T-Bar (wrestler)
Christopher James Dijak (born April 23, 1987) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Dijak.
| DIJAK | |
|---|---|
Dijak in April 2018 | |
| Birth name | Christopher James Dijak |
| Born | April 23, 1987[1] Lunenburg, Massachusetts, United States[1] |
| Spouse(s) | Ashley Dijak (m. 2016) |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Chris Dijak Dijak[3] Donovan Dijak[4] Dominik Dijakovic T-Bar |
| Billed height | 6 ft 7 in (201 cm)[5] |
| Billed weight | 270 lb (122 kg)[5] |
| Billed from | Worcester, Massachusetts |
| Trained by | Brian Fury Todd Hanson |
| Debut | 2013[4] |
Dijak began his professional wrestling career in 2013 under the ring name Donovan Dijak, working in several promotions on the independent circuit, most notably for Chaotic Wrestling, where he trained. In 2014, he signed a contract with Ring of Honor (ROH), where he won the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament. After he left ROH in 2017, he signed a contract with WWE. He was assigned to their NXT brand under the ring name of Dominik Dijakovic. In September 2020, he made his main roster debut as part of the Retribution faction under the ring name T-Bar. Although Retribution disbanded in March 2021, he continued teaming with fellow member Mace until he was drafted to the SmackDown brand in the 2021 WWE Draft. In November 2022, he returned to the NXT brand as Dijak.
Early life
Christopher James Dijak was born and raised in Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He was a standout three-sport athlete at Lunenburg High School, excelling specifically at football, resulting in him being recruited by many top New England area college football programs. Dijak was named the 2005 Sentinel & Enterprise Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, a Central Massachusetts Shriners All-Star selection, and was named a captain and selected as the team MVP during his senior season. Ultimately, Dijak accepted a scholarship to play college football for the UMass Minutemen.[6]
After redshirting his freshman season at UMass and struggling to adjust at the large campus, Dijak ultimately decided to transfer to Bridgewater State University, a mid-sized liberal arts college located approximately 20 miles outside Boston, Massachusetts. At Bridgewater State, Dijak excelled at both football and basketball, leading the football team in both tackles and sacks in his junior and senior years, and led the basketball team in rebounding his senior year. Dijak also earned all-league honors in both sports. He was also named to the NCAA Division III Football East Region All-American team in his senior season playing for the Bears. Dijak graduated from Bridgewater State in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.[7][8][9]
Professional wrestling career
Chaotic Wrestling (2013–2017)
Following two losses in smaller promotions, Dijak joined Chaotic Wrestling, training under Brian Fury and Todd Hanson.[10] He made his debut in August 2013 in a winning effort against Vern Vicallo, and remained undefeated until July 2014 when he lost to Chaotic Wrestling champion Mark Shurman. After earning another title shot in a fatal four-way match the next month, he went on to defeat Shurman in their rematch on October 24 and claim the CW Heavyweight Championship. After a reign of 148 days, he lost the title against Chase Del Monte on March 21, 2015. In 2016, Dijak teamed with Mikey Webb to form the tag team The American Destroyers. Dijak and Webb would go on to win the Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship by defeating The Logan Brothers on December 26, 2016, before losing them less than a month later to The Mill City Hooligans. In his final match for the promotion, Dijak defeated Christian Casanova and Josh Briggs in a triple threat match for the Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship. Immediately after the match, he vacated the title.[11]
Ring of Honor (2014–2017)
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He made his debut in Ring of Honor on July 27 at Future of Honor 2, first defeating Stokely Hathaway and then falling in defeat to Moose.[12] Dijak won the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament, defeating Will Ferrara in the finals.[4] This victory allowed him to face Jay Lethal for the ROH World Television Championship. However, he refused to take this opportunity and instead joined Truth Martini's The House of Truth, establishing himself as a heel.[4] His first match as a member of the House of Truth took place on March 7, teaming with J Diesel and beating the team of Brutal Burgers (Bob Evans and Cheeseburger).[13] On June 19, at Best in the World 2015, he wrestled against Mark Briscoe on a losing effort.[14] He managed to win his next pay-per-view match against Takaaki Watanabe at Death Before Dishonor XIII.
