Performance Center recruit Melanie Brzezinski was released by WWE during this week’s talent cuts.
Brzezinski confirmed the news in a post on her Instagram Stories on Saturday. Brzezinski had been offered a WWE developmental contract in December 2022 and was officially introduced as a member of the company’s spring 2023 class of Performance Center recruits.
Brzezinski wrote:
Good morning everybody. I’m sure a lot of you have heard the news, and yes, it’s true. My time with WWE, aka ‘TKO’ is now over.
It was an amazing experience that I will forever be grateful for. I am taking this as a stepping stone to another dream of mine.
Thank you all for the support and kind words throughout this amazing experience with the company.
It’s time for me to go after what was truly meant for me.
This week’s roster cuts were made following Endeavor’s acquisition of WWE becoming official on September 12.
Late last year, Brzezinski took part in a WWE tryout for current and former college and professional athletes. She went to college at the University of Tampa and has a background in bodybuilding, CrossFit, and karate.
PWInsider reports that WWE will be holding tryouts at the company’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida this week. The 21-year-old Brogan is the first name that’s been confirmed for the tryout.
Brogan had his first match in 2021. He trained at AR Fox’s WWA4 Wrestling School in Atlanta, Georgia.
Brogan’s father Fit Finlay is a trainer/coach at the WWE Performance Center.
David Finlay, Brogan’s older brother, is a star for NJPW and is the current leader of Bullet Club.
In 2020, Fit Finlay spoke about Brogan during an appearance on WWE’s The Bump.
“My younger son Brogan is 17, I’ve got him in the ring,” Fit said. “He’s the tallest of [Fit’s children] and he says he’s going to be better than all of us. Brogan’s always up for a challenge. He’s a tough dude.”
GCW is among the independent promotions that Brogan wrestles for. Brogan also had three matches on NJPW Strong between 2021 and 2022.
The report states that there’s “no rush” to get Pillman Jr. on NXT television because the initial plan is to get him into the Performance Center and allow him to get his feet under him.
The 29-year-old Pillman Jr. became a free agent in July when his AEW contract expired and was not renewed. Pillman Jr. made his AEW debut in 2019 and signed a full-time deal with the company in 2021.
Pillman Jr.’s last match for AEW took place in May. He was competing at indie events until earlier this month.
It’s a tough business. It’s a long way to the top if you want to rock ‘n’ roll, but being here today and getting to reminisce on some of my past moments of my career has really cheered me up and put me in a position to where I’m excited for the future.
There is a lot to come. I can’t speak on it right now. It’s kind of in the works right now, but I’ve got a huge moment, a huge opportunity coming up in my career to continue making memories, to continue coming up with new gear ideas, and sharing my version of pro wrestling with you all. Thank you for supporting me and today was a lot of fun.
Pillman Jr. wrestled for MLW prior to joining AEW on a full-time basis in 2021.
Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock is progressing well on the road to her in-ring debut.
The new edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter includes an update on Mensah-Stock’s WWE Performance Center training. Dave Meltzer reports that he’s been told Mensah-Stock is “doing great’ and is taking to pro wrestling naturally.
Reports on Olympic gold medalist Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who was the actual biggest name recent signing but has not debuted yet, are very strong. We’re told she’s doing great and taking to pro wrestling like a fish to water
The 30-year-old Mensah-Stock signed with WWE this May. In 2021, she made history at the Tokyo Olympics by becoming the first Black woman to ever win a gold medal in women’s freestyle wrestling.
During interviews surrounding the Tokyo Olympics, Mensah-Stock expressed interest in becoming a pro wrestler and joining WWE. She told ESPN this May that signing with WWE was a dream come true.
Along with fellow gold medalist Gable Steveson, Mensah-Stock was honored by WWE at SummerSlam 2021.
Steveson is set to make his WWE in-ring debut at NXT Great American Bash this Sunday (July 30). Steveson is facing Baron Corbin at the show.
Following his departure from AEW, Brian Pillman Jr. was present at the WWE Performance Center.
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Pillman Jr. was training at the WWE Performance Center on July 13. The report didn’t state anything further about Pillman Jr.’s status.
Pillman Jr.’s final matches for AEW took place on a house show tour this May. He lost a singles match to Claudio Castagnoli and teamed with Brock Anderson in a loss to The Gunns.
The last televised match Pillman Jr. had for AEW was on an episode of Rampage this February.
Pillman Jr. made his first appearance for AEW at the promotion’s inaugural event in 2019. He signed a full-time deal with AEW in 2021. During his time with the company, Pillman Jr. was best known for his Varsity Blonds tag team with Griff Garrison.
