Latest News and Rumors Surrounding WWE 2K15 for October 6

The ability to experience the journey from NXT to WrestleMania will be one of the biggest draws of WWE 2K15.

Details about the NXT-centered career mode have recently emerged, giving fans peeks at the welcome addition to the series. Video game writers who got their hands on the mode offer a healthy supply of info.

Other news involves the matches that will be a part of the 2K Showcase mode and whether or not WWE 2K15 will feature Edge.

The Rock and Steve Austin are on the official roster; The Rated-R Superstar is not. A fan tweeted Edge about being in the game and his response suggests that he'll be left out:

If 2K Sports planned to bring Edge into the mix, the company likely would have scanned him. His inclusion would then not come as a surprise.

What fans know for sure about the game has been revealed in slivers, though. 2K Sports has been secretive about WWE 2K15, as Danny O'Dwyer of GameSpot pointed out during a recent trip to the WWE Performance Center.

He said that there were modes he wasn't allowed to talk about, and although he got a chance to play the game, he wasn't allowed to film it:

What O'Dwyer could share is that the game features a slower pace than previous editions. He said that the matches felt very technical, going as far to say that they sometimes felt "soulless." He did praise the more realistic interactions with the ring environment.

He was one of the few folks in the world who has played the new career mode. He seems unsure of its greatness so far, but a number of the details about that part of the game should get fans excited.

Career Mode

In MyCareer mode, you create a wrestler and take them from no-name prospect to global Superstar.

You begin that journey with a tryout in front of trainer Bill DeMott against another fictional Superstar. Along the way, the created wrestler will face off against NXTers Rusev, Bo Dallas, Sami Zayn, Adrian Neville and Corey Graves.

Just winning your matches isn't enough to move through the ranks. PWInsider passed along a press release from 2K Sports that includes the following details about one's player progresses:

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Decisions made throughout the WWE developmental process, including alliances, rivalries and social media interactions, will impact player personality traits and crowd reactions. As players progress throughout the mode, they will also have opportunities in-game to upgrade their attributes, acquire new abilities, skills and moves, earn new clothing and unlock managers. These decisions, along with a player’s win/loss record, will lead to multiple branching storylines, surprises, twists and turns that offer significant replay value to explore different career paths.

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These elements should aid the game's fun factor. Too often, wrestling games focus too much on wins and losses. Putting on a great show is at the core of what pro wrestling is, and 2K Sports looks to be working that into the game. 

Vince Ingenito reviewed the mode for IGN and talked about how different the MyCareer experience could be depending on how one plays it. He writes, "The thing is, that ride can be either explosively fast or arduously long, and ultimately, it may never lead exactly where you want it to go."

Ingenito compared it to an RPG in that one has to build up the wrestler with attribute points.

That part of career mode in sports titles generally leads to more hours of gameplay. You can't simply run through the roster in a couple of hours. It will require investing a good amount of time and energy.

Bleacher Report's Brian Mazique also shared his experience with the new mode. Mazique writes that it will include Career Invasion, where "gamers are able to import up to five of their friends' created wrestlers into their MyCareer experience."

The biggest negative from his report is that face scans won't be a part of creating a wrestler.

The options for constructing this new Superstar could be a bit limited unless 2K adds more between now and Nov. 18, the North American release date for next-gen consoles.

Players who only have current-gen consoles won't get the MyCareer mode, though. Only the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 versions of the game will feature it. 

2K Showcase Matches

Fans have known that matches pitting CM Punk against John Cena or Triple H against Shawn Michaels would make up the 2K Showcase modes, but not what matches specifically. That has changed with some recent info making the rounds.

Writing for PWInsider, Paul Jordan reports that WWE will be releasing a DVD featuring matches that will be a part of the 2K Showcase mode.

The matches featuring John Cena and CM Punk include: 

• John Cena vs. CM Punk (Money in the Bank 2011)
• John Cena vs. Rey Mysterio (Raw-July 25th, 2011)
• John Cena vs. CM Punk (SummerSlam 2011)
• John Cena vs. CM Punk (Raw-August 22, 2011)
• John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio (Night of Champions 2011)
• CM Punk vs. Triple H (Night of Champions 2011)
• John Cena vs. Alberto Del Rio vs. CM Punk (Hell in a Cell 2011)
• CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio (Survivor Series 2011)
• CM Punk vs. Big Show (Raw-July 16, 2012)
• CM Punk vs. John Cena (Raw 1000)
• CM Punk and John Cena vs. Daniel Bryan and Big Show (Raw-August 13, 2012)
• CM Punk vs. John Cena vs. Big Show (SummerSlam 2012)
• CM Punk vs. John Cena(Night of Champions 2012) 
• CM Punk vs. Ryback (Hell in a Cell 2012) 
• CM Punk vs. John Cena with Mick Foley as special enforcer (Raw-November 12, 2012)
• John Cena vs. CM Punk vs. Ryback (Survivor Series 2012)
• CM Punk vs. The Rock (Royal Rumble 2013)
• The Rock vs. CM Punk (Elimination Chamber 2013)
• CM Punk vs. John Cena (Raw-February 25, 2013)

For the Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels rivalry, the following bouts will be available: 

• Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (SummerSlam 2002)
• Kane vs. Triple H (Raw-October 28, 2002)
• Kane and Booker T vs. Triple H and Chris Jericho (Raw-November 4, 2002)
• Kane vs. Chris Jericho vs. Booker T vs. Rob Van Dam vs. Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (Survivor Series 2002)
• Rob Van Dam vs. Shawn Michaels (Raw-November 25, 2002 edition of Raw)
• Triple H vs. Rob Van Dam (Raw-December 2, 2002)
• Shawn Michaels vs. Triple H (Armageddon 2002)
• Shawn Michaels, Booker T and Kevin Nash vs. Triple H, Ric Flair and Chris Jericho (Backlash 2003)
• Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair (Bad Blood 2003)
• Shawn Michaels vs. Batista (Armageddon 2003)
• Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (Royal Rumble 2004)
• Shawn Michaels vs. Randy Orton (Raw-June 7, 2004)
• Triple H vs. Shawn Michaels (Bad Blood 2004)

What's most interesting about these lists is that they include matches beyond the mode's rivals just going up against each other. For example, Michaels clashes with both Ric Flair and Batista from Evolution. 

Ryback took on Punk at Hell in a Cell in 2012 because of an injury to Cena. It looks as if the game will cover the storyline of Cena giving Ryback his support as he tried to unseat Punk.

These bouts add variety to the story mode, varying up the opponents.

A number of classic matches will be included. Fans would expect that Punk vs. Cena at Money in the Bank and Michaels vs. Triple H at Bad Blood 2004 would be available. 

It's great to see the 2002 Elimination Chamber match, as well as Del Rio, Cena and Punk's battle inside the Hell in a Cell make the cut too.

Flair is not on the official roster, but seeing him play a part in the 2K Showcase mode seems to point to him being a playable character as well. The same goes for Booker T and Mick Foley.

Fans are used to playing as names from the past like that, but it may be the chance to create one's own legacy from the ground up that makes this game a memorable one.