Timeline
| The Culling | |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Members | Shawn Spears Niko Vance Izzi Dame |
| Name | The Culling |
| Billed heights | Spears: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Vance: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Dame: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Former member(s) | Brooks Jensen Tatum Paxley |
| Debut | August 13, 2024 |
| Years active | 2024–present |
The Culling is an American professional wrestling stable that performs in WWE on the NXT brand. The stable currently consists of Shawn Spears, Niko Vance, and Izzi Dame with former memebers including Brooks Jensen and Tatum Paxley. Spears is a former NXT North American Champion and Paxley is a former NXT Women's Champion during their time with the group.
On June 21, 2024, Brooks Jensen posted on X that he was (kayfabe) released by WWE, which began a storyline where he wasn't working for the company. Jensen has subsequently appeared on indie events at this time, and he has also appeared in the background of NXT arena to target Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels. He was also seen intruding the WWE Performance Center during tapings of NXT. On the July 9 episode of NXT, Jensen had a sit down with NXT General Manager Ava, who agreed to give Jensen a second chance after Josh Briggs, Jensen's former tag team partner, vouched for Jensen. Moments later, he was seen attacking Je'Von Evans backstage. [1] [2] 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 Jenson won after interference from Shawn Spears. [3] [4] On the August 13 episode of NXT, Jensen acknowledged Spears as his mentor and the reason behind his new attitude, solidifying this alliance. [5]
On the October 15 episode of NXT, Jensen, now a full-fledged ally of Shawn Spears faced Ashante "Thee" Adonis in a winning effort. [6] On November 12, 2024, Niko Vance made his debut on NXT aligning himself with Spears and Jensen. [7] During this time, Spears, Jensen, and Vance would begin to feud with The D'Angelo Family. Vance would have his first bout in NXT on January 21, 2025, teaming with Jensen to defeat The D'Angelo Family (Luca Crusifino and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo). [8] In early 2025, Izzi Dame was accepted into The D'Angelo Family (Tony D'Angelo, Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, Adriana Rizzo and Luca Crusifino) when she was stalked by Spears, who was attempting to recruit her into his stable. On the February 11 episode of NXT, D'Angelo successfully defended his NXT North American Championship against Ridge Holland in a steel cage match (which was suggested by Dame herself to D'Angelo in the prior week). After the match, Dame turned on The D'Angelo Family and sided with Spears. [9] On the March 4 episode of NXT, Spears defeated Tony D'Angelo to win the NXT North American Championship. [10] A week later, at Roadblock, during a vingette with all four memebers, they officially started calling themselves The Culling. On the April 1 episode of NXT, Spears lost the title to Ricky Saints despite interference from The Culling, ending his reign at 28 days. [11] On the June 3, 2025 episode of NXT, Jensen was kicked out of The Culling, by Izzi reasons being that he lost them the match at Battleground, and believed Tatum Paxley was a more valuable asset to the group. [12] On the July 1 episode of NXT, Paxley and Dame defeated Zaria and NXT Women's North American and Speed Women's Champion Sol Ruca in a tag team match for Paxley to join The Culling. [13] For pinning Ruca in the tag team match, Dame received a NXT Women's North American Championship match at NXT Great American Bash on July 12 but failed to defeat Ruca for the title. [14] At Evolution on the following day, Dame and Paxley entered the 20-woman battle royal for a women's world championship match at Clash in Paris but the pair were immediately eliminated at the start of the match by Nia Jax. [15] On the July 22 episode of NXT, The Culling (Spears, Vance, Dame and Paxley) defeated NXT Tag Team Champions Hank and Tank (Hank Walker and Tank Ledger), Zaria, and Ruca in an eight-person mixed tag team match in The Culling's first match as a whole stable. [16] On the August 5 episode of NXT, Paxley challenged Ruca for the NXT Women's North American Championship, but failed to win the title. [17] [18]
On October 14 episode of NXT, Paxley won a battle royal to become the #1 contender for the NXT Women's Championship by last eliminating Dame and Jordynne Grace, with her former tag team partner Lyra Valkyria joining the ring to celebrate with her, seemingly reverting Paxley back to a face in the process. [19] At Halloween Havoc on October 25, Paxley defeated Jacy Jayne to win the title. [20] At the subsequent episode of NXT, however, Paxley went against the advice of Izzi Dame and reintroduced The Wheel with contenders from NXT and WWE Evolve. With Izzi Dame's name noticeably missing, Lola Vice was chosen to be the next #1 Contender. The match ended in disqualification as they tried to fend off Fatal Influence after Izzi Dame was ambushed. The following week on TV the duo of Paxley & Dame alongside, Lola Vice would lose to Fatal Influence in a 6 woman tag match, making Paxley reconsider her stance of being a fighting champion, on the behest of Dame, the following week Paxley would give Jayne her rematch, on the promise that Jayne can never challenge for the title again, if she were to lose. At NXT Gold Rush on November 18, Paxley lost the title back to Jayne after Dame turned on her, ending her reign at 24 days, marking the shortest reign in the title's history, exiling Paxley from The Culling.
| * | Founding member(s) |
|---|
| Members | Joined |
|---|---|
| Shawn Spears | August 13, 2024 * |
| Niko Vance | November 12, 2024 |
| Izzi Dame | February 11, 2025 |
| Member | Joined | Left |
|---|---|---|
| Brooks Jensen | August 13, 2024 * | June 3, 2025 |
| Tatum Paxley | July 1, 2025 | November 18, 2025 |