WWE is holding a tryout during WrestleMania week for college athletes, hoping to find the next WWE superstar.
The multi-day tryout is exclusive to current and recently graduated college athletes. Former Kentucky Wildcats defensive lineman Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald is part of the tryout and he spoke to KSR Football Podcast about his experience at The Star.
"They contacted me on Instagram. Long story short, they said they see me as a prospect and they would like me to come try out and if I'm interested, I should let them know and give them my number and talk to them. I was like, 'Oh my God, WWE just contacted me.' I was freaking out. The first thing I did was take a screenshot and sent it to my family, 'You're not going to believe the company that just contacted me.' 'No way, WWE.' 'Yes!' 'What are you going to do? Are you going to try?' I was like, 'I don't know. I told them to give me a couple of days to think about it. I thought about it and thought, 'Maybe I'm done with football, but I don't want to be done with the athletic side of my life. I want to do something else athletic. You know what, I'll give this a try and see if I like it. I ended up deciding I was going to do it and went through the whole process. Boom, here I am trying out for WWE," he said.
Like many athletes who transition into wrestling, going through the WWE workout is much different than training in different sports.
"Going into the tryout, I was very curious about what the ring was like. 'I want to see if I can land on this and see how it feels.' I went in the ring and it was great, it was awesome. The ropes are bouncy. We did a lot of conditioning, just testing our athletic ability. Conditioning to see if you're in shape and a couple of ring drills. Those ring drills were some pretty good cardio. I'm exhausted right now. It wears you out. I'm just getting myself ready. I had energy and I was able to get through it, but it was a lot of cardio," he said.
Abadi-Fitzgerald grew up a wrestling fan, especially once he moved from Nigeria to America, and named The Undertaker as his favorite wrestler. He said he would often imitate the moves with his siblings.
Speaking about finding a character, Abadi-Fitzgerald said, "I've given a lot of thought to it. One thing we did today was promo introduction. They give us an example of what a promo should look like and they test us on our first promo. I gave my first promo. After I did, I made it up. I didn't plan for it or know what it was going to be or how it was supposed to be done. One of the things we did was promo class. I had to think and I dove into the first one and made everything up. 'Who do I want my character to be?' So far, I'm thinking me. I'm going to make my character me. Who I am, where I come from, the Nigerian who is very cultured in the Western world and I understand both sides. I'm trying to find something that can represent that. Where I can represent Nigeria and America. The whole promo thing was fun. I feel I can be a character sometimes. That was one of the most fun parts of the tryout."
In December, WWE launched its NIL program, giving college athletes a direct path to WWE.
Nick Khan commented on using the NIL program and athletic route to finding the next WWE Superstar in an interview during WrestleMania week. You can find his full comments by clicking here.
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