The ever-controversial Eric Bischoff always finds himself in headlines due to his wrestling opinions and his remarks often lead to strained relations with superstars. Though he got to turn things around and make up with one such superstar during his recent wrestling appearance.
Donovan Dijak is one name that has made MLW his home in recent months just as the former WCW President has made appearances for the brand.
During a recent interview with Fightful Overbooked, Dijak was asked about meeting Bischoff in MLW after the two traded some harsh words during Donovan’s time in Retribution back in 2020. The former T-Bar said their previous exchange was all water under the bridge:
“Nothing too dramatic. He and I have no actual history before, that was the first time we had ever met, as far as I know, besides the time we were yelling at each other Twitter in 2020 when I was T-BAR, but it’s water under the bridge.”
The wrestling star explained that they were all on the edge due to the pandemic at the time. There is no ill will between the two because both him and Eric Bischoff were only doing their job:
“We were all going through COVID and it was a mess. His job is to talk about pro wrestling and my job was to defend what was happening at that point. It was a tall task for both of us, but there’s no issue there or anything like that. It was nice to meet him in person and tell him I was a big fan of his work.”
Donovan Dijak announced in June last year that he would be leaving WWE after the company had decided not to renew his deal. He has been wrestling in the indie circuit since then, and been a regular for MLW.
Would-be wrestlers will have the opportunity to learn from industry veteran Donovan Dijak as part of the ex-WWE Superstar’s new online wrestling academy. Speaking to The A2theK Wrestling Show, Dijak shared that the online courses will help aspiring wrestlers learn a vital side of the business outside of the ring.
“There’s a huge part of professional wrestling that’s mental and learning and applying concepts and psychology and even about the physicality. We can talk about the physicality and some of the pitfalls and things that I see.”
Dijak aims for his online courses to be an “introduction to professional wrestling” but acknowledged that it should not be a trainee’s only guide to the ring. Instead, Dijak hopes for his courses to be used in parallel to physical wrestling training to help craft an all-round talent.
When asked what he’ll be looking for in talent as part of the Dijak Wrestling Academy, the former WWE star had one word in mind: effort.
“I don’t need you to be the greatest wrestler in the world. I don’t need you to be the most charismatic person in the world. I need nothing besides 100% effort.”
Those willing to make the effort can learn more about the Dijak Wrestling Academy at the official website, including the full eight-week program that covers match basics and in-ring psycholgy. While Dijak’s career in the ring is far from over, the former WWE Superstar is ready to feast his eyes on the potential stars of the future.
Donovan Dijak was disappointed to be released from WWE in 2024, but isn’t going to hold too big of a grudge over what was ultimately a business decision. Speaking to The A2TheK Wrestling Show, Dijak reflected on his abrupt exit in June of last year.
“At the end of the day it’s a business decision, right? Of course I wanted to say. I made that very clear in in the the letter that I wrote and things like that.”
While Dijak’s days as a WWE Superstar are a thing of the past, his time with the company continues to prove beneficial. Not only did Dijak’s name in wrestling circles grow considerably thanks to his WWE run, but his time as a Superstar allowed for immense growth as a character.
“There was a ton of things that happen in WWE that are helping me to this day, right? Whether it be the the the picture of me in the jacket and the glasses with that character… all of that wouldn’t exist without the opportunity that I was given.”
Since his WWE exit, Dijak has wasted no time in re-establishing himself outside the Sports Entertainment juggernaut. With matches for Rev Pro, Beyond, House of Glory, MLW, Limitless, DPW, and more, Dijak is ready to prove his value in the ring, but will never forget how WWE helped him, and continues to help him to this day.
Former WWE wrestler Donovan Dijak recently made his impactful Major League Wrestling (MLW) debut at the promotion’s Summer of the Beasts event.
Earlier, a Doomsday clock was shown that counted down from roughly two hours. Little Guido, Nolo Kitano, Jimmy Lloyd, LSG were competing in a four-way scramble and the clock hit zero. This led to Dijak’s debut in the promotion.
The former RETRIBUTION member surprised the fans as he interrupted the match and took out all the competitors. Dijak had Mister Saint Laurent by his side and he went on to brutally attack all four wrestlers.
