AJ Kirsch recently spoke with Wrestlezone’s Kevin Kellam about his work in the WWE 2K19 video game.
Kirsch talks about the unique experience of performing as the ‘MyPLAYER’ that gamers are using for WWE 2K19. The former Tough Enough competitor breaks down the wild ride he had to help capture the footage for the game, how he got injured in the process, and much more. Check out a few transcribed highlights and listen to the full interview below:
(Transcription credit to Bill Pritchard for Wrestlezone.com)
Kirsch talks about his involvement in the motion capture work for WWE 2K19:
For the cutscenes that you see in MyCAREER mode, and the and the promos and backstage vignettes, things like that, I was the player is those scenes. But for most of the wrestling in-ring animations, they had a small army of indie guys doing the actual pro wrestling moves in the game. When it comes to MyCAREER, if MyPLAYER is in the scene then you are watching me enact the physicality of the scene as well. As far as the in-ring stuff, there was a slew of other guys and girls that did the in-ring motion capture.
*Kirsch also revealed he was recording in-ring audio for the game when he blew out his ACL and meniscus, leading to him not being able to do any in-ring matches for the game. He said in any other circumstances he would have loved to have been more involved, but didn’t want to get any more physical than he had to due to his injury at the time.
AJ talks about how his experiences in wrestling made him a good fit for MyPLAYER in WWE 2K19:
When I was—spoiler alert—eliminated from Tough Enough, that immediately put the idea in my head where I know I’m on WWE’s radar, but if nothing comes of it and I don’t get signed, then I’d better have some kind of backup plan. I was still so passionate about professional wrestling that I wanted that backup plan to be still centered around wrestling. Taking [then Tough Enough coach Bill DeMott]’s advice, I was working at as many places as I could after Tough Enough, and I had heard rumblings about this Oakland, California based promotion called Hoodslam. I had never worked for Hoodslam before, so I had reached out to the promoter and asked if I could check out a show, and he said sure. At some point he was like ‘do you want to hop on commentary?’ and I was like ‘why not?’
I’m confident on a microphone, and it just went so well that starting at Hoodslam that I realized I’ve got a ton of contributions to make as far as a host, ring announcer or commentator, which has been the focus of my career, far more than wrestling ever since Tough Enough. That moment on Tough Enough is when the light bulb went off and I was [thinking] there might be something worth exploring here. I’m glad I did, because had I not, I don’t think I would have been as confident seeking out these other avenues of entertainment with television and movies and voiceovers and commercial work. I think it’s because of the experience I got in those other avenues of entertainment that made me appropriate for the role in WWE 2K19. It wasn’t just—I think I became a better, more well-rounded performer so I could bring all of that to this audition and land what has been the gig of a lifetime.
2K Games Details Changes To MyPlayer In WWE 2K19
Kirsch talks about WWE 2K19 starting off on the independent scene, how the reception for the game has been so far:
It’s not hard to go back into that time when I was [putting up flyers] for shows, and talking about what’s going to happen with a show or an event, with my promoter or opponent. Wrestling is in general at a point where the curtain can be pulled back a little further than ever. I think for the fanbases that are getting ‘smarter’ for the lack of a better term, as far as professional wrestling or sports entertainment or whatever you want to call it, how it works. When you see that the MyCAREER mode starts on the independents, and not at curtain jerker status for the WWE, it adds a layer of authenticity that we see in real life. A lot of WWE fans seek out wrestling in other areas, whether it’s Lucha Underground, or IMPACT [Wrestling] or Hoodslam, or Cactus League Wrestling or All-Pro Wrestling, but it just adds another layer of realism.
Now that you’ve got authentic voiceovers from 26 WWE Superstars—I don’t know how many people play a video game to read, do you know what I mean? I don’t want to fire up a video game and read a bunch of text at the bottom of the screen. As we all know, the WWE fanbase—pro wrestling’s fanbase as a whole—and video game fanbases are very vocal about what they like, and even more vocal about what they don’t like. The folks at 2K [Games] have been very clear that they see all of that, they see the feedback, and when they came out with a fully-voiced cast of characters for this year’s MyCAREER mode, the reception has been great. The reception since the game came out has been even better, which for me is both very rewarding and a huge sigh of relief.
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The gist of it is that I’m doing commentary over every cutscene from WWE 2K19. I’m offering my behind-the-scenes perspective, the insider scenes that surrounded the cutscenes, things that nobody else would know since I was in 2K’s motion capture incubator in Northern California putting this whole thing together. I feel like I’m in a unique position to offer insight that very few others could, and it just felt right as the voice of MyPLAYER—if everyone remembers having DVD’s with commentary where you have the cast and crew talking over the movie for the behind the scenes perspective, that’s pretty much what this is for WWE 2K19. The first episode is up right now on my YouTube channel, I’m going to be releasing new episodes every Monday and Wednesday, and you can check it out at
