Wes Lee | |
---|---|
Birth name | Deveon Everhart Aikens [1] |
Born | Dayton, Ohio, U.S. [2] | November 2, 1994
Spouse(s) | Erica Marie (m. 2020) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Dez [3] Dezmond X Dezmond Xavier [4] Wes Lee |
Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) [3] |
Billed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) [3] |
Billed from | Dayton, Ohio [3] |
Debut | 2011 [5] |
Deveon Everhart Aikens [1] (born November 2, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Wes Lee. He is a former one-time and longest reigning NXT North American Champion, and a former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion with Nash Carter.
Aikens is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling under the ring name Dezmond Xavier (or simply Dez). [3] He is well known as a member of The Rascalz with Zachary Wentz, Trey Miguel, and Myron Reed. He also performed on independent promotions, mostly notably for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), where he was one-half of the PWG World Tag Team Champions alongside Wentz and went on to become the longest reigning champions in the company’s history.
Aikens made his professional wrestling debut in 2011 under the name Dezmond Xavier. [5] In 2017 at WrestleCircus he won the WC Sideshow Championship by defeating Joey Ryan. [6] Afterwards, he went to wrestle in Desastre Total Ultraviolento where he won the DTU Alto Impacto Championship. [7]
In 2015, Dezmond Xavier teamed with Zachary Wentz while working in the independent circuit and formed a tag team by the name of Scarlet and Graves. The team competed in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) where he and Wentz went on to become 2-time Combat Zone Wrestling World Tag Team Champions their first time at an event called 'Cage Of Death 18' on December 10, 2016 against EYFBO and their second time at Lucha Forever Catch Me Outside against CCK Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos after losing the titles to them in year 2017. [8] In year 2016, before he and Wentz second AAW World Tag Title reign Dezmond Xavier and Wentz at Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling teamed together with Trey Miguel, Aaron Williams, Kyle Maverick and the all five of them together won the XICW Tag Team Championships. [9] Also a year after that in year 2017, he and Wentz went on to wrestle at All American Wrestling where they went on to win the AAW World Tag Team Championships on July 15, 2017 at United We Stand against A. R. Fox and Rey Fenix. [10] A year later after that, Trey Miguel and Myron Reed joined the group and then the group name changed into The Rascalz.
Also in the year 2018, Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz wrestled at The Wrestling Revolver where they won both the PWR Tag Team Championships [11] and the One Night Tag Team Tournament [12] of 2018. In the same year, Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz also went on to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) to win the PWG World Tag Team Championships. They would hold the titles for 1025 days, which to this day is the longest reign in the company's history. [13]
In 2017, Dezmond Xavier signed with Impact Wrestling. [14] On the April 20 episode of Impact Wrestling , Xavier made his debut in a six-way match for the X Division Championship. [15] His first singles match in Impact took place on the July 8 episode of Xplosion , where he defeated Idris Abraham. Later that month, Xavier entered the 2017 GFW Super X Cup tournament, [16] in which he defeated Idris Abraham in the quarterfinals, Drago in the semifinals, and Taiji Ishimori in the final to win the 2017 GFW Super X Cup. [17] In October, Xavier made his pay-per-view debut at Bound for Glory, where he competed against Trevor Lee, Garza Jr., Matt Sydal, Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt in a six-way match for the X Division Championship but failed to win the title. Xavier also received a singles title shot for the X Division Championship against Taiji Ishimori on the January 18, 2018 episode of Impact!, which he lost.
At Redemption, Xavier competed in a six-way X Division match, which he lost. He then lost to Brian Cage at the Under Pressure special to determine the #1 contender for the X Division Championship and he also lost to Brian Cage in a match for the X Division Championship on an episode of Impact Wrestling as well. He also has another title challenge for the X Division Championship in 2018 against Matt Sydal at the One Night Only pay-per-view event Zero Fear, in which he came up short. He then took a brief hiatus from Impact.
