This past June, WWE held their first tryout camps in China as a part of their Brand Extension programme and were successful in signing Anhui resident, Bin Wang. Along with Wang, WWE also managed to sign seven more athletes to a developmental contract. The seven signees are as follows:
#1 Big Boa (6’4, 220 lbs)
#2 Gu Guangming (6’8, 287 lbs)
#3 Gao Lei (5’10, 320 lbs)
#4 Zhao Xia (5’4, 136 lbs)
#5 Wang Xiaolong (6’3, 243 lbs)
#6 Yifeng (6’2, 238 lbs)
#7 Cheng Yuxiang (6’2, 226 lbs)
Big Boa is a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and was named the 2016 Brazilian jiu-jitsu China Open Gi/No-Gi champion and also represented China in the 2013 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship.
Hailing from Mudanjiang, Gu Guangming is an amateur boxer ranking amongst top amateur boxers in his weight class since 2012. He has also won the National Men’s Championship in his weight class in 2014.
Gao Lei, ex-leader of Mongolian University’s wrestling team has also won several championships in several traditional wrestling promotions located in Beijing.
Zhao Xia is trained in Martial Arts and has her own fitness studio. She has won several martial arts and fitness competitions. She has won the Second World Traditional Chinese Wushu Championship, Nike Challenge Competition, and First China Throw: Battle on the Bund.
Wang Xialong has a basketball and dance background and has also studied Music Production at Beijing Contemporary Music Academy and Shandong University of Technology.
Yifeng, a graduate of the Shanghai Theatre Company is an actor and was last seen in the 2014 release, Lady and Tiger.
Cheng Yuxiang is a Beijing Zhuo Zhonghua International Fitness Academy certified fitness trainer, and also participates in boxing competitions across China.
These recruits will start training at WWE’s Performance Centre in the January of 2017.
These new signees will further help in strengthening the bond between WWE and China. As a part of the previously above mentioned Brand Extension in China, WWE alongside the tryouts also signed a multi-year deal with China’s PPTV to broadcast, Monday Night RAW and Smackdown Live! in Mandarin. They’ve also scheduled a WWE live event in Shanghai at the Mercedes-Benz Arena this September, which will see WWE’s first ever Chinese signee, Bin Wang make his live event debut against Bo Dallas. The above mentioned seven athletes will also attend the event.
What do you guys think about these new signees? Please, tell us your thoughts by writing them in the comments below.
