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Over several years, WWE video games have featured the top stars of the past, present, and future. However, there are still a bunch of pro wrestling personas who have never appeared in an officially licensed video game released by World Wrestling Entertainment.
WWE has had a sizeable impact on the video game market, selling tens of millions of games to fans all across the globe. The company's history with video games dates back to 1987 with the release of MicroLeague Wrestling. In March of this year, World Wrestling Entertainment released their latest entry to the gaming masses, WWE 2K24.
WWE 2K24 features Cody Rhodes as the cover star of the game's standard edition. The deluxe edition of the game features two of the top women's wrestlers on the main roster, Rhea Ripley and Bianca Belair.
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Regardless of the stars who get to be the faces of the games, some don't ever make it as playable characters. Though they may have appeared as downloadable wrestlers in Community Creations, some gimmicks have never officially made their way into any video game released by the Stamford-based promotion.
Let's look at five wrestling personas who've never appeared as playable characters in an official WWE video game.
#5. WWE never signed WCW's Disco Inferno, but that hasn't stopped Glenn Gilbertti from making headlines in the wrestling media
Glenn Gilbertti's current gimmick is being a Dax Harwood antagonizer on social media. But during his six-year run as a pro wrestler in WCW, Glenn is best remembered for playing the role of Disco Inferno, a character inspired by John Travolta's role in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever, which was also inspired by the disco music craze of the 1970s.
Disco was a solid midcard act in WCW, entertaining audiences as a living representative of a bygone era. During his time with the Atlanta-based promotion, he achieved championship success in various divisions, including a reign apiece with the Cruiserweight and World Tag Team Titles and two reigns as WCW World Television Champion. He'd even weasel his way into the nWo Wolfpac.
Unlike many of his peers in World Championship Wrestling, Disco Inferno was never hired by WWE in any capacity. As a result of this, Disco was never selected to appear in an officially licensed WWE video game.
However, Inferno did appear in multiple games for World Championship Wrestling, such as WCW Nitro (PS1, N64, Microsoft Windows), WCW/nWo Revenge (Nintendo 64 exclusive), WCW Mayhem (PS1, N64), WCW Backstage Assault (PS1, N64), and WCW/nWo Thunder (PlayStation exclusive). Disco does not appear in the Game Boy Color version of Mayhem. It's worth noting that the N64 and Windows versions of Nitro included the updated roster from PS1's Thunder.
The character art for the fictional wrestler "Sherlock" in the PS1 game WCW vs. The World resembles Disco Inferno, although multiple sources indicate that the character is based on "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock.
#4. Bart Gunn never appeared in a WWE video game despite a noteworthy tag team career and an infamous knockout of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams
Bart Gunn initially gained fame in the wrestling world as a tag team competitor during the World Wrestling Federation's New Generation. While performing with The Smoking Gunns persona, Bart and Billy would become three-time WWF Tag Team Champions. The duo portrayed a gimmick that resembled outlaw cowboys. Bart's partner, Billy Gunn, would find much greater success as one-half of The New Age Outlaws during the Attitude Era.
After the duo broke up, Bart's singles career floundered before he found himself once again in a tag team. Gunn joined an invading stable based on the National Wrestling Alliance, changed his name to Bodacious Bart, and won the NWA World Tag Team Titles alongside the future Hardcore Holly. Bodacious Bart and Bombastic Bob represented a new version of The Midnight Express, yet they failed to live up to their predecessors.
Bart Gunn's most memorable moment in WWF happened during a Brawl for All battle against "Dr. Death" Steve Williams. Dr. Death was reportedly in line for a major push before his shocking defeat. Gunn would knockout Dr. Death in the third round of the quarter-finals. That was the first KO of the tournament. Bart would then knockout The Godfather in the semi-finals before knocking out Bradshaw in the finals to win the Brawl for All tournament.
Gunn would never be featured as a playable character in a WWE-licensed video game. Although he did appear in Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, which is a Japanese-exclusive game for Nintendo 64, released in January 2000.
#3. Johnny B. Badd stayed in World Championship Wrestling when Marc Mero signed with WWE
Marc Mero had a run in the World Wrestling Federation during the latter part of the 1990s, but he left his Johnny B. Badd character in WCW because they owned the rights to the gimmick. Mero found some degree of success in WWE, attaining one reign as Intercontinental Champion, but he lacked the charisma found in his previous persona. Ultimately, he'd be overshadowed by his now ex-wife Sable.
