WWE Reveals 3rd Class of Athletes to their NIL Program

Here comes the next generation. Earlier today, WWE issued a press release, detailing the names of 15 new college athletes who will join the company’s NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) program, “Next In Line.” This program was created to give an opportunity to collegiate athletes that want to be a part of WWE.

The names are as follows:

Name	College	Sport	Height/Weight	Hometown
Abby Jacobs	South Alabama	Soccer	5’7	Gulf Breeze, Fla.
Alexandra Jaksec	Mary Washington	Tennis	5’4	Pittsburgh, Pa.
Alia Armstrong	LSU	Track & Field	5’4	Baton Rouge, La.
Cameron Jones	Cincinnati	Football	6’8, 320 lbs.	Hindman, Ky.
Dee Beckwith	Kentucky	Football	6’5, 235 lbs.	Florence, Ala.
Greg Kerkvliet	Penn State	Wrestling	6’3, 250 lbs.	Inver Grove Heights, Minn.
Isaiah Iton	Rutgers	Football	6’2, 290 lbs.	Houston, Texas
Jaiden Fields	Georgia	Softball	5’9	Kennesaw, Ga.
Landon Jackson	Arkansas	Football	6’7, 275 lbs.	Texarkana, Texas
Mady Aulbach	Youngstown State	Basketball	5’3	Slippery Rock, Pa.
Nick Dawkins	Penn State	Football	6’4, 315 lbs.	Allentown, Pa.
Otoniel Badjana	Pittsburgh	Track & Field	5’11, 245 lbs.	Lisbon, Portugal
Peyton Prussin	Life University	Wrestling	5’4	Las Vegas, Nev.
Tori Ortiz	Oklahoma State	Track & Field	5’9	Batavia, Ill.
Turner Washington	Arizona State	Track & Field	6’5, 290 lbs.	Tuscon, Ariz.

From the press release:

The “Next In Line” program has signed 46 college athletes since its inception in December 2021 including the program’s first signee, Olympic Gold medalist Gable Steveson. The program serves to recruit and develop potential future Superstars and further enhances WWE’s talent development process through collaborative partnerships with college athletes from diverse athletic backgrounds. WWE has signed athletes from 13 different sports including 35 members of Power-Five conferences who have collectively earned 40 NCAA All American Honors and 12 NCAA National Championships.

All athlete partnerships feature access to the state-of-the-art WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla., in addition to resources across the organization including brand building, media training, communications, live event promotion, creative writing and community relations. Upon completion of the NIL program, select athletes may earn an exclusive opportunity to be offered a WWE contract.

The program’s athletes boast impressive social media followings with more than 10 million combined followers on TikTok and nearly three million combined followers on Instagram. WWE currently has one of the largest fanbases on TikTok with 20.9 million followers and more than 27 million Instagram followers.

 

Editor’s Opinion:

I’ve always thought that this program was a good idea, and it looks like there are some great athletes as a part of this class. While not all of them will make it, this program at least gives them an opportunity to become a professional athlete, which I know is their dream!