Paul Heyman wants a former ECW star in WWE 2K17 – but it’s not who you’d expect

Former ECW boss Paul Heyman has singled out one of his former charges as a potential addition to the WWE 2K17 roster – but surprisingly, it isn’t a former company champion like The Sandman, Sabu or Rob Van Dam.

Instead, it’s long-time ECW commentator Joey Styles who he reckons would be a perfect addition to this year’s grap game. 

“I would choose Joey Styles,” he tells GR+ in the final part of our WWE 2K17 interview. “Why? Because I would like to see Brock Lesnar ‘F5’ Joey Styles. I’d love to hear what it sounds like when you're in midair and you're coming crashing down to the mat and you hear, “Oh-myyyyyyy-God!”. Crash.”

Fans have clamoured for ECW stars to feature in 2K’s flagship grap series for many years, and last year Mikey Whipwreck was one such surprise inclusion. For WWE 2K17, however, only Lesnar, John Cena, Ultimate Warrior, Goldberg and Sasha Banks have been announced so far.

Earlier this week Heyman told us a prospective WrestleMania 20 rematch between Lesnar and Goldberg would not end well for the latter.

Elsewhere in our interview, Heyman reveals he’s recorded significant soundbytes for this year’s game, perhaps hinting at a Showcase storyline in which you get to be a ‘Paul Heyman guy’ (or girl). 

“Without revealing too much about the inner workings of the game, I recently did a number of voiceovers for it,” he says. “I spent around two hours talking to the player at home about being a Paul Heyman guy. I don't think Brock Lesnar would be happy with the decision for me to advocate for anybody else but Brock Lesnar – except if it comes to gameplay in WWE 2K17."

WWE 2K17 is released for PS4, PS3, Xbox One and Xbox 360 on 11 October. 

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Ben Wilson

I'm GamesRadar's sports editor, and obsessed with NFL, WWE, MLB, AEW, and occasionally things that don't have a three-letter acronym – such as Chvrches, Bill Bryson, and Streets Of Rage 4. (All the Streets Of Rage games, actually.) Even after three decades I still have a soft spot for Euro Boss on the Amstrad CPC 464+.