On December 19 (aired January 13, 2016), he was banned from Truth Martini's stable, initially turning face in the process.[15] At the February 27 ROH TV tapings, Dijak came out with Prince Nana and attacked Truth Martini, turning heel again and making a rare double-turn with Jay Lethal and becoming Prince Nana's latest crown jewel in the Embassy stable.[16] Dijak announced his departure from ROH via Twitter on February 12, 2017.[17]
WWE
NXT (2017–2020)
In January 2017, WWE pulled a contract offer from Dijak, following a legal threat from ROH, who still had him under contract.[18] The following month, Dijak opted not to re-sign with ROH, essentially putting his career on hold, waiting for another contract offer from WWE.[18] On July 20, it was reported that Dijak was finishing up his independent bookings ahead of joining WWE.[18] Dijak reported to the WWE Performance Center on August 21.[19] His signing was announced by the company on September 5.[20]
Dijak made his debut for WWE's developmental branch, NXT, on September 23.[21] His television debut, under his real name, came on May 30, 2018, in a loss against Ricochet. In July 2018, WWE revealed Dijak's new ring name as Dominik Dijakovic. Promos started to appear on the December 5, 2018 episode of NXT, promoting the debut of Dominik Dijakovic. Dijakovic made his debut as a villain on the December 19 episode of NXT, defeating Aaron Mackey.[22] Following WrestleMania 35, he was set to feud with then NXT North American Champion Velveteen Dream over the championship. However, in April 2019, he suffered a torn meniscus that would require surgery.[23] He would be out of action until late July, when he returned at an NXT live event.[24]
On November 13, 2019 episode of NXT, Dijakovic turned face when he joined Team Ciampa for the annual WarGames match with Tommaso Ciampa, Matt Riddle and Keith Lee against The Undisputed Era at TakeOver: WarGames. Riddle proceeded to leave the team to pursue his rivalry with Finn Bálor.[25] At the event, Dijakovic and Team Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era, with Riddle's place being taken by Kevin Owens.[26] On the January 29, 2020 episode of NXT, Dijakovic defeated Damian Priest to become the number one contender for Keith Lee's NXT North American Championship at NXT TakeOver: Portland on February 16, where he failed to win the title. After the match, Lee and Dijakovic shook hands as a sign of respect.[27] After Lee's NXT Championship win against Adam Cole at NXT: The Great American Bash, Dijakovic was challenged by Lee for both the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship on the following episode, but was unsuccessful in capturing the titles. He was then attacked by Karrion Kross during a backstage interview, resulting in a match between the two on the July 22 episode of NXT, which Dijakovic lost. This marked his final appearance on NXT.
Raw (2020–2022)
On the September 21 episode of Raw, he was revealed as a member of the villainous stable Retribution, under the ring name T-Bar, with a new outfit and a mask.[28] On the October 5 episode of Raw, Mustafa Ali was revealed as the stable's leader. Over the following weeks, the faction had little success. At Fastlane on March 21, 2021, T-Bar and Mace attacked Ali, disbanding the stable. On the April 12 episode of Raw, T-Bar and Mace attacked Drew McIntyre, showing signs of joining The Hurt Business. The following week on Raw , T-Bar was finally unmasked along with Mace in a tag team match against McIntyre and Braun Strowman, in which T-Bar and Mace won by disqualification. Later in an interview, they confirmed the start of their tag team run. After a few weeks of absence from television, T-Bar and Mace were put as lumberjacks in a Lumberjack match between John Morrison and Damian Priest on the May 17 episode of Raw.
