Big Boss Man
A third consecutive 2K series appearance for the nightstick-twirling lawman from Cobb County, Georgia, with – in my humble opinion – the best WWF theme of the '90s. Now we just need some of his rivals from the same era in order to truly relive our youth. Nailz might be pushing it, but The Mountie with cattle prod finisher? Straight on the wishlist for WWE 2K19.
Big Cass & Enzo Amore
What do you do when you have an odd-couple tag team who've turned themselves into one of wrestling's most popular tandems? Split them up, of course. Thus Big Cass and Enzo Amore were divorced over the summer in a hackneyed storyline which benefit neither – particularly now Cass is on the shelf until 2018 with a torn ACL. Golf claps all round.
Big Show
Fresh off his clash with Big Cass at Summerslam, Show continues his near-two-decade-long streak of appearing in every WWE game. But it's another game, in another genre, which takes up much of his free time. "I play a lot of Destiny. I’m a huge fan. I’ve got all the weapons, seriously. Everything. Gjallarhorns, the Trials of Osiris weapons, everything," he told 12DOVE after the release of WWE 2K17.
Billie Kay & Peyton Royce
WWE has increasingly looked towards the Southern Hemisphere for talent in recent years, but its Aussie contingent has floundered. Nick Miller, Shane Thorne and Buddy Murphy are no closer to main roster calls-up than when they signed, and Emma is fantastic but has never been treated as such. Sydney sistas Kay and Royce have shown huge promise, and hopefully can break that cycle of mediocrity.
Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel
A year ago Dallas and Axel were teaming as the short-lived Social Outcasts; now they're back together as Miz's cohorts The Miztourage, although their win-loss record shows little sign of improvement. Both have family connections elsewhere on the roster; Dallas is real-life brother to Bray Wyatt, while Axel is son of '80s- and '90s-favourite Mr Perfect.
Bobby Roode
"Glorious! No I won't give in, I won't give in until I’m victorious…” The former TNA champion debuted in WWE last year with the catchiest theme tune in wrestling, and his in-ring performances have matched every boisterous pre-match singalong. He snared NXT gold from Shinsuke Nakamura in December, and was recently promoted to Smackdown and confirmed for 2K18 in the same week. Tidy.
Booker T
The five-time WCW heavyweight champ remains a fixture on WWE screens – but only as a commentator, where he's now been filling in on Raw for a number of months. It's more than five years since his last match, but in digital form his career remains alive and quite literally kicking; and with the WCW belt also in the game, T's sixth reign with the gold is merely a three-count away.
Braun Strowman
Few imagined that the lumbering tree trunk of the Wyatt Family stable would go on to be its breakout star – yet there's a strong case for Strowman as the most improved wrestler of 2017, and a WWE Championship reign in 2018 surely beckons. His 2K18 stats will be monstrous, and rightly so.
Bray Wyatt
A surprise WWE Championship reign in early 2017 did little to remove Wyatt's reputation as the company's most divisive character. His rambling promos seldom connect, and feuds with Seth Rollins and Finn Balor felt like midcard fodder. Still, his Sister Abigail finisher is always a videogame highlight.
Breezango
Smackdown Live's 'Fashion Police' provided constant entertainment throughout the summer via their Miami Vice-apeing backstage skits. An in-ring feud with The Usos delivered genuine laughs, too. That humour will be tough to translate to a video game, but even so it'll be ace to capitalise on the best spell of Tyler Breeze and Fandango's collective careers.
