WWE’s Name, Image and Likeness program, dubbed “WWE Next in Line,” announced its first signing class back in December 2021. A new class of collegiate athletes was confirmed on Monday, consisting of football players from the NCAA’s Power 5 conferences as well as athletes from the world of volleyball, gymnastics, cheerleading and basketball. The signees will be allowed to train at the WWE Performance Center down in Orlando and use company resources to educate themselves on building their own brand.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“The WWE NIL program has the potential to be transformational to our business. By creating partnerships with elite athletes at all levels across a wide variety of college sports, we will dramatically expand our pool of talent and create a system that readies NCAA competitors for WWE once their collegiate careers come to a close,” Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated when the Next in Line program was first introduced. The new class includes the following:
- Derrian Gobourne, gymnastics University of Auburn
- Chandler Hayden, track & field at the University of Tennessee
- Cohlton Schultz, wrestling at Arizona State University
- Ali Mattox, Ole Miss Cheer & Dance Team,
- Luke Ford, tight end at the University of Illinois
- Case Hatch, fullback at Arizona State University
- Thunder Keck, outside linebacker at Stanford University
- Maliq Carr, tight end at Michigan State
- KeShaun Moore, linebacker at Hampton University
- Mikala Hall, basketball at Central Michigan
- Ericka Link, volleyball at Elon University
- Rachel Glenn, track & field at University of South Carolina
- Ruben Banks, track & field at University of Arkansas
- Tyanna Omazic, volleyball at University of Miami
- Zachary Knighton-Ward, wrestling at Hofstra University
Levesque explained why WWE started placing a greater emphasis on recruiting college athletes during an interview with The Athletic earlier this year. The program first launched with the signing of Gable Steveson, a two-time NCAA D-1 Heavyweight Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist in wrestling.
The tryouts we did before, where there were a lot of athletes and experienced indie guys, I don’t think there’s any less of a ‘That’s a rock star.’ The indie stuff, half of it is, ‘He’s a good in-ring performer, but the rest is a mystery. He’s got bad habits I have to get him out of.’ This is almost cleaner. It’s a blank slate.”
“The numbers force us to be more regimented,” he added. “We used to be like, ‘Well, he’s only been here a year, let’s give him more time, see if he picks it up.’ Now we know there’s a six-month coming in the door of adapt, get rolling and then we’re looking at your aptitude for this. We know in that six months — and some won’t make it that long.”
