Last month 2K revealed that WWE 2K26 will see a change in how the series approaches DLC with a brand new ringside pass season.
Since the announcement many fans have had their fair share of questions about how the changes will affect this year’s game and how DLC content will work going forward. 2K have now provided fans with an update letting them know what to expect from the ringside pass and what bonus content will arrive in the game thanks to the new approach.
So let’s get down to the nitty gritty with some answers from 2K as to what to expect from the ringside pass and an official confirmation of when each pass will launch and more. Once we’ve gone through each segment we’ll double back and give our thoughts on the changes.
Since the announcement many fans have compared the idea to somewhat of a Battlepass system with 2K having the following to say:
“The new Ringside Pass follows a battle pass format, featuring both a free and a premium track of rewards.”
On how the Ringside pass will work in WWE 2K26, 2K said:
Ringside Pass Season 1 will go live on March 6th with Early Access, meaning players won’t have to wait until after WrestleMania for the first DLC!
Every player will have access to the free track of the Ringside Pass, which features 60 rewards across 40 tiers and some of those rewards featuring bundles of content. To unlock content, players will collect RXP by simply playing matches across most game modes, so long as they have an online connection. Wins will grant more RXP, and completing challenges, some repeatable, and others via one-time milestone rewards also earns extra RXP for the opportunity to level up even faster.
As players progress through each level, unlocked items, such as VC, MyFACTION Packs, MFP, Island banners, etc, can be claimed while continuing to progress through the next level.
For those who have purchased the premium track via the Ringside Premium Pass, players will be able to earn additional content, including the new DLC Superstars, CAS Parts, Island taunts, Personas, and more. That means 60 additional rewards for a total of 120 across the free and premium tracks.
As players progress through the Ringside Premium Pass, both free and premium tracks will be unlocked at the same time, so if a player has reached Level/Tier 5, they will earn the rewards from both tracks.
2K officially confirmed the release dates for each Ringside Pass after the Nintendo Switch store provided placeholder dates at the end of last month.
Ringside Pass Season 1 will go live with Early Access on March 6, while the rest will release over the course of the year, approximately every seven weeks. This marks the first time that post-launch DLC characters are available at launch.
The current planned release schedule is:
- Ringside Pass Season 1: March 6
- Ringside Pass Season 2: April (Before WrestleMania 42)
- Ringside Pass Season 3: June
- Ringside Pass Season 4: July
- Ringside Pass Season 5: September
- Ringside Pass Season 6: October
On which game modes provide RXP 2K cleared things up with the following:
The following game modes reward RXP that will earn Ringside Pass progression:
- Play Now
- Universe
- MyRISE
- Showcase
- MyGM
- MyFACTION
- The Island
Now you might be wondering can you earn RXP in Online matches, with 2K revealing that
“Yes, you can earn RXP in online matchmaking, The Island or MyFACTION. You do not, however, earn RXP via custom online lobbies”
Confirming how many Ringside passes will be available 2K revealed that:
There will be a total of 6 Ringside Passes released throughout the year. The roster of DLC Superstars will be revealed in the coming weeks and as we get closer to the release of each Ringside Pass, we will share some of the additional rewards across both the free and premium tracks.
When a new season of Ringside Pass launches, the prior season will not expire, meaning players can still continue unlocking content before moving on to the next season or players can put that season on hold, move on to the next one to unlock content there, and then return to the prior season.
For Example – when Ringside Pass Season 2 launches, if players are still in the middle of unlocking content in Season 1, they can either first complete Season 1 and then move onto Season 2, or they can jump straight into Season 2, unlock content, and then jump back into Season 1.
Since the change up to the DLC format many players have questioned how the DLC will work for family consoles and will the DLC still be available for users to play. To reassure players 2K said:
Similar to DLC in the past, if you own the content and other family members share the same console as the player who purchased the game and DLC, they too can access that content. The progress made through the pass is unique to each profile.
When it comes to the DLC characters themselves, 2K confirmed the following:
Each premium version of the Ringside Pass will include the new post-launch DLC characters, with the first one unlocking automatically. The rest can be unlocked within the first 20 tiers by earning RXP just for playing the game. Other playable characters such as Personas will generally be available from tiers 21-40.
Besides the new DLC characters, each Ringside Pass’ premium track will also include new Personas, adding even more playable characters to each pass.
