WWE said to have signed a trio of top women’s independent stars

Whether we’ve got a Women’s Classic tournament coming to WWE Network or not, there’s an influx of female talent headed to the company, according to reports from Squared Circle Sirens and PWInsider today (Dec. 8).

WWE has inked Kimber Lee, Evie and Heidi Lovelace to deals, the sites say. Insider says the trio of top independent wrestlers will report to the Performance Center on January 3, 2017.

Former Chikara Grand champion Lee appeared on last night’s episode of NXT, losing a quick match to Ember Moon. The 26 year old trained under Drew Gulak and has been wrestling since 2011. Outside her groundbreaking run with Mike Quackenbush’s company, she’s best known as half of the Shimmer and Shine championship winning tag team the Kimber Bombs with Cherry Bomb.

The 25 year old Lovelace has also worked with Quackbush; she was the first woman to win Chikara’s Young Lion’s Cup in 2014, and feuded with Lee for the Grand championship. In addition to working with the major U.S. independent women’s promotions, Heidi also spent time in TNA developmental and did a tour with Stardom in Japan.

Evie (real name Cheree Crowley) is the oldest of the group at 28. She started wrestling in her native New Zealand back in 2007 and has worked all over the globe, including with the top joshis in Stardom, where she held their trios title with Hiroyo Matsumoto and Kellie Skater. She also appeared as an enhancement worked in NXT last Autumn, when she lost to Nia Jax on the episode from Oct. 14, 2015.

Looks like WWE is investing pretty substantially in women’s wrestling, a move that probably points to the rumored tournament on the Network, but also is a sign things like the Raw ratings and positive feedback on pay-per-view (PPV) main events for Sasha Banks & Charlotte Flair have convinced them it’s an area they where they can get a good return on their investment.

2016 has been a great year from the ladies of the squared circle, and this influx of talent is a nice capstone.