WWE just made an under-the-radar splash.
Tamyra Mensah-Stock, who won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, signed a contract with the wrestling promotion, WWE officials told ESPN on Tuesday.
Mensah-Stock became the first Black woman to win gold in freestyle wrestling and joins WWE with a decorated amateur background. The 30-year-old will begin her next chapter in WWE’s developmental program, with a goal of cracking the main roster within one year, per ESPN.
“I love watching the athletes just in the ring, just going what they do best,” Mensah-Stock told ESPN. “I just see their personalities just shine through the television, and I see their strength. Just everything about them resembles me, and I’ve just wanted to be a part of that.”
Mensah-Stock, who also won the 2022 world championship in Serbia, isn’t the first former Olympian to join WWE, as Kurt Angle, Mark Henry, Chad Gable and Ronda Rousey are among the more notable examples to successfully make the jump. WWE hasn’t revealed a timeline or roadmap for Mensah-Stock’s in-ring debut — it might simply depend on her progress — but she told ESPN she reported Monday to the company’s performance center in Orlando, Florida.
So, the work already is underway.
