Bray Wyatt was once of the most frequently-featured wrestlers in all of WWE, winning multiple championships as Bray Wyatt and his sinister alter-ego "The Fiend." Despite The Fiend's popularity, Bray Wyatt was released from WWE in July of last year, and he has yet to make any wrestling appearances since then. However, it seems that there once were plans to heavily feature The Fiend in WWE 2K22.
Twitter account WrestleTracker sent out a tweet detailing a supposed storyline that they believed was meant for Bray Wyatt after the WrestleMania 37 angle where he was betrayed by Alexa Bliss. According to the tweet, the storyline would've seen Bray Wyatt join forces with Dana Brooke, with Brooke taking on the mantle of "The Shiend" - presumably a female version of The Fiend character. However, Wyatt himself responded to the tweet to clear up some confusion.
According to Wyatt, this storyline was not meant for actual WWE television, but was instead made up for the WWE 2K22 video game. Wyatt doesn't clarify exactly where this content would've been featured in WWE 2K22, but the MyRISE mode seems like the most obvious candidate. In any case, it seems that WWE releasing Wyatt from his contract meant these video game storyline plans had to be scrapped.
Data mining efforts have confirmed that Bray Wyatt was supposed to be in WWE 2K22, but he was ultimately removed from the game. Other cut wrestlers have also been discovered in WWE 2K22's files, including Ruby Riott and Daniel Bryan, who now appear on AEW television as Ruby Soho and Bryan Danielson, respectively.
WWE talent cuts had some impact on the WWE 2K22 roster, but some cut wrestlers still appear in the game, even those who are now in AEW. For example, Keith Lee and Kyle O'Reilly are both in WWE 2K22, even though the two of them have been featured on AEW for months now.
The WWE 2K22 roster will expand with future updates, but fans shouldn't hold their breath about seeing any of this cut content restored. WWE 2K22 DLC packs will consist entirely of new playable characters and not substantial new story content, and since Bray Wyatt is still no longer with WWE, it wouldn't make sense to add him or this cut storyline to the game. So while Bray Wyatt fans may be disappointed that he's not in WWE 2K22, the bright side is that there are still some new wrestlers to look forward to in the months ahead.
WWE 2K22 is out now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.