WWE holding tryouts for college athletes during WrestleMania week

World Wrestling Entertainment is looking for their next Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. According to Chris Vannini of The Athletic, WWE will be holding tryouts for recently graduated college athletes during the week leading up to WrestleMania 38.

“WWE will hold a multiday tryout exclusive to current and recently graduated college athletes during WrestleMania week in early April as it looks to find a new crop of future wrestlers, The Athletic has learned,” wrote Vannini. “The company also has talent evaluators at this week’s NFL combine and National Scouting Combine in search of more participants.”

In the past, college football has been a hot-bed for WWE talent. The aforementioned Reigns was a star defensive tackle at Georgia Tech, and had a cup of coffee in the NFL with the Minnesota Vikings. However, the WWE is interested in athletes from all different sports.

“The tryout will take place from March 30 to April 1 at The Ford Center at The Star, home of the Dallas Cowboys headquarters and practice facility,” added Vannini. “More than 50 male and female college athletes are expected to participate.

“WWE has not yet released the list of participants, but the company says it will include “draft-eligible” football players, along with athletes from basketball, track and field, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, cheer and dance.”

Finally, Vannini added that athletes won’t be evaluated based on their wrestling abilities. Evidently, the athletes will be scouted based off of a bevy of related factors.

“The tryout won’t consist of much actual wrestling, since the athletes haven’t trained for that,” wrote Vannini. “But they will go through athletic evaluations, in-ring technical sessions, interviews and promotional video evaluations, like speaking on a microphone.”

As WWE prepares for their biggest show to the year, the company could find their next star prior to WrestleMania 38.

More on WWE, College Athletics

Furthermore, this isn’t World Wrestling Entertainment‘s first foray into college athletics. The WWE announced a newly-formed Name, Image & Likeness program that’ll provide athletes with a path from their respective sports to the wrestling world earlier this year.

It all started with Gable Stevenson — an Olympic gold medalist wrestler and star at the University of Minnesota. Earlier this year, Stevenson signed an NIL deal with WWE that let him finish school and then join the company, even appearing at last year’s SummerSlam.

Now, the program has been expanded to college athletes from all different sports. As the WWE announced, 15 athletes will join Stevenson as part of the company’s NIL program.

Among them, five have a background in the sport of football. Moreover, five are track and field stars, three are basketball players and two have past experience as wrestlers.

First, Glen Logan of LSU leads the notable group of football stars. The 6’5, 300-pound defensive tackle has been a fixture among the Tigers defensive line since 2017. Now, he’s looking forward to a future in the squared circle.

Moreover, another SEC school has a potential prospect — starting right tackle Dalton Wagner of the Arkansas Razorbacks is joining Logan. Wagner is gigantic with long, flowing hair — he’s got the look of a main-eventer for sure.

Moreover, Northwestern defensive lineman Joe Spivak, Elon offensive lineman Jon Seaton and Portland State offensive lineman John Krahn round out the football stars. Perhaps Krahn can fill the void left by the departure of Paul ‘Big Show’ Wight — the Portland State lineman is a hulking 7′, 400-pound beast.

Outside of football, Tik Tok and Fresno State basketball stars Hanna and Haley Cavinder are tremendous potential prospects. Additionally, Duke’s Lexi Gordon joins them — going from the hardwood to the wrestling ring.

Furthermore, track and field stars like Kentucky’s Masai Russell, Alabama’s Riley White and Ohio State’s Carlos Aviles join the group. As for athletes with a wrestling background, Michigan’s Mason Parris and Oklahoma State’s A.J. Ferrari join Stevenson. The full list of athletes can be found here.