Posted in: Comics, Sports, TV, WWE | Tagged: NIL, wrestling, wwe

WWE Announces First Class of Lucky College Athletes in NIL Program

Christmas has come early for fifteen college athletes this year, as they have all received the highest honor available in sports and entertainment: the opportunity to work with the WWE! Yay! WWE announced the first class of signees in their NIL program, an abbreviation that stands for two things: Name, Image, and Likeness, and Next in Line. WWE announced the program last week, taking advantage of recent changes to NCAA policy allowing college athletes to make deals to profit off their name, image, and likeness, a right previously exclusive to the colleges they play for. WWE hopes to use the program to recruit young athletes to become future WWE Superstars. If only this program was around back when The Chadster played competitive Ultimate Frisbee, he could have had a WWE contract! Auughh man! So unfair!

But The Chadster isn't about to hate on the next generation of WWE Superstars, not when they will be like gods amongst men, worshipped by The Chadster for their association with The Chadster's beloved WWE. Here's the press release from WWE announcing the first class of signees:

WWE has unveiled 15 college athletes who will be among the first to participate in the company's newly formed NIL (Name, Image & Likeness) program that provides a clear pathway from collegiate athletics to WWE.

The inaugural "Next In Line" class includes athletes from 13 universities, seven NCAA conferences and four sports. In addition to the United States, the class includes representation from myriad countries spanning from Canada and Nigeria. The following 15 athletes join Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson in WWE's first-of-its-kind NIL program:

Carlos Aviles, of Ventura, Calif., a 6-foot-6, 305-pound track & field athlete from Ohio State University
Haley Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University
Hanna Cavinder, of Gilbert, Ariz., a 5-foot-6 basketball player from Fresno State University
A.J. Ferrari of Dallas, Texas, a 6-foot, 200-pound wrestler from Oklahoma State University
Lexi Gordon of Fort Worth, Texas, a 6-foot basketball player from Duke University
Aleeya Hutchins of Toronto, Canada, a 5-foot-5 track & field athlete from Wake Forest University
John Krahn of Riverside, Calif., a 7-foot, 400-pound football player from Portland State University
Glen Logan of Kenner, La., a 6-foot-5, 305-pound football player from LSU
Isaac Odugbesan of Lagos, Nigeria, a 6-foot-4, 275-pound football player from the University of Alabama
Mason Parris of Lawrenceburg, Ind., a 6-foot-2, 275-pound wrestler from the University of Michigan
Masai Russel of Potomac, Md., a 5-foot-5 track & field athlete from the University of Kentucky
Jon Seaton of Hillsborough, N.J., a 6-foot-1, 285-pound football player from Elon University
Joe Spivak of Lombard, Ill., a 6-foot, 300-pound football player from Northwestern University
Dalton Wagner of Spring Grove, Ill., a 6-foot-9, 330-pound football player from the University of Arkansas
Riley White of Hoover, Ala., a 5-foot-6 track & field athlete from the University of Alabama

Congratulations to everyone, and don't worry, The Chadster isn't jealous at all. The Chadster doesn't even know why you would think The Chadster is jealous. That's just ridiculous. The Chadster is never jealous. Auuugh, come on!

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