Johnny B. Badd was a flamboyant and entertaining character who visually mirrored famed singer-songwriter Little Richard. He performed for World Championship Wrestling from 1991 to early March 1996. During this time, he became a three-time WCW World Television Champion. He'd also win two Rookie of the Year awards in 1991 (Pro Wrestling Illustrated and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter). In 1995, he was named the Most Improved Wrestler by WON.
Badd appeared in two officially licensed video games for WCW in 1994. He's a playable character for Game Boy's WCW: The Main Event and Super Nintendo's WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling.
"Marvelous" Marc Mero only made one appearance in a WWE-licensed video game. He'd appear as an unlockable character in WWF Attitude for PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast. Mero wasn't available in the Game Boy Color version of the game.
Mero is one of the wrestlers announced to appear in an upcoming indie video game that's still in development, The Wrestling Code.
#2. Duke "The Dumpster" Droese was never featured in a WWE video game
WWE's New Generation Era featured a variety of occupational gimmicks, one of which was a sanitation worker known as Duke "The Dumpster" Droese. Droese was an undercard competitor known for carrying a trash can during his ring entrance. Despite largely being used as an enhancement talent, The Dumpster had some surprisingly competitive battles during his run in the World Wrestling Federation, with the likes of Triple H at times only narrowly defeating Droese.
Duke's first televised match with WWE was a win over Mike Bell on an episode of WWF Superstars that was taped on April 27, 1994, and aired 24 days later. He'd debut on Monday Night RAW on May 23, 1994, with a win over Barry Horowitz.
The Dumpster stayed with the Stamford-based promotion for over two years, departing in the summer of 1996. He'd return to wrestle two dark matches on RAW is WAR in March 1998. At WrestleMania X-Seven, Droese briefly returned as a participant in the Gimmick Battle Royal.
The Dumpster's most notable rival was perhaps Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Droese scored a victory over Triple H via disqualification during the pre-show for the 1996 Royal Rumble, thereby winning the number 30 spot in the Rumble later that night. Helmsley would defeat Duke the following month at In Your House 6, using Droese's trash can lid for the win. The garbage man would then pick up a slew of non-televised victories over HHH, winning most of their House Show encounters.
Duke "The Dumpster" Droese has never appeared in an officially licensed video game for the former World Wrestling Federation. The New Generation's waste collector also hasn't appeared in any non-WWE wrestling video games.
#1. Gillberg blamed Goldberg for his lack of appearances in WWE-licensed video games
Duane Gill is most famously known in professional wrestling for his parody of Goldberg during WWF's Attitude Era. He'd make various appearances in WWE in later years portraying the comedic gimmick, including as a participant in a nostalgia-based battle royal during RAW's 15th Anniversary show on December 10, 2007.
Goldberg has previously discussed his hatred for the Gillberg gimmick and how he "wanted to rip the guy's face off" and "wanted to really kill him."
Gillberg has indicated in numerous interviews that Goldberg may be the reason why the Stamford-based promotion hasn't released any Gillberg merchandise or featured him as a playable character in any of their video games. According to Duane Gill, he heard that someone who looks like him (alluding to Goldberg) "has a thumb on top" of Gillberg, which has allegedly hurt him financially and professionally in the wrestling business.
Goldberg also allegedly refused to have a match with Gillberg on numerous occasions. However, Goldberg did get physical with his parody impersonator during The Rock's 'rock concert' segment on the April 21, 2003, episode of WWE RAW.
During his time in Titanland, Gillberg became the longest reigning Light Heavyweight Champion on the WWF roster, not including the title's history in NJPW, MPW, and UWA. He held the title for over 440 days, but Gillberg sparsely defended the gold on WWE programming.
His most recent appearance with the Stamford-based promotion happened on a January 2021 episode of RAW, which featured Gillberg having an in-ring segment with The Miz, John Morrison, and a Drew McIntyre impersonator.
Gillberg is officially listed on the roster of an upcoming video game that's still in development, The Wrestling Code. The game developer (Virtual Basement) posted a video on X in July 2022, showing Gillberg doing motion capture work for the game.