After wreaking havoc, Dijak said that he was going to be the next MLW World Champion and called out the likes of former WWE star Matt Riddle and Minoru Suzuki.
Last month, the 37-year-old captured the Ryse Wrestling Grand Championship. Before that, the last time Dijak won a title was seven years back when he won the Pro Wrestling Resurgence Heavyweight Championship. Dijak has also made his presence felt backstage at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door this year.
SEScoops recently caught up with Donovan Dijak following his departure from WWE. You can check it out below:
Donovan Dijak is enjoying the freedom he has found after leaving WWE and it doesn’t appear that he is in a rush to sign a new contract with any promotion.
The former WWE star recently had an interview with Chris Van Vliet for his Insight podcast. He discussed things such as the original pitch for Retribution, whether he’s worried about burning bridges with WWE and more.
When asked what are his immediate plans after leaving the Endeavor-owned promotion last month when his contract expired, Dijak explained that after having no control on his career for so long, he’s leaning towards keeping all his options open:
“I am keeping my options open. There’s literally nothing in any direction that I’m leaning, because my professional life has been so directed for so long that having all these available options, and I’m not saying that everybody’s clamoring for me, but just the possibility of multiple scenarios is very exciting for me.”
Dijak Is Focused on Proving Himself
The former NXT star mentioned how he made his debut in 2013 and 7 out of his 10 active years have been spent in WWE. So now Donovan Dijak is excited to get back to the independent circuit:
“As of this moment, I’m just gung-ho on the independent circuit, because that’s what’s directly in front of me right now, and I’m very comfortable in that scenario because I’ve done it before.
I don’t know that there is a lot left to prove in ring per say, but there’s a ton left for me to prove – how do I wanna phrase this – as an entity. Does that make sense?”
Dijak has been in demand since his WWE exit and many promotions have already booked him for shows. He was also backstage at the Forbidden Door PPV but the wrestling star claims that he didn’t talk to or meet Tony Khan at the event.
SEScoops recently had the opportunity to talk to the popular star. He spoke candidly about things such as his relationship with CM Punk, his run in NXT, and more. You can check out our interview with Dijak below:
Former WWE Superstar Donovan Dijak recently sat down with Chris Van Vliet to reflect on his journey in wrestling and his abrupt release from WWE earlier this year. Dijak was with the promotion for seven years and had runs in NXT and on the main roster. Dijak never held gold in WWE but has already won a championship now he’s back on the indies.
On Leaving WWE
When sharing that he’d be exiting WWE in a letter, Dijak claimed that the promotion had “stonewalled” attempts to negotiate a new deal. Now out of the company, Dijak is looking forward to what’s to come.
“[I’m feeling] Excited. Yeah, it took a little bit of time to get over the initial waves of emotions, mostly disappointment, frustration and fear. But now I’m in a really good spot because I’ve had a good solid week of let’s call it return on investment.”
On If He’s Burned Bridges With WWE
With his letter, Dijak made his views on WWE ‘stonewalling’ his attempts to sign a new deal crystal clear. When asked if his very public display may have hurt his chances at a return, Dijak argued that nothing he wrote was dishonest.
“If that letter burned a bridge with WWE, then they need to take a long hard look at themselves because everything in that letter is true and it’s what they did. So if me telling the truth about their actions, burns a bridge, then maybe they should consider changing their actions because that doesn’t reflect well on them. All I did was say what you did to me.”
Dijak pointed out that he didn’t scorn or badmouth anyone in WWE or throw out wild allegations against the company. Instead, he simply said “these are the facts” of what happened to him in the company.
Dijak: “I did not talk to Tony [Khan]… some phone calls were made, we saw where we could go and Steve [from Paragon] has enough connections at AEW where it was, I don’t know who’s in charge of green lighting who goes backstage, but in some capacity, I was approved to be backstage.
Dijak added that he was welcomed with “open arms” at Forbidden Door and he had great conversations with old friend. Dijak name-dropped reigning AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland as one of the individuals he spoke to.
On Retribution
During his WWE run, Dijak worked as Retribution T-Bar though the group struggled to make an impact on the main roster. According to the ex-Superstar, the idea for the group was agreed upon long before the wrestlers were picked.
