WWE launches African talent initiative with event at Lagos hotel
Following the release of World Wrestling Entertainment’s third quarter earnings report, WWE CEO Nick Khan shared with the press that WWE would be launching an initiative to scout Nigerian and African talent all in an attempt to create localized content in the West African country. This comes on the heels of WWE reaching an agreement with Multichoice and their subsidiary, Showmax, the largest video streaming platform in Nigeria, to be the host of WWE Network in Nigeria and the rest of the African continent. SuperSport, the sports-focused subsidiary of Multichoice, will continue to air WWE RAW, WWE Smackdown and WWE NXT as part of the agreement and recently has introduced WWE JAMBO, a weekly recap show that’s described as being “distinctly African” and features video highlights, discussion on current stories and exclusive interviews and video pieces.
Nick Khan’s statement, made on November 2nd, indicated that the process for scouting Nigerian talent would begin as early as a week from his comments and that timetable seems to match up with what we’ve learned so far about this initiative.
Things sprung into full gear with this African talent scouting program today, November 8th, with an event held in the Moremi Hall room at the Sheraton Hotel at 30 Mobolaji Bank Anthony Way Ikeja in Lagos, Nigeria. WWE officials and talent, including Omos and Apollo Crews (both of Nigerian descent), were on hand to announce the launch of “The Search For Africa’s Next WWE Superstar.”
The search process will allow wrestlers and talent from all over Africa, not just Nigeria, to submit video footage to enter themselves into consideration for the contest. WWE has announced that “…successful applicants will be invited to participate in the Lagos tryout in February 2023. A select number of tryout participants will then be awarded an all-expenses-paid experience to continue their tryout journey alongside current and prospective WWE Superstars ahead of WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles in April 2023. A full-time WWE developmental contract may be offered to the top-performing participants who will then begin their new career at the world-class WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.“ Entries into the contest go live today and are open until December 18, 2022.
The WWE, in conjunction with SuperSport, has launched a website to serve as an information hub for the tryout process. The web address to visit for interested parties is www.supersport.com/wweafricasuperstar and was on display at the event, shown in the photo below.
Currently, the SuperSport/WWE website serving as the hub for the superstar search indicates that interested parties should reach out via email to an address at SuperSport for details on how to apply. We’ve reached out to that email for more information regarding the application process and will provide more information when and if we hear back. Our intention in doing so is to obtain as much information as possible to make this process accessible to non-English speaking wrestlers based in Africa, allowing them to participate in this talent search as well.
As mentioned above, WWE officials and superstars were present at the meeting. Nigeria’s local pro wrestling scene also had a presence at the meeting. Three officials of the Nigeria Pro Wrestling Federation were on hand for the event, including NPWF President Chief John Uche, Director of Publicity (and member of the WrestleMap staff) Olusesan Olukoya, and NPWF Executive Board Member His Royal Highness Eze John Chukwu. Chief Uche also served as a representative of Gold Wrestling Association at the event as the Lagos-based promotion technically falls under the umbrella of the NPWF as a governing body. The president of the Nigeria Boxing Board of Control, Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, was on hand as well, as the big event brought out some of the region’s top administrators in the combat sports field. Nigeria’s DSTV and GoTV also had a presence at the meeting and are believed to be involved in the project.
As far as we are aware, the NPWF received an initial invitation to the event in mid-October with a follow up coming through on October 31st. This invitation originally came through a third party, a local Nigerian production company that may be working with SuperSport or WWE on content production, and only indicated that the meeting would be with a “global sporting organization” without mentioning WWE by name. Nigeria-based African Wrestling Organization staff members also reportedly received an invitation to the event but apparently did not have a presence at the meeting. We’ve reached out to the aforementioned production company and if we receive any follow up information of note, we’ll be certain to pass it along.
From top: Omos talks with the press on hand; combat sports administrators from Nigeria turned out to the meeting, from left: Nigeria Pro Wrestling Federation Executive Board Member His Royal Highness Eze John Chukwu, NPWF President Chief John Uche, Nigeria Boxing Board of Control President Dr. Rafiu Ladipo, and NPWF Chief of Publicity Olusesan Olukoya; Olusesan Olukoya poses with the WWE Championship; Olusesan Olukoya poses with Apollo Crews.
Reports coming out of the NPWF camp indicate that the feeling following the launch event is that there is definitely an opportunity for future collaboration between the federation and the WWE. There are no specific details as to what that collaboration could look like, or even that it’s guaranteed, but there is a feeling that there will be more meetings prior to the Lagos tryouts in February 2023 and that those meetings could yield some positive results.
Big picture, the launch of the quest to find the next African WWE superstar is a huge deal for the pro wrestling scene in Nigeria and Africa. First off, because it will lead to the first ever talent tryouts for the WWE in Africa. That alone is huge in showing Africa-based talent that reaching the WWE is a possibility, especially now that the company is making a concerted effort to focus on building their brand in Africa. It felt like only a matter of time before a major wrestling promotion would take this step and there is undoubtedly a huge, mostly untapped, talent and fan pool on the developing continent. As video streaming services and other forms of content consumption continue to develop and grow in Africa, so will the fan base and opportunities to capitalize on that fan base. So will opportunities for localized content.
Could WWE be eyeing something like NXT Europe down the road for the African continent? The talent is there to build a brand and the fan base is hungry for WWE content. WWE content featuring local wrestlers could be a big hit and give more wrestlers and potential wrestlers a more achievable goal to make it to the top of the industry, which could be a huge motivating factor. Regardless of the direction the WWE decides to go, several African wrestlers receiving WWE sponsored training could be a huge boon as well. It could vastly improve training tactics in the area, potentially creating a chain reaction that eventually boosts the overall talent pool.
We’ll see where things go and there is a long road ahead before WWE’s total vision for their footprint in Africa is revealed. This is a story that we’ll be spending a good deal of time on, so be sure to keep an eye on WrestleMap for more updates including following up to inquiries we put out as a part of this piece.
