Rhea Ripley, Cody Rhodes and Bianca Belair Named Cover Athletes to WWE 2K24
Just like they do with basketball, 2K always makes the right choice on who should be their cover athlete, no matter how lousy the game actually is. Since 2012, we’ve seen numerous WWE Superstars such as John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Ric Flair, Brock Lesnar, and more. Yesterday, it was announced that ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes, Rhea Ripley, and Bianca Belair have been named the cover athletes for the new game. Let’s look at their accolades, and how their career has panned out since joining the WWE.
During Cody Rhodes’ first run with the WWE from 2006-2016, Rhodes became an icon, winning the Intercontinental Championship twice, as well as being a great tag team wrestler, winning six tag team titles. He won three World Tag Team Championships and three WWE Tag Team Championships. At last year’s Royal Rumble, Cody won it all giving him the right to a championship matchup at WrestleMania 39. Even though he lost his title match for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to Roman Reigns, he’s been getting much more notoriety in the past year. His possible rematch for the title with Reigns is still up in the air, and many want to see ‘The American Nightmare’ as the WWE’s new champion. Rhodes being on the 2K cover shows how much popularity and love he gets from wrestling fans all over the world.
The Judgment Day member Rhea Ripley has had an unbelievable wrestling career since joining the WWE in 2017. She was the first NXT UK Women’s Champion and became the first NXT member to defend their title at WrestleMania. She joined the main roster as well as The Judgment Day in 2022. Ripley is a one-time Raw Women’s Champion and one-time WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion with Nikki A.S.H. After she won the Smackdown Women’s Championship in April 2023, she became the seventh WWE Women’s Triple Crown Champion and fourth WWE Women’s Grand Slam Champion. Rhea won the 2023 Royal Rumble as the first entry, becoming the first woman to win coming out of that number-one spot. Her accolades will only grow as time goes on, and she certainly more than deserves this 2K cover.
Five years after debuting in 2016, Bianca Belair won the 2021 Women’s Royal Rumble, becoming the second African American to win a Rumble match since The Rock. This past year, she became the longest reigning Raw Women’s Champion with a reign of 420 days, having the longest reign of any women wrestler since 2006. Bianca’s 420-day reign is the longest in the Raw Women’s Championship history. She may have lost her second title to Iyo Sky in a minute and 35 seconds, the shortest in the title’s history, but she is a well-fought, well-deserving 2K cover athlete. Her competitiveness as a wrestler will break more accolades, and she will always have her name in the title conversation.
