WWE Eyeing Two Top Indy Talents

[Jack-Hammer]

I read on another site this morning a story that's now been posted on WZ's main site for a few hours now that WWE has its eye potentially on two more top names from the indy circuit. According to the report, Sami Calihan and Adam Cole are both scheduled for a tryout sometime between now and the end of January.

I don't know much about Calihan, just that he's wrestled in a lot of the top indy companies, including winning several titles in Combat Zone Wrestling, including the Best of the Best tournament in 2012. He's billed at being about 5'10" and 200 pounds. He's 25 years old but has been wrestling since early 2006.

Adam Cole is someone I'm more familiar with due to his exposure in Ring of Honor. Cole is about 5'11" and weighs in the 190-200 pound range, is 23 years old and is someone that has a mix of mat wrestling with high impact & high flying moves. He's also been a top name on the indy circuit for a while and has wrestled in a lot of the more well known indy companies. He's wrestled in Combat Zone Wrestling, being a 1 time CZW World Junior Heavyweight Champion and winner of CZW's annual Best of the Best tournament in 2011 by defeating Sami Calahan. He's the current Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Champion and is the current ROH World Television Champion.

This is only a tryout but I've read reports in the past that WWE has had their eye on Cole for a while. This latest report says that the success of guys like CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins have made a lot of WWE officials change their stance on wrestlers that might not have the right "look" that WWE has gone for in years past. It seems like Triple H has a lot to do with this new viewpoint as he's ultimately in charge of WWE's developmental system and has Big Johnny's old job of being head of talent relations.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

Sami Callihan is basically a bigger, less agile version of Dean Ambrose, on the indy's they were a team called Switchblade Conspiracy and bounced off one another cause their personas were lunatics. Hes a solid wrestler, not the best, not a Bryan or Punk, but hes good. He has that Moxley like grunge aura to him (just look at a picture) and his promos can be pretty dark and disturbing, slightly gothic and paranoid. His DGUSA work is pretty good.

I've interviewed Adam Cole twice, hes one of the nicest wrestlers I've ever had the pleasure of talking to. Hes extremely determined, he has a great look about him, great heel persona in PWG, solid clean cut face persona in Ring of Honor, very good wrestler - his breakout moment came this year during a Hybrid Fighting Rules match with Kyle O'Reilly, sustained a huge gash to his mouth but continued, his mouth was like Niagra Falls.

And one thing he doesn't get enough credit for is his speaking ability. His promos before his PWG World Championship match with Kevin Steen were great, and then in a completely opposite persona so were his promos building up to his match with Matt Hardy at Final Battle. He has the total package but just needs some fine tuning.

It's obvious the mold has been broken. They've caught on where the long-term money is at. You can keep investing in guys like Bobby Lashley and Batista all you want, they've not got the passion for the business most independent guys do. Majority of people working on the indies legitimately want nothing more than to work every day of the year for someone like WWE. You don't have to worry about them transitioning into actors or MMA fighters, cause few have interest, they just want to be wrestlers. Nice to see WWE has finally caught onto that.

 

[NotoriousMEAT]

These would both be amazing pick ups for WWE. I used to HATE Callihan. A lot of his matches I saw looked unsafe, sometimes unnecessarily strong style and violent. I've watched a lot of his matches since then, and now I really enjoy his work and unique promo's. Ironically some of my favorite matches of his, are his matches with Adam Cole. Whether he's playing the up and coming super talent that he is in ROH, or even the Panama Beach Playboy he's done elsewhere.. Adam Cole is phenomenal. I would love for both of these guys to wind up in WWE. They could both be distinct characters and stand out on their own. WWE is certainly improving and diversifying their roster.

 

[Robi2184]

I've gathered a list of names bouncing around the net who are said to be on WWE's radar. Fact is the WWE is not eyeing just two talents, but a lot more & according to reports El Generico is just the beginning of a series of signings that will be happening as long as the talent can pass their medical exams.

Here is the list:

Sami Callihan
Adam Cole
Truth Martini
Kevin Steen
Mike Bennett
Samuray Del Sol
Johnny Gargano
Alex Shelley

According to rumors the WWE is said to extremely interested in Samuray Del Sol, they view him as someone who can replace an aging Rey Mysterio & see him as a better worker than Sin Cara. He is also fluent in English & Spanish and they feel he can connect more with the fans because of it.

The rumors say feelers have been sent out to Martini, Steen & Bennett by the WWE. Also that dark days appear to be coming for the ROH promotion & some of their stars are refusing to sign contracts because of it.