As an AEW fan, I'm buying WWE 2K26 to save Mariah May from her terrible booking

Naturally, for this reason, I was disappointed when Mariah May – now Blake Monroe – left my company of choice for a brand I cannot support. I understand that it was her decision and her dream to go to WWE and I'm glad she seems to be happy there. It's great to have options for wrestlers to thrive in whatever system suits them best. But from all the clips I've seen so far, her WWE run has not only disappointed, but insulted. Going from my 2025 Hollywood Ending match with Toni Storm to a book cage match that wasn't nearly as intense was the first sign. The embarrassing kickout mistake on a recent episode of NXT wouldn't have happened if Mariah had been on the main roster, where she belongs from the start, but perhaps worst of all is the character Mariah was left with.

Image via WWE

Maybe WWE was afraid her gimmick would be too similar to Tiffany Stratton's and Mariah May didn't connect with the fans because of it, but turning Blake Monroe into “we've got Toni Storm in the house” was definitely not the way to go. Seeing her don similar outfits to Toni when trying to play a character without hinges is painfully awkward because these attempts completely lack the things that make Timeless so special. It's insulting that WWE looked at the great work Mariah May did in AEW – including excellent matches against stars like Willow Nightingale – and decided to mold her character as a cheap version of her biggest rival. This makes it seem like WWE didn't really want Mariah at all, instead wanting to stick her to AEW by taking one of their top stars. The cheesy filming and overly scripted nature of the promo goes right against the unpredictability of the character WWE is emulating with Mariah and every time I see what is being done to one of my favorite women in wrestling I truly cringe. So if I ever get around to it WWE 2K26first thing i will do is fix my mariah may booking issues.

WWE 2K26's MyGM mode remains a godsend for frustrated fans

Some of the many missteps AEW Fight Forever was the lack of a deep create-a-wrestler or GM mode, two things that WWE 2K they managed the games. I would use both to book Mariah May as I would like her to be used. I would drop Blake Monroe's name first. Yes, it's a simple change, but Mariah May has been associated with great work and arguably the best rivalry in women's wrestling history. Blake Monroe, on the other hand, is linked to a nasty Jordynne Grace feud that made both women look weaker, with a botched kick out and an obvious attempt to remake a character that didn't need a change to begin with. More specifically, it's also a much less catchy name, as something similar to her previous ring name would have been much better. I know why WWE rebrands their stars – they want to own their jobs – but that's another thing I can't stand about an overly corporate company that regularly cuts down on their talent's opportunities. So that's the first thing I would change.

I would also change Mariah May's outfit to remove all aspects of the Toni-like features. She has her own personality that WWE should lean on (her “no po baby” jab at Ava Raine on social media was really hilarious), so I'd get rid of anything that even hinted at NXT promos where she talks to a mirror and acts like a knocked-up Toni Storm. It's also worth noting that one of the funniest moments of her feud with AEW's biggest star saw them tagging each other, and Mariah played Toni brilliantly there. This suggests that WWE's writing, direction and scripting is to blame, as if the company wanted a copy of Toni Storm, Mariah could theoretically deliver. Instead, she's in this weird middle where only some aspects of Toni Storm's gimmick are stolen. So, if it were up to me, those elements would be completely removed in favor of the “old” Mariah coming back and being herself.

Image over 2K

Like most of my current favorite wrestlers—Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher, Darby Allin, Hangman Adam Page, Kenny Omega, Swerve Strickland, MJF, Toni Storm, Kris Statlander, and Mercedes Mone are some of the many AEW stars I love—I became a fan of Mariah May primarily because of her work in the ring. Yes, her betrayal of Toni Storm was memorable and her build up was extremely fun to watch unfold, but seeing Mariah knocking the heads off her opponents never got old. She's a great wrestler and unfortunately WWE's overly safe and repetitive wrestling style doesn't play to her strengths. But in the video game, I could have booked the epic matches I was used to seeing from Mariah every week on AEW TV, and I wouldn't waste any time getting her from NXT to the main roster like WWE is doing. Below are just some of the feuds I would put Mariah May in:

• Rhea Ripley — two contrasting styles that could make for entertaining matches
• Bayley — a fun feud that I'd like to see before Bayley inevitably leaves for AEW
• Tiffany Stratton — embrace their similar vibes instead of destroying Mariah's character
• Stephanie Vaquer —may play on how they both got into WWE primarily through their AEW work, leaning into how Vaquer had more success and did so quickly while Mariah struggled, breaking the fourth wall a bit for some shoot-like promos
• Bianca Belair — a phenomenal in-ring performer, a match between Bianca and Mariah would be a guaranteed hit

It wouldn't take long for my AEW bias to show if I bought WWE 2K26, but I have no regrets

Image via AEW

As great as AEW is, Fight forever it was nowhere near the game it needed to be. Despite the relatively expensive DLC packs, it's still missing some of the company's biggest stars, as Mercedes Mone, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada remain unplayable. Fortunately, with custom lists WWE 2K26I could download and make my own versions of all my favorites. That said, I could give Mariah May some matches. I'm still disappointed we didn't get to see her before she left. Kris Statlander, Mercedes Mone, Athena, and Jamie Hayter are all opponents I wish we'd seen May feud with when she was part of AEW, and they're just the tip of the iceberg. Alex Windsor, Thekla, Megan Bayne – the pool of talent on the women's roster has grown rapidly since Mariah jumped ship.

I'd rather not give money to WWE if I didn't have to – I wish more legends and current stars would stand up to a morally corrupt company like Mick Foley recently did – but if I can find a used copy I might pick it up to fill the void left by the lack of high quality (and current) AEW play. And sure, WWE has some stars that I really respect like Bayley, Ilja Dragunov, Shinsuke Nakamura, AJ Styles, and Rhea Ripley, but I'd love to fill my own roster with AEW stars. If I did, I could heal WWE 2K26 like the game I wish AEW had. Still, my first priority would be to give Mariah May the treatment I think she should be getting.

So far, Mariah May is running as Blake Monroe feels cursed by Toni Storm's words in their final promo battle. She “doomed Mariah to a lifetime of mediocrity” and her run thus far has been mediocre indeed. Yes, the Toni feud set a bar that no woman may ever surpass, but the WWE version of Mariah didn't come close to that bar. I don't think it's her fault; WWE's lack of leeway in promos, strict match rules that prevent them from being violent when needed, and the direction she's being told to take her character all contribute to why Blake Monroe hasn't clicked. If Mariah May is happy with how she's doing, more power to her, but everything I've seen has only added to my distaste for WWE. Mariah hasn't wasted a second of her few years in AEW, but her first year in WWE saw her tread water on NXT when she should have been on Raw or Smackdown from day one. While a more die-hard AEW fan might say it's karma for her to use AEW as a stepping stone, as someone who was once a huge fan of Mariah, I'm just disappointed in her wasted potential. It shouldn't take a video game to book well, but for some odd reason we seem to be in that situation.