WWE Senior Vice President for Global Talent Strategy, James Kimball, spoke with ESPN regarding what WWE looks for when they’re recruiting young talent for their developmental program.
You can check out those interview highlights below:
On recruiting athletes in their 20s: “We would like that [age] number to come down, especially on the developmental standpoint. The second you enter our developmental program and then potentially end up on NXT TV and then onto Smackdown or Raw, you want that number to be 25, not 30 or 35.”
On fast tracking NIL talents: “We’re able to develop them in an accelerated manner. Get them to WrestleMania or Raw, do media training, do community events. All those initial exposures to the business, those have been done while you’re still in school. And then you come down to Orlando and off you go.”
On what they’re looking for: “Ideally, you’d like to find a nice blend. It’s understanding how to transfer true athleticism from a given sport to a 20-by-20 ring, understanding spatial awareness and timing. And then it’s the ability to express themselves on a microphone. That becomes a requirement over time, whether you’re a heel or a face, or you’re heavy on promo or even light, at some point you need to be able to tell a story.”
On supporting the sports goals of NIL recruits: “Even if you come to WWE when you’re 23, 24, 25, that’s a significant improvement over what has historically been the case with some of our developmental talent. We fully support every athlete pursuing their dreams in their given sport. The idea is that we have that opportunity in college to evaluate them as a potential talent, and for them to evaluate us.”
On the goal of the NIL program: “The story typically is that you knew someone who knew someone, you had a chance opportunity, you got ahold of an individual who had a line to the company. Our goal here is to eliminate chance from the equation and just improve the likelihood of college athletes having an opportunity.”
