.

Here comes the Pang games.

Like those really, I like, dug their teeth into me, wouldn't let go.

And yeah, I, I love those games completely.

I've been, uh, I've been an annual gamer of these WWE games ever

since I have, for better or for worse, been playing all of them.

And like you, you mentioned WWE two K probably 20.

Was probably the worst, lowest point that I probably thought to myself,

I maybe have outgrown these games.

Maybe these games aren't gonna be for me.

And, uh, yeah, thankfully, you know, the 22 kind of turned that back around.

And then 23, uh, you know, as we'll probably dive into, might

be one of my top five favorites.

I, I'm very much enjoying my time with Tony.

Yeah, man,

I'm, I'm, I'm be honest, like I've went, went through so much.

I might put a top three, top five, top three.

Like, it's just, yeah, it, it's really good.

Like, I have some grips, but we'll get into, we'll get into it.

Mm-hmm.

But besides like gameplay wise, it's probably like the,

the most fluid that it is been

in a very long time, if not ever.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, like, so let's dive into it a little bit.

So what modes do you mostly play in WWE two K 23.

Uh, for me, I just finished the male side of the, my Rise.

I'm doing the female side now.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and now, uh, but I also, I've been into GM mode, heavy being at the top

every, at the end of every season.

You know what I'm saying?

Your boy know how to, your boy know how to book shows.

I know how to, I know how to book wrestling, uh, wrestling matches.

Take notes, Vince.

But, but, uh, yeah, man, I say I put pride in the most time in my GM mode.

Okay.

Um, I, I, I played showcase mode.

It was a, it, it was a nice little turn, but it, I, I had my

problems with that mode as well.

Yeah.

A lot of problems.

A lot of problems with that mode.

But, uh, yeah, man, GMO's where it's at for me.

What about you?

I am,

um, opposite of you.

I've been putting, I put a lot of my time initially into the, um, my

career that, my career type mode.

Um, I, I kind of, or my rise, I kind of played the female side of things first,

and then played the both side of things, and I completed both sides of the fence.

I was shocked, shocked that I think the female story is vastly superior.

Like I'm more engaged into my female's characters.

Like I was more engaged with her, like progression, her like storyline, right?

The ultimate villain of that way more so than the villain, the ultimate

villain that you'll, you'll run across in on the male side of things, right?

The male side of things almost felt like.

The typical authority figure, like you had to like fight the authority off,

like on the female side of things.

It felt like you were fighting like a real personal dilemma.

And we'll kind of get into that a little later, but like I've been playing a

lot more, lot of that mode and then I played like you a lot of my GM mode.

I thoroughly enjoy the mode.

I do think it still needs a couple of like, minor improvements.

I like, I'm glad they added the, the mid card titles, thank God

on both, both side of the fence.

Yeah.

We need that

bad.

Cause I was like, what was the, what's the point of having a G mo

if I can't have a mid card champion?

Like, it, it, it made us sense, but like Yeah, but I, I don't know about

you, but sometimes I'll send it.

Mm-hmm.

I'll send like, just regular shows.

I probably, but I'll play like some of the bigger, some of the bigger shows.

Even though it doesn't matter what you do in those matches, it won't

increase your stars whatsoever.

Yeah.

That's ridiculous by the way.

Which they need to tweak.

That.

They need to tweak like, cause I'll be like, I be putting on some, some

five cars, like five, five stars and said, no, you got two stars for that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's, it's one of those things to where like, I also feel like they

need, um, because the game, like my g works as, as like a almost like

rock paper, scissors system, right?

To wear like, yo, this side, like these two people are the only people

that put on like great star matches whenever they're tied to each other.

And I feel like it is the most viz big man logic of thinking ever.

Yeah.

It really is.

It's like big man has to be with very small guy or, or cruise away.

Then you kind of have like, oh, you have specialist, but like specialist really

kind of like, it is, they're just okay.

They're just like out there and you can put them with everybody,

but like a brawler needs to be with a technician and, and vice versa.

And I'm like, I feel like there needs to either be more types or they kind of need

to just like figure out a way to implement that system to where it feels better.

What do you think?

Yeah, because um, I kind of, I, you can kind of cheat the system mm-hmm.

By having to like, say like, you know, you're running out of some

of your matches getting stale.

You could run a two a, like a two hill program.

Yeah.

But the only thing is they have to be high popularity.

Mm-hmm.

Because they'll like, they'll, they'll, they'll still get good star ratings.

It's just, but you have to tweak it.

And that's the thing cuz you know, it's not running by

wrestling world logic today.

No.

Because, you know, there are fa you know, there are face versus face robberies.

There are tw like, you know, tweeners like you can't really even have

a tweener in that, in that mode.

And like, you know, there are heels versus heels And I, like you said, they need to

have online capability for my GM mode.

Mm-hmm.

In some type of capacity.

Cuz you know, it's cool that they made a locally, but you know,

nowadays everybody's, nobody's really doing couch co-op no

more.

You know, it, it is very far and few between the couch co-op thing.

But yeah, I, uh, for me, I'm looking at that, that mode

and everything it represents.

And I'm also thinking to myself, I'm like, I would love for it to

be expanded a little bit more.

Like I, I like the fact that you can add, I think it was like up to four GMs

now to where you can, you can like face all four of 'em off at the same time.

But like, I, one of the things that really feels weird to me is like, you have a

free agency and on that free agency like these, it feels like people are constantly

rotating in and out of that free agency.

And I'm like, I, you can almost look at, you can almost look at the other

people's rosters and the, like, the, the matches that they put on and

they're not using those people at all.

Right.

So it kind of makes me feel like, oh, they just randomized this,

they randomized free agency.

And kind of like, oh, this person hasn't appeared in free

agency in like five weeks.

Okay, now he's popped back up.

Especially if, if you do like a teen, a two person show, and I'm like, okay, I

know this person doesn't have like, um, this like Raymond cereal for instance.

