WWE 2K26: 9 Things You Need To Know
3. 4 New Match Types (And How They'll Work)
The inclusion of 4 new matches in WWE 2K26 sounded fun, but there ultimately isn't a whole lot to them. The franchise-first 'Dumpster Match' is a reskinned Casket bout with seemingly the exact same animations, whilst the series-returning Inferno and I Quit matches appear to work similarly to how they did in WWE 2K14, with the flames on the former requiring expert polishing: it currently looks as though 2K ripped the fire from the default green screen fire animation you can look up on YouTube.
The saving grace is the '3 Stages of Hell' match.
Returning to the series for the first time, officially, since SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 (it featured as one-off mode-exclusives in 2K15 and 2K16's Showcases), the match type was explained in great detail by Visual Concepts' Lead Combat Designer, Derek Donahue (h/t GameSpot):
"You choose 3 matches up front, and you have a lot of customisation for the order in which matches you want. And once you load into the game, you're going to be there through all 3 matches. We have this really complex transition system in between so that you don't actually hit a loading screen at all, and it feels like it's a continuous '3 Stages of Hell' [match] before you get out of it. It's going to feel like you've been through hell, win or lose, at the end of that match type".
Interesting.