WWE hosting tryouts for college athletes over SummerSlam weekend

[Chris]

Source: f4wonline.com

As was the case during WrestleMania week in Dallas, WWE will hold another multi-day tryout as part of this month's SummerSlam week in Nashville, Tennessee.

The event will feature both current and recent college graduates, and will take place over three days, starting Wednesday, July 27th at the 60,000 square-foot Wildhorse Saloon. The venue is a "live music and event venue and staple of downtown."

Former WWE Champion Big E will be attending the tryouts along with Paul "Triple H" Levesque and senior VP of global talent strategy and development James Kimball.

While his neck heals, Big E will be working with WWE later this month at a talent tryout for current and recently graduated college athletes. Big E, who played college football at Iowa, will join the likes of WWE executives Paul "Triple H" Levesque and James Kimball in evaluating potential future WWE stars.

For the final day on Friday, fans can buy a general admission ticket to watch the proceedings.

From the company's release:

"WWE will host more than 50 male and female participants with collegiate athletic backgrounds across football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, cheer and dance. Athletes will partake in performance evaluations, individual and group promo evaluations, in-ring technical sessions and sit-down interviews as part of the tryout process. The invite-only event features several athletes who attended 2022 NFL Rookie Mini Camps."

The WrestleMania week tryout saw more than 20 participants get signed for developmental deals at Orlando's Performance Center. One of those who attended and was signed was former Bellator MMA fighter Valerie Loureda.

 

[Dale]

Good morale boost for Big E to be around again I hope.

 

[Dale]

 

[Deezy]

Watching a tryout would be very interesting.

Wonder if you allowed to yell shit, which could be distracting to people running trials an people in charge making assessments.

 

[Deezy]

Damn, I wish I could watch this on The Network/(Peacock for the plebs).

I remember when they were showing the PC combine and liking that.

 

[Kiffy Lube]

I love that WWE is doin' stuff like this, they always like to mold their own talent. AEW can take more of the Indy darlings this way, it just ends up bein' a win, win for both companies.

 

[Swerve]

I love it.

 

[Dale]

​

 

[Deezy]

That's so great.

 

[Dale]

Today is the final day of the three-day WWE SummerSlam Week tryout camp at The Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, TN.

We noted before how WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations & Head of Creative Triple H was working the tryouts, along with Big E, Matt Bloom and WWE NXT Tag Team Champions The Creed Brothers. Fightful Select adds that WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, WWE Co-CEO Nick Khan, Seth Rollins, RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Jim Smallman, Robbie Brookside, Tamina Snuka, and Ivy Nile are also helping with the tryouts.

NBA star Dwight Howard made headlines with his surprise appearance at Thursday’s camp. Howard is back at the tryouts today and WWE cameras are following him around. You can click here for Howard notes from Thursday, including photos, videos, his persona, how serious he is about signing with WWE, and more.

Sports reporter Arash Markazi noted on Twitter that Howard was helping one group with their promos today. You can see video below of one finalist trying to roast Howard for not being able to help the Los Angeles Lakers make the NBA Playoffs last year, with Howard getting the last laugh.

Howard told Markazi this week that he would like to play for the NBA next season, his 17th, but he is ready to transition and join WWE if that does not happen. Howard’s NBA career began in Orlando with the Magic, and he said he’s open to beginning his WWE career in Orlando where the WWE Performance Center is located.

Paul Heyman also had a viral clip from his surprise appearance at the camp on Wednesday. You can see that video below, along with photos. Heyman gave a “masterclass” to the athletes earlier in the week.

“Having old school ECW vibes watching Paul Heyman teaching athletes how to do their first promos at the WWE Tryout in Nashville. It’s a masterclass in how to embrace your character and control the emotions of the audience. There will be some future WWE Superstars in this group,” Markazi wrote on Heyman’s time with the athletes.

Talati Polamalu, the nephew of NFL legend Troy Polamalu, was also at the camp this week. He was seen getting advice from his aunt-in-law, Tamina.

“It was really motivating growing up and watching Troy and Tamina do what they love to do on TV. I’d love to follow in their footsteps,” Talati, a college football player, told Markazi.

Today’s camp featured the first-ever WWE Tryout Viewing Experience, which was designed to give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the tryout process. Tickets for the Viewing Experience were at $20 for General Admission, and $1000 for VIP. It was noted by Fightful that the tryout drills were in front of the live audience earlier today. They then went to a team promo-style tryout.​

There's a bunch of other videos in a thread under that tweet if you wanna check them out​

 

[Cwalker]

Good for Dwight. This isn’t necessarily the career you want to start in your mid 30s but I’m always a supporter of people going after their dreams.

 

[Swerve]

Good for Dwight. This isn’t necessarily the career you want to start in your mid 30s but I’m always a supporter of people going after their dreams.

It's better than signing with the Nets.

 

[Marty McFourth]

 

[Chris]

No Dwight Howard? Smh

 

[Swerve]

No Dwight Howard? Smh

He lied.