Yeah.

And I'm like, where is Raymond cereal?

Why isn't he in free agency?

If there's just two people going back and forth and that

person's not using Ray, you know?

Yeah.

And also I wish, um, cuz for me, I, I, I also like creating

like, you know, creating my own wrestling brand, all wrestling show.

I wish you could, I wish you could import your own show into the gmo.

That'd be great.

Because you can import your creative wrestlers.

You just can't import creative shows and titles.

I wish that was the case.

Yeah.

I also wish like we would actually like, be able to import legends into just them

being, like, them being a gm and like for legends, they could probably have

like their own like special attributes.

Right.

Almost, you know, like say if JB what would it be like if J B L ran smack now?

Right.

And, and that would be an interesting, like, interesting like way to play

the game to where like what was his, his special abilities be?

Well, like maybe since J B L's rich quote unquote rich in the WWE e landscape.

Like he starts off with an extra meal to work with.

Right.

And I feel like that would be really cool, like really cool like setup to

where like, okay, like j b's really rich.

Um, the Million Dollar Man maybe has that like ability as well.

There are two like historical rich characters.

Right.

But then like Stone Cold Steve Austin has like a popularity

boost because he was like a very popular superstore by this time.

Right.

Like, you know, like maybe like Molly Holly or Howard, Trish Stratas has like

a way of working with female superstars to boost like the female side of things.

I feel like they, there's so much more they can like do with that mode

that they haven't even tapped yet.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like I said, it's still, it is, it was a vast improvement from last year.

Like it's still, uh, I'd say it's still to me, one of my

favorite modes, like my factions.

I, I don't touch that.

I, I I don't touch it.

Like, um, but then like, um, even they tried to tweak universe mode

a little bit with, you know, where you have a little bit more control,

which I, I did kind of like.

But, uh, other than that, like I said, most of the game modes are solid.

Most of the game modes are solid.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And this is the most replayability I think I've found out of any of the games

in a very long time, maybe even 10 years.

Cuz like, right, like you said, like the game modes are solid.

Like, um, my universe is a mode I haven't dived into a whole lot, but it

makes me want to, now that they added the ability to where like, you can make

certain outcomes of matches, right?

Like, and change that.

If I want to have like, oh, well my, uh, I'm just gonna use my bronze

stroman, like took out ricochet and like at the end of the match I

can have to where he hurt ricochet.

I can have that kind of, that kind of like right.

Story and, and such like coming on and then like say at Summer Slam when bro

Roman's in a match for the title, I can have ricochet run in and I'm like,

I feel like that part is really cool.

I like that.

I like the way they, they kind of made it a sandbox to where you

can kind of have the freedom to work and do whatever you want.

I, I just wish they would almost combine the, I, I wish there was almost like a

hybrid between my GM mode and that mode to where like, you can kind of do a

little bit of both to where you can kind of see like, oh, I created a storyline.

Now I wanna see how that storyline like is rewarded.

And in my GM faction and my GM way, like Right.

How cool would that be if like you came up with that storyline and you get to

see how fans like really feel about you being not only just a booker, but

you being a storyline booker, you know?

Right.

And like, that's the thing.

Um, I don't know if, if you like follow any of any of like the

YouTubers that do their own colleagues.

Mm-hmm.

But I feel like.

They're trying to tailor universe mode more to people that do co licks

because you know, so many different cut scenes can play, it can play out.

Yeah.

And that way you can import that, like, you know, ca capture that and

then use it, use it for your show.

So I really, I really wish they did more because it's still more

they can grow in that aspect.

Like, like especially like, um, you know, one thing I do, I am kind of upset that

they did take out was the promo system.

Oh yeah, for sure.

I, I like that was a, that was a cool con, that was a cool concept because,

you know, you actually had to think, think about the right response.

And I, I thought that was a pretty cool concept.

I don't know why they took it out.

Um, they could at least leave those type of modes in and that type of

setup in, in the, my Rise mode, cuz then it would be like, hey, like how good

are you at actually cutting a promo?

Right.

Which is really like, I'd probably say like 60% of being a, uh, like

an over superstar in the business.

I say more, yeah,

I

say, I say more just because, you know, your, my

skills determine everything.

I mean, look at Shink Moore, no matter how great a wrestler he is.

That's true.

He, he's, he's not the best English speaker, so they really don't

push him like he's supposed to be.

But yeah, I really wish they never took that out because, uh, like there's a lot

of things that I feel like there's a lot of things they can put back in the game.

Like, like to me this game is all really, really good.

Like, it, it is a really high grade for me, but I feel like it

could be better if they would've just tweaked a little bit more.

But two k have they have been good ever since the dumpster fire that was two K 20?

They have, they've actually.

Uh, since like, you know, raise the bar Yeah.

For the past two, for the past two editions.

So I'm, I'm happy about

that.

Yeah, for sure.

It's almost like, uh, you know, I don't know if this is like substantial, this is

me being like, speculating a little bit.

It's almost like WWE e to put a fire under their ass and basically said like,

Hey, like, uh, we are basically not happy with the performance of two K 20 and

if you want us to renew your license, like, hey, you gonna have to do better.

Like, or we'll go or we'll go to EA or some who will do better.

It almost feels like that.

And they, they, you know, to their credit, they, they, they came outta the gate

swinging with these last two iterations.

Like, like you said, it could be like, they could do a whole lot

better than what they're doing, but like, it feels like progress.

It feels like we're moving a step forward in the right step.

I like that.

Yeah.

Cause if, if I'm not mistaken, I think what had happened was,

um, I think what had happened was.

W w I think WWE games, they tried to use their own, like, like their own, um, like,

like their own, uh, what do you call 'em?

You're talking about Engine?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Like they tried, they tried to use the, they, they tried to start using

brand new engine and, and try to get, try to get off that old engine.