On Tuesday, Pillman Jr. posted a picture on Instagram with the caption, “Stay tuned for the next chapter…”
The WWE Performance Center Spring 2023 rookie class has been revealed.
In a YouTube video posted Thursday, WWE introduced a class of nine new recruits who are set to begin training at the company’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
The nine new recruits are:
Ezekiel Balogun, 25 years old, 6 feet 6 inches tall, 238 pounds, born in Nigeria, former University of North Florida basketball player, ASUN Conference Academic Honor Roll 2019-2020.
Vlad Pavlenko, 26 years old, former Iowa State University track & field athlete, three-time All-American.
Hunter Smallback, 23 years old, 6 feet 4 inches tall, 227 pounds, former defensive end at Stetson University.
Coy Wanner, 24 years old, 6 feet 3 inches tall, 247 pounds, former tight end at University of Wisconsin.
Andrzej Hughes-Murray, 25 years old, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 247 pounds, former outside linebacker at Oregon State University, signed with Los Angeles Rams as an undrafted free agent in 2022.
Kevin Robertson, 6 feet 2 inches tall, 290 pounds, former defensive lineman at Temple University.
Melanie Brzezinski, 22 years old, University of Tampa alumni, bodybuilder, CrossFit athlete, karate black belt.
Tylynn Register, 5 feet 6 inches tall, former Jacksonville State University track & field athlete.
Alexis Gray, 25 years old, former Texas Southern University sprinter, born in Bahamas.
Video of the Spring 2023 Rookie Class being introduced is below.
Indie wrestlers Kylie Rae and KC Navarro are reportedly among those in attendance at a WWE tryout this week.
PWInsider reported on Tuesday that WWE is currently holding a tryout at its Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Rae and Navarro are the first two names PWInsider has confirmed as taking part in the tryout.
“WWE NXT is currently holding a tryout at the Performance Center in Florida. The tryout started yesterday and will run towards the end of the week,” PWInsider wrote. “The only names we have confirmed thus far as taking part are former MLW star KC Navarro and former AEW and NWA star Kylie Rae.”
In addition to AEW and the NWA, Rae has also formerly wrestled for Impact Wrestling. She’s battled mental health and substance abuse (alcohol/marijuana) issues during her career but reached the milestone of one year sober this October.
Also in October, Rae wrestled on the pre-show for NJPW’s Rumble on 44th Street pay-per-view in New York City.
Navarro announced this September that he was now a free agent after departing MLW: “As of today, I am officially a Free Agent. I would like to thank @MLW and all of the incredibly talented men and women that I had the privilege of sharing a locker room with. But now, the only question left to ask is…Who’s Next To Be Blessed”
A star of the Netflix docuseries “Cheer” is coming to WWE.
It was announced via People today that “Cheer” star Gabi Butler has signed a WWE contract. The 24-year-old Butler told People that she fell in love with pro wrestling after attending this year’s SummerSlam in Nashville, where she spent time with WWE co-CEO Stephanie McMahon. Butler said Stephanie “really inspired” her to take the leap into WWE.
People wrote that Butler will be “training at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando and will attend the biggest events in the sport as she immerses herself in the wrestling world.” Butler has two years of college eligibility left and is currently thinking about where she wants to cheer next year.
“This year is the first year that I’ve actually taken a break from cheerleading,” Butler said. “I did a tour this summer, and that was [a] very, very time-consuming thing, mentally and physically. So I took this year off and I’m currently thinking about where I would want to cheer in college next year.”
Butler told People that she is looking forward to the challenge of competing in an actual wrestling match one day.
“I would definitely love to take that challenge, hopefully in the future,” Butler said. “You have to be committed to be wrestling, that’s for sure. It definitely doesn’t look easy.”
“Cheer” premiered on Netflix in 2020 and “follows the ups and downs of Navarro College’s competitive cheer squad as they work to win a coveted national title.”
“It’s very related to cheerleading because we’re performers, we’re entertainers, we like to put on a show and we also have to be athletic,” Butler said about wrestling.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque tweeted about Butler signing with WWE: “Sky’s the limit for @GabiButlerCheer… excited to welcome this incredible athlete to the @WWE Performance Center!”
Butler has 2.6 million followers on TikTok and 2.1 million on Instagram.
