WWE 2K23 officially released on Tuesday and players are already finding plenty of easter eggs sprinkled throughout the game. One of the funniest so far is in MyRise mode in which your custom character will face a masked wrestler named El Ordinario. This is an obvious nod to El Generico, the masked alter ego Sami Zayn used on the independent scene prior to joining WWE.
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Zayn recently celebrated the 21st anniversary of his pro wrestling debut. The past year has been an all-timer for the former Intercontinental Champion as he’s been a pillar of The Bloodline storyline, arguably WWE’s best creation in years. While still unconfirmed, it’s heavily rumored that he’ll team with Kevin Owens to challenge The Usos for the Unified WWE Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 39 next month.
Cody Rhodes on WWE Fans Supporting Sami Zayn
Zayn finally turned his back on The Bloodline at the Royal Rumble and challenged Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at Elimination Chamber in his hometown of Montreal. But even as fans continued to rally around Zayn, Cody Rhodes admitted he was never worried about losing his spot in the WrestleMania 39 main event against Reigns.
“I looked at it as a challenge, is probably the best way to look at it, and not a negative challenge,” Rhodes recently said on Out of Character. “Sami is doing amazing things. You didn’t just buy yourself some future spot. You’ve got to get back in there and show people exactly what you can do. What a great problem to have when you have two very strong characters. One of the worst things we can do as a community is trying to turn the characters against one another. Sami got his shot in Montreal, in his hometown, and came as close as anyone. Drew may be very similar in terms of being close. Sami and I have a real genuine relationship. I thought, ‘Well, if they love him, and I’m been so lucky that they love me in this moment too, I better make sure I give them the absolute best, and again, leave no doubt.’ I never once looked at it as a problem. I looked at it as a challenge and for WWE as a whole, a great problem to have.”
“Every show is a little more telling, but Brooklyn, in the Barclays Center, that filled me with confidence as far as their belief in what he’s doing and their belief in what I’m doing,” he continued. “There are stories to be finished here for both sides and the worst thing you can do is turn those against each other. As we stood there I thought, ‘Well, I’d love to wrestle this guy.’ I would love to wrestle this guy because you know, Sami wasn’t sweating me when I was Stardust, and rightfully so. He didn’t need too. He was coming up from NXT and on a roll. It’s a different person now. So very much it’s a match that I look forward to when and if it ever happens with somebody like a Sami Zayn. He’s a next level performer and he’s even more of an elite next level human being.”
