WWE Looking To Sign Independent Wrestlers Once Again

It appears that yet another Triple H-era policy is returning to WWE.

NXT’s rebranding as NXT 2.0 was complemented by a new hiring policy. With the new logo came a policy to stop hiring independent wrestlers and instead to focus on hiring younger athletes from other sports and disciplines and building them up from scratch.

But that 2.0-era policy appears to be over and done with.

Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline noted to his Super Followers on Twitter that Triple H has encouraged the scouting of indy talents once again. Furthermore, Gabe Sapolsky, who now works for WWE’s creative department, was at a DEFY Wrestling show over this past weekend.

Independent wrestlers have made up a critical part of WWE’s roster for over a decade. A joke among wrestling fans for years was that Ring of Honor, not NXT, was WWE’s developmental territory.

Successful independent wrestlers to reach the top of WWE include Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, AJ Styles, Sami Zayn, among others.

There have only been a small handful of ‘pure’ creations to be built from the ground-up without gaining experience elsewhere. Some successful wrestlers without indy experience include Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Charlotte Flair, and Braun Strowman.