Josh Briggs | |
---|---|
Birth name | Joshua Bruns |
Born | Bullhead City, Arizona, U.S. | March 5, 1993
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Josh Briggs [1] |
Billed height | 6 ft 8 in (203 cm) [1] |
Billed weight | 268 lb (122 kg) [1] |
Trained by | Brian Fury Mike Hollow [1] Matt Bloom Shawn Michaels Steve Corino Norman Smiley The Great Muta Naomichi Marufuji |
Debut | December 14, 2016 [1] |
Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In WWE, he is a one-time and the final NXT UK Tag Team Champion. He previously appeared for Evolve, where he was the final Evolve Champion.
Bruns played football at UMass after two years at Glendale Community College in Arizona. [2]
On August 31, 2020, it was reported that Briggs had signed a contract with WWE, following the company's purchase of Evolve in July. [3] On October 7, WWE announced that he had reported for training at the Performance Center, alongside five other professional wrestlers from Evolve. [4] On July 6, 2021, Briggs was announced to be a part of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Briggs was defeated by Carmelo Hayes in the first round. [5] On the NXT 2.0 premiere on September 14, Briggs formed a tag team with the debuting Brooks Jensen and faced Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) in a losing effort, establishing themselves as faces. [6] On the January 18, 2022 episode of NXT, Briggs and Jensen competed in the Dusty Rhodes Men's Tag Team Classic, but were eliminated by eventual winners the Creed Brothers (Brutus and Julius) in the first round. [7] On the April 12 episode of NXT, they took part in a five-team gauntlet match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship, but failed to win. [8] On the June 22 episode of NXT UK , Briggs and Jensen defeated Dave Mastiff and Jack Starz, Mark Andrews and Wild Boar, and Die Familie (Teoman and Rohan Raja) in a Fatal 4-Way elimination match to win the vacant NXT UK Tag Team Championship, making them the first and only non-European tag team to win the titles.
On the December 27, 2023 episode of NXT, Briggs, Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley agree to go their separate ways splitting up the team. [9] On the January 16, 2024 episode of NXT, Briggs received an endorsement from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a backstage segment. [10] The following week, Briggs took on Trick Williams in a losing effort. After the match, Briggs attacked Williams with a clothesline, thus turning heel for the first time in his WWE career. [11] On the February 6 episode of NXT, Briggs seemingly consoled his former partner Jensen about having to work alone, only to then badmouth him and tell him to grow up, thus cementing his heel turn. On the February 20 episode of NXT, Briggs defeated Jensen in a singles match and consoled him after by saying "I did this for you, I love you man", turning back into a face once again. At NXT Roadblock, Briggs would try to talk Jensen out of taking a match with Oba Femi but Jensen was persistent on facing Femi and would be ultimately defeated the following week with Briggs watching at ringside. [12] [13] [14] [15] At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, Briggs failed to win the NXT North American Championship from Femi in a triple threat match which also include Dijak. [16] On the July 9 episode of NXT, Briggs reunited with Jensen after Briggs vouched for Jensen, who had been trespassing the WWE Performance Center on tapings of NXT after being (kayfabe) released from WWE, to get his job back. Moments later, Jensen was seen attacking Je'Von Evans backstage. [17] On the following week, Jensen was defeated by Evans. After the match, Jensen attacked Evans and was stopped by Briggs, to which Jensen challenged Briggs to a No Disqualification match where Jensen won after interference from Shawn Spears. [18] [19]
In July 2024, it was announced that Bruns, as Josh Briggs, would be one of two NXT representatives (the other being Tavion Heights) to enter Pro Wrestling Noah's N-1 Victory tournament. [20]
Shayna Andrea Baszler is an American professional wrestler and a former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand as a member of the Pure Fusion Collective stable. Baszler is a former two-time and longest combined-reigning NXT Women's Champion and a former record-tying three-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion.
Todd James Smith is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Ivar. He is in a tag team with Erik called The War Raiders.
