WWE 2K Battlegrounds: Match types and tips to help you win

WWE 2K Battlegrounds offers arcade gameplay for wrestling fans. However, as mentioned in our official review, matches can turn into a trivial affair where you’re just mashing the same buttons and watching the AI backpedal from you every now and then. Still, if ever you’re having trouble with certain matches, here’s our guide to help you out.

Note: I’ve refrained from including one-on-one matches since they’re fairly standard bouts. You could practice a bit with your power-ups, weapon usage, reversals, signatures/finishers, and more.

WWE 2K Battlegrounds: Match types and tips

Tag team/tornado tag

Tag team and tornado tag matches in WWE 2K Battlegrounds are easy enough to handle. As usual, you’ll just focus on one opponent to get them to low health while ignoring their partner. You likely won’t even need to tag your buddy.

Once your heat meter is full and your opponent’s health is red, use your finisher (if your foe’s health is still yellow, you’ll only perform a signature move). Then, immediately switch targets and use a special move (LT + X or A) to knock the other combatant off the apron. This will give you time to pin the legal team member.

There’s also a way to cheese this even at higher difficulty settings. Drop your opponent and pin them to make their partner interfere, then quickly combo and stun that partner. You should hear a 5-count that disqualifies your opponent’s team.

Triple threat/fatal four-way

These kinds of matches used to be annoying in older WWE games. In WWE 2K Battlegrounds, though, the AI tends to flub often. Ideally, you should have one target while the remaining opponent/s are outside the ring. Alternatively, if the ring already broke, you should be further away from others. Perform your finisher, then pin your target while your other foe/s are distracted.

Note: This actually makes fatal four-way matches very manageable since two AI opponents will be busy with each other while you’re focusing on one enemy.

Steel Cage

WWE 2K Battlegrounds has a unique take on this match type. The goal here is to pick up the money bags in the ring or those attached to the cage (you need to climb the cage and hold L1 for this).

Once you’ve collected five and filled up your meter, you could then escape. Go climb the cage, head up top, then hold the button that appears via a prompt.

Beware of two things:

• Grab minigame – When someone is climbing on the cage (whether they’re trying to grab money bags or they’re already escaping), their opponent can press “A” to grab their feet. This initiates a minigame where you need to alternate mashing “LT” and “RT.”
• Electrocution – From time to time, a siren will start blaring. No, “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner won’t appear. Instead, the cage will be electrified even without The Rock’s help. Anyone climbing the cage will get zapped.

Royal Rumble

The Royal Rumble variation in WWE 2K Battlegrounds will remind you of past wrestling games. Two fighters start this match type and more will join after time elapses (up to a maximum of four people in the ring at any given time).

The elimination minigame — akin to the steel cage match where you press “A” to grab an opponent and then alternate mashing “LT” and “RT” — can occur during the following:

• When an opponent is leaning against the turnbuckle.
• When an opponent is outside the ropes and standing on the ring apron.

Both of these can be done via an Irish Whip or repeatedly punching and kicking an opponent until they’re at the desired location. Still, take note of your opponent’s health. If it’s not yet red or fully depleted, they can still defend themselves during this minigame.

Alternatively, you could just beat up your foe until their health is fully depleted. Then, stand them up (press “A”) and do an overhead carry (hold “A”). Move towards the edge of the ring and press “B” to throw them out.

King of the Battleground

The King of the Battleground match type is exclusively for online multiplayer. As noted in our official review, I wasn’t able to try out the online features. I did have the crossplay setting enabled, but I wasn’t able to find any existing bouts I could join.

So, how exactly does this work? Well, think of it as an “endless” version of the Royal Rumble. Players will try to eliminate others and last for as long as possible; available slots will be filled up by others waiting in the matchmaking queue. You’re given rewards such as XP and bucks (to purchase superstars, attires, and whatnot) based on your performance — this means your number of eliminations and survival time are counted in this online Royal Rumble.

Just remember that there are reports of people ganging up on randoms. Likewise, I’ve heard that it’s possible to just cheese the rewards. This works by joining a King of the Battleground match and watching if the other players stand on top of the turnbuckles. This is usually a sign that everyone just wants to chill and let the time pass by. Since you gain rewards based on survival time, then everyone just going AFK will help you achieve your goal.

In any case, here’s a video of how the King of the Battleground match type works courtesy of YouTuber Cohen Bishop: