Browsing: Athletes

Shawn Michaels: WWE recruiting college athletes has made ‘night and day difference’

Recruiting more college athletes into NXT has significantly improved WWE’s developmental program, Shawn Michaels believes.

The past few years have seen WWE focus more on bringing college athletes into NXT and the Performance Center. In accordance to that, the company has held athlete-specific tryouts and launched its Next In Line program — where athletes can partner with WWE while still in college and create a potential pathway to signing with NXT later.

Michaels, who oversees NXT in his WWE executive role, told the Dallas Morning News that the recruiting strategy has made a “night and day difference” in WWE developmental. He says the college athletes he’s worked with have been able to adapt to pro wrestling quickly.

“When the WWE started recruiting from that incredibly huge pool of athletes, itâ€s just been, to me, a night and day difference in our developmental program here in Florida,†Michaels said.

“They are already athletes that are 100 percent laser focused on achieving goals. Theyâ€re already in phenomenal shape. Theyâ€re already disciplined in so many different ways. So they come in kind of built-in, ready to go, and they just are so focused on learning and achieving whatever it is you put in front of them, that as we began to train them in professional wrestling, they just take to it like ducks to water.â€

Since its introduction in 2021, former NXT Champion Oba Femi has been the biggest NIL program success. He was a shot putter at the University of Alabama and was signed to the first-ever WWE NIL class.

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WWE

The Rock Names The ‘Insane Athletes’ He Faced In WWE

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The Rock’s prime years in WWE saw him compete with a variety of wrestlers who offered him different challenges. However, “The People’s Champion” preferred facing off against a particular type of wrestler, naming a few legends who fit the bill.

The WWE legend recently sat down with Mark Kerr, whom he portrayed in “The Smashing Machine,” and the two discussed a Hall of Famer they each faced in their respective forms of entertainment: Kurt Angle.

“Kurt was one of the most incredible athletes, right?” said The Rock to Kerr during their conversation on “Sports Illustrated.”

Kerr recalled his duels with the Olympic gold medalist, remembering how their record against each other in college was four wins apiece. Kerr said that Angle’s wins against him came at the right time, as it was just a while before selections for the Olympics. The former MMA star lavished praise on Angle, saying that wrestling him required stepping up a gear. The Rock latched on to that topic and detailed the various wrestlers that he stepped with in the ring, who were incredible athletes, naming a few who he loved getting in the ring with.

“You know, I felt that when you talk about his gears, like, there are guys I wrestled with, and this is why I always loved wrestling guys who were just insane athletes with a pedigree in other things. And that was always Kurt Angle — insane athlete, pedigree in wrestling, gold medal at the Olympics, wins the gold medal with a broken neck. I mean, it’s just wild,” said The Rock. “You know, Brock Lesnar was the same, incredible pedigree, athlete. You could go anywhere in the ring with him. And, you know, who else was an amazing athlete? Booker T, who I love. Amazing athlete.”

Like Angle, Kerr was also an amateur wrestler and competed against him before turning his attention to MMA, where he became one of the sport’s legends.

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