Continuing a recent trend of scouting talent in the region, the WWE announced Thursday that it had signed developmental contracts with seven potential WWE superstars from China.
"WWE is dedicated to finding the most talented athletes and entertainers from around the world," Paul "Triple H" Levesque, WWE executive vice president of talent, live events and creative, said in a news release Thursday.
"The seven athletes identified at WWE's first-ever tryout in China will be given the opportunity to train at the WWE Performance Center, in the hopes of becoming the next big WWE Superstar, while also helping to inspire future WWE Superstars and continue the global success of WWE."
The seven new WWE signees are:
Big Boa is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He was named the 2016 Brazilian jiu-jitsu China Open Gi/No-Gi champion and represented China at the 2013 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championships in Abu Dhabi.
Gao Lei is a champion in various Beijing traditional wrestling promotions and the team leader of Mongolian University's wrestling team.
Zhao Xia has trained in martial arts and is the co-founder of her own fitness studio. Zhao has multiple first-place finishes in martial arts and fitness competitions.
Wang Xiaolong, of Beijing, studied at the Shandong University of Technology and the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy for music production. He has an athletic background in basketball.
Gu Guangming is a 6-foot-8, 287-pound amateur boxer from Mudanjiang who won the national men's championship in his weight class in 2014.
Yifeng, an actor and a graduate of the Shanghai Theater Company. Yifeng was most recently featured in the movie "Lady and Tiger" in 2014.
Cheng Yuxiang, an expert-level fitness trainer from Beijing who also participates in various Chinese boxing competitions across the country.
These finalists went through a four-day tryout in Shanghai in June, and they were chosen from a group of 34 who participated in the comprehensive tryout camp. Levesque and Canyon Ceman (WWE vice president of talent development) were in attendance for this tryout, as were WWE Performance Center head trainer Matt Bloom, women's trainer Sarah Stock and William Regal, among others.
The seven new additions to the WWE talent roster will begin training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida, starting in January. They'll join previous Chinese signee Bin Wang, and all will be in attendance Saturday as Wang wrestles his first WWE match during the WWE's live event in Shanghai.