Often times, we have a really good idea of who is going to make the cut for each WWE game year in and year out. These days we can expect The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Seth 'Freakin' Rollins, Gunther, Jey and Jimmy Uso, L.A Knight and so many others.
However, throughout WWE game history, there have been some very welcome inclusions that have caught us off guard. The following is a list of surprising superstar inclusions in WWE games, as well as the games they featured in.
Sean O'Haire - WWE Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain! (PS2)
One of the most underrated talents in the history of the WWE, Sean O'Haire had the look, the physique, the athleticism, and some extraordinary vignettes for his Devil's Advocate gimmick. It's fitting then, that his lone appearance in a WWE game was one of the best WWE games in history, WWE Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain! O'Haire enigmatic allure is so perfect that it deserved to be spotlighted in glory thanks to Here Comes The Pain and its amazing roster of WWE superstars.
Of course, O'Haire was featured in a major storyline throughout the spring of 2003 when Mr McMahon was trying to prove that Mr America was really Hulk Hogan. Unfortunately, O'Haire's push fell off when his manager at the time Rowdy Roddy Piper was released, and besides an appearance during the APA Invitational at Vengeance 2003, O'Haire mainly resided on Velocity for the remainder of his tenure in WWE. Suffices to say, O'Haire deserved so much better and maybe a US title run.
CM Punk - WWE 2K15 (PS4, Xbox One, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC)
At the start of 2014 CM Punk was a certainty to appear in WWE 2K15. However, something completely unexpected happened the night after the Royal Rumble in 2014 - CM Punk walked out of WWE.
One would think CM Punk was no longer going to appear in WWE 2K15 later that year, but somehow he's still in the game courtesy of the 2K Showcase Mode, and while it was a sharp reminder that he was no longer in WWE, it was a welcome sight to see him included regardless.
Jazz - WWE WrestleMania 21 (Xbox)
Look, we know WWE: WrestleMania 21 for Xbox was a shiny-looking turd of a videogame, but when you perused the roster and noticed Jazz was in it, then that was a really welcome if weird inclusion. We know Jazz was included in Here Comes The Pain and WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth! But that's when she was a prominent talent on television.
In 2004 and early 2005, Jazz was barely used on TV, save for hanging around with heel divas making fun of Lita's pregnancy, because she was carrying Kane's offspring and the divas wanted to laugh and add to Lita's agony.
Jazz is one of history's most underappreciated female superstars, but featuring in WrestleMania 21's roster was a surprise nobody could've seen coming.....unless you watch WWE Heat because that's where she wrestled most of the time at that time.
Chris Nowinski - WWE WrestleMania XIX and WWE RAW 2
If you don't remember Christopher Nowinski, he's a Harvard graduate not too much unlike David Otunga, who debuted in 2002. Unfortunately for Mr Nowinski, his career was cut short due to concussions, and lest not forget that nasty nose-break he suffered at Royal Rumble 2003 when Edge landed on top of him after a botched top-rope leg drop.
Nowinski would eventually return from injury wearing a protective face mask and aligning himself with Teddy Long and Rodney Mack's Thuggin And Buggin Enterprises, but not long after that he wasn't to be seen again in a WWE ring, and would instead champion the research behind Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy-a leading cause of brain injury in WWE superstars from repeated head trauma during in-ring competition.
As for Nowinski's appearances in WrestleMania XIX and WWE RAW 2, they were his only videogame appearance. He didn't make the cut in the far superior WWE Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain for some reason, but at least he got himself into two videogames before he retired from in-ring competition.
Haku - WWF RAW (Xbox)
The toughest wrestler to ever lace up a pair of boots, Haku hasn't made many appearances in WWF/E games. Sure, he made the cut for the WWE 2K25 roster, but he's a legend superstar in that one, whereas in WWF RAW he was part of the roster as it existed at the time.
It's great that Haku's puffy hair and badass demeanor was captured in a WWF videogame, though one wonders why he didn't make it into Just Bring It.
