Big E Confirmed For WWE SummerSlam Weekend Event

WWE's flagship summer premium live event, SummerSlam, takes place on July 30 at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee, and a currently sidelined former WWE Champion will be taking part in the festivities.

According to ESPN, Big E will be working with WWE between July 27-29 in Nashville at a talent tryout for current and graduated college athletes. Big E is set to join WWE executives Paul "Triple H" Levesque and James Kimball to evaluate prospects who take part and their potential of becoming WWE superstars in the future. Over 50 athletes — some who took part in NFL rookie minicamps this year — will take part in the company's first major tryouts since a similar camp ran during the week of WrestleMania in Texas earlier this year. WWE signed 20 athletes to developmental contracts from those WrestleMania tryouts, and the company is now looking to further add to its talent pool by assessing individuals from sports such as football, basketball, and track and field at the end of the month.

Big E, a former college football athlete for Iowa, commented on the impact the tryouts will have for the athletes involved.

"I wish there was an exit program for college athletes, because you spend so much of your time on campus studying for your sport or participating for your sport or practicing for your sport," Big E told ESPN. "You devote so much of your life to it, and then when it's gone, it is such a distinct drop-off. It's so hard to prepare for that. That was something that was really hard for me mentally, too."

The public appearance will be Big E's first since suffering a major injury on "WWE SmackDown" on March 11. The New Day member received a belly-to-belly suplex from Ridge Holland on the outside of the ring and ultimately landed on his head. He was immediately taken to a local medical facility, where it was later determined that he had suffered a broken neck, plus fractures to his C1 and C6 vertebrae. Miraculously, Big E did not require surgery for the injuries which could have turned out a lot of differently had he landed on his head more awkwardly.

While rehabilitating, Big E has confirmed that he has been using a bone simulator machine and has been receiving stem-cell treatment to aid his recovery, but has generally been living a normal life as he waits for the doctor's verdict about when he can return to the ring.