College Sports Standouts Invited To WWE WrestleMania Week Tryout

As the world looks toward WrestleMania, WWE is looking toward the future.

A new report from ESPN says that WWE will be bringing in over fifty athletes over the course of the week leading up to WrestleMania 39, including Baylor basketball star Mark Vital and former Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant. According to the report, 24 men and 26 women will be run through various evaluations, looking not only at the sports stars' athletic abilities but their promotional abilities as well. Some of the athletes invited will be offered contracts at the end of the evaluations.

The tryouts are a part of WWE's NIL program, which has already signed new talent like the yet-to-debut Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson. WWE just announced another crop of 15 NIL athletes back in January, just a month after WWE's NIL program turned a year old. The program was announced in December 2021 as a way to supplement WWE's "NXT" developmental brand after the brand became a live television brand, carrying more responsibilities. The NIL program also coincided with a pivot away from recruiting independent wrestlers, towards recruiting college and pro athletes that have less of an established brand in the wrestling space.

Recent WWE NIL signees the Cavinder twins announced that they would be partnering with Leaf Trading Cards for exclusive March Madness cards. Fellow NIL talent Ruben Banks said that the program has been a very low-pressure environment in its fledgling stage so that he can focus on "staying in shape, and stay looking good."