And it, it was just, it was just bad.

And then, you know, WW said we might want to keep two K because there's another

company out there that's, that wanted to make a wrestling the game as well.

So we might wanna, we might wanna tighten things up a little bit.

And I'm glad that they had, that's why I said I love competition.

Same man.

People.

Some people hate Aw, some people don't like, aw, me personally, I like both.

I just like wrestling.

I'm the same one.

So any competition, it makes the other product better because

I'm not gonna lie to you.

For years I was, I was kind of straight, straight away from WW

cuz I said it's just the same, same person I'm seeing on my screen.

Every

week.

It, it was, it was a, a Vince McMahon, let's see how we can

get Roman rains over this week.

Yeah.

Let's see how we can get 'em over this week.

And he, he was like, he was trying to build Roman as that next John Cena.

And it was just not working.

Yeah.

It just wasn't working.

Or like, it was almost like Hulk Hogan back in the day.

Like, it's like, I don't think Hulk Hogan would've been success in today's time.

Cause Oh no, nah, nah, let's be real.

I'm like, no, no, he can't cut him.

He can't go.

Really good promo like in today's time, what we require from good

promos, like he, he's stiff to wrestle.

Like we wrestle was not

a, he was a hor.

People used to love Hulk Hogan matches.

I'd go back and watch 'em say, these matches are rough.

They, they're rough to watch are rough.

Like, even, even, uh, Randy Savage couldn't get the good match outta Hogan.

I'm like, this, this, this is, ooh, this is a

rough watch.

No, and, and to this day, like, I can't think of a match to where I'm like, oh,

that's a great Hogan match outside of like two, and I think it's the rock match.

Yeah.

And the match where like Sean Michaels spammed the hell out of, oh no.

That just, I just love that magic because of how ridiculous Shawn

Michael, Sean Michael made him look.

I, I just,

he did, he really did.

He made, he went over the top to the match over to this day.

I don't think there's no, no, no one can do any more Tom Fooler than

Sean Michaels did in that batch.

Like, you can't tell me Sean didn't overact.

I love it.

Oh, I love it too.

He was, he was the most petty man probably I'd ever seen at that point.

But I, I really wanna, um, dive back into two K.

Like who do you mon mainly play as, do you, when you normally play your, um,

exhibition or maybe your, you know, like, outside of my rise and such like that?

Uh, for me, I mainly use my creative re like, creative wrestlers.

I got a whole roster of 'em.

Cause, uh, also like a shameless plug.

I'm also trying to start my own colleague.

Uh, so, so just, uh, You know, just making wrestlers te testing them out.

Uh, bad bunnies actually, surprisingly fun to use.

He, I mean, it is no surprise considering like,

hell, he had a really good match.

Like the la the last couple weeks, um, as of this recording we're

coming off of like, um, backlash.

Yeah, backlash with his match with Damien Priest that, um, Puerto Rico

and that match for Barro for worse.

I'm like, I wouldn't call it five stars, but it was very good match.

It was better than that main event.

Oh yeah, for sure.

It was

for sure.

It was.

It should have been the main event in that car.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Matt, can we just have ba, can we just have backlash in Puerto Rico from

now on?

I am right there with you.

I, oh man.

That crowd is so good.

Yes.

And bad Bunny's entrance with, with that crowd.

Oh, well I put this on,

I put this on my playlist.

Like, yo, this is a kind, this,

this is a bump right here.

I'm telling you.

I'm telling you.

Oh man.

It's so good.

Like, and I, it makes me want to like, it makes me want more diverse,

like settings for wwe e like crowds.

And that's something like the two K games can implement as well.

Yeah, like I would love to actually see like different chants and different

like environments for different games, uh, or different settings in wwe.

Cuz like, right, like here you have an arena with the Tokyo

Dome that you can unlock.

Right.

You also have Arena Mexico and one in the uk, right?

Am I missing one?

Um,

okay.

Tokyo Dome.

Tokyo Dome.

You said uk.

So, so that's, so that's Wembley

Uhhuh?

No, uh, like in the game, like you can unlock one in my race.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah.

So yeah, there's Tokyo Dome.

There's, yeah, there's one the uk mm-hmm.

They should, uh, I don't think they should.

It, it should be a thing, but there should be a Saudi Arabia,

a reading that you can unlock.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, I don't want it because, uh, cause of

reasons.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly.

But yeah,

I, there should be a, there should be, I don't know if there,

I don't know if there is one, but there should be a Canadian one.

I feel like there should be a

Canadian one, but even then, it's like you should always like,

implement maybe a home crowd element.

Yeah.

To the game.

And I like, like they kind of like tease it a little bit on the My GM mode where

like a wrestler would come to, oh yeah.

But it's my whole, exactly.

My whole crowd.

And like something like, damn.

You about at 29% stamina.

How about cutting a promo instead?

Exactly.

Exactly.

Exactly.

And you know, that's, that's another crazy thing to me is like the popularity versus

like the ways you can get people popular.

Some of them I, you can kind of experiment a little bit on my GM

mode and like, I had a couple people who were, they were enhancement

talent, let's just call it who it is.

Yeah.

Like they were almost the created wrestlers who were

en in basic enhancement.

Yeah.

Enhancement talent.

And then like all of a sudden they would just get popular on

my show for no reason at all.

Like, I had one girl who was in, I brought in as enhance metal talent

because I needed a giant and she was like a, she fit the bill.

She was a giant for my cruise awake champion at the time.

And all of a sudden, like, I kid you not, she got over and she, her

population went from 29 to 71 in the span of like three or four weeks.

I'm telling

you that, bro, that that's how you cheese it, bro.

You, you, you pay for talent.

That's not that ex, like you pay for talent.

That's like, you know, development talent.

You use that card, uh, I think it's superstar in training.

Yeah.

Snap that card on them.

Then keep, uh, having 'em cut promos.