In late 2018, Xavier was aligned with Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz, forming a fan favorite stable under the name The Rascalz. A vignette aired promoting the debut of Rascalz on the November 15 episode of Impact!. Xavier returned to Impact, teaming with Wentz under the new stable name on the November 29 episode of Impact!, where they defeated the team of Chris Bey and Mike Sydal. [18] After months of competing in the tag team division in the fall of 2018 and early 2019, the trio made their pay-per-view debut at Rebellion in April, and lost to Moose and The North. Around this time Xavier shortened his ring name to Dez while Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz shortened their ring names to Trey and Wentz respectively. At Slammiversary XVII, Dez and Wentz unsuccessfully challenged The North for the World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Latin American Exchange (Santana and Ortiz). Dez and Trey then unsuccessfully challenged North for the World Tag Team Championship on the August 2 episode of Impact!. [19]
In October, Dez competed against Sami Callihan in a losing effort at the Impact Plus event Prelude to Glory. In December, Dez unsuccessfully challenged Ace Austin for the X Division Championship at Motown Showdown. In 2020, Dez and Wentz unsuccessfully challenged The North for the World Tag Team Championship at February's Sacrifice event. Dez and Wentz continued their success in the tag team division by defeating XXXL and the team of TJP and Fallah Bahh at the Rebellion special. On the June 2 episode of Impact!, Dez and Wentz defeated TJP and Bahh to earn a World Tag Team Championship against The North on the June 16 episode of Impact!, which they lost. On July 18, 2020, Dez and Wentz issued an open challenge to any tag team at Slammiversary. The reunited Motor City Machine Guns accepted the challenge and won the match.
On November 11, it was revealed that The Rascalz would soon be leaving Impact and had interest from both WWE and All Elite Wrestling. During the November 17 tapings, The Rascalz were given a "send-off" by the Impact locker room. Trey confirmed the following day that he, Dez and Wentz were in fact done appearing on Impact Wrestling. Dez and Wentz went on to sign with WWE while Trey eventually returned to Impact Wrestling, effectively ending The Rascalz as a trio.
Dragon Gate announced the debut of Xavier and his indy tag team partner Zachary Wentz at Open The New Year Gate, Dragon Gate's first show of 2018. They debuted on 13 January, where Xavier and Wentz, collectively known as Scarlet and Graves, teamed with Susumu Yokosuka in a winning effort against Genki Horiguchi, Flamita and Bandido.
On the July 18, 2018, episode of Lucha Underground Xavier made his debut under the name Dezmond X defeating Paul London for one of the seven ancient Aztec Medallions. The series was discontinued after season finale, Ultima Lucha Cuatro . [20]
On December 2, 2020, Xavier along with his tag team partner Zachary Wentz signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the WWE Performance Center. [1] [21] On the January 13, 2021 episode of NXT, Xavier, now going by the ring name Wes Lee, and Wentz, now going by the ring name Nash Carter, debuted under the new team name MSK. [22] They debuted in the Men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, which they won. [23] [24] At NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver Night One, MSK defeated the Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) and Legado Del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) in a triple threat match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship. [25] On an episode of NXT, MSK defeated Fantasma to retain their tag titles. At NXT TakeOver: In Your House, MSK teamed with NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed to defeat Legado Del Fantasma in a winner takes all match which MSK won. [26] At NXT The Great American Bash, MSK defeated Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher for the tag titles. [27] Over the next two months, MSK defended their titles against Imperium and Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.
At NXT Halloween Havoc, Imperium defeated MSK in a Lumber Jack-o'-Lantern Tag Team match to win the titles, only for MSK to reclaim them at NXT Stand & Deliver. [28] [29] However, just four days later, on April 5, 2022, it was reported that WWE had released Carter due to multiple domestic abuse allegations and photos relating to Adolf Hitler and Nazi symbolism. WWE later confirmed that the NXT Tag Team Championships were officially vacated on April 8, 2022, ending Lee's second reign at six days and also leading to the end of the group MSK in WWE.
On the April 19 episode of NXT 2.0, Lee returned to television, vaguely addressing the vacating of the tag titles, before being confronted by Xyon Quinn. This led to a match between Quinn and Lee later in the evening, with Lee losing. [30] [31] On the May 24, 2022 episode of NXT 2.0, Lee lost against Sanga, and was taunted by Quinn before Sanga pulled him away. [32] [33] The following week, Lee challenged Quinn to a match and won. [34] [35] On the June 14, 2022 episode of NXT 2.0 Wes Lee had another highly acclaimed match against Xyon Quinn that he also was successful at winning in. [36] At NXT The Great American Bash, Lee lost to Trick Williams after Williams rubbed an unknown substance into Lee's eyes. [37]
On October 22 at NXT Halloween Havoc, Lee won the vacant NXT North American Championship in a five-man ladder match involving Carmelo Hayes, Von Wagner, Oro Mensah and Nathan Frazer. This marked Lee's first singles championship win in WWE and his second overall singles championship reign in his career. [38] On the November 1 episode of NXT, NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly interrupted NXT Champion Bron Breakker. This led to Lee coming out, where he and Breakker challenged Pretty Deadly to a match for their tag team championship later in the show; Lee and Breakker were unsuccessful after Hayes interfered. [39] Lee would defend the title against Tony D'Angelo, Dijak at NXT Vengeance Day, Nathan Frazer and Von Wagner over the next few months.