With the confirmation that DLC characters will be locked behind the ringside pass, 2K followed up on whether or not previously featured legends will also fall within this new change.
“The WWE Legends that would typically be added to the in-game store and unlocked via Tokens or with the SuperCharger have now been added to the free track of Ringside Pass Season 1.
Players can still unlock those legends by simply playing the game, earning RXP, and claiming them in the Ringside Pass without any additional purchase. Giving more options than ever before to earn RXP”
In previous WWE 2K titles, players have had the option to use a supercharger to unlock all locked content from the get go. Due to the change in DLC, 2K had the following to say about how content is unlocked:
For those who play through the Ringside Pass Season 1, select WWE Legends are unlocked by earning RXP and completing the first season. The SuperCharger pack has been retired.
For players who have purchased the premium track, we will provide the ability to purchase tier skips but those are completely optional. Players can continue to unlock rewards with RXP by playing the game without any additional purchases.
On a Final note 2K teased future plans for the Ringside pass saying:
We will reveal the full DLC roster at a later date that we’ll spread across the premium tracks of the 6 Ringside Passes.
As we get closer to the release of each new Ringside Pass, we will also be announcing other rewards such as Personas, content for MyFACTION and The Island, as well as the release dates. The rewards will also vary between packs, to allow us to provide some unique offerings such as different CAS parts, new moves, and more.
The premium track of Ringside Pass Season 1 for instance, will include 4 new playable Superstars, as well as two Personas, two new arenas, and two new championships.
So I don’t know about you but I’m a little torn when it comes to this whole thing. A huge part of me is really excited to see what the future holds although I do have some unease. There are elements of this new process that I really love the sound of and I’m really looking forward to seeing what new content is added alongside the traditional DLC characters.
Depending on how 2K approaches the additional personas and content, this could keep the game up to date more than ever with gimmick and entrance theme changes as well as new attires and arenas. It also depends on whether or not the ringside pass personas are in addition to MyFaction personas, if they are additional it’s crazy to think how many different variations of Superstar we could see in this year’s game.I only ask that there are equal amounts of Male and Female superstars.
My main and quite frankly my only issue with this whole thing is when it comes to the actual DLC superstars. In one of my previous videos I said I’m the type of player who likes to earn my content and rewards and I absolutely do. The DLC Superstars however are not what I was referring to. When I first heard about the battlepass system I assumed that the DLC superstars weren’t included in that and it was only the bonus content that would be locked for players to earn.
In my opinion if players are purchasing the premium editions of the game they should be able to receive the DLC superstars when each ringside season launches. I don’t quite understand the method of tying DLC content which has already been purchased behind a bunch of challenges. Sure you could argue that traditionally other games’ DLC requires you to play through new stories and quests to get new items or weapons for your character but as far as we’re aware the DLC superstars in WWE 2K26 aren’t coming with some sort of new showcase stories once you obtain each one.
I completely understand using legends who were previously purchasable in the base games because if you didn’t have the supercharger you would have to unlock them with vc or xp by completing matches anyway. I’ve been playing WWE Video Games since I was in primary school so I remember the days of having to unlock legends, even in the likes of the SmackDown Vs RAW series.
This is also reliant on how easy it is to earn xp and how long it takes to level and tier up. Is each full season going to take days, weeks a whole month to earn each and every reward?
As I’ve said before, I don’t mind grinding for the bonus content but not everyone has the time to grind every day and complete challenges. 2K have tried to counteract this and made it so there is no timed window on any seasons, with the ability to play and complete the challenges whenever you like. Seasons also keep players engaged throughout the entire course of WWE 2K26, all whilst adding content to keep the game fresh with frequent updates and additional rewards. I touched on this part briefly in a prior video and it is awesome to see it implemented here because more often than not in other games, once you miss a season that’s it you’ve missed out on the rewards.
There is so much more good than bad when it comes to the Ringside pass and it’s a shame that the DLC superstar news overshadows all the good things and replayability that this will bring to this year’s game. I understand irregardless of the DLC superstar news that the ringside pass and the grinding won’t be for everyone but I urge you to at least give it a go and see what you think when the game releases as we don’t know everything just yet and there could be some really awesome things added to the game because of this.
Let me know in the comments below what you make of today’s update and also what you think about the new content coming post launch.
Until next time, I’ve been the Revelleution.
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