Every year, Visual Concepts and 2K build a new WWE game on top of the previous one — tweaking, adding, subtracting. That subtraction part has always stung a little, especially when names fans have been playing with for years disappear without much fanfare. But WWE 2K27 is shaping up to be a different kind of roster shake-up. According to tracking by Smackdown Hotel, at least 32 superstars from the WWE 2K26 lineup are unlikely to appear in the next game — and the reasons behind each absence tell a story that’s about a lot more than just contract logistics.
Here’s the full picture: who’s going, why they’re gone, and what it means for the game’s identity heading into 2027.
WWE 2K27 Is Confirmed — Here’s the Context
WWE 2K27’s existence was confirmed by Take-Two Interactive during an earnings call in May 2026. Neither Visual Concepts nor Take-Two has commented specifically on the roster, which is standard — these things are WWE’s domain. Based on the series’ established marketing pattern, fans can likely expect an announcement around the Royal Rumble period, with a release to follow in March 2027. It’s a formula that has worked consistently for years.
What won’t follow the usual formula is the roster itself. The sheer volume of departures from WWE in 2026 — multiple post-WrestleMania release waves, pay-cut disputes, political objections, and the end of TNA crossover agreements — makes this a roster change unlike any in recent memory for the series.
The Full List of Likely Departures
Based on Smackdown Hotel’s tracking of WWE contracts, releases, and likeness rights, these are the 32 superstars from WWE 2K26 who are unlikely to appear in WWE 2K27:
- Alba Fyre
- Aleister Black
- Alex Shelley
- Andre Chase
- Apollo Crews
- Ava
- Cactus Jack
- Chris Sabin
- Dexter Lumis
- Dude Love
- Erick Rowan
- Ilja Dragunov
- Jaxmyn Nyx
- JC Mateo
- Joe Gacy
- Kairi Sane
- Kofi Kingston
- Mankind
- Mick Foley (Manager)
- Nikki Cross
- Pat McAfee
- Ridge Holland
- Santos Escobar
- Sheamus
- Tommaso Ciampa
- Tonga Loa
- Tyler Breeze
- Uncle Howdy
- Xavier Woods
- Yoshiki Inamura
- Zelina Vega
- Zoey Stark
That list will almost certainly grow between now and the game’s March 2027 release. WWE’s talent situation has been in flux throughout 2026, and the 90-day non-compete clauses attached to most departures mean new names can be confirmed unavailable on a rolling basis.
The New Day — The Biggest Loss
The departure that stings most for longtime fans is without question the end of The New Day in WWE — and by extension, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods disappearing from WWE 2K27’s roster.
The story of how it happened is not a comfortable one for WWE’s image. Kingston and Woods had only signed new five-year deals with the company in 2025, reportedly extending through 2030. But in early May 2026, WWE approached both men about restructuring their contracts — essentially asking for pay cuts. They refused, asked for their releases, and were gone. Kofi Kingston had been with WWE for 20 years. Xavier Woods for 16. The New Day, as a stable, disbanded on May 2, 2026, after 12 years together as a tag team.
The wrestling world didn’t have to wait long to see where they’d land. At AEW All In 2026 at Wembley Stadium, the former New Day made their debut under the name New Level — Kofi operating under his own name, Xavier Woods performing as Austin Creed. They emerged as the surprise wild card partners for Swerve Strickland in the Trios Roulette Royale, won the match, and became the first AEW wrestlers to win a title in their very first appearance. It was a statement debut that underlined how much WWE had misjudged the situation by pushing both men out over a pay dispute.
For WWE 2K27, it means losing two of the most recognisable names in the game’s tag team scene — characters who have been staples of the series for over a decade. Their absence will be felt.
Mick Foley — A Principled Exit
The departure of Mick Foley — and with him, his three personas (Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love) — is a different kind of story. Foley’s WWE Legends contract expired in June 2026, and he chose not to renew it. His reasoning was explicitly political.
In December 2025, Foley announced on social media that he would be letting his contract lapse, citing WWE’s close relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration. The final straw, he wrote, was Trump’s social media comments following the murder of director Rob Reiner — comments Foley described as “heartless and unbelievably cruel.” WWE’s silence in response to those comments, combined with its broader institutional proximity to the Trump administration through figures like WWE CCO Triple H and former WWE executive Linda McMahon, made Foley’s continued association feel untenable to him.