Lee broke the record for the most successful title defenses at NXT Stand & Deliver after defending the title in a Fatal 5-Way match against Axiom, Dragon Lee, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh. Lee retained against Axiom on the next episode of NXT and on the April 18, 2023 episode of NXT against Charlie Dempsey. This defense was his record-successful defense, tying Keith Lee's record for most defenses with the championship. At NXT Battleground, Lee retained the NXT North American Championship against Tyler Bate and Joe Gacy and surpassed Velveteen Dream's 231 day title reign to become the longest reigning NXT North American Champion. On the July 18 episode of NXT, Lee lost the NXT North American Championship to "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio after interference from The Judgment Day, ending his reign at a record 269 days. [40] Lee failed to regain the title in a triple threat match against Mysterio and Mustafa Ali at NXT The Great American Bash after interference from Rhea Ripley. [41]
On the August 15 episode of NXT, Lee defeated Dijak to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship, with Lee challenging Carmelo Hayes for the title at NXT Heatwave in a losing effort. [42] On the September 12 episode of NXT, Lee lost to Ilja Dragunov in a number one contender match for the NXT Championship. Lee was later seen clearing out his locker and when asked about it, Lee said that he was going home and that "he's done." [43] Lee quietly returned on October 30 for a November 2 Main Event episode taping [44] and later appearing on the following night's NXT Halloween Havoc Night 2 to attack Mysterio after Mysterio's NXT North American Championship match against Nathan Frazer. [45] On the November 28 episode of NXT, Lee defeated three former NXT North American Champions in Cameron Grimes, Bronson Reed and Johnny Gargano in a fatal-four way match, as demanded by Mysterio the week before, for a title match against Mysterio at NXT Deadline. [46] However, a week later, Lee announced that he would need back surgery and will be out of action for 8-12 months, with Dragon Lee replacing him in the match at Deadline. [47] In a media call for Deadline, Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels revealed that Lee was suffering from back injury for some time and the decision to pull him from the match was a last minute call made by Lee and the medical team. [48] It was later revealed that Lee had considered retirement due to the injury. [49]
At Week 2 of Spring Breakin' on April 30, 2024, Lee made a surprise return from injury and confronted NXT North American Champion Oba Femi after his title match against Ivar. [50] Lee defeated Josh Briggs in his first match since the injury on the following week's episode of NXT. [51]
As Wes Lee, Aikens made his video game debut in WWE 2K22 as downloadable content, [55] [56] he is also playable in WWE 2K23 , [57] WWE 2K24 [58] and WWE SuperCard . [59]
Samuel Robert Shaw is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Dexter Lumis, although he has been absent from programming for over a year. He is also known for his time with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performed as Sam Shaw and Samuel Shaw from 2010 to 2015.
Cheree Georgina Crowley is a New Zealand professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Dakota Kai, where she is a member of Damage CTRL. She is a former two-time WWE Women's Tag Team Champion with Iyo Sky. She is also known for her time in NXT, where she won the inaugural Women's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, and is a former two-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Trevor Lee Caddell is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his time with WWE, where he performed under the ring name Cameron Grimes. He is a former NXT North American Champion and was the final Million Dollar Champion. He is now signed with TNA
Raúl Mendoza is a Mexican professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the name Cruz Del Toro and is a member of the Latino World Order. He was a former founding member of Legado Del Fantasma.
Jack Rea, better known by the ring name Zack Gibson, is an English professional wrestler and promoter, currently competing on the independent circuit. He has also wrestled in WWE's NXT brand, where he performed under the ring names Zack Gibson and Rip Fowler. He formed the tag team Grizzled Young Veterans with James Drake in 2017, becoming the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions and three-time Progress Tag Team Champions. He and Drake run a wrestling promotion called Burning Heart Pro Wrestling.
