Who made the call to have New Jack be a part of the WWE 2K25 roster?
Ahead of the release of the next instalment of the WWE videogame franchise, 2K Games announced which wrestlers would be joining the game over the next few months as part of the additional content packs. While some names were expected such as recent signees The Motor City Machine Guns, Jordynne Grace, Stephanie Vaquer and Giulia, there were some more surprising names featured such as former TNA star Abyss and AEW star Billy Gunn.
The most shocking name on the list was New Jack, who gained notoriety in Extreme Championship Wrestling for his crazy bumps and violent matches, which were brutal even by ECW’s standards.
While speaking with Mike Johnson of PWInsider, 2K25 producer Bryan Williams revealed that the call to include the former ECW Tag Team Champion in the game was one made by the promotion’s President Nick Khan, who is a huge fan of the late wrestler:
“New Jack was a shock to all of us on the VC (Visual Concepts) and marketing side. New Jack was someone who I never expected would make it into our franchise. It’s funny because it was actually Nick Khan who recommended or suggested that we add New Jack as DLC. When I heard that information from my marketing rep I was like, ‘Really?’ They were like, ‘Oh yeah, he’s a big fan.’ I believe he’s working on the paperwork to make this thing a reality,” Williams said.
“That was a huge surprise. Talk about a curveball, that thing came out of not left field, that came out of a different game altogether. So I’m really excited to have New Jack be a part of the game this year and we have some really cool things planned for New Jack.”
ECW Legend Coming To WWE 2K25
A part of ECW from 1995 until the promotion’s closure in 2001, the controversial wrestler was involved in a number of controversial incidents during his professional wrestling career which included stabbing opponents and causing serious injury to 17-year-old Erich Kulas, known as The Mass Transit Incident.
In 2004, the controversial wrestler was rumoured to be featured on SmackDown as there was growing speculation that he was the one who kayfabe stabbed John Cena as part of his feud with Carlito. However, multiple podcasts and outlets have since debunked this rumour, stating that there were no plans to have the former ECW wrestler be a part of the company.
New Jack, real name Jerome Young, was the subject of a Dark Side of the Ring episode in season 2, which detailed his many controversies in the wrestling world. Young passed away in 2021.
H/t to Cultaholic.