At 45 years old, Tito Ortiz may be looking to add WWE Superstar to his resume.
The former UFC champion is currently training at the WWE Performance Center, according to a report by Dave Meltzer on the February 15th episode of Wrestling Observer Radio.
“Tito Ortiz is training to be a professional wrestler at the Performance Center as we speak. Maybe not right this moment, but he was there all week,” Meltzer reveals. “I heard great things about his work ethic, which doesn’t surprise me. [Also,] is enthusiasm, which doesn’t surprise me in the least. The negative is that Tito Ortiz is 45 years old and he’s got a really bad neck, and a bad back and, you know, things like that. But, yeah, he wants to be a pro wrestler.”
On Tuesday, WWE confirmed to ESPN that Ortiz had been training at the WWE Performance Center. Ortiz declined to comment, though sources told ESPN that he did well in his training.
Tito is a longtime wrestling fan and was briefly a part of the Aces & Eights faction in TNA Wrestling alongside Bully Ray, Ken Anderson, and others. Most recently, he fought Alberto El Patron for Combate Americas. Ortiz would tap him out very quickly and subsequently gain possession of Alberto’s WWE Championship from back when Alberto won the championship in 2011.
Speaking with WrestleZone in 2019, Tito Ortiz showed interest in a WWE run, specifically name dropping potential opponents like Brock Lesnar and Braun Strowman.
“I know it would really test my balls and see how big they truly were. Those guys the size of Brock Lesnar. I mean Braun Strowman and those guys are stuck. They’re huge, but my technique, my wrestling skills my submission skills, my striking skills. Add on a little bit of pressure inside of it because I’ve done a lot of it myself. I don’t know. I’m not sure if these guys can hang with me,” Ortiz said, “let alone me hang with them. You never know though is just one of those things is up in the air and I’ll make them let them make those decisions but it’s it is open in my mind that’s for sure.”
The WWE Performance Center is also the training ground for Cain Velasquez, who had a major WWE championship match in October of 2019 at WWE Crown Jewel in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, but is signed with the promotion long-term with emphasis on the developmental end, according to Triple H on an episode of WWE After The Bell.
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