WWE 2K22 – Syndication Server

WWE 2K22: 10 best finishers and how to do them

WWE 2K22 is full of awesome moves from wrestling’s history. We’ve collected the best to tell you how to perform them.

In wrestling, the big moves are what get fans out of their seats. Finishers are usually the coolest-looking moves in a wrestler’s arsenal, and they indicate that the end of a match might be looming. Some moves are so crowd-pleasing that they leave the wrestling bubble and become more popular than the wrestler that performs it.

WWE 2K22 is filled with the most iconic moves throughout WWE history, and they can all be freely assigned to Create-A-Wrestlers, for those who want to make the flashiest moveset possible. There are even a handful of moves in the game done by current AEW wrestlers, making it a true encapsulation of wrestling history. We’ve put together a collection of the very best in the game.

[mm-video type=video id=01fxtggd41hpvmvm88px playlist_id=none player_id=none image=https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/video/thumbnail/mmplus/01fxtggd41hpvmvm88px/01fxtggd41hpvmvm88px-59a8b4fedc03be7f99c1262766346d4f.jpg]

How to perform a Finisher

WWE 2K22 made some changes to the Finisher system, which many praised as a return to form. you must first build up the yellow bar at the bottom of the HUD. This is done by hitting moves, staying on top, or filling all three blue bars and successfully hitting a Signature move. You can execute a Finisher by pressing RT & A on Xbox, R2 & X on PlayStation, or Space & K on PC.

Chris Jericho’s Liontamer

Submission finishers often go unappreciated in wrestling, but there are so many good ones that look like they truly hurt. The Liontamer is one such move, which is boosted by how rare it is to see Jericho pull it off in the modern day. This is because the move is so genuinely painful that only the most flexible of wrestlers can be contorted by it in real life. However, in the game, it can be locked in on any wrestler quite easily by hitting the finisher button by a grounded opponent’s legs.

Although he’s currently in AEW, Chris Jericho is deserving of his status as a legend in WWE, and his full moveset is still scattered throughout WWE 2K22’s, making the game much more fun. The Liontamer is present under the name ‘Elevated Boston Crab’ in the moveset menu, his classic Codebreaker is called ‘Double Knee Facebuster’, and the Judas Effect is known as ‘Spinning Back Elbow’.

John Cena’s Attitude Adjustment off a ladder

Ladder matches are chaotic affairs, especially when upwards of six competitors are involved. In these situations, building up a Finisher can be difficult enough, let alone creating an opening big enough to pull it off. That said, it makes nailing one very satisfying.

The Attitude Adjustment is a very simple move, just a lift and a slam, but that makes it the perfect move to throw someone off a ladder, as they hit the ground with great force. When you have a Finisher stored up, climb the ladder and wait for someone to climb the other side, then hit the Finisher button and watch the fireworks.

CM Punk’s G.T.S

Ever the controversial figure, CM Punk made his grand return to wrestling with AEW in 2021 after seven years away. Since then, he has proved he can still go like he used to, and made fans fall in love with his work all over again. Despite having heaps of bad blood with WWE, his most iconic move was never removed from the game.

The G.T.S, or Go To Sleep for long, shows off the strength Punk has despite his size. Lifting his opponent onto his shoulders before kneeing them in the face, Punk has seen the move take him to the top of every company he’s ever worked for. You can do it in WWE 2K22 by hitting the Finisher button while standing in front of your opponent.

Brock Lesnar’s Double F5

The most dominant wrestler in WWE history, Brock Lesnar has used the F5 to beat just about everyone ever put in his path. It’s a move that highlights Brock’s inhuman strength, lifting his opponent on his shoulders before simply throwing them at the ground as hard as he can.

If it didn’t already make Brock feel unstoppable, then stacking up two people on his shoulders at once sure does. You’ll need two Finishers stored up for this one. You have to Irish Whip two opponents into one of the corners, approach them, and hit the Finisher button.

Ember Moon’s Eclipse

Although she is no longer in WWE, Ember Moon is still a playable character in WWE 2K22, which is great because the Eclipse is one of the most stylish moves ever in video games. For this move, Moon climbs to the top rope, before leaping at her opponent and hitting them with a Stunner.

