I recently had the opportunity to go hands-on with WWE 2K25 amid the excitement of this year's Royal Rumble, and earlier this week I shared my first impressions, or at least most of them. Due to 2K Games' embargo, I wasn't able to talk about one of the game's features, the new Underground Match, until now.
For those unfamiliar, Raw Underground was a short-lived attempt to spice up the third hour of WWE's flagship TV program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosted by Shane McMahon, Raw Underground segments were one part Fight Club, one part UFC, with competitors working more of a "shoot" style in ropeless rings. While Raw Underground was at least something different, it wasn't particularly well-received by fans, wasn’t really integrated into the rest of the show in any logical way, and was quietly scrapped after just a couple of months.
Given that history, it was somewhat surprising to hear WWE 2K25 developer Visual Concepts was reviving the Underground Match, but according to series producer Lynell Jinks, they’re “always looking” for things that could be gamified in a fun way, even if those things didn’t originally blow TV viewers away.
WWE 2K25 partly replicates the original look of the Underground Matches, removing the ropes and surrounding the ring with rowdy spectators, but it doesn’t go all the way. There were no unique Underground arenas in the preview build I played, and according to Jinks, there won’t be any – the matches will simply take place in regular arenas.
“[Underground matches] can take place in any arena that will kind of take the aesthetic from the Underground match. Turn the lights down low with the spotlights, turn off all the barricade LEDs to give that cool unique look and remove the ropes. So yeah, so it's kind of cool and dynamic in that way.”
As for how Underground Matches actually play, you can only win them by knockout or submission, but otherwise, they’re essentially just no-DQ matches. Admittedly, being able to freely chuck your opponents out of the ring without the ropes getting in your way is fun and allows you to move from the ring to the floor and back again more freely. That said, I would have liked more unique animations specifically tailored for this match or perhaps even some changes to Superstar movesets. The fact that the matches had more of a gritty MMA-like vibe was kind of the entire point of Raw Underground. As presented in WWE 2K25, the Underground Match really feels more like an old-fashioned Lights Out match.
Current thoughts on the WWE 2K25 Underground Match
WWE 2K25's Underground Match shows some potential, and I'm all for combing the WWE archives for weird relics that might work better in a game than they did on TV. That said, it's hard to shake the feeling Underground Matches were added to WWE 2K25 simply because they were something the dev team could pull off technically without too much difficulty. I could see some fans adding the Underground Match to their regular rotation while playing Exhibition with buddies, but compared to some other recent additions like WWE 2K23's Wargames and 2K24's Ambulance match, this fight club isn't that much to talk about.
Need to know more about WWE 2K25? Take a moment to check out my wide-ranging interview with the game’s producers.
WWE 2K25 launches on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, and PS5 on March 14, although those who buy the Deadman or Bloodline special editions can play a week early on March 7.
