Haley and Hanna Cavinder, former women’s basketball players at Miami (Fla.), spent Tuesday and Wednesday this week at WWE’s training center in Orlando as they consider a post-basketball career in professional wrestling. Here’s what you need to know:
- The Cavinders were among the most lucrative college athletes in the name, image and likeness space with brands like Boost Mobile, Champs Sports and more. They signed NIL deals with WWE in December 2021 as part of the wrestling company’s first NIL class.
- The pair visited WWE’s Performance Center this week and made a brief television appearance on NXT on Tuesday night, participating in a celebration at the end of the show when wrestler Thea Hail won a battle royal.
- The Cavinders have not signed contracts with WWE and told The Athletic there is no timeline on a decision about potentially going down that path.
THEA HAIL HAS DONE IT! 🙌🙌🙌@theahail_wwe has become the No.1. Contender for @tiffstrattonwwe‘s NXT Women’s Championship!#WWENXT pic.twitter.com/k2WA8UiIFp
— WWE (@WWE) June 7, 2023
Backstory
The Cavinders have become full-on celebrities in the NIL era, and that ramped up even more when they transferred from Fresno State to Miami, which caused a minor recruiting violation involving prominent booster John Ruiz….