Shannon Moore - WWE RAW 2 (Xbox)
Matt Hardy's Mattitude follower and brown-noser, Shannon Moore wasn't too notable among the entire Ruthless Aggression Era roster, but he was usually the victim of squash matches. WWE RAW 2 is the only videogame Moore appears in, and that's quite the cool addition, though without a significant finishing move, he's rather forgettable, but at least he's there and on an Xbox-exclusive WWE game no less.
He could've done with an appearance in a WWE videogame with the spiked hair and facepaint he'd go onto utilize because he would've looked outstanding in that punk rock getup.
Jamie Noble - WWE RAW 2 (Xbox)
Too small to go on the rides at Disneyland (according to Randy Orton), Jamie Noble is most-noteworthy nowadays for being a backstage producer. Back in 2002 though, he became a fresh-faced King of the Cruiserweights for about 5 months when he won the Cruiserweight Championship, defeating the likes of The Hurricane, Tajiri, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio.
With his girlfriend Nidia by his side, Jamie would get cheap heel victories much of the time, but his character was unique and so was his drawl. Much like Shannon Moore, WWE RAW 2 was the only videogame to feature Jamie Noble-but he definitely deserved more videogame appearances.
Nidia - WWE RAW 2 and WWE WRESTLEMANIA 21 (Xbox)
Jamie Noble's former girlfriend and co-winner of Tough Enough, Nidia's only appearances in WWE games was on the Xbox surprisingly. Although she was Jamie Noble's on-screen girlfriend for a while, their relationship broke down after Nidia was blinded by a black mist from Tajiri.
No, you can't opt to play as blind Nidia in either WWE RAW 2 nor WrestleMania 21, but even so Nidia's inclusion in both games is very welcome and unexpected.
Kenzo Suzuki - WWE Day of Reckoning 2 (Nintendo GameCube)
From The Land of the Rising Sun, Kenzo Suzuki debuted in the summer of 2004, but despite a reign with the tag titles alongside Frenchman Rene Dupree, Suzuki wasn't notable for much besides hunting for the United States Championship, and looking like a total goof in an Uncle Sam outfit spitting rhymes badly against John Cena.
WWE Day of Reckoning 2 was Suzuki's lone videogame appearance, and it was a good one because he brought his finisher the Iron Claw/STO combo with him.
Doug & Danny Basham - WWE Day of Reckoning and WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006
The Basham Brothers seem to have been forgotten in WWE lore. Perhaps it was because they were once whipped and gagged by their female manager Shaniqua, or maybe it's because they didn't stick around for long enough to make a true impact. Doug and Danny Basham were once part of JBL's cabinet remember!
Anyway, they appeared in WWE Day of Reckoning without Shaniqua and her whip, and they would appear again the following year in WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006, which made sense because late 2004 and early 2005 was the year they spent as members of JBL's flock. Their leg-lariet finisher appears in both games too, in a time before Zack Ryder adopted the finisher as its own and called it Rough Ryder. These guys held the Tag-Team Championships a couple of times as well!
Shawn Stasiak - WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth (PS2)
Planet Stasiak is a weird place. It's a place where Shawn Stasiak would get himself pumped and ready to attack a larger-than-life WWE superstar like Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock, but find himself quickly disposed of or bashing headlong into a wall. Shawn once gave Stone Cold a cup of coffee that was so hot it burned Stone Cold's mouth, and after bashing his head into a nearby wall, Stone Cold would phone the paramedics because he burned his mouth, not because Stasiak was lying motionless on the floor!
Anyway, Shawn Stasiak appears in Shut Your Mouth due to his presence in WWE from mid-2001 until September 2002. In the game his gimmick is just like his on-screen gimmick-that of Planet Stasiak, a planet developed solely in his mind. Stasiak was quite the insane but memorable character on WWE programming, and it was a nice surprise to see him turn up to WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth-a game with much craziness and silliness-so he was right at home.
Sylvain Grenier - WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 (PS2)
One half of the La Resistance tag-team (or one-third if you count Rob Conway), Sylvain Grenier and his partner Rene Dupree were the youngest tag-team champs back in the day. However, Grenier was possibly more accentuated when he went solo, shortened his name to Sylvan and became something of a fashionista or male model by catwalking from one side of the ring to the other side, then sliding down the bridge of his glasses to look seductive.
