Former WWE boss Vince McMahon's likeness was almost removed from WWE 2K24, VGC first reported. McMahon recently stepped down as WWE executive chairman following a lawsuit by a former employee alleging sex trafficking and abuse by McMahon and other employees.

McMahon has acted as both a real-life CEO of WWE and as a character in storylines, and has been the focus of numerous allegations of sexual misconduct over the years. McMahon stepped down from the company in 2022 after being investigated for a $3 million hush money payment, but the WSJ (where readers may encounter a paywall) further reported that same year that McMahon had paid $12 million to four women over several years to cover up further sexual misconduct allegations reported.

McMahon, who returned to oversee the UFC merger in 2023, left the company again this past January after former employee Janelle Grant filed a lawsuit alleging egregious sexual abuse at McMahon's hands, including being used as a bargaining chip in contract negotiations with star wrestlers. Although not named in the lawsuit, the involvement of wrestler and UFC fighter Brock Lesnar was subsequently speculated and reported; WWE reportedly canceled Lesnar's scheduled appearance at Lesslmania 40 in response, but Lesnar was temporarily fired by the promotion s active roster, from which he had been temporarily dismissed. [However, the "40 Years of Wrestlemania Showcase" mode includes a "greatest hits" selection of matches from the event, and these matches are recreated in-game along with archival footage. Lesnar remains playable in a recreation of his match with Undertaker at Lesslmania 30. McMahon appears as an NPC in the engine in one match, but his face is blurred out in archival footage regarding another match.

This blurring draws more attention to McMahon than anything else. Similar techniques are used on the referee and other on-screen figures that Visual Concepts did not have portrait rights to, but none are as central as McMahon. At the same time, the scandal surfaced near the end of 2K24's development, and it appears that the developers had few options for dealing with the new persona non grata.