Did May 26, the day that Grand Theft Auto 6 was supposed to release, leave you feeling frustrated? Is the thought of waiting until November 19 getting you angry? Well, don’t hold onto those emotions; install WWE 2K26 and lay the smackdown on Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick, who has been added as a playable character in the game, for some reason.
One thing’s for sure: the moment I saw the 68-year-old had been added to the game’s roster, I immediately booted it up and introduced him to the idea of a Steel Cage match. According to the announcer, he weighs in at 165 pounds and hails from Boston, Massachusetts.
The CEO of Take-Two, the parent company of GTA 6 developer Rockstar Games, has his own unique entrance animation and comes out to My Way by Frank Sinatra, which I’m sure was a hefty licensing fee. You can’t use the theme for any other wrestler, though; that’s reserved for the big boss. His entrance animation is actually quite comic, though, because the expression on his face looks like a man who’s resigned to taking a beating.
He’s even gotten his own unique commentary lines in the sports game from Michael Cole and Wade Barrett, with quips including that he’s “a businessman in the boardroom but a technician in the ring,” and that “he’s looking to take a title here in WWE, in fact, he might Take-Two.”
He’s currently rated 77 in the game, which is also quite bizarre, as he’s actually rated higher than some real wrestlers who actively work for the company. According to the game, Zelnick is stronger than former NXT Champion Johnny Gargano and former WWE United Kingdom Champions Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate. He’s even rated higher than William Regal, who’s considered a legendary mat wrestler.
Why has Zelnick appeared in WWE 2K26? Well, that’s a little harder to answer. There’s no record of him being a professional wrestling fan, and he’s admitted in the past that he’s not much of a gamer. He does seem to have an affinity for the WWE 2K series, though, and said recently that there were “ongoing opportunities to improve the quality of the game,” as he looks to grow the franchise.
Zelnick has been talking about GTA 6 recently, too, remaining bullish on the fact that the game will definitely release on November 19, saying he “knows” that’s the launch day.
As strange as this inclusion is, I’m not complaining. For the foreseeable future, every time I think about how long I have to wait until GTA 6’s release date, I’ll just boot up WWE 2K26 and slam him through a table. It won’t make the time go by any quicker, but it’ll make me happy.
