WWE Announces July 2018 Performance Center Recruiting Class, Io Shirai Among Them

Out with the outdated and in with the brand new.

WWE has introduced the most recent team of recruits that may start their coaching on the Performance Center this week. Among them is Io Shirai, who signed with the corporate previous this 12 months.

Below are the bios of the entire new recruits:

Keith Lee
Leading the way in which is Keith Lee, a 6-foot-2, 320-pound former champion from the unbiased wrestling scene. A local of Texas, Lee made waves remaining month when he seemed within the crowd all over Aleister Black and Lars Sullivan’s NXT Title Match at TakeOver: Chicago II. Going via the nickname of “Limitless” at the indies, Lee has captured many titles all over his 13-year profession, together with the World Wrestling Network Championship and the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Championship.

A former member of the Texas A&M soccer squad, Lee was once courted via sports activities brokers to pursue a profession at the gridiron earlier than he determined to practice his dream of changing into a WWE Superstar. As famend for his outstanding agility as he’s his implausible energy, Lee has been recognized to break preconceptions about what it way to be a super-heavyweight. He has additionally clashed with the likes of NXT Superstars Kassius Ohno and Dominik Dijakovic previously, together with Lee effectively protecting the WWN Title towards Ohno at WrestleMania Axxess in New Orleans in April.

Io Shirai
Also reporting to the WWE PC is Japan’s Io Shirai, whose signing with WWE was once at the start introduced remaining month at a Live Event in Tokyo. Shirai is a multi-time champion of the Tokyo-based World Wonder Ring Stardom, the similar group the place NXT’s Kairi Sane first made her mark. Also referred to as “The Genius of the Sky,” Shirai is hailed for her dynamic in-ring taste, which mixes jaw-dropping aerial strikes, technical wrestling and fierce moves and suplexes.

Shirai was once named Japan’s best feminine grappler in 2015, 2016 and 2017 via nationwide sports activities newspaper Tokyo Sports, and Pro Wrestling Illustrated ranked her because the sixth-best girls’s wrestler on the earth in 2017. Last week, Shirai was once additionally showed as probably the most first competition on this 12 months’s WWE Mae Young Classic event.

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Deonna Purrazzo
Twenty-four-year-old “Virtuosa” Deonna Purrazzo, from Jefferson, N.J., additionally joins the WWE PC. A former nationwide competitor in cheerleading, Purrazzo was once impressed to grow to be a sports-entertainer after gazing WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita. She started coaching for the hoop in 2012 and made her wrestling debut in December 2013. In brief order, Purrazzo ascended the ranks of the unbiased scene, competing for organizations like Ring of Honor, Beyond Wrestling and the East Coast Wrestling Association. Revered for her technical wrestling prowess, Purrazzo has submitted many warring parties together with her feared Fujiwara Armbar. She has additionally wrestled in England, Puerto Rico, Canada and Japan, together with competing in Tokyo’s world-famous Korakuen Hall.

Stacey Ervin Jr.
A newcomer to the sector of sports-entertainment, 24-year-old former gymnast Stacey Ervin Jr. starts his coaching this week on the WWE PC. Originally from Taylor, Mich., the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Ervin was once a member of the University of Michigan’s 2013 NCAA Championship males’s gymnastics staff. He has quite a lot of medals to his title, together with the 2015 U.S. flooring workout bronze medal and the 2015 Winter Cup flooring workout silver medal. Ervin attended a WWE PC tryout in February, all over which period he blew away scouts together with his dazzling agility.

Luke Menzies
Luke Menzies, of Batley, West Yorkshire, England, involves the WWE PC from the sector {of professional} rugby. Standing 6-foot and weighing 260 kilos, Menzies performed professional rugby for a decade, together with for the Hull Kingston Rovers and Salford Red Devils, earlier than surroundings his points of interest at the ring. Trained via British wrestling legend Marty Jones, the powerhouse has competed at the United Kingdom unbiased scene since 2016, and in November of that 12 months, he attended a WWE tryout in Glasgow.

Taishan Dong
Seven-foot-tall, 290-pound Chinese boxer Taishan Dong — who was once as soon as referred to as “the most intimidating boxer on this earth” via Sporting News — additionally joins the ranks of the WWE PC. Hailing from Lanzhou, the capital town of China’s Gansu province, Dong was once previously signed with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy Promotions. Nicknamed “The Great Wall,” Dong went 6-Zero in his professional boxing profession. He additionally boasts enjoy in basketball and kickboxing, together with a 2013 defeat of world combating appeal Bob Sapp.

Lacey Lane
Another crossover athlete is Winter Park, Fla.’s Lacey Lane, who has excelled each throughout the wrestling ring and at the basketball court docket. Accepted to Shaw University on a complete athletic and educational scholarship, Lane performed guard for the Bears basketball staff all over their 2012 NCAA Division II championship season. That similar 12 months, she was once additionally nominated for the NCAA Woman of the Year award. After graduating magna cum laude, Lane became her focal point to sports-entertainment. A fabricated from The Dudley Boyz’ Team three-D Academy of Professional Wrestling, Lane has competed within the U.S. and Mexico.

Monique Jenkins
Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Monique Jenkins, higher recognized to wrestling fanatics as MJ Jenkins, additionally involves the WWE PC from the unbiased scene. Originally skilled via WWE Hall of Famer Johnny Rodz, Jenkins made her in-ring debut in 2011, and has additionally won training from the Dudleys on the Team three-D Academy. Jenkins has wrestled within the Northeast, New England, Florida and the Dominican Republic. She attended WWE tryouts on the Arnold Classic in 2016 and on the Performance Center remaining February.

Denzel Dejournette
Rounding out the brand new magnificence is former All-American wrestler Denzel Dejournette. The 6-foot-2, 260-pounder grappled for the Appalachian State Mountaineers. He completed 8th within the 2017 NCAA heavyweight wrestling championships, is a three-time NCAA qualifier and a two-time Southern Conference Wrestler of the Year. After gathering 113 wins all over his collegiate profession, Dejournette inspired WWE ability scouts at a tryout in June 2017.

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