Waffle House stage in Tekken 8: Rumors or facts?

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming | By Stella Shoap | Last updated May 14, 2025 9:53 PM ET

Waffle House is a beloved diner chain that thrives throughout; however, what started this rumor was a possible placeholder for a real stage in Tekken 8.

Viral Waffle House fight

Crazy, this happened right, anyways, the fights in a Waffle House in Daphne, Alabama, is what started the masquerade of pleading for the diner as a stage.

For anyone unfamiliar with this obscure Americana lore, the mostly southern chain — with 1,900 locations in 25 states — has something of a reputation. A cursory internet search will provide a wealth of videos showing customers and employees throwing down in the brightly lit dining room, usually after sundown.

From this quote, I can only assume it is a bunch of drunk and hungry people, especially since it is after sundown. I don’t blame them, I’ve had Waffle House once, and I would fight tooth and nail for it. This is what sparked the beginning propaganda to get the creator of Tekken 8, Katsuhiro Harada, to make the chain diner a stage. Harada made a post about the fight on Twitter, now called X, claiming the name ‘Hustle House,’ which only fed the viewers more.

Harada’s Diner

If we can’t get that “House” name license, how about we call it “Hustle House” stage?
Doesn’t that make sense to everyone? https://t.co/OLJeLshGet

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) May 13, 2025

Yes, whilst no full confirmation has been driven into the seeds Harada has bore, we do have a fun name called the Hustle House.

Harada’s made it clear he hasn’t given up. The Waffle House brand might be sitting this one out, but the Tekken team is more than capable of creating an homage that captures the energy of 3 AM diner violence. Imagine broken stools as stage hazards. Imagine environmental finishers involving syrup bottles or fryers. This isn’t just a meme anymore—it’s practically a design brief.

This sounds lovely to me, imagine the finishers being you use a syrup bottle, how awesome and hilarious would that turn out to be? I also think it would be awesome if it were an indoor type fight instead of an outside parking lot brawl.

Final Thoughts

I adore this type of content as I feel it would bring some people together, despite its dark history. I can see myself laughing at the finishers with fryers and syrup bottles. I hope that this does happen, I just know it will be thought out and amazing.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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