They used to have a card where you can up the pro mobility,

but I think they took that out.

Yeah.

That was op.

That was op, yeah.

Yeah.

The, that was op.

Well, I, I'll be like, I, I'll be trying to buy that every time I see.

I don't care how much it costs, but, uh, yeah, man.

Um, but yeah, but like, just the, the game is just fun.

Like the game is, it's just.

Like, uh, showcase mode.

Showcase can be a little bit, let's

talk.

I feel about that.

Yeah, let's talk about that.

So what'd you think?

I like the different spin on it to, you know, have

different variety with the matches.

How you play is the opponents of John Cena.

Only thing I don't like is hearing that generic as rock

music in the back instead.

Oh, that sucks, sucks.

Instead of

actual commentary.

So it's like, it's if even though it is, it feels dif every match feels different.

It feels lifeless because, you know, we wa I don't know, I'm pretty sure you watched,

you know, um, I'm pretty sure you watched rest of 'em during John Caesar's career.

Yeah, for sure.

And, and like, you know, a lot of his matches.

I feel like some of those are some of the best call matches,

like of that, of that era.

Like especially anything with him and Edge or Randy Yen.

It was just like, I wanted to hear some of that commentary.

Then they had some matches.

I felt like, why was this in like, the Night of Champions match between him and

triples?

Like that's not, that was a rare one.

That was a really weird one to choose from.

Yeah.

I, you know, like I think they probably could have put in a

little more wins like, uh, to where we were actually playing a cma.

We kind of like, cuz if they were pick, if they just had to get Triple H in

there, especially with that Triple H era to where like he was, he was basically

like the big boss of WWE and such, like that I would've preferred when him and

Triple H had that WrestleMania main event.

Yeah.

22.

22.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Love that.

I love that main event.

Yeah.

Like that's what I'm saying.

It was, um, I feel like you can, like you said, incorporate some of his wins.

Cause some of his wins are here.

Some of his best matches you could have incorporated him and his,

him and Sean Michael's match at WrestleMania 23, which I Oh, so good.

Which is was some of like, I, I'll be on peacock, just like rewatching

some of the, some of the WrestleMania

You could, I was, I, I, you know, like you mentioned, uh,

like that, that WrestleMania match that night after boy, that was, oh

man, that fucking 60 minute

match.

Ironman match.

Yeah.

Or that match.

Yeah.

Like, yeah, that one was, that's goed to me, like that's probably one of my top

10 moments in probably the last 10 years.

It's, and when, and Sean like, like floats over the attitude adjustment

then like hits with that sweet chin.

Yeah.

Oh, so good.

I took you all time.

Yo, that's one of the best raw matches in history.

I've never seen a match that good on raw sense, but Yeah.

You could have incorporated, yeah, you could have incorporated that in

some capacity and then it's like, instead of, you know, watching it

play out in the gameplay of some, some of the big moments in the match,

it goes back to regular footage.

It kind of throws off the pacing a little bit.

And I don't get that because.

Here we are.

John Cena, in my opinion, he's one of the greatest of all time.

That's just my opinion.

He's one of the, he's one of the greatest of all time.

He like, he's actually really good in the ring.

Great On the mic.

It's like I feel like he should have had more respect, but it's like, it's like, I

guess I get it cuz they had other aspects of the game they wanted to flesh out.

But I feel like, come on man.

John C is a guaranteed, not even just WWE Hall of Fame, just he's gonna

be in the wrestling hall of fame.

Yeah, for sure.

So you gotta show him that, like the same respect you showed Ray

Mysterio, the same respect you showed the attitude era showcase the

stone cold Steve Austin showcase.

You gotta show him that same respect.

And I, I feel like, I feel like they didn't now I

would, maybe it's because he's not as beloved as like all these,

because a lot of his career, even though he plays face, like he was kind of the

heel to a lot of us, like a lot of, a lot of wrestling fans in general.

I uh, maybe that's the reason why they didn't do go that route.

But I,

I, I still feel like you can, I feel like you can, you

can play the devil's advocate.

You can do some wins and some losses.

Mm-hmm.

Because like you said, a lot of those matches, I'm like,

why the fuck is this here?

Yeah, exactly.

Like, why is triple Like, I'm like, I don't even, I had to think back like,

I don't even remember this match.

I like, I don't even remember the Knight of Champions match.

And then, uh, what was another, what was another one that was on there?

Um,

the Knight of Champions one is like, there was some where he

was like, it, it was the old schools scene Us that kind of didn't make,

didn't make sense to me as well.

Like, you know, him and like the him and Undertaker match when

Undertaker was like the, um, American man, American badass versus, yeah.

Versus him being the dead man.

Like that one was a decent match, but I don't think it's like one of

his most memorable when he was like heel cena or anything like that.

Like, but yeah, that one, there was, uh, a couple of other ones.

Um, the Brock one, I

just, the Brock one I, I was just like, I'm tired of playing

this.

I understand that completely.

I understand the German suplex,

the rock.

Yeah.

I, I'm like, why?

I'm like, first of all, me playing.

I like, I'm this ma This me playing is longer than the actual match went.

Oh, for sure.

For sure.

Because I'm like, I, it took me probably like, what, felt like 10

minutes to keep spamming German suplexes over and over again.

Yeah.

I'm

like, this is not fun.

Thi this is, this feels like home.

This feels like work.

This legit feels like work.

Now I will say it has one of the best.

Insider jokes for Wrestl life.

If you beat everything, it's the, it is the best insider joke in

all of wrestling that I unlock.

Have you unlocked super scener yet?

Yes,

for sure.

I like that.

That was fun.

I actually

got a good kick out, which, um, my rise, I li reason why I love my rise

is because of, if you are a huge pro wrestling fan, a lot of insider jokes

they weave into that, which I like.

Like, you know what, I like that because it shows that these games

are being made by wrestling fans.

