Tate Wilder Decided That Wrestling Was His Direction During His NIL Tryout

Tate Wilder recalls committing to wrestling.

As is the case with most NIL names, Wilder was hesitant to take WWE seriously at first, primarily due to his career in football.

In a new interview with All City Wrestling, Wilder recalled feeling differently about football once he made it to the NFL.

“When my career came to an end with the Jets, we were in communication with a bunch of other teams, keeping that dream alive. At a certain point, it kind of became like — it’s not that I fell out of love with the sport of football, but it was more of it wasn’t the same as it was when I was growing up. I kind of felt like a shift in my mindset of like, something’s changing.”

Wilder then talked about the moment that he decided to commit to wrestling as his direction.

“Yeah no, it is a completely different game at that level. It was kind of crazy how it all happened. We get released by the Jets and I’m still dealing with some physical stuff. My medical record got flagged by the NFL through some past injuries in college. We’re dealing with trying to pass the physical and open up the windows for other opportunities to go train with teams. In this whole confusing time in my life is when the WWE called. It was crazy because in college I was like, ‘Yeah, you know, WWE is cool but that’s not my direction. My direction is completely football and that’s it.’ Whoever was representing the NIL class at the time was like, ‘Hey dude, we will be in contact with you in the future.’ I’m like, ‘Alright, cool.’ We get done with the Jets and then like two days later, I get a phone call from a random Orlando number. I’m like, ‘Alright, whatever, I’ll answer it.’ I answer this phone call and it is the WWE. They’re like, ‘Hey dude, it’s Wednesday. We’re doing a NIL deal Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, can we fly you out tomorrow morning?’ I’m like, ‘You know what, screw it, let’s go.’ I tell my agent like, ‘Hey, push pause on all these teams right now, I’m gonna go check this WWE thing out and see what’s going on.’ As soon as they gave me an opportunity to get in the ring and roll around and feel the ropes and take a bump and express myself with the extreme side, it was kind of like, game over. I told my agent, I said, ‘This is my direction and I do not want to go anywhere else. Here it is, let’s go.’

Elsewhere in the interview, Tate Wilder revealed how he landed on WWE’s radar. Check out his full story by clicking here.

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