As part of the 2021 Draft, Mace was drafted to the SmackDown brand while T-Bar remained on the Raw brand, thus disbanding the team.[29] On the October 25 episode of Raw, T-Bar got himself disqualified in a match against WWE United States Champion Damian Priest after throwing an office chair at the champion.[30] On the November 1 episode of Raw, he lost to Priest in a no disqualification match in which Priest retained the US title.[31] Throughout 2022, he was relegated to competing on WWE Main Event until October.
Return to NXT (2022–present)
On the October 25, 2022 edition of NXT, a vignette was shown of T-Bar's Retribution mask being tossed into a fire, teasing his return to the NXT brand. On the November 22, 2022 edition of NXT, he returned to the brand using his Dijak name by attacking Wes Lee after Wes successfully defended the NXT North American Championship against Carmelo Hayes[32][33]
Other media
As T-Bar, he made his video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K22,[34] but was also featured in the game's MyRise mode as Dominik Dijakovic. This character was only available in the MyRise mode, however, and was originally not accessible by players. WWE2K added the Dominik Dijakovic character[35] in patch 1.12 released on May 16, 2022,[36] thus giving Dijak two characters in the game.
Championships and accomplishments
- Chaotic Wrestling
- Lancaster Championship Wrestling
- Keystone Cup (2015) – with J. Diesel[45]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Pro Wrestling Resurgence
- Ring of Honor
- WrestleMerica
- WrestleCrap
- Gooker Award (2020) – as part of Retribution[53]
References
- ^ a b "Donovan Dijak". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ Crockett, Paul (September 5, 2017). "Feast your eyes: Donovan Dijak's journey from New England to Orlando". PWInsider. Retrieved October 9, 2018.
- ^ "Donovan Dijack". CageMatch.
- ^ a b c d e . Ring of Honor. Archived from the original on May 22, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ a b "Dijak WWE". WWE.com. Retrieved December 12, 2021.
- ^ . Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
- ^ "Dijak finds success at Bridgewater State". www.sentinelandenterprise.com. November 3, 2008.
- ^ "Ring life has a hold on Tyngsboro man". www.lowellsun.com. July 13, 2015.
- ^ "Brockton Enterprise: "Bridgewater State Football Hopes To Pick Up Where It Left Off"". MASCAC. September 2, 2009.
- ^ "Dominik Dijakovic". Cagematch.
- ^ a b "CW Heavyweight Championship history".
- ^ Namako, Jason (July 29, 2014). "7/27 Future of Honor Results: Laurel, Delaware (8-Man Tag)". Wrestleview. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ Metzger, Mike (March 30, 2015). "Metzger's ROH TV report 3/29: Samoa Joe vs. Kyle O'Reilly main event, The Decade's new Young Boy, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
- ^ "06/19 Powell's ROH Best in the World 2015 pay-per-view live review: ROH Champion Jay Briscoe vs. ROH TV Champion Jay Lethal for both titles, Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian vs. Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly in a No DQ match for the ROH Tag Titles, A.J. Styles and The Young Bucks vs. Adam Cole, Michael Bennett, and Matt Taven". ProWrestling.net. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
- ^ "1/13 ROH on Comet TV – Final Battle fallout, Bennett & Maria, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. January 13, 2016. Retrieved May 27, 2016.
- ^ "2/27 RING OF HONOR TV TAPING RESULTS FROM LAS VEGAS, NV - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
- ^ Fiorvanti, Tim (March 23, 2017). "Donovan Dijak weighing his options as one of pro wrestling's hottest free agents". ESPN.
- ^ a b c Meltzer, Dave (July 20, 2017). "Donovan Dijak headed to WWE". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 20, 2017.
- ^ Keller, Wade (August 21, 2017). "Big name indy stars report to WWE Performance Center, Reigns on Shield reunion, Stevie Richards, Kid Rock, Robbie E". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
- ^ Currier, Joseph (September 5, 2017). "WWE officially confirms Donovan Dijak signing". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 5, 2017.