Yeah.

Instead of just, instead of just being, you know, a corporate money

grab, like, um, like an N B A or Madden, like there's actual care put

in, the actual care put into some of

these modes.

I also like the like.

In my rise is that they have like, reoccurring characters that you've

seen in other, like My Rise games.

Like, uh, Cole Quinn is like one of those guys.

Yeah.

You see him?

It used to be Blade.

It used to be Blade.

I forgot.

I dunno what happened to Bear and Blade Man.

I, I, I've been like, I've been like, man, when Bear and Blade going pop up.

Mm-hmm.

And maybe he aged out because like, I, I have no idea.

Cuz now it's like, um, who's the, who's the antagonist in last years?

He was just like, he was, I I never

see, I didn't finish it all the way,

so I don't know.

Oh.

Um, like one of the early guys you were in a rivalry with was like, he was the

guy that was wearing, he was a big guy.

He was wearing like all these like, um, these like arm bands

very similar to what they used to wear in like NBA back in the day.

Like those Right.

But like, Anyways, long story short, it's like he was like one of your like

early foes in my rise and now like he's been kicked off the WWE roster and

working at, at New Japan, basically.

Oh.

And it was really cool to see how that came full circle.

And I'm like, somebody's paying attention.

And Cole Quinn.

Yeah.

Who used to be like, one of the people you come up with in NXT LA

like last year he's actually, he was working mocap, like for the Oh

yeah.

Yeah.

Like I said, I just, I think out of all the modes besides GMO my

rise, it's my favorite because like it, some of it, yeah.

Yeah.

It has its corny moments, but most of the time you can

actually take the story serious.

Yeah, for sure.

For like e like, like I know you said, um, you didn't, you like the female side more?

Mm-hmm.

I'm, I'm still playing through it, but I did like the aspect of the male side of,

you know, um, if you wrestled like Cody Rhode and all that, you get to, you get

to actually play through the grind that a lot of these wrestlers had to go through.

On the indie circuit.

Mm-hmm.

Cause I, I watch all types of wrestling.

Like my, my, my week is all wrestling.

Is is wwe.

A W M L W T N A New Japan.

Oh, you're watching more than

I am.

Cause I ain't watching m l w in, I, I can't, I haven't sat

through a impact show in so long.

It ain't even funny, man.

Look,

I, I saw my boy Santino back.

I like, I mm-hmm.

I gotta watch this.

And then, um, my girl, my girl, uh, Trinity, pat two, or Naomi

Yeah, I saw her.

I saw she's back in.

Oh, well she's impact in impact now.

Yeah.

I'm happy to.

And like,

and I just love to see different, different companies.

Cause different companies have different fields.

If you want the, the world entertainment aspect, you go to wwe, you want

world entertainment mixed with, you know, Um, Indy, you go to, aw,

if you just want to see illegal wrestling, that should be illegal.

You watch C Z W, like, it's just a lot of wrestling.

And I like the fact on the male side how it actually embodies.

You know, there's a grind for people that lead the comp lead, ww ww

after to build back up the image.

Now for the female, I do like the aspect of, oh, your, your aunt was a WW legend

and you can either try to make your own way or you try to follow, follow.

In.

The push that me, I was a rebel.

I said, no, fuck that.

I'm not wearing my aunt here.

I'm going to do it my own way.

And I've, and one thing I do like, there's replayability to both sides.

Yeah.

Because of the, because of the branching decision.

Storyline decision.

So I like that.

And it's fi it is 25 hours a piece, I think they said.

Yeah, it is, it's, it's meaty.

Like, um, yeah, like I, I went the opposite route.

I actually was a kiss answering that and wore my aunt's gear in such that,

and I bet like the, I bet the end result was the same, but you're right.

Like you can do like, um, like mat like different roads and to one example, it's

like on the males side of the fence.

Like you beat the male side, right?

Uh, yeah, I beat the male side.

All right.

So like, you know, like what faction did you join?

Were you evolution or were you the hurt business?

I was the, I was the hurt business.

See, I was evolution and it's, it, it's, I bet like the story probably ended up

in the same way, but like the nuances of like the what, like what happened?

Because I'm so curious on what happened to you, like how you got kicked out of

that group and ended up overseas versus how I probably did, you know, uh, for

me, uh, I got kicked out just because, um, I want, because

I was saying I was the leader.

Oh, and, um, and like m v mvp, uh, I forgot the other dude's name, but m but

he said, instead of me and the other, you know, create, uh, computer generated

superstar beat, uh, go for the tag team belts, say V MVP and him go for the tag

team belts because we lost our match.

Oh, sa, that's exact same story as Randy.

Um, Randy and like the, the guy I, I, he was the guy who was basically

like the computer generated version of the mis and Yeah.

Yeah.

Like he was a lifer that had been there for a really long, like a couple years now

and he was just like not getting anywhere.

He had been like US champion like three times or, and such like that, like yeah.

That storyline is the exact same storyline I went through.

It's just a little different

and it should be different because I would, Randy would never go for it.

Randy would never, if he's the head of the head of the faction.

He would never go for attack team, but he would, he would

keep the main title to himself.

Mm-hmm.

Like, so like a lot of the stuff in both sides, they kind of go against what,

you know, they built up the, like these wrestlers have built their characters up,

so I wish that could have been different, but even though if it is still, like,

like you said, it's still like, it's the same, you know, authoritative figure.

I still had fun just because like, like I said, it was my character

and me going through the journey.

Mm-hmm.

I don't know why they couldn't then.

Like, um, I guess William Re wasn't a part of the wwe e when this game was made,

cause No, no.

He was still under a e w.

Yeah.

Because Tavish, I'm like, this is literally William Regal, like, like

this, like, like talking about his WCW match with Goldberg again, like this,

I think this is supposed to be William Regal, but he just wasn't able to do

the game.

Oh yeah, that's, that's exactly who it probably was.

