So… of course it’s later than planned, but who ever is on time in wrestling?
I went back and forth on a few occasions of what to do for my WWE 2K24 Universe Mode, and eventually I decided to ask Twitter… and they went with ‘random draft’… which means I get a bunch of names, and assign them to Raw or SmackDown with the help of a random number generator from Google. So LETS HAVE SOME FUN!
Let’s start with the basics…
Two shows, Raw and SmackDown, as usual… but with a slight twist… Raw will appear as the most modern day Raw would on the game, but SmackDown… we going back to 2002…!
Now for the PPVs… I’ve mixed it up a little bit with these, put some different events in and come up with a schedule that I think will be a lot of fun…:
May – Backlash (week 4) – San Juan, PR
June – Money In The Bank (3) – London, Eng
July – King Of The Ring (3) – Cleveland, Oh
Aug – SummerSlam (4) – Detroit, M
Sep – Queen’s Crown (4) – Charlotte, NC
Oct – Halloween Havoc (4) – Las Vegas, N
Nov – Survivor Series: WAR GAMES (4) – Rosemont, Ill
Jan – Royal Rumble (4) – San Antonio, Tex
Feb – Elimination Chamber (3) – Montreal, Can
Apr – WrestleMania (1) – Philadelphia, Pen
Now we know when the shows are happening, let’s take a look at what the guys and girls are gonna be fighting for. Again, with these I’ve had some fun and gone old school with a few…
Raw:
- World Heavyweight Championship (02-13)
- Women’s World Championship
- United States Championship (03-20)
- World Tag Team Championship (97-02)
SmackDown:
- WWE Championship (88-98) aka “winged eagle”
- WWE Women’s Championship
- Intercontinental Championship (11-19)
- WWE Tag Team Championship (02-10)
WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship (to appear across both Raw and SmackDown)
So now lets get to the ‘random draft’ part of my Universe Mode. The way I did it was I utilised a random number generator app from Google, and I was careful to be sure there were rough numbers on Raw and SmackDown (to allow for me to book coherently and have enough people to be able to make up a show), but the personnel was completely randomly picked. I kept tag teams together, but some factions I split up, or more they were assigned to separate brands by having their number called to the alternate shows. I’ve ‘called up’ some people from NXT, with others in reserve should I ever choose to ‘bring them up’. Any DLC releases and additions to the game’s roster, I will treat them as ‘free agents’ and assign them to shows as and when they become available in the game. There were two people who (just for fun) I have already assigned to shows. In exhibition mode of the game, I had two Royal Rumble matches with the men’s winner being my World Heavyweight Champion (and so number 1 ‘draft pick’ for Raw) and the women’s match winner being crowned by WWE Women’s Champion and so going as pick 1 to SmackDown… so… lets tell you all who’s going where…
Raw roster
??? & ??? (You’ll have to wait and see…)
World Heavyweight Champion:
GUNTHER
Cody Rhodes / Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins / Randy Orton
Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman) / Drew McIntyre
Charlotte Flair / Gigi Dolin / Candice LeRae / Indi Hartwell / Kayden Carter / Katana Chance
Rhea Ripley / Bayley / Tiffany Stratton / Shayna Baszler / Zoey Stark / Cora Jade
Jey Uso / Sami Zayn / LA Knight
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) / Damian Priest / Shinsuke Nakamura
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson (with Michin) – The OC
Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa – DIY
Chad Gable & Otis (with Akira Tozawa & Maxxine Dupri) – Alpha Academy
Giovani Vinci & Ludwig Kaiser – Imperium
Erik & Ivar (with Valhalla) – Viking Raiders
Elton Prince & Kit Wilson – Pretty Deadly
Wes Lee / Apollo Crews / Tyler Breeze
Austin Theory / Grayson Waller / Wade Barrett
SmackDown roster
John Cena / Kevin Owens / Carmelo Hayes (with Trick Williams)
Finn Balor / AJ Styles / Jimmy Uso (with Solo Sikoa)
WWE Women’s Champion:
BIANCA BELAIR
Becky Lynch / Liv Morgan / Raquel Rodriguez / Tegan Nox / Shotzi
Iyo Sky / Asuka / Dakota Kai / Piper Niven / Alba Fyre / Isla Dawn
Bobby Lashley / Ricochet / Montez Ford
Bronson Reed / Dijak / Angelo Dawkins
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods – The New Day
Julius Creed & Brutus Creed (with Ivy Nile) – The Creed Brothers
Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde (with Rey Mysterio & Santos Escobar & Zelina Vega) – LWO
Butch & Ridge Holland (with Sheamus) – The Brawling Brutes
Tony D’Angelo & Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo – The Family
Veer & Sanga (with Jinder Mahal) – Indus Sher
Tyler Bate / The Miz / R-Truth
‘Dirty’ Dominik Mysterio / Omos (with MVP) / Robert Roode
So that’s who is where… so shall we get these shows on the road finally? Here is my first week of both Raw and SmackDown!