Harleigh White (Track and Field – Clemson University)
Rickssen Opont (Haitian National shotput record holder)
Lea Mitchell (Three-time MVP gymnast – Michigan State University)
Anna Keefer (Track and Field. Five-time NCAA All-American – UNC)
Kennedy Cummins (Cheerleading – University of Minnesota)
Breanna Ruggiero (Tumbling and acrobat athlete – Sacramento State University)
Jade Gentile (Professional soccer player in Iceland)
Monika Klisara (represented Team Canada in karate)
14 of the 15 new recruits are from the tryouts held the week of SummerSlam in Nashville this year. Klisara took part in the tryouts held in Dallas during WrestleMania week this spring.
A former NXT Tag Team Champion is back at the WWE Performance Center this week.
PWInsider reported today that Biff Busick (formerly known as Oney Lorcan in WWE) is at the Performance Center this week serving as a guest coach. Busick was released from WWE as part of a round of roster cuts in November 2021.
Busick was a one-time NXT Tag Team Champion during his time with WWE, holding the titles with Danny Burch from October 2020 to March 2021.
After his WWE release, Busick returned to wrestling on the indies. He posted a message on Twitter this July announcing that he was taking some time away from performing in the ring.
“If you have contacted me about bookings, I apologize if I haven’t immediately gotten back to you,” Busick wrote. “I’ve decided to take some time away from performing in the ring. Thank you.”
When NXT unveiled its new logo last month, Busick tweeted out a picture of it. The new logo ditched the colorful NXT 2.0 aesthetic for a black, gold, and white color scheme.
Former NXT wrestler Santana Garrett has returned to WWE in a new role.
Garrett announced on Monday that she’s back working for WWE as a Performance Center coach. She was previously with WWE as a wrestler from 2019 until being released in June 2021.
Garrett tweeted a photo of herself in a WWE shirt on Monday and captioned it with “This is NOT a throwback…#WWE #NXT #PC #Coach #Orlando #PerformanceCenter #ProWrestling #WomensWrestling #SantanaGarrett”
On her Instagram Stories, Garrett spoke about her new role and revealed that she was in a class helping with new hires on Monday.
“First day back and I’m in a class helping with new hires,” Garrett said. “These girls are less than three months in, and they are amazing. Like, I think back to me three months in and I see these girls and I’m just like, ‘Oh my gosh, I had no chance.’ But then also, to be fair, I just learned how to put my own eyelashes on like a year ago. So, slow learner I guess.
“And a huge thank you for the overwhelming support. I am blown away. The messages already, I just posted like 15 minutes ago. But thank you, thank you guys so much. So nice.”
Garrett took part in the 2017 Mae Young Classic before signing with WWE in 2019. In addition to wrestling for NXT, Garrett wrestled on one episode of Raw in 2020 and one episode of Main Event that same year. She was also an entrant in the 2021 women’s Royal Rumble match.
After being released by WWE, Garrett had four matches for AEW in 2021.
WWE has revealed its newest recruits to join the Performance Center.
The company announced on Tuesday that 17 recruits will comprise the upcoming class training in Orlando. The class includes former Bellator fighter, Valerie Loureda, who signed with the company in June.
Loureda revealed in an interview with Denise Salcedo recently that she has been training at the WWE P.C for about four weeks.
“I’ve been training very hard,” she said. “I have just been learning from watching other girls and learning from them and developing in my career. I am still very green in my stage but soon I’ll know what I am doing and I’ll be out there in NXT.”
Loureda fought five times for Bellator from 2019 to 2021. The American Top Team member has a career record of four wins and one loss.
Valerie Loureda is an acclaimed mixed martial artist who previously fought in Bellator, where she compiled a 4-1 record. The 24-year-old Miami, Fla., native has a black belt in Taekwondo and has already made waves in the MMA world for her social media presence. Loureda is also the first Cuban-American to be signed by WWE.
The 24-year-old Tracy Hancock is already an internationally renowned amateur wrestler, having competed at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The 6-foot-1, 215-pound, Colorado Springs native has spent five years training with Team USA Wrestling, winning a bronze medal at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships.
A former Miss Indiana, Alexis Lete heads to the WWE Performance Center after four years on the George Washington University volleyball team as their leading middle blocker. A social media star, Lete is most notably known for her viral Wonder Woman TikToks as well as hosting a cryptocurrency podcast, “Crypto Cast.”
Tiller Bucktrot is a 6-foot-4, 305-pound former offensive lineman for Tulsa University. Originally from Stroud, Okla., Bucktrot is a proud representative of his Indigenous heritage as a member of the Muscogee Creek Tribe.
24-year-old Abule Abadi-Fitzgerald is a Lakeland, Fla., native originally from Nigeria. The 6-foot-5, 284-pounder spent four seasons as a defensive tackle for Kentucky.
