WWE News: Next NXT PC class taking shape, wrestlers from MLW, Impact, ROH expected to report in January (w/Radican’s Analysis)

-WWE’s next recruiting class to the WWE Performance Center is starting to take shape for January. Mike Johnson of PWInsider reported today that Trevor Lee of Impact Wrestling and Shane Strickland of MLW and Lucha Underground have drawn interest from WWE.  Johnson noted that Lee’s contract expires at the end of December with Impact and WWE officials are interested in signing him. The timing of Lee’s contract expiring at the end of December and the next recruiting class reporting in January seems to match up, although nothing is official at this point. Lee has given his notice to Impact management that he is leaving the company according to Johnson’s report. Shane Strickland is finishing up with MLW in December and PWInsider reported that the belief within WWE is that he is going to report to the WWE PC in January.

PWTorch has confirmed that ROH wrestler Silas Young is expected to sign with WWE in January once his ROH contract expires at the end of December. Young, a multi-time ROH World TV Champion and a valuable core roster member capable of wrestling up and down the card, recently announced in an interview with Wrestling Inc. that his contract expires at the end of December and discussed his pending free agency.

Radican’s Analysis: There are rumors going around that the recruiting class expected to report to the WWE PC in January could feature some big names, but nothing is set in stone yet. One well placed source told PWTorch that people are likely to be disappointed when the rest of the names for the recruiting class comes out between who signs with WWE and who actually ends up signing. 

Lee and Strickland are two extremely talented wrestlers. Lee has been a stalwart of the indies for several years and has made a big impression in CWF Mid-Atlantic and PWG with his body of work. Strickland recently began working with Evolve this year, which is affliated with WWE. He beat Matt Riddle for the Evolve Championship before Riddle reported to NXT in August in a brutal match that put a ton of heat on him before dropping the Evolve Championship to NXT talent Fabian Aichner in October. 

Silas Young likely leaving ROH is going to leave a void on the ROH roster that will be difficult to fill. Young is a veteran wrestler that can be depended on to carry feuds all over the card and have good matches. He’s an underappreciated talent that hasn’t always been given a chance to fully show what he can do in a ROH ring. Young is a good talker and is especially good at playing an old school heel character. He was a wrestler that gave ROH a lot of flexibility when it came to match making and building feuds, as he could go with top guys and work with younger rising talent on the roster.