Still a t I'm like, that is Sir William recall's like whole journey.

Yeah.

And.

You know, um, and even then it's like, I think like some of the, the things

with the, what happened with like on the women's side of the fence, I think

like a lot of, a lot of that woman's, um, story like your aunt aunt's story

almost feels like Mickey James in a sense.

Yeah.

Like a lot of, it's not exactly her, they kind of mixed it in with like

little Mickey James, little Gil Kim, a little different, like a different female

wrestlers from that time of the fence.

But like, yeah, it feels like they just took inspiration from a real

life story and kind of made a, I made kind of like a story out of it, but I

like, I like the way, like the female side of it shakes out a little bit

more because it feels like a new it.

This feels like a story.

I would, I would love to see what would they would do in real

life if Triple H was booking it.

Yeah.

And it actually made me, it made me say, you know what, I want a money, a tag

team money in the bank contract now.

That'd be, that'd be cool.

That would actually be kind of fun.

That would be cool.

Like, um, I've al like ever since it's been introduced,

I've loved money in the bank.

I think it's one of the best concepts that they have made besides that.

And in implementing Triple H's own like, style of war

games, those have been my two.

Mm-hmm.

Favorite matches just to watch and just to

play.

Yeah.

So, so let's dive into a war games then.

Like, war games came in for the very first time, I think at least May since I can

remember at least, uh, in a video game.

Like, what was that like for you?

Uh, did you enjoy the match?

Like, have you played a lot of it?

Uh, I played it

once, you know, on the male side, not I, I f I had fun.

Mm-hmm.

Like, I think, like, I think it's a very cool, a very cool addition

and it feels like, you know, it doesn't feel like every other match.

Like, it doesn't feel like every other match.

It, it, it has its own feel to it.

And, and I do, I do like that.

I it with you.

Like, um, I like how you can jump off, jump off the top, you

can bring in your own weapons.

Mm-hmm.

Um, yeah, man, like it is just a really fun ki like I've always said,

uh, like war games should, I feel like war games would be kind of hard to

mess up if you implement it in a game because like, you know, everything is

so chaotic, but it's still very fun.

And, um, it's, it's, um, my only, my only like, you know, my hesitance about

it being in a video game was how bad would the visibility be with it being,

but it was actually, I like, oh wow.

They actually were able to make it actually visible.

And I do, I do like that.

That's one thing that the games have always improved on is like, you know,

like the feel of a wrestling match.

Mm-hmm.

Like the different camera cuts and whatnot.

So I do, I did like that aspect

of it.

Yeah, and we, you kind of brought up something, uh, by the way,

before I dive into this next, like this subtopic of that, like

I do like the board games as well.

I feel like it's a great iteration.

I feel like it's a good, in addition to the match match like types, I do feel

like we need more, more match types.

But I, I'll dive into that a second, but I wanna touch on

something you just brought up.

Like you brought up the pacing of matches and how this is a simulation game,

so to speak, and how it's important to get that feel right for matches.

Like I'm looking at WWE two K 23 and one of the things that stood

out to me personally is the fact that they brought stamina back.

I love that.

Right?

I love, it.

Feels, it feels like a pacing of a real match again, right.

Right.

I, I, I love that because I don't know if they still have it in the game,

but one thing I did like that they had for like a game or two was tired finishers.

I

love that.

Oh, love that.

Yes.

I don't know if it's still in the game.

I, people have put videos on saying that it's in the Game Ivy to experience

it, but like, you know, moves like the R K O of like tired Beijing.

That attitude just made Wayne, he was tired.

Oh, so good.

I, and like

this game, it, I feel like it perfect it, it still has that perfect

balance of simulation and arcade and with a little bit of, you know, a little

bit of fighting game to it because, you know, with the combos and whatnot, I

feel like it's a nuance that needed to be added to, to the game because, you know,

you can only do so much simulation and they made it more streamlined, but also

it still takes skill, which I do like.

Yeah, I'm right there with you.

It has like, almost like you said, like a fighting game field to it, like a street

fighter combo type of field where you're kind of like, you still have that, that

simulation side of the fence, but you also do have those combos that you can

break out and the combos kind of lead into moves and such as like grapples, there's a

combo grapple, there's combo breakers and everything on the reversal side of things.

I like that.

I wanna, um, touch on something we just like brushed over a little bit

ago, and that's the match types.

How do you feel about it?

Do you feel like they're missing some matches that you'd like to see?

If so, what, which ones

bring back special guest referee matches.

Yes.

Bring back that.

Uh, what else do I, what else would I like?

I would like more, um, More environment like, you know, environmental

interactions, especially like an

ambulance match, a coffin match.

Yeah.

In front

of, well, not really.

I, I wanna say like Coffman in front of, cause like, like I said, tho those are in

previous games, they really weren't fun.

Yeah.

Maybe, and maybe an ambulance match they could probably do now.

But I wish that like, um, I remember in the old games where you had

like the very, very tall ladders.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

And, and then you like, you know, you push the ladder over, they

fall outside the ring or whatever.

I wish

they, and they were hurt back in the day.

Yeah.

You were hurt

from it.

Yeah.

Um, I wish, I wish like that was a thing where it was like, tall ladders

were like, you know, because, you know, in these matches they fought

like some people get pushed off ladder and they fought outside the ring

through tables or through ladders.

I wish there was a way that they could implement that, cuz it

used to be in previous games.

Mm-hmm.

Um, commentary.

I'm sorry.

Get Byron Sachs off my commentary.

I'm the same way.

I don't want him on the commentary period.

Much less on the game, but like, I don't got, I don't got personal

vendetta with him, but it just, he, he just doesn't work with commentary.

I, I do like, um, the new dude, like the Irish dude

McGinnis?

Is that his name?

Yeah.

No, not McGinnis.

He's on the wrong commentary

team with Corey.

