WWE Signs WALTER

[Bob-O]

Source: pwinsider.com

World Wrestling Entertainment has come to terms with Austrian star Walter Hahn, known inside the ring as WALTER, PWInsider.com has confirmed with multiple sources. There had been a story several months ago that WWE had interest in the star, originally reported by Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer. At the time, WALTER publicly denied those stories but later did enter into negotiations with the company.

Originally trained by European star Michael Kovac, WALTER, 31 years old, has been a regular on the European wrestling scene for WXW in Germany as well as PROGRESS. He's worked under several different names, including Big Van Walter and Big Daddy Walter, before simply going by his first name. A big bruiser of a competitor, he's really broken out internationally beyond Europe and Japan (where he worked for Big Japan Wrestling) over the last several years.

Here in the United States, WALTER has also made appearances for EVOLVE and had a run as the PWG Heavyweight Champion. We are told that WALTER's signing was what led to him dropping the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla championship last month to Jeff Cobb. We are told that PWG attempted to bring him back into the company for a farewell appearance this December, but his WWE deal prevented that from happening.

WALTER is currently finishing up independent dates that were already scheduled and once that run is completed, will be part of WWE's European expansion plans, including the NXT UK brand. We have been told that he may be able to work for certain companies around his WWE bookings, but how much and what restrictions there may be remain to be seen.

[KILLdozer]

Ha! Take that, BRM!

[KILLdozer]

In...other news though...

Oh great...ANOTHER Indy FAT BOY!

[Big Red Machine]

In...other news though...

Oh great...ANOTHER Indy FAT BOY!

Drat. I had 75$ on Dozer calling WALTER a vanilla midget.

As for calling WALTER fat... say that to his face, buddy. He will maul you.

[KILLdozer]

In...other news though...

Oh great...ANOTHER Indy FAT BOY!

Drat. I had 75$ on Dozer calling WALTER a vanilla midget.

As for calling WALTER fat... say that to his face, buddy. He will maul you.

You don't know that. I'm actually a larger than life freak of nature myself.

[Big Red Machine]

In...other news though...

Oh great...ANOTHER Indy FAT BOY!

Drat. I had 75$ on Dozer calling WALTER a vanilla midget.

As for calling WALTER fat... say that to his face, buddy. He will maul you.

You don't know that. I'm actually a larger than life freak of nature myself.

He's WALTER. You won't last five seconds.

[KILLdozer]

Drat. I had 75$ on Dozer calling WALTER a vanilla midget.

As for calling WALTER fat... say that to his face, buddy. He will maul you.

You don't know that. I'm actually a larger than life freak of nature myself.

He's WALTER. You won't last five seconds.

Don't change the subject! Another Indy FAT BOY! (Ric Flair voice.)

[KILLdozer]

Keith Lee, Walter...what's...JEFF COBB doing?!?!?

[cero2k]

Keith Lee, Walter...what's...JEFF COBB doing?!?!?

New Japan and ROH champ, but given that he's done with LU, he may be waiting on the no-compete to properly sign with someone...


on a side note, I hate wrestling sometimes. Why does everything that i like need to be ruined by those greedy fucks from Stanford?

[KILLdozer]

Keith Lee, Walter...what's...JEFF COBB doing?!?!?

New Japan and ROH champ, but given that he's done with LU, he may be waiting on the no-compete to properly sign with someone...


on a side note, I hate wrestling sometimes. Why does everything that i like need to be ruined by those greedy fucks from Stanford?

I wonder if him or That Elgin rascal will be next...also...kind of the wrong time to send Sullivan up now...

I'm kinda surprised Cage has never had at least a stint with WWE. I know he did, in OVW, but that was before he achieved this absolute rip and jack from these days.

[cero2k]

I wonder if him or That Elgin rascal will be next...also...kind of the wrong time to send Sullivan up now...

I'm kinda surprised Cage has never had at least a stint with WWE. I know he did, in OVW, but that was before he achieved this absolute rip and jack from these days.

everyone will be next, WWE will devour wrestling and i'll rename this website to The Golf Revolution. Supposedly, Trevor Lee and ACH got signed, confirming that they're singing middle tier indie guys now

[Big Red Machine]

I wonder if him or That Elgin rascal will be next...also...kind of the wrong time to send Sullivan up now...

I'm kinda surprised Cage has never had at least a stint with WWE. I know he did, in OVW, but that was before he achieved this absolute rip and jack from these days.

everyone will be next, WWE will devour wrestling and i'll rename this website to The Golf Revolution. Supposedly, Trevor Lee and ACH got signed, confirming that they're singing middle tier indie guys now

ACH has always had major potential but his attitude gets him into trouble. Lee comes off to me as just as much of a favor to the Hardys as anything else. They don't need him, but I'd be extremely shocked to find out that the Hardy's didn't lobby hard to get him in.

[Bob-O]

everyone will be next

I think you might be right.

To quote a very wise man... "The Numbers Don't Lie"

According to Wikipedia, WWE's current active in-ring talent total between Raw, Smackdown, and NXT is 160 under contract. That not including NXT UK, "other on-screen personnel", or the Performance Center recruits. 160 people to fill 7 hours of television each week. Raw and Smackdown run commercials, so w need to figure commercial breaks into 5 of those hours (20 minutes an hour roughly) I'm not Scott Steiner, so I brought my calculator... minus commercials they've got 5 and a half hours to fill.

To USE each of these "investments" every week would require them to feature 29 different performers an hour, That's 2 DIFFERENT people on screen every 4 minutes of every hour of programming... and they're STILL SIGNING MORE PEOPLE!

[KILLdozer]

everyone will be next

I think you might be right.

To quote a very wise man... "The Numbers Don't Lie"

According to Wikipedia, WWE's current active in-ring talent total between Raw, Smackdown, and NXT is 160 under contract. That not including NXT UK, "other on-screen personnel", or the Performance Center recruits. 160 people to fill 7 hours of television each week. Raw and Smackdown run commercials, so w need to figure commercial breaks into 5 of those hours (20 minutes an hour roughly) I'm not Scott Steiner, so I brought my calculator... minus commercials they've got 5 and a half hours to fill.

To USE each of these "investments" every week would require them to feature 29 different performers an hour, That's 2 DIFFERENT people on screen every 4 minutes of every hour of programming... and they're STILL SIGNING MORE PEOPLE!

The obvious solution is fire Curt Hawkins.

[Bob-O]

The obvious solution is fire Curt Hawkins.

Maybe their goal is to branch NXT off 50 different ways, so each state has it's own.

[KILLdozer]

The obvious solution is fire Curt Hawkins.

Maybe their goal is to branch NXT off 50 different ways, so each state has it's own.

Actually having a local based one in each state is actually not a bad idea. Then, no matter where you're at...you can see NXT live.

[cero2k]

Actually having a local based one in each state is actually not a bad idea. Then, no matter where you're at...you can see NXT live.

you've never been to Texas, right? I'm 8 hours away from any big city in Texas. I can cross New Mexico and Arizona before I can reach Austin