The first members of the WWE 2K17 playable character roster became known this week with a little help from WWE portrait artist Rob Schamberger at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. 2K partnered with Schamberger at E3 2016 to produce an original painting that confirmed John Cena, Sasha Banks and WWE Hall of Famer Ultimate Warrior would be a part of the upcoming WWE video game.

To capture the excitement in a novel way, 2K commissioned Schamberger to produce an original WWE 2K17 work on a large canvas which was to be viewable to E3 attendees during the event. Those attending E3 then shared the WWE portrait artist’s progress on social media, offering hints as to who would be the first to make the cut as a playable character in WWE 2K17.

UpUpDownDown, WWE's YouTube destination for all things video games, spoke with Schamberger at E3 to discuss his approach and progress.

2K’s big reveal at E3 2016 follows the recent announcement that Goldberg is returning to the WWE video game landscape as a WWE 2K17 pre-order bonus. 

WWE 2K17 is not yet rated by the ESRB, and is currently scheduled for an October 2016 worldwide release on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.