Duke Hudson Thinks WWE Are ‘Always Trying To Find A Happy Medium’ Between Indie Talent And Non-Wrestling Athletes At The WWE Performance Center

Duke Hudson discusses WWE’s recruitment policies.

In recent years, WWE have had a mixed bag of recruitment as they have both tried to bring in NIL athletes as well as talent from the independent circuit. For former WWE NXT superstar Duke Hudson, he feels like WWE are always trying to find a happy medium.

While speaking on That Sweet Pop, Duke Hudson was asked about WWE’s recruitment policies.

“That approach does have success, but I think the proof is in the pudding. I think they were always looking to have so many of these kind of kids come through the door – because all you need is one Roman, all you need is one Bianca. But you often need a lot of the indie talent and the ‘workers’ to come through and help them, to get them ready. Because there are some people going to the main roster now who are already stars- they are already stars, they’re already doing so much better than I will ever do, they’re already so much richer than I will ever be, and God bless them, good job, they did it, and I’m happy for them, they still have so far to go and they’re just being protected well enough that you don’t see enough of their green spots. Which is what you have to do, right, they did that with Angle back in the day. He was fresh, but you put him in there with Taker, Kane, Rock, Hunter, it’s sink or swim and he swam. So it’s the same now. I do think, if I look at people like Priest, LA Knight, they’re in their 40s, they’ve only been there for a few years. The older talent who come from wrestling, there should always be a spot for them. If someone’s got enough momentum, enough popularity, there’s always gonna be a spot for that person to at least give them a go. But with the PC changing the way it has, you can see what they’re going for and history will repeat itself, they always go too far one way then they go too far the other. They’re always trying to find that happy medium.”

Following his WWE release, Hudson would rebrand himself under a new name on the independent circuit. You can read more about that here.

If you use any of the quotes above, please credit the original source with an H/T and link back to Fightful for the transcription.