Report: Update On WWE Potentially Bringing In New Talents

After bringing in numerous talents in 2022, there has been a dearth of high-profile WWE signings in 2023 with an "effective hiring freeze" having reportedly been in place since the beginning of the year due to corporate moves within WWE that saw the return of Vince McMahon and then an agreement to merge with UFC. 

It was noted back in April that WWE held talks with the likes of EJ Nduka and Jay White and the company had expressed interest in Hikuleo, Tama Tonga, and Naomi but none of them ended up joining the organisation. 

In the latest update on the WWE hiring freeze, Dave Meltzer has reported that he was told by people within WWE that the company aren't looking to hire talents unless they are "someone really big." This comes amidst reported WWE interest in RUSH and Brian Pillman Jr. RUSH has since agreed to a new deal with AEW, while reports have claimed Pillman could be WWE-bound. 

"Everyone knows that WWE are not hiring a lot of guys. If it was RUSH, yeah they might have but he got a better offer from AEW and they weren't going to go as high as AEW was willing to go for him. If it's somebody really big, yeah they'll hire him... I just know they liked him [Brian Pillman Jr.] but I don't know if he's going to be hired right away. At some point are they interested in hiring him? I know the answer to that one is probably, it's just a question of when. Maybe they'll do it this week. There's no law that they can't do it, it's just I was told that unless it's someone really big they're really not hiring. They've got so many people under contract right now. They've really stuck their whatever out for all these college athletes that they're bringing in," Meltzer said on Wrestling Observer Radio.

WWE has brought in a number of college athletes as part of their Next in Line programme that was launched back in late 2021. This has led to the likes of Tiffany Stratton and Tank Ledger becoming featured performers on WWE NXT. 

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