The fluidity of the leap, turn and impact makes it something truly special, and is sure to get a reaction from any crowd. In the game, players will need to head to the top rope and hit the Finisher button when their opponent is standing. Be careful, though, as the opponent must be close enough, and if they’re not stunned they’re sure to knock you off the turnbuckle.

Walter’s Avalanche Powerbomb

When it comes to a throwback style of wrestling, there is no one better than Walter. An absolute mountain of a man with the agility of someone a quarter his size and a Chop that’ll cave your ribcage in, he’s put on some of WWE’s best matches of the last few years, and he makes his video game debut in WWE 2K22.

He’s had some brutal matches that have ended in shocking ways, like with a Bullfrog Splash, a series of Powerbombs, or just an extremely hard Chop. His biggest move, though, is the Avalanche Powerbomb, which sees him drag his opponent to the top rope, before lifting them even higher and sending them crashing to the ground. To do this in the game, simply Irish Whip your opponent into the corner with a Finisher at the ready.

Moonsault through the announce table

The announcer’s desk takes a lot of abuse in wrestling shows. Sitting directly at ringside, it’s common for wrestlers to weaponise it in a variety of ways. Be it throwing their opponent over it, slamming into it, or worst of all, driving them through it. The last of those options is by far the most spectacular, and it requires a lot of work to pull off, so much it’ll feel like a wrestling RPG quest.

First, you’ll need to take your opponent out of the ring and drag them over to the table. If it’s done properly, then the opponent should be leaning against it. Then, hit the Finisher button and watch the fireworks fly. There are a bunch of different announce table Finishers, but the coolest is the Moonsault, which sees you climb the turnbuckle before leaping across the ringside area onto your opponent.

Stone Cold Stunner

Sometimes it’s good to go back to the classic. The Stone Cold Stunner is one of the most exciting moves in wrestling thanks in large part to the wrestler who innovated it. Stone Cold Steve Austin took a fairly simple move and made it into the biggest crowd-pleaser of all time. Not to mention, any wrestler will tell you that it is the most fun move to be hit with, as you can sell it in ridiculous ways.

There are a couple of different variations on the move in WWE 2K22, such as Kevin Owens’ Stunner. You can’t beat the original though, and sending opponents flying with the Stone Cold Stunner is a great thrill. Hitting it is very simple, you just have to hit the Finisher button while standing in front of your opponent.

Randy Orton’s Catching RKO

An example of a move that has a greater presence than its wrestler, the RKO has become a meme in its own right thanks to how simple and enjoyable it is. When Randy Orton hits it normally, it gets any crowd excited, but there are so many cool variations on the move.

The best one in WWE 2K22 is the catching RKO, which can be performed in several ways. When whipping an opponent into the ropes, players can throw them up in the air when they rebound. Do so, then hit the Finisher button as they’re in the air. Alternatively, it can be used as a counter. When an opponent does any kind of diving move from the top rope, hitting the Finisher button will cause you to pop up and hit them with the RKO.

The Undertaker’s Chokeslam off Hell In A Cell

One of wrestling’s more iconic moments sees Mankind toppling from the top of the giant Hell In A Cell through the announce table at the hands of The Undertaker. Naturally, players are going to want to recreate moments like this in WWE 2K22, and the game has them covered.

First, during a Hell In A Cell match, you must throw your opponent into the cell wall enough for it to break, and then you can climb to the top. Next, if you do a Finisher when the opponent is teetering on the edge, you’ll send them flying off to their doom. There are a few variations, such as a Superkick or Attitude Adjustment, but if you’re looking for the authentic moment, the Chokeslam is the way to go.

Written by Ryan Woodrow on behalf of GLHF.

[listicle id=1859445]

WWE 2K22 impressions: A return to form

The WWE 2K series gets back on the right track with the release of 2K22.

The WWE 2K series hit an all-time low point in the franchise with the release of WWE 2K20 back in 2019, a game riddled with glitches and obvious flaws that led to it receiving the worst reviews in the series.

Developer Visual Concepts and 2K Sports skipped a year and cancelled 2K21, and that decision has resulted in massive improvements. With the release of 2K22, the extra year of polish is evident, and 2K has delivered one of the biggest graphical upgrades between two iterations of a sports franchise that we’ve ever seen.

