WWE has been looking to change their hiring strategy over the past couple of weeks, with the company now going for athletes under 30 and around 6 foot 2/3.
Dave Meltzer elaborated on this further in the latest issue of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, saying that WWE is no longer looking to hire indie wrestlers.
“Several in the company have told us that the word from the top is no more independent talent as far as scouting and such (keep in mind no ‘no more’ doctrine in wrestling really means that and guaranteed this will change in time) and that AEW can have all the independent talent to itself.”
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This is a big change from the company’s mentality over the past few years, with NXT having brought in several talents from the independent scene from 2015 onwards.
WWE not bringing in Indie Talent
Finn Balor, Johnny Gargano, Samoa Joe, Shinsuke Nakamura; these were all talents who had made their names on the indie scene and Japan and have gone on to be prominent members of both the NXT and main rosters since their tenure in the company.
The plan going forward for WWE is to reportedly have people bring in a lot more athletes and do more tryouts as they did in Las Vegas recently going forward.
WWE NXT is set to have some major changes going forward, and according to WWE President Nick Khan these will be taking place over the next few weeks and months.
