Two Penn State athletes, wrestler [autotag]Greg Kerkvliet[/autotag] and football player [autotag]Nick Dawkins[/autotag] signed a NIL Deal with WWE, announced Thursday by the world’s largest professional wrestling promotion.
Kerkvliet and Dawkins will be part of the company’s Next in Line initiative. The point of the program is for the WWE to find its future talent while they are still competing and allows them to monitor their growth as athletes. Upon graduation, both men will have a chance to go to Florida to train at the WWE’s Performance Center located in Orlando, Florida.
Kerkvliet and Dawkins’s involvement with Next in Line won’t impact their college eligibility due to it falling under the NIL regulations set by the NCAA.
Dawkins is the son of NBA legend Daryl “Chocolate Thunder” Dawkins, who has a history in the WWE as well. He has been part of Penn State’s football program since the 2020 season and while he hasn’t played in any games yet he has stayed on the team in a reserve role.
As for Kerkvliet, he could be the latest in a long line of Big Ten wrestlers to make their jump to WWE, several having great success in the past.
The second-ranked heavyweight wrestler in the country hopes to join the likes of Brock Lesnar and Shelton Benjamin, both wrestled for Minnesota. Lesnar will go down as one of the legends of professional wrestling and Benjamin has turned it into a 20-year career.
Other wrestlers include both Rick and Scott Steiner who hailed from Michigan.
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