Grenier's appearance in Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 is a bit of a funny one because while he walks to the ring with his latest entrance music, he's still wearing La Resistance-style trunks and didn't perform his catwalk. His entrance animations are also indicative of his La Resistance days, so it's a shame THQ and Yukes et al didn't update the model entirely. A reason for this is that the new Sylvan character debuted only a couple of months before Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 came out, hence the unfinished entrance.
Jerry Lynn - WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It (PS2)
Somewhat of an obscure ECW wrestler, Jerry Lynn may only be best known to hardcore ECW fans, especially because he won the ECW Championship and had a big feud with fellow ECW legend Rob Van Dam. Lynn made the cut for WWF Smackdown: Just Bring It's roster thanks to his debut with the company, and the fact he won the Light Heavyweight Championship during his tenure.
It's still quite crazy to think that Lynn debuted in the WWF before Rob Van Dam did, and that's the reason Lynn is on the Just Bring It roster, and Van Dam had to wait a year for his WWE videogame debut in Shut Your Mouth.
A-Train - WWE Smackdown vs. Raw (PS2)
This entry may not be too surprising considering A-Train's prominence on the WWE TV programming during 2003, and early 2004, but he seemingly slipped off TV, then debuted on RAW and lost to Chris Jericho, before losing to Val Venis on Heat (tough break that one), and then being sidelined with an injury that would see the end of Matt Bloom's tenure with the company until 2012, when he returned as Lord Tensai in big red trunks and Japanese letters scrawled across his face.
It's still weird that he is featured in Smackdown vs. Raw as a member of the RAW brand, but regardless of injury, he would've made an appearance in Smackdown vs. Raw anyway- but the surprise factor is just how little he mattered in 2004 that including him remains peculiar.
The Blue Meanie - WWF: WRESTLEMANIA 2000 (N64)
Years before John Bradshaw Layfield busted up and bloodied The Blue Meanie, the big blue behemoth himself made a surprising appearance in WWF: WrestleMania 2000.
This was a funky kind of inclusion because at the time The Blue Meanie wasn't a big part of the WWF product, so for him to turn up in the WWF videogame that had absolutely nothing to do with WrestleMania 2000 or Snickers was as bizarre as the man's haircut and dress sense. The Oddities would've been more timely of a conclusion for WrestleMania 2000 because they were around in 1999, the year of the game's release.
Vito - WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 (PS2, Xbox 360, PSP)
Ok hold on a minute, Vito making the Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 roster is no surprise is it? No, Vito turning up isn't surprising, but c'mon-he should've been rocking the dress! For those who aren't in the know, Vito started wearing a dress in 2006 and started getting really popular whilst wearing it, and he turned face and away from his fellow Italian and heel tag-team partner at the time Nunzio.
As for Vito's videogame appearance, it sort of mirrors Sylvain Grenier's above because the new music shows up, but the gimmick doesn't come along with it. What we get is a version of Vito rocking the black trunks with the blue winged design he's got going on, and a version defined by his tag-team partnership with Nunzio. It's a bummer really, it'd have been quite the sight to see Vito giving his opponents the dreaded Dress Code arm lock submission finisher. Nothing like seeing a superstar's head buried in another's crotch while getting his arm torqued.
Vance Archer - WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011
Another entry that isn't surprising in and of itself, but because it doesn't define the gimmick and the presence of the superstar on the main roster at the time. Vance Archer didn't have much time in the WWE to showcase his talents, starting out on the ECW roster dispatching of enhancement talent while sporting a clean shaven look.
Things got much more interesting when he was traded to Smackdown though, as not only did Vance become gruffer by then with beard, he also formed an alliance with Curt Hawkins and together they became known as The Gatecrashers. Again, many of the teams they faced were enhancement talent tag-teams, but their entrance music was badass-well Archer's entrance music was their theme. Anyway, for Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 Vance Archer is alone and Curt Hawkins isn't even in the game!