‘My Leg Is Backwards’ – Wrestler Recalls Suffering Injury During WWE 2K Video Game Mocap Session

2K Games

A star soon to be inducted into the TNA Wrestling Hall of Fame has shared an insight into the motion capture process of WWE 2K video games.

Since 2000, WWE action has been brought to the video game world by the 2K franchise, with the latest release being WWE 2K26.

Over the years, a number of independent stars have been used for motion capture, re-enacting moves from WWE names in a multi-camera environment. Blake Monroe would comment on the quality of her entrance in WWE 2K26, praising the star who delivered that performance.

Mocap, however, isn’t the greatest experience, according to Amazing Red, who reflected on his work in motion capture on a past WWE 2K game during an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, saying:

“I get hit up about doing the 2K video game, and that was one of my dreams at the at the time to be in the video game and do mocap. I thought that was one of my dreams. Doing this job sucks so bad. I would never do mocap for anything.”

Delving deeper into the subject of mocap, Amazing Red would reveal the arduous nature of the experience, stating:

“Mocap is trash. Anybody that tells you otherwise is a liar. Anybody you had on the show that told you mocap was good, they’re lying. That’s like doing five matches at once. You’re not bumping on the pillow. You’re bumping in the ring. Everything’s legit real, and you’re bumping constantly.

“I’m hyped. I’m seeing the 2K stuff. Cool. I get dressed. I got the little balls everywhere, right? Real early in the morning, they’re super excited to work with me. I do a couple of moves, then they go up there. They go right into AJ Styles stuff, Spiral Tap. ‘ You could do that?’ Yeah. Let me see. Go up there. Went up there, Spiral Tap. ‘All right, so look, we’re gonna have you do it a couple of times.’

“So in mocap, for this kind of game, you have to like do it and miss and sell, do it and hit someone and sell, do it and if there’s a ladder or a chair there, different sell. But you always have to get up a certain way so they can clip it and put it up there, so I had to do this move like seven or eight times, and a spiral tap is a move I don’t like because I’m looking at the ground; I’m looking at the ring instead of the infrared. I’m kind of like backwards, so I don’t see what I’m doing. I just throw myself. But with Spiral Tap, you can see everything, and I’m not a gymnast. I just learned this jumping on the beds, so I’m not really professional doing this. I’m up to like eighth, ninth at this point.

“I get up there, and I just had a gut feeling, I gotta stop. Low Ki was there with me, and the guy goes, ‘Can you just do one more, man?’ I’m so sorry.’ Can you do just one more? And we’re gonna have you do this, and then we’ll go into a whole set of moves after this.’ I’m like, damn, my body’s killing me. I go up there. There’s two crash pads, just for this jump, right? And in the middle of the crash pad, it connects. So I go up there. I’m like, all right. For some reason, I just jump, and everything just blacks out for me, and I don’t know where I’m at.

“So I just jump, instant darkness, and I hear this (crack). I wake up, and I’m on the crash pads, and my leg is backwards. So what happened is that whatever flip I did, my one foot went in between the crash pads that connected, and I went the other way, and I heard the loudest (snap), but I didn’t feel nothing. So I’m there. I’m hanging out. I’m just lying down, and everyone’s looking at me.

“And Low Ki screams at the top of his lungs, ‘Is anybody gonna effing help him? He broke his leg!’ Then they’re like, ‘Oh, call somebody!’ Then everybody started panicking. He said that when he took my leg out, it was backwards. Once I saw that, instant pain, heat everywhere, all of my body, and then I started screaming. And now, at this point, I’m bitter about the CM Punk situation. I’m bitter about the No Way Out situation, and this to me was like my last-ditch effort of being a part of WWE, doing a WWE game, no less.

“Broke my leg in half, and I’m screaming. I remember that at this point I think I was cursing God out, and I blamed it on him, and I was like, why don’t you want me to make it? Why don’t you want me to be great? All this stuff I did, paid my dues. I helped so many House of Glory guys. We gave them superstars to wrestle, and I felt like not in a genie kind of way, but in a way where it was like, man, I did all this good stuff, and I felt like this was my time. Why not now? Why do this to me now?

“To fast forward all that, I know why it happened. And that was a blessing in disguise. As weird as that may sound, as that may sound, breaking my leg was the best thing that happened to me.”

The CM Punk situation that would lead Red to feeling bitter stemmed from a dark match before The Best in the World would be signed by WWE.

As for No Way Out, a Wrestling Inc. report from 2012 notes that Amazing Red was backstage at that year’s PLE and had told fans he had a tryout earlier that day.

So, That’s Why WWE Stars Don’t Do Their Own Motion Capture?

Amazing Red revealing the motion capture process for a video game indicates a reason why many WWE stars don’t do their own mocap.

Aside from the risk of injury, it doesn’t sound like the ideal environment for any star when it comes to repeating their own moves over and over again so that they can be captured for the latest entry in the WWE 2K franchise.

The risk, however, doesn’t stop independent wrestling stars from being involved in the process, showcasing their versatility when it comes to modelling the moves that WWE fans are familiar with.

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• wwe 2k
• Amazing Red
• wwe
• video games

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