Some Independent Talents Reportedly Already Contracted Under WWE ID Programme

The recent announcement of WWE's ID programme has divided parts of the wrestling world, with some sceptical of WWE’s official move into the independent wrestling sphere.

The scheme is set to provide a pathway directly from the Indies to the WWE system - not dissimilar from the WWE’s NIL programme but using already trained wrestlers - with WWE partnering with wrestling schools and individual indie wrestlers themselves.

As part of the scheme’s announcement it was revealed that several schools such as Seth Rollins’ Black & Brave Academy, Cody Rhodes’ Nightmare Factory, and more were already signed up to the programme, and a report from POST Wrestling suggests that several independent wrestlers have also signed up to the scheme.

The report suggests that the wrestlers in question have deals that will allow them to continue working independent wrestling shows, although which companies said wrestlers can and can’t work for has not been disclosed.

C*4 Wrestling promoter Mark Pollesel shared his scepticism of the programme:

“Remember when [in 2015] Samoa Joe was allowed to work indies restriction-free?,” Pollesel said, “How long did that last for? WWE says a lot of things, and that’s fine, that’s their business. But for forty years, we have seen those things, and we’ve seen the ultimate direction where those things go.”

H/T: POST Wrestling