Triple H comments on WWE NIL ‘Next in Line’ recruiting program

In some of his first public comments since undergoing surgery following a cardiac event,  WWE’s executive vice president of global talent strategy and development Paul “Triple H ” Levesque spoke about WWE’s new NIL recruiting program.

In an interview with Fast Company, Triple H touted the NIL program as an “amazing recruiting tool.”

“We immediately saw it as an amazing recruiting tool for us because it allows us to show athletes a path to WWE, and engage with them in a way where they can learn more about it, we can learn more about them, all while working together, and finding out if it’s a good fit before they’re even finished college, and before they need to make any decisions about what they’re going to do in that next stage of their life,” Triple H told Fast Company. 

“We’ve put a lot of effort into recruiting athletes and finding athletes to let them know WWE is a potentially lucrative opportunity for them if they’re interested and passionate about it.”

The NCAA’s NIL rules changed in June 2021, allowing college athletes to legally earn money from their name, image and likeness for the first time. The rule change allowed WWE to sign Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson to a contract while he finishes his senior year at the University of Minnesota. 

Triple H said that Steveson was an exception to the types of contracts that WWE may offer due to his Olympic pedigree. 

“The deals might range from the lower end, which would still help them make ends meet while at school,” he said. “Of course, if you’re bringing an Olympic gold medal to the table, it’s a different conversation.”

“It opens us up to a whole world of athletes that we’ve never been able to connect with in this way,” Triple H said. “For us, the next generation of superstars will come out of this program.”

WWE announced on September 8 that Triple H had undergone surgery the previous week  following a cardiac episode caused by a genetic heart issue.