WWE® Launches ‘The Search For Africa’s Next WWE Superstar
WWE and SuperSport Will Host Tryout in Nigeria in 2023
STAMFORD, Conn., November 8, 2022 – WWE® (NYSE: WWE), in conjunction with its Sub-Saharan Africa broadcast partner SuperSport, has announced a continent-wide talent search to find Africa’s next WWE Superstar. The campaign was announced today in Lagos, Nigeria, the host city for a multi-day tryout in February 2023.
“The Search for Africa’s Next WWE Superstar” will begin today and is open to citizens of any African country. Submissions will be accepted until December 18. Learn more about the application process at www.supersport.com/WWEAfricaSuperstar.
Interested candidates will be asked to submit a video highlighting their potential to become a WWE Superstar. Successful applicants will be invited to participate in the Lagos tryout in February 2023. A select number of tryout participants will then be awarded an all-expenses-paid experience to continue their tryout journey alongside current and prospective WWE Superstars ahead of WrestleMania 39 in Los Angeles in April 2023. A full-time WWE developmental contract may be offered to the top-performing participants who will then begin their new career at the world-class WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
“Africa is a focal point of our renewed global recruitment talent strategy,” said James Kimball, WWE Head of Talent Operations and Strategy. “This initiative, in partnership with SuperSport, will launch what we envision becoming a year-round, multi-country effort to identify talent that will resonate with our passionate fanbase.” said James Kimball, WWE Head of Talent Operations and Strategy. “The region has incredible potential to serve as a meaningful talent development hub for WWE and we look forward to working with our tremendous partners at SuperSport to uncover the next generation of Superstars through this program.”
“The continent abounds with athletes and Africa has had several WWE Superstars, so this is the perfect opportunity to showcase fresh new talent,” said Marc Jury, Chief Executive of SuperSport. “As there is a massive appetite among African audiences for WWE action and entertainment, we expect this initiative to be very popular with aspirants. SuperSport looks forward to telling this exciting story in the weeks and months to come.”
Last week, WWE and MultiChoice announced a major broadcast partnership that will see Showmax – the leading streaming service available in the region – become the new home of WWE Network in Africa. The partnership incorporates all WWE Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, as well as WWE Network’s vast library of original and archived programming available to stream on-demand by more people in Africa from early 2023 on Showmax, Africa’s most loved streaming service.
SuperSport, the sport broadcasting subsidiary of video entertainment platform MultiChoice, will continue to broadcast live weekly episodes of Raw®, SmackDown® and NXT® as well as all of WWE’s Premium Live Eventsin a multi-year extension.