Yeah.

I can't remember.

Um, something Patrick.

Something Patrick, yeah.

He, he's good.

He's good.

Yeah.

I like, I, you know, like, I liked Tim, especially if you can't get

McAfee, because I think McAfee would be perfect video games.

Yeah.

McAfee was great and like, I just wish that, you know, commentary, they

could at least try to update it every so often so it just feels fresh and

that they can make the crowd no noise.

Feel real, because sometimes the crowd noise is, is

sometimes muted during matches.

Well, for sure when like a big, when a big moment's happened.

I feel like the crowd should pop.

If, if, if someone's in, in a home.

If, like, if someone's in, in a home crowd, like if it's a

hometown of a superstar, I feel like it should be a huge pop.

I feel like Cody Rhodes, um, Cody Rhodes entrance, you know?

Whoa.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I feel like it should be louder.

Um, even though I don't like the whole thing with Seth

Rollins, that should be louder.

It, it, it just feels like they just, it's just like the crowd is

muted for a lot of these things.

Doesn't feel like an actual

live event.

Yeah, live event.

I'm right there.

I'm right there with you.

Like I, that's a part of my critique as well.

Like, I would like this game to feel live, like more live and more

like, Fluid and also like make it a reflection of, of what's going on.

And you know, like, I know this is wishful thinking cuz this is like a yearly,

uh, like irri of game, but like, please make it like, as close as possible to

what's going on when the game comes out.

Because like Sammy Z is completely outdated now.

Like he's completely outdated in this game.

Like, but,

but you know why they, but you know why they do that?

Because they know the crea, the peop the, those YouTubers that,

you know, make a living off this.

They do a fantastic job with that creation suite because I'm, I'm

talking about they, they be on it.

Like, I'm like, wow.

Some of them A E Ws is like, they look like they were actual models,

scripted, sculpted in the game.

Boy, they do c him punk, Kenny Omega, like nobody else.

Yeah.

Like, um, j John Moley, he looks really good.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and like I said, I do like this game cause it like the, like p like, you

know, wrestling fans get a lot of flack, but wrestling fans are super creative.

Like, I, I just, oh for sure.

I just go through the Chris Street just downloading people's

wrestlers cuz like, wow.

They put a lot of time and effort into the, into their superstars and just,

Superstars, the rest are the actual

wrestlers.

And besides, yeah, I'm, I'm right there with you cuz like, besides the, my,

like, who I call me or in the, in the WW universe, like besides my main character

game, I don't create nobody else.

I go into that creation suite and I just download everybody that

I, I feel like I need and I just use everybody else's Croatia.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm like, I, you know, I'll have the time nor patience to create like 20 characters

that I kind of want in my universe.

But then like I'll like take, or I'll go in that suite and maybe I'll take

like one guy and be like, okay, I can go and tweak a little bit outta him and

then, or like, I can make him into like a modern day Brent Hart kind of, kind of

s character and I'll just go from there.

Right.

But like, I, yeah, it's, I love the sweets in these games.

Like, that's probably my, my only thing I don't have fault with about Yeah.

About this.

I'm like, I don't know how you can do it better.

Yeah.

I,

I, like I said, it just, They did so good with that part because,

you know, it's been in the game for years and they just, they've

just gradually made things better.

Like, oh, what if you can create your own belt?

What if you can create your own show now?

I wish you actually could have pyro at the beginning of, of your show.

Oh, that'd be fine.

They took that out.

It's nothing that I don't understand why I took out, I guess,

budget, budget issues probably.

But yeah, man, I, um, are we like towards like what we rate this game

yet?

Yeah, for sure.

For sure.

Um, one last question before, um, we get to that part.

Okay.

It's like, would you recommend that people, well, like who would you

recommend this game to and would you recommend this game to people who haven't

played or like, or lapd WWE gamers, if

you are a wrestling fan, This is definitely, I think, a game you should

pick up, especially if, if you know about all the inside jokes and references,

you know, um, I feel like this is a game for you if you're a casual fan.

I still think that this is a place for you because this game, like I said,

it, it is streamlined it, but it's all, but it's like, you know, it takes

skill, but it's also streamlined where it's not that, it's not that difficult.

Like, so I, I think that this is still, again, that in might feel like hell,

my, my friend who's not even a wrestling fan, he's been playing the game.

He's actually been having fun.

That's great.

That's great.

Yeah, so I would probably say the same thing.

I think if you definitely, um, haven't play, haven't played one of these games,

or like, or a Laps fan or even if you're a fan and you really haven't been a fan

or like player of the games, I think you should definitely check this one out.

That said, at a gimme a scale of one to 10, where would you rate it

for me, man?

Who.

I say a 8.5 to a nine did like, oh, like I said, like when, when I first, when I

first picked up, like, man, this ain't really gonna be what I think of it was.

But then when I started getting into it, I say, yo, I'm actually,

I'm actually having fun.

And like, I think that 120, the 128 hours, I think that was doing like

within like the first two weeks.

Wow.

These people, just because I was just so engrossed in the gang.

I like, there's actual love and care put to it.

A lot of the character models, they don't look like, like where they're supposed to.

No.

But I feel like the wrestling itself is really, really fun.

Yeah.

Like, like it, I haven't went online yet, so I can't talk about the online play.

It still might be janky like it's been for the past two years,

but as far as I'm right there with you.

I haven't been online either.

But I, but as far as like, you know, the feel of it, it does feel, like

you said, the pacing of a wrestling match.

Um, you can tweak the settings to where, you know, the ref can stay down

longer after getting hit or like, you know, how fast this count will be.

So I think they, they do a really good job of the small details and like, you

know, um, it, it is like the little things that make this game, uh, like a nine out

of 10 for me.

I like that.

I like that.

I would probably give this like a eight out of 10.

Uh, I.

I think there's a couple of things, like it almost feels like they're right there.

They're just right there.