Kayleigh Rae is a Scottish professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Alba Fyre, and is one-half of The Unholy Union with Isla Dawn. She previously wrestled under the ring name Kay Lee Ray.
James Dowell, better known under the ring name James Drake, is an English professional wrestler and promoter, currently performing on the independent circuit. He is best known for his time in WWE NXT where he performed under the ring names James Drake and Jagger Reid. He formed the tag team Grizzled Young Veterans with Zack Gibson in 2017, becoming the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions and three-time Progress Tag Team Champions. He and Gibson run a wrestling promotion called Burning Heart Pro Wrestling.
Trey McBrayer is an American professional wrestler better known under the ring name Trey Miguel. He is currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a member of The Rascalz, He is a former two-time Impact X Division Champion and a former one-time Impact World Tag Team Champion alongside Zachary Wentz.
Zachary Green is an American professional wrestler currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he performs under the ring name Zachary Wentz as a member of The Rascalz and is a former one-time Impact World Tag Team Champion with stablemate Trey Miguel. He is also known for his work in WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Nash Carter. He also performed on independent promotions, mostly notably for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG).
The Rascalz are an American professional wrestling stable consisting of Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz and Myron Reed. Miguel and Wentz are currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) where they are former one-time TNA World Tag Team Champions, while Reed performs on the independent circuit and also makes sporadic appearances in TNA. The group was formed by Wentz and Dezmond Xavier. They began teaming with each other for the first time on the independent circuit in 2015 and competed in various independent promotions as a stable called Scarlet and Graves, which primarily competed in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) as well as other independent promotions. In 2018, the stable ended as Xavier and Wentz went on to form a new tag team called The Rascalz. They were soon joined by Myron Reed and Trey Miguel, with Xavier, Wentz and Miguel making their debut in Impact Wrestling shortly after.
Grizzled Young Veterans are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of James Drake and Zack Gibson, currently performing as freelancers. They also make appearances on the independent circuit and for Revolution Pro Wrestling, where they are the current Undisputed British Tag Team Champions in their first reign. They are best known for their tenure with WWE, where they are the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. They also performed as The Dyad on the NXT brand. They are three-time Progress Tag Team Champions. They also run a wrestling promotion called Burning Heart Pro Wrestling.
Myron Reed is an American professional wrestler, currently performing on the independent circuit and also making sporadic appearances for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is best known for his stint in Major League Wrestling where he is a three-time MLW World Middleweight Champion.
Dominik Óscar Gutiérrez is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio, where he is a member of The Judgment Day stable. He is a former two-time NXT North American Champion.
Samantha De Martin is an Australian professional wrestler. As of November 2019, she is signed to WWE, where she performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Indi Hartwell. She is a former one-time NXT Women's Champion and a former one-time NXT Women's Tag Team Champion with Candice LeRae. She was a member of The Way stable.
Christian Brigham is an American professional wrestler. He is currently 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.
Legado Del Fantasma is a villainous professional wrestling stable that performs in WWE on the SmackDown brand. The stable is led by Santos Escobar and features Angel, Berto and Elektra Lopez as the manager of the group.
Brianna Coda is an American professional wrestler. She is currently signed to WWE, where she performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade, but is currently inactive due to a torn ACL. She is a former NXT Women's Tag Team Champion.
Matthew Farrelly is an Australian professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Grayson Waller. He is currently in a tag team with Austin Theory as A-Town Down Under where he is one half of the WWE Tag Team Champions in his first reign. Before signing with WWE, he previously performed on the independent circuit under the ring name Matty Wahlberg.
Subculture is a Welsh professional wrestling stable consisting of Mark Andrews, Flash Morgan Webster and Dani Luna, which competes for Impact Wrestling in the United States, and various promotions in the United Kingdom such as One Pro Wrestling (1PW) and Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro). In RevPro, Andrews and Webster are former Undisputed British Tag Team Champions, while Luna is the reigning British Women's Champion in her first reign. Luna is also the current All Wales Champion in her first reign in New Wave Wrestling.
Matrick Mondre Belton is an American professional wrestler and former football player. As a wrestler, he is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Trick Williams and is the current NXT Champion in his first reign. He is a former one-time NXT North American Champion and the winner of the 2023 Men's Iron Survivor Challenge.