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What's the story?
Olympic Gold Medalist, Erica Wiebe, trained at the WWE Performance Center recently. In an interview with the CBC, Weibe opened up about her experience while training in WWE. She also talked about the possibility of working with WWE at some point in the future.
A video of her working in the WWE performance centre was released on the WWE Youtube Channel.
In case you didn't know....
Wiebe represented Canada in the Olympic Games of 2016 and won the Gold Medal in the category of Women's 75 Kg Freestyle Wrestling. She also won the Gold in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The only other Olympic Gold-Medalist to have ever worked in the WWE is the current General Manager of Raw, Kurt Angle. Kurt flourished in the WWE after he was signed by them and was one of the top stars in the Attitude as well as Ruthless Aggression era.
The heart of the matter
In her interview with the CBC, Wiebe opened up about how she was attracted to pro-wrestling post the Mae Young Classics Final, where she watched the match between Shayna Baszler and Kairi Sane.
I was transfixed as Kairi Sane flew from the top ropes and battled against former MMA star, Shayna Baszler, claiming victory at the inaugural Mae Young Classic. I watched Calgary’s own Natalya Neidhart — from the famed Hart family — defend her Smackdown women’s title. By the end of the night I knew I had to try this out for myself.
She also admitted that everything that she learnt as a freestyle wrestler was the opposite of what was needed in the Pro-Wrestling industry. She feels that for pro-wrestling the need for syncronising and executing moves carefully with the opponent was the thing that needed to be mastered.
Finally, she talked about the possibility of joining WWE in the future. She said that it was common knowledge that she was working for the Tokyo Olympics, but a WWE debut post the Summer Games in 2020 was not totally out of the question.
As for the WWE, everyone there knows I’m committed to Tokyo but they have left the door open for me to try again after the Summer Games. Will it lead to a life in professional wrestling? Only time will answer that question.
In the video, she admitted that training in the ring had her hooked and the intensity and physicality of the entire thing "was better than anything" that she had done in her life.
What's next?
Currently, the 28-year-old is training for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and will focus on that. She may continue to train in the WWE performance centre but it is unlikely for her to sign with the WWE before the next Olympics.
Author's take
Freestyle Wrestling and professional wrestling are two completely different beasts as Wiebe pointed out. It may take some time for her to get used to the difference in styles once she starts working in the WWE. If we go by Kurt Angle's WWE career, she has a huge chance of becoming one of the best future stars of WWE.
