Seth Rollins Announced as WWE 2K18 Cover Star, Release Date Revealed

WWE Superstar Seth Rollins announced he will be the cover athlete for WWE 2K18 in an appearance Monday on SportsCenter.

Rollins will be making his first appearance on the cover of the game, which will be released Oct. 17. He joins Brock Lesnar, Stone Cold Steve Austin, John Cena and The Rock as cover athletes since 2K and Visual Concepts took over the WWE licensing.

While the other four were nationally ubiquitous stars who were popular names even outside WWE, Rollins is arguably the first WWE 2K cover athlete in his mid-wrestling prime. He's still 31 years old, and his only media experience outside WWE ventures was an appearance in a Sharknado film and a couple of Daily Show bits.

The move is a bet from 2K that Rollins' active participation in WWE, combined with his stature as arguably the everyday face of the company, will be enough to coax casuals into buying the game. Lesnar remains a part-time performer, and Austin retired more than a decade ago. Cena (at the time) and Rollins are the only two regularly active WWE stars chosen for the cover.

Rollins also has a bit of a following in the gaming community thanks to his semi-regular appearances on UpUpDownDown, Xavier Woods' gaming YouTube channel. He won Woods' Madden tournament of WWE Superstars that was hosted on the channel.

Similar to previous years, WWE 2K18 will feature deluxe and collector's editions. Both iterations will give fans a chance to play the game Oct. 13 and access to additional content, mostly in the form of extra wrestlers added to the roster.