Add as a preferred source on Google Zoe Hines was announced by WWE as part of the new Performance Center recruit class, but her arrival in NXT is already surrounded by controversy.
The former Boston College softball player is the niece of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the current U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and she also has ties to Linda McMahon, the former WWE CEO and current Secretary of Education in Donald Trump‘s administration.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, Hines’ signing was treated internally as a “forced” hire because of those political connections. The journalist said people inside WWE had been expecting the signing for quite some time and that there was even a sense of discomfort about the situation.
“I certainly heard a lot about Zoe Hines I would say six months ago, and it was very much this is one that was politically forced on them. She’s a real athlete, she’s a softball player. When she had her tryout, it’s not like she knocked them dead or even knocked them even. It was very much said it was a forced hiring because of who she was and because of Robert F. Kennedy and Linda McMahon both being in the cabinet… I had heard people very much dreading knowing this.”
“As far as like the hiring of her, I would say it was probably known easily a year ago that it was inevitable this would happen… Everyone can approve, you never know, but it was one of those where the people who knew and seen and everything like that had told me it was a hire they were dreading because it was a forced one. Anyway, it’s now official but it’s been official for a long, long time.”
Hines took part in WWE tryouts during SummerSlam 2025 week. At Boston College, she played as an infielder/outfielder and appeared in 36 games in 2024.
For now, WWE is treating Hines as just another developmental athlete. However, if Meltzer’s report is correct, her run at the Performance Center will begin under far more pressure than the other newly signed names.