Asserting that India has the potential to produce several future World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) stars, its Executive Vice President for Talent, Live Events and Creativity, Paul Michael Levesque, has said the organisation will recruit and train promising athletes from the country.
"There will be many athletes in India that can reach the level of Jinder Mahal in WWE. But its not something that will come overnight. But we will recruit athletes and provide them training and I do believe that we can see many Indian athletes in future becomes stars in WWE," Levesque, better known by his ring name Triple H, told IANS.
Triple H has unveiled a new talent recruitment website to reach elite athletes across a whole range of sporting disciplines, who may never have considered a role in WWE as a career option.
"Once we begin to recruit through this website, we will be begin to recruit more athletes from India and begin to train them in India and produce more athletes," he said.
Since the website's inception, many WWE stars -- Braun Strowman, Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair and Chad Gable -- have learned their ropes there.
When questioned how the website will help the Indian athletes, the 48-year-old said: "It will create a pathway for people to be able to put our interest in them. In the past we have travelled around the globe. We have reached crowd locally, it is a process of reaching out to the people."
"And this site opens up a direct pathway for an athlete that has a interest in WWE to be able to come to us and say look at me. That is the picture how we are able to fill that pipeline of athletes coming in," he added.
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The online hub -- www.WWEPerformanceCenter.com --includes step-by-step instructions on how to apply for a tryout, as well as access to the official application form.
Triple H also praised the Indian audience and said the fan base in the country is massive.
Triple H had visited India a couple of times last year as the WWE had organised a live event in New Delhi on December 9 which had created a buzz among the fans.
"The scope of WWE in India is massive. We were in India last year and witnessed the a huge fanbase. The fans are extremely passionate," he opined.
(Gaurav Sharma can be contacted at gaurav.sharma@ians.in)
--IANS
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