WWE signs first Arab woman after UAE tryout

Gulf News

WWE signs first Arab woman after UAE tryout. World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has signed Shadia Bseiso from Jordan to a developmental contract, making her the first Arab woman  from the Middle East to have the opportunity to train to become a WWE Superstar.  Read the full Gulf News article: http://gulfnews.com/life-style/celebrity/meet-wwe-s-history-making-shadia-1.2108059  See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00I was auditioning as a TV presenter for the first ever Arabic show for WWE, Walauha, and

00:19during the try, during the casting, I mentioned that I trained Jiu-Jitsu and I trained CrossFit

00:27and the senior vice president of international talent, Canyon Seaman,

00:33then sent me an email asking if I would like to be part of the Dubai tryouts.

00:42I'm a Jiu-Jitsu blue belt, three stripes, so that's one stripe away from purple.

00:48I've been training for the past four years, training and competing from competitions here

00:55in the UAE to the world championship in Los Angeles two years in a row. I've also competed

01:02in New York, so I have a background in martial arts and to stay in shape for Jiu-Jitsu,

01:10I also train CrossFit on a regular basis and, you know, CrossFit is a tough sport.

01:15I felt like it was the best preparation coming into the tryout, coming into, yeah,

01:21the Dubai tryout, but also I felt like I also have to be mentally prepared for it. It's very

01:29physical, four days in a row, we were 40 athletes from around the world, Middle East and India,

01:37it was an incredible experience.

01:41Growing up in Jordan, we didn't get WWE on TV, but when I moved to Lebanon and I was

01:50studying there in university, I started to watch WWE here and there, and then of course

01:57it has a strong presence here in the UAE, and initially as a TV presenter, I thought it would

02:05be the coolest opportunity because I work in entertainment and I love sports, so this is

02:10sport entertainment, but then as an athlete, I never imagined that this would happen,

02:18so this was an incredible opportunity and I can't wait to start training.

02:27I hope to be a role model and I hope one day to really leave a true mark,

02:35not just in sports entertainment, but to inspire girls in the Middle East to

02:41explore all opportunities. I mean, a few years ago, you wouldn't even see female athletes compete

02:49in the Olympics from the Middle East, so the London Olympics set the new future where every

02:58participating country had to send female athletes, and for the first time ever as an Arab woman,

03:05got to see them compete on the highest level. Ronda Rousey and the UFC have changed things,

03:11and of course the women's revolution at WWE, all of this now just really truly shows females that

03:19the sky is the limit. It doesn't matter where you're from now, if you put in the work, the rest

03:25will follow. Well, now the door is officially open for athletes from the region. I, as the first

03:42female from the Middle East, and you have the first female from India, lots of firsts happening

03:48this week, so this really truly opens the door for everybody if you just put in the work and

03:54be athletic and just get good in front of the camera, work really really really really hard,

04:04then they might have the same opportunity as well.

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