Here are our impressions of WWE 2K22, which is out now for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

WWE 2K22 review: wrestling is fun again

Having skipped last year’s game, WWE 2K22 brings wrestling back to PC and consoles. And it’s fun again.

Every match you play in WWE 2K22 is judged and evaluated across a range of factors, and one of these is “drama”. This is one of the tiny details that prove how Visual Concepts and 2K Games finally understand wrestling as a sport, and, more importantly, as entertainment.

2K’s 2020 WWE game was plagued with issues, forcing the publisher to take a sabbatical from its usual annual releases. If WWE 2K22 launched in a similar state, it could well spell the end for wrestling games, at least until another developer dives in off the top rope to save the day.

While it’s not perfect, WWE 2K22 is, fortunately, a return to form. It’s a wrestling game that remembers to entertain, straddling the line between simulation and arcade, grappler and brawler. It brings back the drama to the sport. As in real wrestling, the game is full of interferences and roll-ups, unexpected and unpredictable pins, lots of special moves, finishers, and many tools (such as the Payback mechanics) to reverse the course of a match that might seem lost.

Wrestlers’ movements in the ring don’t have the same robotic quality as previous games, and animations mostly flow nicely from one move to the next. There’s still some rigidity, but that’s to be expected when there are so many options and variables in something as dynamic as professional wrestling. UI and controls are easy to grasp, thanks to excellent onboarding and tutorials.

The game is at its best in 1v1, both with characters created from scratch, or legends of the caliber of Batista, Edge or Undertaker. This is because bigger matches are more complex to manage: any time you try to pin your opponent, someone comes in and interrupts the count – that someone is difficult to intercept due to a stringent disqualification system and, above all, because of how slow your wrestler is to switch target.

Defending also works well, with intuitive parrying and counter-moves systems. With their excellent responsiveness, they allow you to turn the tables at any time (within the limits dictated by an overlying bar, that is irreparably emptied after a few hits). It’s set up to allow for surprising underdog victories and upsets, which means no fight ever feels completely hopeless, even if you’re getting pummeled.

A new entry this year, MyRise is a proper story mode where you create a custom wrestler and try to make them a Hall of Famer. The creation process is quite painful, undermined by dozens of loading screens (even on PS5), and the plot itself is very basic – from a purely mechanical point of view, though, it’s a tasty introduction for WWE fans.

As in any RPG, you can choose a background for your character, whether they come from Hollywood or MMA, and this influences dialogue options, as well as that wrestler’s abilities. You can also accept or reject quests, which grant you points to be distributed across the fighter’s skills and whose success or failure affects some narrative junctions, while your conduct inside and outside of the ring will determine whether they are heel (villain) or face (hero). MyRise shows how WWE 2K22 understands the fantasy of wrestling.

The game still has several issues from a purely technical standpoint. In the ring, it’s still frustrating how it handles interrupting your opponent’s moves, since in most cases, when an animation starts, you’re committed to it. And there’s the referee’s AI, which often struggles to start a count before finding themselves a nice, comfy place in the ring first.

Entrances are barebones, facial expressions and eyes are empty (though they look fine from a distance), and it’s fairly inconsistent between wrestlers, too. John Cena looks like a knock-off toy version of John Cena that you’d find in a dollar store.

Some characters are undoubtedly better looking than others – just look at Randy Orton – and a large portion of the roster has received an impressive upgrade compared to WWE 2K20, at least.

It’s fairly bug-free compared to that mess of a game, thankfully. Cutscene animations seem to lose some frames, and replays at the end of the match are often broken without a specific reason, but there’s nothing as major as two years ago, at least ahead of public launch.

Overall, PS2 and early PS3-era Smackdown vs Raw’s smoothness are still a distant dream, but the franchise seems to be finally on the right track. Ideally, Visual Concepts and 2K Games will need to fix the structural shortcomings found in several modes, and hopefully they figure out how to make a virtual John Cena one day. If you want a good wrestling game that knows how to bring back the drama of the sport, though, WWE 2K22 is finally a viable option.

Written by Paolo Sirio on behalf of GLHF.

[listicle id=1071233]