AJ Amrhein is a well-renowned fitness instructor from Scottsburg, Ind., and a former tumbler on the prestigious Baylor Acrobatics & Tumbling team. Amrhein is a three-time national champion with The Bears and was named the 2020 Female Scholar Athlete of the Year.
A 6-foot-4, 335-pound force Antoine Frazier hails from Huffman, Texas, where he excelled on the football field before going on to become a regular on the offensive line for both Kansas University and the University of Northern Iowa.
A 2021-22 WWE NIL Athlete, Isaac Odugbesan is a three-time SEC shot put champion. The Lagos, Nigeria native currently holds both the indoor and outdoor distance records for Alabama.
24-year-old Daniel McArthur is a four-time NCAA All-American and ACC Track & Field Champion from the University of North Carolina. At 6-foot-4, 300 pounds, McArthur holds both the indoor and outdoor shot put records at UNC and attended the 2020 Olympic Trials.
Gina DeLucia is a 24-year-old Crossfit competitor ranked among the top 200 females in the United States. A graduate of Ole Miss, DeLucia is a former cheerleader who went on to compete internationally at some of Crossfit’s most renowned competitions.
Giovanna Eburneo has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, winning both Pan-American and European Championships. The 25-year-old Sao Paulo, Brazil native is also a personal trainer.
Originally from Fort Worth, Texas, Houston Miller is a 6-foot-4, 260-pound beast who played three seasons for Texas Tech along the defensive line.
Caleb Balgaard is a multi-sport athlete originally from Fenton, Mich. The 6-foot-3, 209-pound, 24-year-old stood out on the South Alabama baseball team as a utility hitter.
Standing at 6-foot-1, 310 pounds, Joe Spivak is another 2021-22 WWE NIL Athlete out of Northwestern University. A native of Darien, Ill., Spivak was named a captain of the Wildcats football team. The offensive lineman was also named to the 2021 Wuerffel Trophy Watch List, which honors college football’s most impactful community service leaders.
Sarah Baerwas a standout collegiate soccer and basketball player at both Bowling Green University and Lynn University. The 26-year-old dual sport athlete also has a master’s in criminal justice.
The 23-year-old Tiana Caffey is a former collegiate soccer player from LSU. A Port St. Lucie, Fla., native, Caffey was called up to play for the USA U17 National Soccer Team.
A threat on the gridiron and on the mat, Roman Macek was an offensive lineman for Duquesne University and a bronze medalist at the PIAA State Wrestling Championships. The 6-foot-1, 265-pound, Pittsburgh, Penn., native holds the Duquesne bench press record at 450 pounds.
WWE has unveiled their newest class of Performance Center recruits.
In a video released Wednesday, WWE announced the signing of fourteen talents from their SummerSlam tryout in Nashville, Tennessee on July 29.
The video captured the moments where Paul “Triple H” Levesque, WWE’s executive vice president of talent relations, offered contracts to the 14 recruits.
The video was short on details regarding the backgrounds of the new recruits, but did note that signees Alivia Ash and Harleigh White are former ACC track athletes.
The signees are as follows:
Kennedy Cummins
Gabrielle Dunn
Rickssen Opont
Alivia Ash
Harleigh White
Chukwusom Enekwechi
Jade Gentile
Anna Keefer
Breanna Ruggiero
Beau Morris
Franki Strefling
Hayden Pittman
Lea Mitchell
Kevin Ventura-Cortes
Dave Meltzer reported in the most recent Wrestling Observer Newsletter that around 50 athletes from 47 colleges took part in the tryout, with no standouts in the bunch.
“At the Nashville tryouts, where they said they had 50 athletes from 47 colleges, since most had never been in the ring, nobody really stood out. One person noted that nobody stood out immediately like a future superstar and that this may be the last tryout only using college athletes as they think they will revert back to wanting independent wrestlers with experience again combined with recruiting of athletes. They did sign 14 of the 50 to contracts. There were a few concussions and shoulder injuries and more injuries possibly then any tryout ever due to the in-ring inexperience.”
The video announcing the new recruiting class can be seen below.
Paul “Triple H” Levesque was back at the WWE Performance Center on Wednesday.
John Pollock of Post Wrestling reports that Levesque was in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday and spoke at the Performance Center. Pollock notes that — according to the people he’s heard from — Levesque stated that he’s “back,” but it’s unclear what that means.
“According to multiple sources, Paul Levesque was in Orlando today and spoke at the Performance Center,” Pollock tweeted.
“Of the people I heard from, Levesque stated ‘he’s back’ – it is unknown what that entails but that was the wording I was given.”
