The WWE Tag Teams with the NCAA to Recruit Future Stars
By Cam Van
In this rapidly changing NIL world that college athletes now live in, from the top rope, a new competitor taps in to recruit top athletic talent for their league. In December of 2021, the WWE, one of the world’s most prominent wrestling entertainment leagues, announced its partnership with the NCAA. The WWE asserts that their NIL (Next In Line) program “will provide a clear pathway from collegiate athletics to WWE.” The aim of the program is to improve their process of developing up-and-coming athletes with diverse athletic backgrounds. The WWE intends to target athletes “at all levels across a wide variety of college sports,” meaning they intend to target more than just athletes with traditional wrestling backgrounds.
While athletes who enter this NIL program will not immediately be offered a WWE contract, they will have access to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, brand building, media training, communications, live event promotion, community relations, and creative writing assistance. The pioneering athlete of this program is heavyweight freestyle wrestler and Gold Medalist in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Gable Steveson. Steveson is simultaneously finishing his senior year at the University of Minnesota and beginning his “Superstar training” with the WWE.
The WWE’s NIL program is in stark contrast with the NBA’s G League Ignite contracts, where athletes forgo a college experience and play directly for an NBA minor league team. More and more, top NBA drafts have elected to go through this G-League pipeline, like Jalen Green of the Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga, and most recently, top prospect Scoot Henderson, who signed a two-year, $1 million dollar contract with the Ignite. Perhaps the WWE and NCAA program was even formed in response to the Ignite program. This WWE program may just be the first of many programs to pair with the NCAA to offer athletes more unique opportunities to monetize their athletic abilities.
Wrestlers, Basketballers, and everyone in between, Couro is here to promote all athletes, create a close-knit community, and offer opportunities for athletes to further monetize their unique abilities. We’ll keep you in the loop with any updates on this program, and if any other contenders tap in on the NIL ring.
