WWE Announces New Performance Center Recruits Including Matt Riddle, Mia Yim and Chelsea Green

World Wrestling Entertainment announced the addition of some big names to their Performance Center on Thursday. Matt Riddle is a former UFC fighter that transitioned to wrestling and had a lot of success wrestling for companies like PWG and Evolve. Mia Yim is a former Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion that has been a part of WWE’s Mae Young Classic. Chelsea Green had a lot of success in Impact as Laurel Van Ness, where she was also a Knockouts Champion. She was also a part of WWE’s last season of Tough Enough.

Here are the bios of everybody that WWE announced courtesy of WWE.com along with my thoughts on some of the notable name there.

“The King of Bros” Matt Riddle was announced as NXT’s newest blockbuster signee at TakeOver: Brooklyn IV in August. He rose to the top of the international circuit after a successful career in professional MMA, which included a winning record in UFC’s welterweight division. Considered one of the top strikers and submission artists in sports-entertainment, Riddle captured championships in the U.K.’s PROGRESS Wrestling and the U.S.-based EVOLVE Wrestling, among other organizations. He made his NXT in-ring debut at a Live Event in Florida in September, defeating Fabian Aichner.

I have been very impressed from what I have seen of Riddle. He’s got that laid back attitude and the “bro” thing that people think about when they see him, but I think he has the drive and the talent to be a World Champion in WWE. I don’t think he should be in NXT for that long. Get him up on the main roster after WrestleMania and let him go.

WWE fans recognize Mia Yim from the 2017 and 2018 editions of the Mae Young Classic. After making it to the Second Round in the inaugural tournament, the California native advanced to the Quarterfinals in this year’s event, where she lost to Toni Storm but received “Please sign Mia” chants from the WWE Universe, which led to WWE COO Triple H offering her a contract. A training partner of Shayna Baszler and Jessamyn Duke, Yim made her ring debut in August 2009. She is set to make her NXT TV debut this Wednesday on WWE Network.

Mia has a lot of experience and will be a great addition to NXT.

Canadian grappler Chelsea Green has competed around the world, wrestling in faraway places like India and Australia, as well as throughout North America. A product of Lance Storm’s Storm Wrestling Academy in Calgary (the same school where Tyler Breeze, Peyton Royce and Oney Lorcan trained), Green first came onto the WWE Universe’s radar as a competitor in the 2015 season of WWE Tough Enough. Before wrestling, Green was a multi-sport athlete who excelled in soccer, volleyball, basketball and track.

It’s not mentioned there, but Green is dating WWE star Zack Ryder. If you follow either of them on social media, they aren’t shy about sharing that info. I think she’s improved a lot as an all around performer in the last couple of years and she was a standout in the women’s 4-Way match at All In back in September.

Luis Martinez, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound striker from the independent scene, also joins the WWE PC ranks. Initially trained at the Monster Factory in New Jersey, Martinez has wrestled under the ring name Punishment Martinez. Splitting his upbringing between New York and Puerto Rico, Martinez learned the Gōjū-ryū form of karate at a young age. Among other accolades, Martinez won Ring of Honor’s Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2017, and he has previously tangled with the likes of NXT’s War Raiders.

I think he’s got a lot of potential and we know WWE likes bigger guys like him, so that’s going to help him.

Third-generation luchador Humberto Carrillo of Monterrey, Mexico, recently debuted on NXT TV, facing The Forgotten Sons’ Jaxson Ryker in September. Formerly competing under the alias Ultimo Ninja, Carrillo comes from lucha libre’s famed Garza dynasty. WWE fans may remember Carrillo’s uncle, the late Hector Garza, a master of the corkscrew plancha who wrestled in both WCW and WWE at the height of the Monday Night War in the 1990s. Prior to joining the WWE PC, Carrillo won titles throughout Mexico, as well as competed in Japan’s NOAH organization.

I’ve heard of him, but don’t know much about it. I remember his uncle Hector Garza well. Coming from a wrestling family is a good thing.

Six-foot-two, 230-pound Daniel Vidot of Queensland, Australia, arrives to the WWE PC from the world of professional rugby. He played wing in Australia’s National Rugby League for the Brisbane Broncos, Gold Coast Titans, Canberra Raiders and St. George Illawarra Dragons, as well as competed in English Super League play.

I’ve never heard of Vidot, but WWE loves recruiting football players in the US, so it makes sense to sign up a rugby play from Australia too. It’s a physical sport.

Towering over the rest of the recruits is 7-foot-3, 370-pound Jordan Omogbehin. Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, the imposing Omogbehin played college basketball at the University of South Florida and Morgan State University in Baltimore.

You can probably label Jordan (named after Michael Jordan perhaps?) as a project because at 7’3″ he’s obviously going to stand out from the pack. Whether he can learn to bump and sell and develop power moves of a big man, we will see. I don’t think WWE is going to rush him. It will take him some time to develop.

Here’s a pic of all of them with Triple H at the NXT tapings from last night in Orlando.