WWE Stars Removed From WWE 2K27

WWE/AEW

Earlier today, WWE announced that members of Club WWE would be able to exclusively vote on who will be the cover athlete for WWE 2K27.

With a new video game on the horizon, it’s time to look ahead at next year’s roster, and the names that aren’t going to be part of the roster.

There are over 30 former WWE stars currently part of WWE 2K26’s roster that are set to be removed from next year’s game.

Here are some of the playable characters set to be removed from WWE 2K27.

Sheamus

First debuting in the WWE video games with SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, Sheamus had spent over 15 years on the WWE main roster.

Sheamus‘ legendary run with WWE came to an end this year, with his contract with the company reportedly expiring on October 1.

For the first time since his initial reign as WWE Champion back in 2010, fans will have to create the Celtic Warrior for their roster in WWE 2k27.

New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)

Another major loss for the WWE 2K27 roster will be Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods of the New Day, who left WWE back in May.

Kofi Kingston made his video game debut back in SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, while Woods has been part of the roster since WWE 2k15.

Woods has also been a major part of the game’s MyGM mode since it returned to the franchise in WWE 2k22, with him being a major loss for the game in that regard as well.

Ilja Dragunov

Ilja Dragunov made his WWE games debut back in WWE 2K22, where he was part of the DLC packs for the game.

With the recent news of Ilja’s departure from the company, 2K26 will be the final game with the Mad Dragon on the roster.

It could be a blessing in disguise, as his in-game model really was one of the worst of all, so any fan creations of him will likely look better.

Kairi Sane

Kairi Sane was one of the most surprising WWE releases back in April, as she was still part of a months long storyline on Raw that had not been paid off.

Kairi made her WWE game debut in WWE 2K19, with her appearing in 2K19 and 2K20 before her initial departure from the company, with her then returning as part of 2K24’s DLC pack following her 2023 return, and featuring in 2K25 and 2K26.

The women’s roster in the game has taken a lot of big hits in recent years, and the loss of Kairi on the roster will definitely be felt.

Mick Foley

A rare instance of a WWE legend being removed from the game, 2K26 will be the last WWE game, at least for a while, to feature Mick Foley and his famous faces.

Foley announced last year that he would not be renewing his WWE legends deal when it expired in 2026 due to the company’s involvement with the Trump regime, and he was nothing if not a man of his word.

With Foley now under contract to AEW, he will join the ranks with names like Paul Wight, Chris Jericho, Bryan Danielson and other WWE legends that won’t be part of 2K27.

Tommaso Ciampa

Tommaso Ciampa is an interesting case of his WWE departure coming so close to the release of 2K26 that he was still featured in the game’s roster, even though he had already been AEW TNT Champion when it released.

Ciampa has now become a staple of the AEW roster, and definitely will not be part of the 2k27 roster.

Motor City Machine Guns

More names that were released from WWE back in April were Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin of the Motor City Machine Guns.

After a legendary tag team career, Shelley and Sabin finally made their WWE game debut in 2k25 as part of the DLC packs, with them featuring in the base roster for 2k26.

After just two video games though, their run as part of the roster for WWE games will already come to an end next year.

Aleister Black & Zelina Vega

Aleister Black and Zelina Vega both have an interesting history as part of WWE games.

Black initially made his debut as a DLC character for WWE 2K18, with him appearing in 2K19 and 2k20 prior to his initial release from the company and run in AEW.

Following his WWE return, Black was added into 2k25’s roster following his return, and featured in 2k26.

Zelina made her WWE game debut in 2k19, though she did so as a non-playable manager at the time, before becoming playable for the first time in 2k20.

After missing 2k22 due to her initial release from the company, Zelina has since featured in 2k23, 2k24, 2k25 and 2k26.

However, 2k26 will be the last time both are part of the playable roster.

Tyler Breeze

Tyler Breeze has an interesting history with WWE and WWE games.

With him initially debuting in WWE 2k16, Breeze has not missed a WWE game since, being part of every single game’s roster since, despite being released from the company in 2021.

Breeze would later go on to sign a deal with WWE that would see him still appear on UpUpDownDown, and also allow him to be part of the game’s roster as a ‘WWE Legend’ and a key part of MyGM with Xavier Woods.

However, following Woods’ WWE departure, Breeze himself has now confirmed he is no longer under a deal with WWE, with him noting that he assumes this means he will not be part of the 2k27 roster.

Others

The names mentioned above are not the only playable characters that won’t feature in WWE 2K27, as there are 17 more (at the time of writing) names that also won’t feature next year.

Those being:

Alba Fyre

Andre Chase

Apollo Crews

Ava

Dexter Lumis

Erick Rowan

Jazmyn Nyx

JC Mateo

Joe Gacy

Nikki Cross

Ridge Holland

Santos Escobar

Tonga Loa

Uncle Howdy

Wendy Choo

Yoshiki Inamura

Zoey Stark

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

Share this article with friends