Just recently, Takayuki Nakayama, Director for Street Fighter 6, revealed over 30 scrapped concept costumes for Akuma, Ed, A.K.I., and Rashid. Just a short while later, Nakayama would release another illustration that was created during Street Fighter 6’s development cycle.
The posted illustration suggested a match up between Street Fighter’s Zangief and WWE’s Undertaker. Of course, Undertaker was recreated in Street Fighter’s art style which is known to greatly exaggerate proportions.
Needless to say, the Undertaker was looking larger than usual. His muscle mass has been expanded very generously when illustrated as a Street Fighter character.
Of course, Zangief still ended up tower over the Undertaker in the image. Despite this, the Undertaker did not appear to be even remotely perturbed by the potential confrontation.
This is probably intentional, but the illustration gives off the vibe of the cover art for Street Fighter Alpha 2 in which Ryu was facing off against Akuma. Since Akuma serves as the “goliath” in this situation whereas Ryu is the underdog, Akuma was made to look more imposing than usual in the artwork.
According to Google Translate, the doodle pitting Zangief up against the Undertaker was created by one of the designers — Fukumori — working on Street Fighter 6 back when it was being developed. Nakayama himself was not involved with the illustration’s creation.
In celebration of WrestleMania, Nakayama has released this glorious shot of Zangief and the Undertaker. Check it out below:
Click images for larger versions
うおおおテイカーも乱入だー！大昔にデザイナーさんが描いてくれた落書きです（参戦はしません）The image is a doodle drawn by the designer in the early days of SF6 production. 画: ふくもりさん #WrestleMania pic.twitter.com/t4nrIFzN7B
— TAKA-nakayama (@takaNakayama) April 8, 2024