WWE and AEW, the world’s leading professional wrestling entities, only have room for the best of the best.
That’s why the indie circuit is compromised of dreamers, has-beens, and washouts who are willing to “jump off a ladder onto a tableful of tacks for 50 bucks a night.” So says UFC CEO Dana White, who wants to recruit all professional (and non-professional) athletes for his talent-deprived Power Slap promotion
.Heck, he’ll even settle for random bodybuilders looking to support their costly supplement
habit.
“To have a steady flow of competitors coming through, we now started running guys through combines over at the [UFC Performance Institute],” White told Cutler Cast. “For instance, there’s a bunch of people out there that want to get into AEW or WWE, and these guys will jump off a ladder onto a tableful of tacks for 50 bucks a night. You can come into Power Slap and make a sh*tload of money. And these guys are all tough guys, big guys. So we’re looking at these guys that wanted to be professional wrestlers and a lot of other athletes around the world that didn’t become professional athletes to come into Power Slap.”
There’s even room for the occasional “Dumpling.”
“So when you start a business like this, the problem is money,” White explained. “You got to have money to put in. Money is not a problem for us. The problem for us is finding a steady flow of talented guys that can come through. So any big guys out there, if you’re a bodybuilder or you’re trying to be a pro wrestler or any of that sh*t, whatever your dream is, you can literally come into this and make some real money.”
I’m not sure I would call $2,000 per card “real money.”
White’s next face-slapping event, Power Slap 15, is booked for Oct. 3, 2025 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Headlining the card will be middleweight titleholder Branden “The Butcher” Bordeaux defending his strap against former champion Isiah “The Puerto Rican Pretty Boy” Quinones.
Tickets for Power Slap 15 go on sale this Monday.
