Are WWE Trying To Recruit Another Olympic Gold Medalist?
Iranian wrestling Hassan Yazdani was mentioned again on Raw this week.
From Hall Of Famer Mad Dog Vachon to current SmackDown star Chad Gable, WWE have a history of signing athletes who've competed at the Olympic Games. Raw General Manager Kurt Angle stands as the only WWE star to win gold at the Olympics as things stand, but if speculation is to be believed, this may not be the case much longer.
This week's raw saw Ariya Daivari dedicate his win over Akira Tozawa to Hassan Yazdani, a 22-year-old wrestler who won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympic games. Yazdani's name was brought up several times throughout the show, and he has also been mentioned on recent episodes of 205 Live.
WWE don't tend to do things like this unless they're planning on making a play for the acknowledged name. These mentions have led to talk that Yazdani could soon be on his way to WWE, with Dave Meltzer suggesting that his signing is a distinct possibility on Monday night's Wrestling Observer Radio.
As well as scoring gold in Rio de Janeiro, Yazdani finished second in the 2015 World Wrestling Championships while competing in the 70kg weight class, and also has three Wrestling World Cup medals to his name.