WWE sign 10 new talents as Scotland’s Nikki Storm and The Mighty Don’t Kneel join the NXT ranks at the WWE Performance Center
WWE announced on Tuesday the signing of 10 new talents to the company. They will begin their training immediately at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. Among the new signees of five men and five women are Scotland’s own Nikki Storm, whom we revealed was signed to WWE last week, and The Mighty Don’t Kneel (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls).
Nikki Storm is a big name in the United Kingdom, began her career in pro wrestling in 2008. She’s a fully qualified personal trainer, and has wrestled all over the UK including ICW, PCW and SWA. She was also a participant in TNA Impact Wrestling’s “British Bootcamp 2”
She also holds qualifications in advanced nutrition and advanced anatomy & physiology. She is a fully qualified kettle bells, studio cycling and circuits instructor.
Before wrestling, Nikki Storm was a cheerleader for the University of Glasgow and went to dancing school for 13 years. She participated in dancing shows, exams and competitions. Throughout high school she also played field hockey, basketball and netball and was also a part of the Athletics Team.
Haste and Nicholls are two-time GHC Tag Team Champions in the Pro Wrestling NOAH promotion in Japan, and again we revealed exclusively they were signed to WWE. Storm and TMDK are expected to debut on NXT TV in the near future.
The other seven new talents to the WWE Performance Center include amateur wrestlers and a military veteran. All have varying degrees of Pro Wrestling experience and some have none at all. The WWE Performance Center now has 79 trainees.
WWE provided the following information on their website about each of the new talents:
Babatunde Aiyegbusi (Oleśnica, Poland) – Standing 6-foot-9 and weighing 350 Aiyegbusi is a former professional football player who had stints in Poland and Germany. Most recently, he spent the 2015 preseason with the Minnesota Vikings as an offensive lineman.
Bianca Blair (Knoxville, Tennessee) – Blair was an All-American and All-SEC track-and-field performer in hurdles at the University of Tennessee, and was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll in 2011 and 2012. A CrossFit competitor and powerlifter, Blair has been featured in “RX Magazine,” “Femme Rouge Magazine” and CrossFit.com.
Nikola Bogojevic (Superior, Wisconsin) – A world-class grappler, Bogojevic was the National Champion in Greco-Roman wrestling at the Junior Pan-American Games in 2011. He also won bronze at the Pan-American Games in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2014 and has extensive experience training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Carolyn Dunning (Las Vegas) – Dunning is a former Air Force ROTC member and nationally ranked bodybuilding bikini competitor by The National Physique Committee.
Macey Estrella (Parris Island, South Carolina) – Trained with Tom Caiazzo of American Premier Wrestling, Estrella is a former U.S. Marine and member of the Marine Corps SWAT team.
Nicola Glencross (Glasgow, Scotland) – Also known as Nikki Storm, Glencross has eight years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Eve, Scottish Wrestling Alliance, Insane Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Elite, Stardom and Shine.
Terrance Jean-Jacques (Boston) – Standing 6-foot-3 and weighing 265 pounds, Jean-Jacques was an All-American wrestler at the University of Rhode Island in 2015. Prior to that, he accumulated a 32-2 record in wrestling at the University of Iowa.
Danielle Kamela (Los Angeles) – Trained with Rikishi and David “Gangrel” Heath at Knokx Pro Entertainment, Kamela was an on-air talent for FOX Sports Arizona, a Phoenix Suns dancer and an Arizona Cardinals cheerleader.
Michael Nicholls (Perth, Australia) – Also known as Mikey, Nicholls has 10 years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for multiple organizations, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he was two-time Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Shane Veryzer, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Explosive Pro Wrestling.
Shane Veryzer (Perth, Australia) – Also known as Shane Haste, Veryzer has 11 years of experience wrestling on the independent circuit for multiple organizations, including Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he was two-time Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Michael Nicholls, and Explosive Pro Wrestling.