- ^ Williams, JJ (September 23, 2017). "NXT Largo, FL, live results: Donovan Dijak makes his debut". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
- ^ "Every WWE Performance Center recruit: photos - Dominik Dijakovic (USA)". WWE.com. WWE.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (May 8, 2019). "Dominik Dijakovic Undergoes Surgery For Torn Meniscus". fightful.com.
- ^ Lambert, Jeremy (July 21, 2019). "Dominik Dijakovic Returns At NXT Live Event". fightful.com.
- ^ Aiken, Chris (November 13, 2019). "WWE NXT live results: Mia Yim vs. Io Shirai ladder match". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- ^ Knipper, Justin (November 23, 2019). "NXT TakeOver WarGames live results: Two WarGames matches". Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
- ^ Chiari, Mike. "Keith Lee Beats Dominik Dijakovic, Retains North American Title at NXT TakeOver". Bleacher Report. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
- ^ "WWE RAW: Mia Yim, Dio Maddin, Mercedes Martinez, Dominik Dijakovic, y Shane Thorne debutan en la empresa como RETRIBUTION". September 22, 2020.
- ^ Guzzo, Gisberto (October 2, 2021). "Toni Storm, Apollo Crews, Zelina Vega, And More Selected In 2021 WWE Draft". Fightful. Retrieved October 3, 2021.
- ^ Powell, Jason (October 25, 2021). "10/25 WWE Raw Results: Powell's live review of the "season premiere" with the new post draft roster, fallout from WWE Crown Jewel". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Powell, Jason (November 1, 2021). "11/1 WWE Raw Results: Powell's live review of Becky Lynch vs. Bianca Belair for the Raw Women's Championship, WWE Champion Big E vs. Kevin Owens in a non-title match, Finn Balor vs. Chad Gable, WWE Women's Tag Champions Rhea Ripley and Nikki Cross vs. Zelina Vega and Carmella in a non-title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ "Vignette airs for new 'Scrypts' character on WWE NXT". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved October 27, 2022.
- ^ "WWE Main Roster Star Heading To NXT With A Name Change". whatculture.com. November 2022. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
- ^ "WWE 2K22 Full Roster List | Roster WWE 2K22".
- ^ Chance, Patches. "WWE 2K22 Update 1.12 Patch Notes bringing MyRISE exclusives to roster today (May 16)". realsport101.com. Retrieved May 17, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "WWE2K22 Patch Updates". WWE2K. May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 24, 2014). "CW A Chaotic Halloween - Event @ Polish American Veterans Club in Lowell, Massachusetts, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 24, 2014). "Chaotic Wrestling Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (March 21, 2015). "CW Cold Fury 14: Divide & Conquer - Event @ Richardson Middle School in Dracut, Massachusetts, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 4, 2017). "CW Rhodes Of Gold - Event @ Danvers Indoor Sports in Danvers, Massachusetts, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 4, 2017). "Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (December 16, 2016). "CW Pandemonium 2016 - Event @ Woburn Elks Lodge in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (December 16, 2016). "Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 13, 2017). "CW - Event @ Elks #908 in Woburn, Massachusetts, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 15, 2015). "Keystone Cup (2015)". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/ii13wz/2020_pwi_500_full_list/[unreliable source?]
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 23, 2017). "Glory Pro/PWR No Wasted Luck - Event @ Swansea Improvement Association in Swansea, Illinois, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 23, 2017). "PWR Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (January 24, 2015). "Top Prospect Tournament (2015)". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 21, 2017). "BPW - Event @ Old Academy Gym in Barnesville, Georgia, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 21, 2017). "WrestleMerica Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 13, 2017). "BPW - Event @ Old Academy Gym in Barnesville, Georgia, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved March 15, 2022.
- ^ Art0Donnell (February 4, 2021). "Induction: RETRIBUTION – The 2020 Gooker Award winner". WrestleCrap.