WWE has signed Gabi Butler from the Netflix docuseries “Cheer.”
Butler, a long-time gymnast, has officially signed a contract with WWE, according to People. She appears to have signed as a NIL talent, but this has not been confirmed. Butler told the outlet that she fell in love with pro wrestling while attending SummerSlam in Nashville, Tennessee, this past summer.
“I was blown away by what they put on,” she said.
Butler met WWE Chairwoman and Co-CEO Stephanie McMahon at SummerSlam. She stated that McMahon “really inspired” her to enter the world of WWE.
“The way she carries herself is very impressive and the conversation we had was so nice,” Butler said of McMahon.
Butler admits she is new to the sport, as her athletic background has been limited to cheerleading.
“I was so involved in the cheerleading industry for so long, and I never really looked into anything other than cheerleading,” Butler said. “But when I went to SummerSlam, it really just opened my eyes to the athleticism and the dedication the athletes bring into the ring.”
Butler said she admired “the way they performed” and the “competitive” atmosphere of the WWE Superstars, which is similar to her cheerleading experience.
“It was almost like I was watching a cheerleading competition, but wrestling edition,” she said, laughing.
Butler was “honestly shocked” by the similarities between cheerleading and professional wrestling because both require a certain level of performance.
“It’s very related to cheerleading because we’re performers, we’re entertainers, we like to put on a show and we also have to be athletic,” she said.
Butler, who has 2.1 million Instagram followers, 2.6 million TikTok followers, and 118,000 Twitter followers, is set to begin training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando soon. She dreams of wrestling her first match one day.
“I would definitely love to take that challenge, hopefully in the future,” Butler said. “You have to be committed to be wrestling, that’s for sure. It definitely doesn’t look easy.”
Butler will continue to cheer while she trains with WWE and decides where she wants to sign next.
“This year is the first year that I’ve actually taken a break from cheerleading,” Butler said. “I did a tour this summer, and that was very, very time-consuming thing, mentally and physically. So I took this year off and I’m currently thinking about where I would want to cheer in college next year.”
She still has two years of college athletic eligibility left. Butler stated that one of her options is not Navarro, the school she attended while filming the Netflix series “Cheer.”
“I can’t go to Navarro again because my time with Navarro was done,” she said. “I’m thinking about multiple things right now. So I just don’t know where I’m going to sign next.”
Butler is excited to see where her partnership with the WWE takes her as she considers her next move as a cheerleader.
“I never thought that cheerleading would take me on this route, but here we are,” she said.
Butler’s most recent Instagram posts are below, including one from SummerSlam:
