While WWE 2K25 brings a whole host of new content and features, the team has also been hard at work to provide fans new updates to existing modes, including Universe.

We know fans have been clamoring for more news about Universe, so let’s get right to it, as there is a lot to share!


One of the newest additions to this year’s Universe is the return of Promos, which we revealed as part of our game announcement, so we wanted to touch on this a bit more.

Promos are now available as part of a new category of Rivalry actions, that include new animations and commentary. In total, there are five different promo types that a Superstar can perform:

Self-Promos:

• These create challenges for the Superstar to fulfill in their next match and gives their rival a reason to interfere. Succeeding rewards the player with benefits but failing the challenge imposes penalties
  
• Challenges can be viewed in the Rivalry overview before starting a match, during gameplay, and in the Rivalry Info tab within the Pause Menu.
  
• 
  Challenges include winning a match, winning by submission, winning with high health, winning under 5 minutes and winning the last rivalry match, with higher rewards for the more difficult challenges.

Call-Out:

• The Superstar calls their rival out to the ring, who can choose to either respond or pull a no-show. A confrontation can lead to a future 1v1 match, no match at all, an immediate 1v1 match, or a brawl.

Promo Interrupt:

• The Superstar walks in on their rival’s promo which can lead to a 1v1 match, no match, an immediate match or a brawl.

Issue Open Challenge:

• The Superstar throws out an open challenge to any Superstar and the player will not know who their opponent is until their match entrance. A win provides benefits while defeat imposes penalties.

Accept Open Challenge:

• The Superstar answers an open challenge from their rival with benefits and penalties depending on a win or loss.

Now let’s get into some of the new updates to managing the calendar and setting up shows. Major and Minor Shows are now eligible to be assigned to Sundays while PLE shows can now be assigned to Monday-Saturday. Another cool addition is that PLEs can run across two days, so if you want to mimic the 2-night WrestleManias or SummerSlams, you can now set them up that way.
Multiple shows can now be assigned to each day with a maximum of 3 shows, so if you’re feeling like having three shows on Monday night, you can certainly do so. The order of shows on the same day can also be customized, and this can be a combination of PLEs, Major, or Minor Shows.

If you set up a 2-night PLE, below are some available options and parameters:
Day 2 of a PLE can be assigned to any day up to 4 weeks after Day 1, so your PLE’s two-day event doesn’t necessarily have to be on back-to-back nights.

• Matchmaking will be split across both days of a 2-Day PLE with rosters being spread out over both nights, so you cannot double-book the same Superstar.
  
• The number of matches will also affect both nights. For example, if you set up your show to have 7 matches, that means that both nights will feature 7 matches for a total of 14.

PLE shows can also now be swapped with other PLEs on the Calendar menu, and via the Edit menu, shows can be moved to different days.

Another addition to the Universe calendar is support for Tournament PLEs like King and Queen of the Ring. In these tournaments, eight Superstars from host shows take place in a series of 1v1 matches where the winner of each match advances and the loser is eliminated. The winner of the final match of the official tournament is awarded a guaranteed title match at SummerSlam.

This new tournament show format is also available for creating your custom PLE by using the Queen or King of the Ring PLE template.


In WWE 2K25, Universe will see the inclusion of a new team management system whereby players can assign Superstars to multiple teams.

Team members can also now have customized roles within a team:

Singles:

• Prioritized for singles and free-for-all matches

Tag:

• Prioritized for two-person tag matches and eligible for tag division championships with another tag-role team member

Trio:

• Prioritized for three-person team matches

Quad:

• Prioritized for four-person team matches

Manager:

• Prioritized as a manager for fellow team members’ matches

Teams now also support lineups for stables of 3 or more members. These lineups are smaller groups within a large team and can have their own unique names, ring announcements, crowd reactions, entrances, victories, and roles that are different from their base team.

When creating a new lineup, by default, it will inherit its base team’s settings as a starting point but can be edited.


In this year's game, we've revamped matchmaking for better stability and reliability. Also included is a new scoring and sorting system during match card generation. This new system takes multiple factors of each match into consideration, such as the Overall rating of the Superstars involved or whether the match is for a World title (and more) to curate the card while prioritizing the biggest matchups for the main event and opening matches of the show.

Match Tables have also gotten a new Main Event tab, allowing more customization when you want to earmark a certain type or subset of matches to pick from as the final match of a show. If the Main Event match table is empty, the standard Match Table will be used to determine the main event instead.

Universe will have support of the new match types introduced in WWE 2K25 - Underground, and Bloodline Rules, alongside the new Brawl environments.

With the inclusion of Intergender Wrestling in WWE 2K25, Universe also supports it, which is an option that can be toggled on or off.

When enabled, players can create intergender matches (non-title) and set up rivalries. There is also an option for an Intergender Division which opens up the capabilities of having an intergender championship and allows players to include Superstars from the men’s and women’s divisions to compete for that title.

