Details On Contracts For WWE’s ‘Next In Line’ Prospects

Details On Contracts For WWE’s ‘Next In Line’ Prospects

WWE officially announced the inaugural class for it’s new ‘Next In Line’ NIL collegiate athletes program on Wednesday (December 8).

There was speculation regarding the contracts of the NIL athletes, as they will be joining Olympic Gold Medalist Gable Steveson on the program, who was signed to a multi-year deal by WWE back in September.

Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the 15 athletes won’t be locked into similar deals to Steveson, and will be paid to help fund them through college.

Meltzer said:

“According to sources close to the program, the Steveson deal, where he is under a WWE contract and is expected to appear on television this year, and then start full-time after the college wrestling season on a multi-year contract, is not the framework of the rest of these deals. The feeling with Steveson is with potential offers from the NFL and MMA, that they wanted to lock him up for many years.

In the case of the 15 names here, they will be on deals for “low double figures,” basically helping them get by while in college, to in some cases, “low triple figures” (in excess of $100,000) with the determining factors being how major of star athletes they are perceived to be and their social media followings.”

Meltzer also gave a further breakdown on the contracts, and how WWE will be trialing the prospects. He added:

The talent will be brought in at times, to not conflict with their sports seasons, to Orlando for pro wrestling training. The idea is for both sides to learn about the other. The key from the WWE decision making standpoint is that they have felt that a lot of the higher level athletes that have opted to come to WWE do so in their late 20s and then they have to start training them. In these cases, the idea would be that the athlete would start under contract in their early 20s. None of these new deals, unlike Steveson, have a component that includes getting a WWE contract upon the end of their college eligibility. But it is to give the athletes some training and selling them on the up side of working for WWE after college, and for WWE to evaluate them over their college careers and in early training before making a multi-year contract offer to them.”

The complete list of WWE’s NIL athletes is as followed:

  • Carlos Aviles – Track & Field (Ohio State)
  • Haley Cavinder – Basketball (Fresno State)
  • Hanna Cavinder – Basketball (Fresno State)
  • A.J. Ferrari – Wrestling (Oklahoma State)
  • Lexi Gordon – Basketball (Duke)
  • Aleeya Hutchins – Track & Field (Wake Forrest)
  • John Krahn – Football (Portland State)
  • Glen Logan – Football (LSU)
  • Isaac Odugbesan – Track & Field (Alabama)
  • Mason Parris – Wrestling (Michigan)
  • Masai Russell – Track & Field (Kentucky)
  • Jon Seaton – Football (Elon)
  • Joe Spivak – Football (Northwestern)
  • Dalton Wagner – Football (Arkansas)
  • Riley White – Track & Field (Alabama)

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2 years ago by Connel Rumsey

@connel1405

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