Zoey Stark Wants New Recruits To “Do A Little Research” Into WWE

Zoey Stark has some advice for those joining WWE from outside the wrestling business.

The Next In Line (NIL) program is WWE’s system for recruiting athletes straight out of college who may have excelled in other athletic endeavours. There had been suggestions in the last two years that the company was looking to move away from recruiting stars from the independent wrestling scene, somewhere Zoey Stark made her name.

Ahead of WWE tryouts in August 2023, Stark admitted her displeasure with athletes who only see WWE as an “option” saying that felt like a “slap in the face” during an interview with The Messenger.

Speaking to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Stark clarified her comments and said she wants athletes coming into WWE’s world to do some research:

“That’s the thing, passion, that’s the main word, right? Bring in the athletes. That’s great. I have nothing against the NIL or anything like that. It’s just, what do you do when you have a job interview? You look up the company. You know who the boss is. You know who the owner is. You know a little bit about what’s going on. You don’t have to know the history, but you do your research.

“So when people don’t do the research, it’s just like, ‘Man, you knew this tryout has been coming for months. Just do a little research. That’s all I ask.”

Zoey Stark in split from Trish Stratus

Zoey Stark emerged on WWE’s main roster at Night of Champions when she helped Trish Stratus defeat Becky Lynch. She remained loyal to Stratus during her feud with Lynch which culminated in a Steel Cage match at Payback.

Becky Lynch won that bout and afterwards an angry Stratus hit out at Stark. In return, Zoey Stark nailed her mentor with a Z360 to indicate a split.