Christopher James Dijak is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he performs under the ring name Donovan Dijak and is a member of the World Titan Federation stable. He also currently works on the independent circuit. He is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under the ring names Dominik Dijakovic, T-Bar, and Dijak.
Joseph Coffey is a Scottish professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand as the leader of Gallus. Coffey wrestles for many promotions in the British independent wrestling circuit, including Insane Championship Wrestling where he is former 2 time ICW World Heavyweight Champion and a former ICW Zero-G Champion. Coffey has also earlier fought in Japan for Pro Wrestling ZERO1 where he became the first ever Scottish wrestler to perform in the Korakuen Hall. Coffey's younger brother Mark Coffey is also a professional wrestler and the pair often tag team together as "The Coffey Brothers".
Fabian Aichner is an Italian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Giovanni Vinci.
Keith Gerald Lee II is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a former AEW World Tag Team Champion. He is currently on hiatus due to an undisclosed injury. He is also known for his time in WWE and Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as on the independent circuit, in promotions such as Evolve, All American Wrestling (AAW), and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he held the PWG World Championship.
Deveon Everhart Aikens is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand with the ring name Wes Lee. He is a former one-time NXT North American Champion and a former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion.
Julian Micevski, better known by his ring name Ethan Page, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand. He is a former one-time NXT Champion. Micevski is also known for his time in Impact Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and Ring of Honor (ROH).
Mark Anthony Coffey is a Scottish professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand as a member of Gallus. He is also a former NXT UK Heritage Cup and NXT UK Tag Team Champion.
Brendan Vink is an Australian professional wrestler signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Duke Hudson and is a member of the Chase University stable. He is a former one-time NXT Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his time in Melbourne City Wrestling where he was a part of The Mighty Don't Kneel.
Carlos Ruíz is a Spanish professional wrestler best known under the ring name A-Kid. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Axiom and is one-half of the current NXT Tag Team Champions with Nathan Frazer in their second reign. He is also known for his time in NXT UK, where he is the inaugural NXT UK Heritage Cup Champion.
Samantha De Martin is an Australian professional wrestler, better known by her ring name Indi Hartwell. She performed for WWE from 2019 to 2024, where she was one-time NXT Women's Champion and one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion with Candice LeRae. She was a member of The Way stable. Before signing with WWE, De Martin wrestled in her native Australia for promotions such as Riot City Wrestling and World Series Wrestling. She was one-time RCW Women's Champion and one-time WSW Women's Champion.
Christian Brigham is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the SmackDown brand, under the ring name Carmelo Hayes. He is a former one-time NXT Champion, a two-time and longest combined reigning NXT North American Champion, and a one-time and the final NXT Cruiserweight Champion, having unified it with the NXT North American Championship.
Theresa Schuessler is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Fallon Henley and is a member of the Fatal Influence stable. She is the current NXT Women's North American Champion in her first reign and is a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Pretty Deadly are a British villainous professional wrestling tag team consisting of Lewis Howley and Sam Stoker. They are signed to WWE, where they perform on the SmackDown brand under the respective ring names Elton Prince and Kit Wilson. They are former two-time NXT Tag Team Champions and one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champions.
Theresa Serrano is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Zoey Stark and is a member of the Pure Fusion Collective stable. She is a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Taylor Grado is an American professional wrestler signed to WWE where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Jacy Jayne and is a member of the Fatal Influence stable. She is a former record-tying two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Benjamin Buchanan is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Brooks Jensen. He is a former one-time and the final NXT UK Tag Team Champion.
Oliver Sauter is a Swiss professional wrestler signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Oro Mensah as a member of The Meta-Four stable. He is also known for his time in NXT UK under the ring name Oliver Carter, where he became a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion alongside Ashton Smith.
Isaac Odugbesan is a Nigerian professional wrestler and former shot putter. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Oba Femi. He is a one-time and the longest-reigning NXT North American Champion.