MAY WEEK 1
RAW
Gunther opens the show with an in-ring promo. Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins comes out after, they go back and forth before Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman) is next out, he gets into it on the mic with both Gunther and Rollins, Jey Uso is out after, and eventually we set up a tag match for the main event.
Women’s World Championship Qualifier (winner of each of three triple threat matches will compete in a final triple threat match at Backlash to crown a Women’s World Champion)
Rhea Ripley vs Candice LeRae vs Cora Jade
After a fun match, its Rhea Ripley who books her ticket to Puerto Rico for a shot at the Women’s World title!
Kayden Carter and Katana Chance have a backstage interview. They talk about that triple threat match, as well as the Women’s tag titles… when Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark interrupt…
World Tag Team Championship qualifier (winner gets place in title match): DIY defeated Viking Raiders
LA Knight backstage interview (on the US title match tonight)
Cody Rhodes comes out for an in-ring promo, eventually Randy Orton comes out, and the two have a friendly back and forth, followed by a handshake, when suddenly… the lights go out… and when they come back on, Orton and Cody are attacked… by… ??? and ??? … also knows as…
BRAY WYATT AND UNCLE HOWDY!!!
Women’s World Championship qualifier:
DIY are backstage doing an interview, happy about their earlier win, when Imperium interrupt… Gunther goes back and forth with Ciampa and Gargano, before they leave as Gunther turns to Kaiser and Vinci saying “I will do my job later on tonight, now it’s time for you to do yours!”
World Tag Team Championship qualifier: ‘Imperium’ defeated ‘The OC’
Karrion Kross (with Scarlett) video package
Sami Zayn backstage promo
Drew McIntyre backstage interview
United States Championship:
Jey Uso backstage interview
And finally… the main event! One of the biggest, most star-studded tag team matches in Raw history!
Jey Uso & Seth ‘Freakin’ Rollins vs Gunther & Roman Reigns (with Paul Heyman)
The champ for a reason, and he concludes our first Raw standing on top!
SMACKDOWN
We kick off with John Cena coming out for an in-ring promo, Dijak eventually interrupts, they go back and forth with Dijak saying that he will bring “ruthless agression” and they get into a brawl. Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa come out and join in the attack on Cena, before Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams run out to make the save. They have a stare down after, and that sets up the main event.
Iyo Sky and Dakota Kai are interviewed backstage
WWE Women’s Championship Number 1 Contender’s Match =
After a heck of a match, it is The Empress of Tomorrow who earns a future title match!
WWE Tag Team Championship Qualifier match = The New Day defeated The Street Profits – the key bit here is that after the match, after some miscommunication in the match, Angelo Dawkins turns heel on Montez Ford!
‘The KO Show’ in-ring segment, with Kevin Owens and his guest Finn Balor. Eventually AJ Styles comes out, and after an initial confrontational face to face with Balor, he then joins Finn in attacking KO.
Intercontinental Championship Ladder match qualifier = Bronson Reed defeated Tyler Bate
LWO Video Package
Tegan Nox and Shotzi backstage interview
Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn defeated Tegan Nox & Shotzi
Montez Ford is interviewed backstage… but he doesn’t really say too much…
Intercontinental Championship Ladder match qualifier = Ricochet defeated ‘Dirty’ Dominik Mysterio
Sheamus (with Ridge Holland and Butch) is interviewed backstage, Bobby Lashley approaches and they go back and forth
Main Event time! Quite the match, with the vacant WWE Championship playing on all 6 men’s minds…
Quite the battle ends with the heroes of the hour standing tall!
And finally, sorry again, we have our first chapter of my WWE 2K24 Universe Mode in the books! A fun start, maybe might be helpful that it isn’t as structured as my previous Universe Modes, maybe twitter isn’t all that bad after all for voting for this idea. But I have plans for what to do going forward, and I’m excited to play them out.
And also… it’s only a couple of weeks until a certain someone comes into play…
Josh.