News from WWE Tryouts: Paul Heyman Masterclass, Dwight Howard Update, Photos & Videos

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PWMania.com Staff
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The three-day WWE SummerSlam Week tryout camp has come to an end today at Nashville, Tennessee’s Wildhorse Saloon.

The WWE NXT Tag Team Champions, The Creed Brothers, Big E, Matt Bloom, and WWE Executive Vice President of Talent Relations & Head of Creative, Triple H, worked the tryouts, as PWMania.com previously reported. The RAW Women’s Champion Bianca Belair, Seth Rollins, WWE Chairwoman & Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon, WWE Co-CEO Nick Khan, Jim Smallman, Robbie Brookside, Tamina Snuka, and Ivy Nile are also assisting with the tryouts, according to Fightful Select.

NBA player Dwight Howard’s surprise appearance at the camp on Thursday garnered media attention. Today, WWE cameras are following Howard about as he returns to the tryouts. For Howard’s report from Thursday, which includes pictures, videos and more, click here.

Howard was assisting one group with their promotional material today, according to sports reporter Arash Markazi’s tweet. The video of one contestant trying to make fun of Howard for not being able to assist the Los Angeles Lakers in reaching the NBA Playoffs last season can be seen below, with Howard coming out on top.

This week, Howard said to Markazi that he would like to play for the NBA in his 17th season, but that if that does not happen, he is prepared to transition and join WWE. Howard stated he’s open to starting his WWE career in Orlando, where the WWE Performance Center is based. Howard’s NBA career began there with the Magic.

A video of Paul Heyman’s unexpected Wednesday appearance at the camp went viral as well. You can view that video and images below. Earlier in the week, Heyman offered the athletes a “masterclass.”

“Having old school ECW vibes watching Paul Heyman teaching athletes how to do their first promos at the WWE Tryout in Nashville. It’s a masterclass in how to embrace your character and control the emotions of the audience. There will be some future WWE Superstars in this group,” Markazi wrote on Heyman’s time with the athletes.

The week’s camp also included Talati Polamalu, the nephew of NFL veteran Troy Polamalu. He was seen consulting his aunt-in-law Tamina for advice.

“It was really motivating growing up and watching Troy and Tamina do what they love to do on TV. I’d love to follow in their footsteps,” Talati, a college football player, told Markazi.

The first-ever WWE Tryout Viewing Experience, which was created to provide fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the tryout process, was featured during today’s camp. General Admission tickets for the viewing experience cost $20, and VIP tickets cost $1,000. Fightful said that the tryout workouts earlier today took place in front of a live crowd. They then went to a team promo-style tryout.

WWE previously announced that they will only be hosting current and recently graduated college players at the camp this week, which would include more than 50 male and female athletes “with collegiate athletic backgrounds across football, basketball, track and field, wrestling, volleyball, gymnastics, cheer and dance. Athletes [were set to] partake in performance evaluations, individual and group promo evaluations, in-ring technical sessions and sit-down interviews as part of the tryout process. The invite-only event [was to feature] several athletes who attended 2022 NFL Rookie Mini Camps” and there was talk of some indie stars attending.

Stay tuned to PWMania.com for more from the WWE tryouts. Here are the related tweets:

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