Bryan Alvarez confirmed Pollock’s report on Wednesday’s edition of Wrestling Observer Live. Alvarez notes that Levesque said during the meeting that he “was there for business reasons and he couldn’t say why yet.”
Levesque was previously in charge of NXT until shortly before last September’s NXT 2.0 rebrand.
Levesque is WWE’s executive vice president of global talent strategy and development. After going through a life-threatening health scare due to heart issues last year, Levesque announced this March that he was back working in the WWE office. Levesque said that he would have to take a little bit of a step back from his usual workload while recovering.
Levesque also announced this March that, due to his heart issues, he’s now retired from in-ring competition.
WWE has unveiled its latest group of Performance Center signees.
The class is headlined by former ROH Women’s World Champion Rok-C, who has officially signed with WWE after taking part in two tryouts. The 20-year-old was trained by Booker T at his Reality of Wrestling school and is a former Reality of Wrestling Diamonds Division Champion.
Last September, Rok-C won the ROH Women’s World Championship by defeating Miranda Alize in the finals of a tournament. Rok-C lost the title to Deonnna Purrazzo this January.
WWE has also confirmed that Fallon Henley and Kayla Inlay, who have both already appeared on NXT, have signed with the company. Henley formerly wrestled as Tesha Price and was a regular on AEW Dark. She’s currently aligned with Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen in NXT.
Bianca Carelli, the daughter of former WWE wrestler Santino Marella, is also part of this group of signees. The class consists of 14 people in total, including indie wrestlers Cole Karter, Nikita Knight, “Motherlover” Jake Tucker, and The Notorious Mimi.
Theresa Schuessler who debuted on NXT 2.0 as Fallon Henley, is a 24-year old Tampa, Fla., native with five years of experience under her belt competing in the independent circuit under the name of Tesha Price.
Kayla Inlay has already begun to make a name for herself on NXT 2.0 and NXT Level Up. A former collegiate dancer and cheerleader, Inlay was trained by former WWE Superstar Tyler Breeze after training at his school ‘Flatbacks.’
A 6-for-2, 305-pound force, Joseph Sculthorpe was an NCAA All-Conference Offensive Lineman at NC State before signing with the Atlanta Falcons as an undrafted free agent. Originally from Hampstead, N.C., Sculthorpe was a high school state heavyweight wrestling champion.
18-year-old Maddie Knisley is a six-time state champion in vault, having trained in competitive gymnastics for 11 years. She also competed on the independent wrestling scene as Nikita Knight.
Calyx Hampton is a 22-year-old former athlete from the University of Oregon having competed on the school’s Acrobatics & Tumbling team, earning NCATA Individual Event National Championship honors.
Mitchell Lavalley has made a name for himself on the independent circuit under the moniker ‘Motherlover’ Jake Tucker. Trained by the likes of WWE Hall of Famer Kane, Natalya, Tyson Kidd, and Dr. Tom Prichard, Lavalley won the 2014 “WWE Show Us Your Superstar” Contest when he was 19, making a series of videos at the WWE Performance Center before appearing on the SummerSlam Pre-Show Panel.
Bianca Carelli, the daughter of WWE Superstar Santino Marella, comes to the Performance Center after earning her Bachelor’s degree in biology from Western University. Carelli has extensive training in MMA fighting with a focus on Judo, Jiu Jitsu and Boxing.
Cole McKinney from Charleston, W.Va., has been honing his craft for over a year and a half already after foregoing wrestling offers from multiple DI Universities to pursue his passion for professional wrestling, going by the ring name Cole Karter on the independents.
Twenty-three-year-old David Bostian of Wilmington, N.C., has been a folkstyle wrestler for 16 years while simultaneously training as a powerlifter.
6-foot-4 Gabe Wai heads to Florida from Corvallis.Ore., following his tenure as a DI Rugby player at Lindenwood University. The 260-pound Army Reservist was projected to be drafted into the Professional Rugby League.
Carla Gonzalez from Pasadena, Texas is better known as Rok-C after graduating from Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling school as the youngest ROW Diamonds Champion.
Nnamdi Oguayo of Beltsville, Md., stands at 6-foot-3 and weighs 245 pounds after playing four years on the defensive line for Washington State University.
Edwin Grande was a standout offensive lineman at the University of Idaho and Monterey Peninsula College. The Oakland, Calif., native played for the Houston Blues football team during the 2020 Spring League.
Amelia Herr is an 18-year-old Criminal Justice major out of West Chester, Pa. With two years of Taekwondo training under her belt, she also competed on the independents as The Notorious Mimi.