Right.

But they, they kind of have some stuff to tweak.

But yeah, I, I love this.

I, I think this is like a solid step forward and I hope to out

hope they keep improving on things.

Please, for the love of everything that's dear, make money in the bank and

other matches, like the Royal Rumble mean stuff in, in like my, my GM mode.

I would love to see like, oh, like I have the money in the bank holder.

Now I have some of the power or I have extra draw power because I have the

money in the bank holder or like Right.

I also have the Royal Rumble winner, so I get main card of WrestleMania,

also do survivors series, like do inter promote like sur Yeah.

You, you can implement Survivor series where like, oh, I'll put my best

superstar against your best superstar.

And then whoever wins that match, you know, is more points is more,

it is more fans towards your brand.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I'm there our, our like, yeah.

Like, um, make my GM more mode, more competitive in the fact that

like, like you were saying, like make everything mean something.

I think that's what we're kind of missing in real life with

WWE is like, we have meaningless moments that don't mean things.

Right?

I mean, make things mean.

Make everything matter.

Like I even if like you did Survivor series for like just a little like ratings

boost or you're better yet make like every pepper view card have like, okay, like

the, you, there's eight matches total.

You get four matches and I get four matches and we're both on the same card.

We both like, we'll see which matches land, which matches,

like are best for everyone else.

You still have that same thing to where you have to put your, your four

matches up to where like your first match and your last match has to be your

best matches and your middle matches.

Kind of like, just even things out.

Yeah.

Like you can still have that concept, but you can still like amplify that in

a way toward like, Oh, like more people like your side of the pay-per-view

versus my side of the pay-per-view.

Right.

And I think that would be really cool.

And then on Survivor series, if you do that sort of thing for survivor

series, make it to where like it's a ratings boost for the winner.

And it's also like the winner also gets the main event of the next pay-per-view.

Right.

Or the main event of like, of what, of WrestleMania, I think make it to where

everything has stakes and you're golden.

So yeah, I think there's just little things here and there that kind of

like would just raise this thing up from like a eight to a, to a nine

outta 10 or maybe a 10 outta 10.

Like you're almost there at WWE two K.

Just like, just work just a little bit harder.

Make it just a little more detail oriented and I think you're there.

Right.

And also one

more thing for the men's side of the ma rise, make

WrestleMania the final, final match.

I don't know why.

Oh my goodness.

Yeah.

I don't know why WW is trying, I, it's like WWE is trying even in real life.

To make Summer Slam its second wrestle, it is mid-year WrestleMania, like,

stop.

No, no, no.

No one believes that.

Like no,

no.

Believe that, that's why I already said if Roman loses the, if Ro loses

the title of Summer Slam, I'm not going, if Cody wants the title of

Summer Slam, I'm not going to care.

No, it's, it's also that fact to where like, you know, I don't,

they're doing the right thing right now to where Cody is outside of like the

world heavyweight championship picture.

Like it seems like they're gonna try and this is just my theory, it seems

like they're gonna try to keep him occupied until the ne until WrestleMania

season next year, or, or at least, like you said, summer slam season.

I.

Don't want Cody to win that World Heavyweight Championship belt.

Anything besides that main title feels like a cons?

Oh no.

I'm surprised.

Nobody needs that con No, that Constellation Prize belt, first of

all, I don't think it looks good.

It just looks like the world heavyweight titles for the big ass w in the middle.

Mm-hmm.

And then it is like, it says, it's the, you couldn't beat Roman.

Here you go.

Prize.

And then I, I'm one of the few people that sit that think I, I don't know

what you think, but I felt like Cody should've won a fucking mania.

He was white.

He was white hot.

I'm talking about, I'm talking about, I felt like he should have won.

And I, I don't, don't know.

I don't know why they did it.

I, I think that, I feel like that was a bench thing That's,

I was about to say.

I'm like, that feels like a Vince call.

Yeah.

Cause I was like, man, up to that point, that Match was great.

That Match was a certified banger, but.

We can't have

nice things.

No, no.

And and and the crazy thing is, is like mania as a whole.

This year was really good.

Oh yeah.

Except for that last like match kinda left a little sour taste in my mouth as well

to where I was just like beyond going.

But that Gunther, but that Gunther Aw.

Famous and Drew match

though.

So good.

So good.

That one was really good.

Um, um, RIA Ripley versus Charlotte.

Oh yeah.

Was

I thought, I thought she almost killed Charlotte.

Not gonna lie.

I did too

with that.

What was that?

Yeah, when Charlotte landed on her nose, basically I was like,

oh my goodness, this woman's dead.

This I just saw a murder.

But like, that part, that part was really good.

And then like, um, you know, an underrated match is like Bianca Baller

and Oscar, they had a really good match.

Like I just,

they had bad build it.

The building was, it just wasn't there.

I feel like they kind of, uh, slighted Bianca and Oscar.

Like, like I've told you people all the time, I like Oscar over in Japan.

She was a monster.

She is gay.

Yeah.

Same as she was a monster, but it's like they don't know how to push her.

And Bianca, you know, I love my black woman excelling and I just

feel like they don't, they don't like, you know, um, celebrate

her, her, her reign, like Romans.

And it's a shame cuz you know, she's a black woman and also she's about

to hold the title for what, 400

something days now?

Yeah.

Something like that.

It's, it's also one of those things to where like they, I look

at her like the way they book her and they book her like she's John

Cena from the mid two thousands.

Right, right.

And I, and I don't get, like, did we not learn that John Cena didn't,

like he kind of got over despite the way he was booked, not because

of the way he was booked, you know?

Right.

And yeah, I, I, yeah, I'm right there.

I, I'm to that point to where, Yeah, they, yeah, she's going to get

like soured on like really quick.

Yeah.

Like make her a

heel.

She, she does great as a heel.

Like nxt, she was phenomenal at,

she did good work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She did good work.