“I no longer wish to represent a company that coddles a man so seemingly void of compassion as he marches our country towards autocracy,” Foley wrote at the time. He later confirmed the contract had expired and announced he was joining AEW. “It’s time for a new chapter in my career and in my life,” he said.
For WWE 2K27, this is significant. Foley’s three personas have been pillars of the game’s Legends roster for years. Mankind, Cactus Jack, and Dude Love represent some of the most beloved match types and era-defining moments in WWE history. Their absence from the game creates a genuine gap in the Attitude Era representation that the series has relied on heavily.
The Wyatt Sicks — A Heartbreaking Loss
The collective removal of Uncle Howdy, Dexter Lumis, Erick Rowan, Joe Gacy, and Nikki Cross — the entire Wyatt Sicks faction — is the loss that hits emotionally in a different way from the others. The Wyatt Sicks debuted in 2024 as a tribute to the late Bray Wyatt, with Bo Dallas (Uncle Howdy) leading a group that operated as part-tribute, part-horror act in Bray’s memory. The group held the WWE Tag Team titles during their run.
All five members were released as part of the post-WrestleMania 42 roster cuts in April 2026. That the entire faction went together makes the departure feel more final — there’s no “well, maybe Uncle Howdy comes back” possibility when the whole ensemble is gone simultaneously. They had been DLC additions in WWE 2K25, and seeing them disappear from the series entirely is genuinely sad for fans who saw them as a meaningful tribute to one of wrestling’s most beloved and original characters.
The TNA Crossover Names — Context Matters
Several names on the departure list — specifically Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin (the Motor City Machine Guns) — were part of WWE 2K26’s TNA crossover content. With WWE and TNA running a collaboration period that brought TNA talent onto WWE programming, those wrestlers appeared in the game as part of that arrangement. When the crossover ended and both Shelley and Sabin were released from WWE in the post-WrestleMania cuts, their licensing disappeared with it.
This is a reminder that roster additions in any WWE 2K game aren’t permanent — they reflect the specific business relationships in place at the time the game was built. TNA crossover content is by nature temporary unless a renewed deal is in place.
Notable Individual Departures
Beyond the headline stories, several other departures on the list carry their own weight:
- Aleister Black and Zelina Vega: Released together in April 2026, surprising many given Black’s recent wins over Randy Orton and Sami Zayn. A long-teased feud with Damian Priest never got a proper conclusion. Vega confirmed the release via Twitch, visibly frustrated at the lack of advance notice.
- Kairi Sane: Described by some reporters as the most baffling release of the post-WrestleMania wave. She was mid-storyline with Asuka and IYO Sky, had wrestled on Raw the day after WrestleMania 42, and her cut came without the storyline receiving any closure.
- Sheamus: A years-long fixture of the WWE main event scene and multiple-time champion, his departure removes one of the most decorated Irish performers in wrestling history from the series.
- Ilja Dragunov: The former NXT UK and NXT Champion, whose intensity and style made him a standout addition to the series in recent years. His departure represents the loss of a more recent roster addition rather than a veteran.
What This Means for WWE 2K27
The cumulative effect of these 32 departures — and the likelihood that the number climbs further before the game ships in March 2027 — is that WWE 2K27 will feel structurally different from its predecessor even before anyone considers what new additions might look like. The tag team landscape loses its most beloved modern dynasty. The Legends roster loses three of Mick Foley’s most iconic personas. An entire fan-favourite faction disappears. A significant chunk of the NXT crossover talent is gone.
WWE 2K27 will, of course, add new superstars — recent main roster additions, new NXT call-ups, and potentially new Legends signings all represent opportunities to refresh the lineup. But the game’s roster depth in certain areas will require genuine creativity to replace what’s been lost.
There’s also the broader question of whether AEW will eventually re-enter the video game space meaningfully. AEW Fight Forever was widely considered a disappointment, but Kofi Kingston and Austin Creed — who are themselves passionate video game advocates, with a long history of gaming content outside wrestling — are now in AEW. If a credible AEW game eventually appears, having New Level available for it represents a genuine marketing opportunity. NBA 2K27 is launching this week as the vehicle for Nvidia’s DLSS 5 technology, while its wrestling counterpart is already navigating a very different set of challenges before development has even been announced publicly.
For now, fans of the series can only wait for the Royal Rumble marketing window to arrive and see what Visual Concepts has built around the roster reality they’ve been handed. The broader gaming landscape this November is already crowded, which makes March 2027 WWE 2K’s window all the more important to get right — even if the numbers going in make it a harder task than recent years.
