Why

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick is now a playable character in WWE 2K26. I have some questions.

Principally, of course, I’d like to know why 2K added one of gaming’s most AI-confused, money-hungry executives at all. I mean, it’s not like he has some enormous cult of personality beyond his position at Take-Two and the odd vaguely spicy interview quote. He did release a fitness book and go around promoting it by showing off shirtless pictures of himself with eight percent body fat, but that was back in 2018. Plus, he’s not even shirtless in the game.

Beyond that, I’m also curious as to why he was added to WWE 2K26 with essentially no fanfare. 2K just published a blog about the game’s new season spotlighting four other new wrestlers—complete with a splashy trailer—but Zelnick, added at the same time, received no such red carpet. He’s not even mentioned in the patch notes! (He’s also not listed on the game’s official roster page, but neither are the other new additions.) Did 2K want this to function as an easter egg? Because easter eggs are supposed to feel almost intimate, like a secret shared between friends. A multimillionaire CEO is… not that.

And why are Zelnick’s stats high enough that he’s above some well-respected real-life wrestlers? I mean, I guess you can’t portray the boss as a hapless, bumbling clown—and it’s better than the time UFC president Dana White got added to EA UFC with inexplicably god-tier stats—but still.

Most of all, why is “My Way” by Frank Sinatra Zelnick’s entrance theme? Does it hold some special significance to him personally? Or did the developers just pick it because of his whole vibe? And why does it appear to be confined only to Zelnick, meaning that it can’t be applied to other characters?

WWE 2K26’s player base is as confused as I am. Oh well, at least Zelnick—the character, not the man—isn’t costing anyone any money.