WWE 2K22 confirmed at WrestleMania 37

WWE 2K22 has been officially announced during this year's WrestleMania 37.

Publisher 2K revealed a new trailer during the massive WWE event, with veteran wrestlers Rey Mysterio and Cesaro appearing in the new clip for WWE 2K22. You can watch it right now below.

The news sees the long-awaited return of the series once known (and revered) as WWF Smackdown. Planned predecessor WWE 2K21 was canceled following the hugely critical reaction to shambolic 2019 release WWE 2K20. It meant there was no sim WWE release across the entirety of last year, for the first time in two decades.

Both characters in the trailer look uncannily lifelike, as you'd expect from the series debut on PS5 and Xbox Series X. Mysterio is pictured on the entranceway in a patented luchador mask, before we cut to him dropkicking Cesaro into the ropes, then nailing him with his 619 finisher move.

The trailer dropped during last night's WrestleMania 37 event in Tampa, Florida – the first live WWE show to have fans in attendance for more than a year. 

The tagline for WWE 2K22 is: 'It hits different.’ “That [mantra] doesn’t just apply to the game itself but the way we market it and communicate with the press, content creators, and our community,” says 2K global communications manager Al Stavola. "We want to try out new ideas and bring everyone along for the journey."

"You're going to see things earlier than you have before, with more behind-the-scenes [content] than we’ve shown in the past. Transparency is really important. This is a different and huge step in the right direction."

There’s no official WWE 2K22 release date as yet, but you can expect it on PS5 and Xbox Series X in the winter of 2021.