WWE 2K22 roster originally planned to have more NXT superstars

With dozens of superstars leaving the company this year, the WWE 2K22 roster has continued to be in a state of flux ahead of the title's release.

Now we're getting new info about just what the WWE 2K22 roster could've looked like if original plans had held.

WWE 2K22 roster originally planned to have more NXT superstars

While WWE 2K22 is currently set for a launch in March 2022, that wasn't the release date originally planned by Visual Concepts.

WWE 2K22 was initially expected in October 2021, but a series of factors led to them making the decision to officially delay the game for several months.

Visual Concepts and 2K didn't explicitly state that WWE talent being released affected their development process, but basically every report from the time indicated that was the case.

This was especially true in an SGO report from October that centered on a planned DLC package for WWE 2K22 which got directly impacted by WWE releasing NXT talents.

Back in August, Fightful Select reported a possible WWE 2K22 delay ahead of it being announced and stated that scans had already been done for "many recently released stars."

Now, additional reporting from Fightful Select states: "The plan originally was to include a robust amount of NXT talent, though we're unsure how many of the new stars will be added."

While it's not clarified exactly who was in the works before being released, dozens of major names cut by the company in recent months were seen in WWE 2K20 and expected to return in WWE 2K22.

With so many new faces popping up on NXT in recent weeks, we'll have to wait and see how many Visual Concepts can add to the WWE 2K22 roster to fill the void left by those they've had to remove.

Confirmed WWE 2K22 Roster

While the official WWE 2K22 roster reveal hasn't taken place yet, we know of many superstars expected in the game based on footage that's been shown during development.

Whether they were shown in one of the many trailers or spotted in other behind the scenes videos, the following are expected to be on the WWE 2K22 roster:

• Rey Mysterio
• Edge
• Sheamus
• Ricochet
• Bayley
• Carmella
• Finn Balor
• Roman Reigns
• The Miz
• Rhea Ripley
• Shinsuke Nakamura
• Kane
• Shelton Benjamin
• Goldberg
• Dolph Ziggler
• Bobby Lashley
• Kofi Kingston
• Drew McIntyre
• Cesaro
• Booker T
• Ilja Dragunov
• Cameron Grimes
• Jeff Hardy
• Big E
• Montez Ford
• Chad Gable
• Becky Lynch
• Asuka
• Finn Balor
• Bianca Belair
• Tamina
• Samoa Joe
• Tyler Bate
• Joaquin Wilde
• MVP
• Apollo Crews
• Kevin Owens
• Dominik Mysterio
• Seth Rollins
• Mustafa Ali
• Austin Theory
• Shayna Baszler
• Raquel Gonzalez
• Kay Lee Ray

There are also dozens of superstars from the WWE 2K20 roster that won't be returning, and you can find the full list here.