On the Monday edition of ESPN’s SportsCenter, Seth Rollins announced to the world that he would be the cover star of WWE 2K18. Rollins now joins the long list of illustrious names of Superstars that have graced the cover in the past. The game is set to be released on October 17th on both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms.
The decision for the former Money in the Bank holder to grace the cover has been met with ample backlash online. Many have struggled to understand the choice as they feel many other competitors are more befitting of such an honour.
Here are 5 reasons why the choice to have Seth Rollins grace the cover of WWE 2K18 is a bad one.
#5 He’s had a lacklustre year
Seth Rollins may have beaten Triple H at Wrestlemania 33, but for the majority of the wrestling calendar, Rollins was chasing shadows and losing title matches. He lost the first-ever Universal Championship pay-per-view bout, the 2nd Universal Championship bout, he lost the 3rd one in a rematch with Kevin Owens and then he was part of the RAW team that lost the main event at Survivor Series.
His obsession with Triple H deterred his path and made him lose his way on RAW, in the end, the feud was ended with a lacklustre match at Wrestlemania. Seth Rollins has not had a year to remember and his choice as cover star looks even more baffling now.
#4 He has time to be on the cover later
Seth Rollins is only 31-years old and his WWE career is still in its nascent stages. In the future, it is very likely that he will go down as one of the greats. But as of now, he’s an infant in the WWE main event scene and the WWE didn’t need to give him the reins now.
Rollins is not going anywhere for the next 10 years, why couldn’t the WWE give him the prestigious cover when the Kingslayer is more established as a household name?
Both Roman Reigns and Rollins will be the franchise players of the WWE for the next decade, they will inevitably be cover stars in the future when they’re actually famous. At this moment in time, they’re in WWE's bubble and Rollins as the cover star is unlikely to drive game sales.
#3 Missed a chance to create history
In the past 12 months, we’ve had the first women’s pay-per-view main event, the first women’s hell in a cell match and the first women’s money in the bank ladder match. The females on both RAW and SmackDown have raised their profiles immensely as the women’s revolution has truly broken down barriers in the WWE.
Why couldn’t the WWE use their innovative minds to capitalise on such momentum by making another ground-breaking move towards gender equality.
You can’t tell me that the daughter of Ric Flair or the cousin of Snoop Dogg wouldn’t have looked good on the cover of WWE 2K18. Such a cover choice could have put the WWE at the forefront of female empowerment in sports entertainment today. It’s a shame that the WWE didn’t capitalise on the monumental 12 months the women have just had.
#2 The Undertaker deserved it
In a year where arguably the most famous name in professional wrestling hung up his boots, the WWE missed out on a golden opportunity to send off the Phenom with a proper farewell. Wrestlemania 33 and 2017 will now forever be remembered as the time the Undertaker laid to rest a 28-year career.
The man who has become synonymous with the WWE’s biggest pay-per-view ensured he’d have the most talked about Wrestlemania segment ever as he retired in the main event of Wrestlemania 33.
So, after all he’s done for the company, why the WWE couldn’t reward him with the prestigious honour of being the WWE 2K 18 cover star is beyond me. This could have been not only out of respect for the legend but also to at least capitalise on the enormous buzz that was generated by Taker’s retirement.
The year of 2017 will forever be linked with the Undertaker and the WWE missed a big opportunity to cement that fact. Aside from just this, having Undertaker on the cover of 2K18 could have possibly brought him back for one last run. It did so for Sting and Goldberg after all.
However, Undertaker retired at a time which many felt was right. His body was getting slower and more out of shape, and fans believed that it was the rightful time for The Deadman to go out.
#1 He’s not marketable
As much as we love our WWE Superstars, a lot of our ‘stars’ are only famous within our own niche circle. They trend online and have a large social media presence, but if you ask the wider public who ‘Seth Rollins’ is, they’ll probably think you’re talking about Seth Rogen.
Unless it’s a John Cena, The Rock, The Undertaker, Hulk Hogan or Stone Cold, nobody knows who WWE wrestlers are.
Now imagine a random gaming fan walking into the game store looking at the WWE 2K18 cover and trying to work out who this long haired gentleman is. For the simple fact that he doesn’t know who the cover star is, he’ll all but certainly pass on paying £49.99 for a game he may not know anyone or anything about.
It doesn’t make sense from a marketing perspective to go from Brock Lesnar & Goldberg as cover stars to Seth Rollins. In the future, when you remember the iconic WWE game covers in history, Seth Rollins’ cover won’t be on that list.
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