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MORE ON THE NEW WWE ID PROGRAM

WWE announced the official launch of their "WWE ID" program today, which will put the company's official stamp on a number of accredited professional wrestling schools with the idea that these schools will be part of the path for talents to eventually make it to WWE contracted deals.

PWInsider.com is told that this has been something the company has been working on developing for years off and on.

We are also told that former ROH and EVOLVE booker Gabe Sapolsky, who now works for WWE, will be part of those overseeing the ID program.  In recent years, he's done a lot of scouting at different schools and independent events.

The idea here is that by having the official relationship with these locations, WWE can point potential recruits to places they can train and learn "the right way" as soon as they seek to get into the business, a place to prepare for eventual WWE tryouts or a place to be hired from to be brought in to the Performance Center via a developmental deal. 

WWE would also have places to send existing developmental talents to go and learn from others and get different perspectives and reps that they might not get outside the PC and the NXT system.

The idea would also be to have WWE reps visit the schools to help uplift what they are doing to bring them advice and partnerships in terms of improving everything across the board so that they can be in alignment with what WWE is seeking in potential talents. 

If the PC is the "finishing school", the idea is to have the WWE ID accredited schools be places where beginners can go and where independent talents who have potential can be pointed to train at for continued improvement. 

We are told a big part of this is making sure that they are continuously enriching and preparing for the future, as a different stream beyond just scouting indy talents and the WWE NIL program.  It's about focusing and directing potential talents from day one into environments where they can potentially do their best.

We've had a few readers ask if any of this is going to lead to combined shows involving the schools or WWE running additional live events in association with the schools. We are told that isn't currently in the plans but there certainly has been talks off and on over the years about the potential return of the EVOLVE brand, which they purchased back in 2020.  However, today's announcement was more about getting everything officially into alignment and there is a lot more to come.  There are no imminent plans for live events or touring or anything of that nature.  This is more a nuts and bolts deal to try and add to the overall WWE recruitment and training process.

Where there may be some ripple effect on the independent scene could be talents that want to get in or stay in WWE's good graces focusing on doing only what would be best for them to get funneled through WWE's system.  That could lead to a change in course in how some talents direct their path in the business, the same way the opening of OVW and FCW led to talents rushing to move to Kentucky or Florida, hoping that by being geographically close to those then-WWE developmental systems they would have an "in."    If talents are primarily concerned about getting "in", they are going to do whatever they believe would be best in WWE's eyes and that will change how they pursue pro wrestling. 

A few independent promoters we spoke with this AM have already worried this could be the American equivalent of WWE signing all the British talents ahead of the launch of NXT UK a few years back, where talents will have issues doing jobs or even end up pulled from dates at WWE's behest, but whether those fears are correctly founded remains to be seen.  It's too early to tell, but there's no doubt that this could tip the scales in what indy wrestlers will want to achieve and aim for right out of the gate in their careers and how and where they decide to work.    That could also be a downside, because if all these talents are being taught to achieve what WWE wants, that could certainly break down the uniqueness and zest that pervades the independent scene - but again, too soon to know for sure.  It will be very interesting to track how this evolves.

The schools involved in today's announcement, thus far:

Booker T’s Reality of Wrestling (Houston)

Cody Rhodes’ Nightmare Factory (Atlanta), where QT Marshall is the lead trainer.

Seth Rollins’ Black and Brave Academy (Davenport, Iowa)

Elite Pro Wrestling Training Center (Concord, New Hampshire), overseen by Mike Hollow and Scott Reed.

KnokX Pro Academy (Los Angeles), overseen by Rikishi and Black Pearl.  

 

 

 

 

 

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