There’s still so much to do in Universe and we can’t wait for players to dive in when WWE 2K25 releases on March 7 for the Deadman and The Bloodline Editions, and on March 14 for Standard.

In this edition of the WWE 2K25 Ringside Report, we take a closer look at the all-new MyRISE, which offers a unified story that spans both the WWE Men's and Women's Divisions. Final warning -- turn back now to avoid mild spoilers!

This year’s story, dubbed “MyRISE Mutiny,” revolves around the hostile takeover of NXT by a group of Superstars looking to make shockwaves across all of WWE. The takeover quickly infiltrates Raw and SmackDown, leading to a power struggle with the future of the industry at stake. Where the story goes from there depends on your Custom Superstars’ decisions.


So let’s talk a bit more about your Custom Superstars. This year you create one from the Men’s Division and one from the Women’s Division in either order, depending on user choice.

MyRISE now has three combined save slots for both the Men’s and Women’s Division characters. Once you complete a full playthrough, you have the option to replay MyRISE on the same save slot to experience the story again with your Custom Characters and OVRs carrying over or start again on a new save slot.

Importing and exporting characters is still available for both Men’s and Women’s Division characters to and from the main game (this is separate from the MySUPERSTAR exclusive to The Island).

This year we are also excited to give players the option to create casual attire for their characters which will show up in story moments such as promos or non-arena settings.


After choosing whether you want to begin MyRISE as part of the Men’s or Women’s Division, you will have the option to choose from one of three personalities:

• Bold and Brash
  
• Comedic and Fun
  
• Scheming and Calculated

The personality type you choose not only colors the way your characters act and respond to the world around them, but it affects what stories you have available to you. After all, a Bold and Brash Superstar like Becky Lynch might approach a situation entirely differently than a Scheming and Calculated Superstar like Seth Rollins.

Your decisions will take you down distinct branches or pathways with characters, arenas, entrances, and more that you can unlock so it’s worth playing multiple times to get the most out of MyRISE Mutiny.


As you progress through MyRISE, you will come across brand new Ally Storylines, where you will play as a WWE Superstar for part of the story, rather than your Custom Superstar. Step into the ring as top names such as Drew McIntyre, Jey Uso, Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch to help take on NXT Mutiny.

There are also exclusive ally storylines involving Cody Rhodes and Rhea Ripley, accessible only on subsequent playthroughs.

And while we won’t spoil too much, there are also multiple endings to MyRISE to experience so be sure to give it a go a few times to get the most out of the mode!

Finally, we are also introducing the Live Event feature to MyRISE, which are optional matches that allow you to build up your characters with progress that will be tracked across multiple playthroughs. Live Event matches are also great ways to earn additional unlockable Superstars, MyFACTION cards, and original MyRISE characters that have been in high demand.

Here's a glimpse at two Live Event unlocks -- Mutiny Demon Finn Bálor and MyRISE original fan favorite Cole Quinn, who got an upgraded look for 2K25.


In WWE 2K25, while we introduced two new match types - Bloodline Rules and Underground plus two new Brawl environments, we also expanded match type support for Special Guest Referee.

In WWE 2K24, we introduced the match type but it was only playable in 1v1 matches. In WWE 2K25, we have greatly increased the number of matches it supports.

Check out the list below to see how else you can incorporate Special Guest Referee:

• One vs One - Normal
  
• Two vs Two - Normal Tag
  
• Two vs Two - Tornado Tag
  
• Three vs Three - Normal Tag
  
• Triple Threat - Normal
  
• Fatal 4-Way - Normal
  
• Handicap One vs Two - Tornado Tag
  
• Handicap One vs Two - Normal Tag
  
• Handicap One vs Three - Normal Tag
  
• Handicap One vs Three - Tornado Tag
  
• Handicap Two vs Three - Normal Tag
  
• One vs One - Falls Count Anywhere
  
• Triple Threat - Falls Count Anywhere
  
• Fatal 4-Way - Falls Count Anywhere
  
• One vs One - Hell in a Cell
  
• Two vs Two - Hell in a Cell Tornado Tag
  
• Triple Threat - Hell in a Cell
  
• Fatal 4-Way - Hell in a Cell
  
• One vs One - Iron Man
  
• One vs One - Submission
  
• One vs One - Extreme Rules
  
• Two vs Two - Extreme Rules Tornado Tag
  
• Triple Threat - Extreme Rules
  
• Fatal 4-Way - Extreme Rules
  
• One vs One - No Holds Barred
  
• 6-Man - Tornado Tag 3v3
  
• 5-Man - Normal
  
• 5-Man - Extreme Rules
  
• 6-Man - Normal
  
• 6-Man - Tornado Triple Tag 2v2v2

As you can see, that’s quite the additional support, so we hope fans have fun experiencing Special Guest Referee matches in a whole new way in WWE 2K25.

That’ll do it for this Ringside Report. We can’t wait for you guys to play through his year’s MyRISE and the expanded Special Guest Referee match.