Minor Spoilers for WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K24 Ahead

When Cody Rhodes eliminated CM Punk at the 2024 Royal Rumble, it was a message to the WWE Universe that his story was back on track, that he would face Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40, and that the past year hadn't been for naught. However, that all came crumbling down when The Rock returned, and Cody stated that the WWE Legend would be facing Roman at WrestleMania instead. Not only was The Rock and Roman's face-off quickly flooded with dislikes on WWE's YouTube channel, but it led to the We Want Cody movement that, reportedly, saw WWE Creative pivot to putting Cody back up against Roman. The Rock has teased going after Roman before, such as his Head of the Table promo, but the timing was off. Still, his return in this instance was surprising, but perhaps somewhat predicted by WWE 2K23 and WWE 2K24.

It should be noted that the pivot into Hollywood Rock has been well-received by fans and is a good direction after all of this. However, several reports suggest that The Rock vs. Roman Reigns, at least at one point, was legitimately planned.

More so than the past two entries, WWE 2K24's MyRise mode deals with key real-world elements, if with an alternate timeline-like approach. For example, the Men's Undisputed storyline throughline is Roman Reigns vacating his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship for Hollywood, tying Cody Rhodes into that with the new PC becoming the champion, and even bringing Gunther to the world title scene (something many fans want to see in real-world WWE). WWE 2K24's use of The Rock, or lack thereof in a specific area, after his role in WWE 2K23 is a nice little parallel for his real-world return to WWE.

WWE 2K23 and Mudslide The Movie

WWE 2K23 was released in March 2023, featuring its own MyRise storylines for male and female superstars. The male WWE 2K23 MyRise mode of The Lock features one storyline where one of their appearances is undercut by an event hosted by The Rock. It was a promotional activity highlighting his newest Hollywood movie, Mudslide. Interestingly, this lines up to some degree with The Rock's real-world Hollywood career. The Rock's Black Adam movie had come out a few months before the game's release, and Fast X (released in May 2023) featured a cameo from him. At the start of 2023, The Rock was very much associated with Hollywood, moreso than WWE, and the game's use of Mudslide reflects this. The same applies to Mudslide 2's appearance in WWE 2K24.

wwe 2k24 mudslide 2 cena screenshot

WWE 2K24 and Mudslide 2

Mudslide returns in WWE 2K24, but this time as part of the Unleashed (Women's) storyline. This MyRise mode sees players establishing their identity as an indie wrestler within WWE, letting them explore who they are across a couple of storylines. One of these sees that wrestler get booked in a Hollywood movie, which is Mudslide 2. The player's character stars opposite of John Cena, with no indication that The Rock is involved in the sequel. Now, it's not uncommon for WWE movies to replace superstars with other superstars in sequels (The Marine stars John Cena, while The Marine 2 stars Ted DiBiase Jr, for example), but the timing is quite interesting.

On the January 1 episode of WWE Raw, The Rock returned and shot a promo asking if he should sit at The Head of the Table. A month later, he returned after The Royal Rumble and shot that now-infamous segment, with The Rock essentially challenging Roman Reigns at WrestleMania. A month later, of course, WWE 2K24 would be released. Now, it's not necessarily impossible, but it's very unlikely that The Rock was involved in Mudslide 2 in-universe as of January. The likelier scenario seems to be that WWE 2K24 planned to have Cena involved with Mudslide 2 from the get-go, and whether that's just for variety or because intentionally to remove the in-universe Hollywood association with The Rock, is up in the air.

Either way, WWE 2K23 associates The Rock with Hollywood at a time when he was deep in the trenches of movie releases. WWE 2K24 does not associate The Rock with Hollywood at a time when he has returned to the WWE, at least for some time in the ring and more permanently as a TKO board member.

WWE 2K24 Makes a Bet - Coincidence or Prediction?

At the end of the day, it's more likely a coincidence than anything serious. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Mudslide moving forward, and of course much more interesting to see how The Rock, Roman Reigns, and Cody Rhodes' story continues to build heading into WrestleMania 40. This does give fans reason to keep an eye on Mudslide 3 in WWE 2K25 though. If John Cena returns for a serious run at the start of 2025 (he previously indicated 50 is his hard age limit and is currently 46) after being the star of Mudslide 2, it'd be worth watching who appears in Mudslide 3 and if they were to return to WWE thereafter. That's not likely to happen, but it's still a fun idea/concept with the WWE game.