One of the most requested additions in the past year for WWE 2K has undoubtedly been Joe Hendry. The Scottish star quickly won over fans with his natural charisma, catchy theme, hilarious gimmick, and killer smile. That's good enough to take over the whole world, let alone the squared circle.
Hendry was already a cult favorite well before he consistently featured on NXT, which put him in front of a wider audience. But until very recently, he had been under a TNA contract and not WWE. Not being with WWE meant that no matter how much you'd say his name, his appearance in WWE 2K was difficult.
Now that Joe Hendry is part of WWE's roster, should you believe that he'll be part of WWE 2K26?
Is Joe Hendry coming to WWE 2K26?
Nothing about Joe Hendry being in WWE 2K26 has been made official yet. However, we have no doubt Hendry will feature in the upcoming game. The only question is when.
WWE 2K games don't always feature late debutants on their launch roster. Because they have to do scans, animations, and all that stuff, it is hard to quickly release characters that were signed only several months before the release.
That being said, there is a high chance that Joe Hendry will be added as a post-launch DLC at least. If you check all the characters that were released during WWE 2K25, you'll find pretty late debuts like Penta, who made it to the roster on Raw after the Royal Rumble 2025. He was available in July with the Fearless Pack DLC.
Jordynne Grace was also released with the Fearless Pack DLC, and similar to Joe Hendry, she signed with WWE after crossover appearances in NXT as a TNA wrestler. Grace signed much closer to game launch than Hendry in January and still made it into DLC.
One way Joe Hendry makes it into the launch roster for WWE 2K26 is if developers had already planned to include some of the popular TNA stars. Hendry and TNA's inclusion was already highly requested, and 2K themselves said they were discussing it behind the scenes.
WWE 2K25 Gameplay Producer, Brian Williams, told Restart in an interview, "It’s something that we’re all excited about—the potential of maybe one day incorporating TNA into our game. But as of today, as I’m talking to you right now, we’re just still discussing things."
Of course, that is a huge if and has more chance of not happening than anything. Especially when you consider that TNA is interested in its own separate game. Given the recent partnership between the two promotions, however, the chance is not zero.
Regardless of when, Joe Hendry is almost certain to be featured in WWE 2K26 based on how 2K has handled late debuts in the past. The only question is the release date. Post-launch via DLC seems the most logical answer to that question right now.
We will be sure to update you if there is any official announcement or hints.
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