“Retribution existed before the members of it were selected in any capacity. The original group of Retribution that you saw on Monday Night Raw was a bunch of writers and extras all wearing those head-to-toe blacks and throwing Molotov cocktails at a generator.
Dijak filmed a brief vignette in his basement and presented it to Vince McMahon who after watching spoke about the importance of professionalism to the Superstar.
“I made the pitch about Retribution. He was like ‘You need to have more respect you know for these board members, these CEOs’… it’s just a very confusing message and I’m like yes sir. Sounds good. Yeah, I’ll be more professional next time.
“I never heard that in an official capacity. I never saw a report that said that. But yes, that is the rumor I heard that Fox did not like Retribution, which for the record they had every right.”
On June 27th, 2024, Donovan Dijak, known simply then at DIJAK to the WWE Universe, announced his upcoming departure from the company he had called home for nearly eight years.
The star’s approach to his impending free agency starkly contrasted the countless others that had come before him. Rather than simply allowing his WWE contract to expire, which it would the following day, Dijak released a raw, honest, and detailed letter regarding his ongoing negotiations – or lack thereof – with the promotion. Claiming that WWE had made no effort to contact him regarding a new deal following his call-up to Monday Night RAW and had ultimately decided not to renew his contract at the “eleventh hour.”
The news came as a complete shock to wrestling fans everywhere. Dijak had just concluded a widely praised and objectively entertaining second run in NXT, where had the chance to expand his character, both on WWE TV and on social media. Becoming the King of the Ratios of X. Overall, Dijak’s WWE career seemed to be finally heading in the right direction, following the debacle of the RETRIBUTION faction. A group that Dijak has previously noted significantly set him back character-wise in the eyes of the WWE Universe.
Despite this, Dijak remained a loyal soldier for the company, always putting on high-quality bouts inside the squared circle. Because of this reputation, WWE fans assumed his call-up to Monday Night RAW in late April as part of the WWE Draft was due to the company finally deciding to give the star the proper push he had always deserved. Unfortunately, those hopes never came to fruition.
While others may allow a departure from the most globally recognized wrestling promotion to crush them, Dijak sees his release from the company as an exciting opportunity. In an exclusive sit-down interview with SEScoops, he noted that he’s finding no shortage of work on the independent circuit, especially in promotions where he made his bones before joining WWE.
Life After His Now-Famous ‘Letter’ on social media:
“I’m excited, Things are going well, my calendars booking up very solidly. I’ve made a few appearances as you alluded to, and they’ve gone well, they’ve gone really well the reception has been great. I mean, these are these are kind of places where I made my mark before I was in WWE, so they were obviously excited to have me back I was excited to be back. It’s been really positive. For the most part…”
While incredibly proud of how the first few weeks of his free agency have gone, he does say he’s been surprised at the reaction from a certain portion of the professional wrestling fan base—specifically, those who equate Dijak’s words and actions as a direct affront to WWE. While the 37-year-old star said he was prepared for some level of toxicity from those within the internet wrestling community, it seemed to be taken aback by the sheer volume of it.
“There tends to be this trend amongst groups of fans, and not a small group, right? There’s, there’s a large congruent conglomerate of whichever thing that you prefer, whatever your your, your preference of professional wrestling is, you tend to gravitate towards that. And you want to love that and defend it, right? It’s difficult to watch it happen because you can mentally prepare yourself for it. But the reality of the situation is there’s some people out there, there’s a good number of people out there, who are now like the, we’ll call it the honeymoon period, is has worn off, and now they’re actively looking for reasons why to dislike me or “side with the WWE.”
Dijak would go further:
“I’ve supported all my coworkers, I’ve been thankful to the people who gave me those spots…If it were up to me, I’d still be WWE, right? Like I want, I want to actively negotiate and they did not. So. So these divisive moments happen. And it creates this split. amongst some, this chunk of fans, were very vocal there just actively looking for reasons to long story, you know, there’s a lot of pieces to it, but basically, they’re looking to affirm WWE, because that makes them feel good, right?…”
His Non-Existent Heat With CM Punk, Despite What Some Fans Think:
He would continue saying that some fans hold onto topics or issues that are already settled. As an example pointed out by Dijak, some fans of CM Punk are under the impression that the former NXT star has some underlying problems with the Second City Saint. This all stems from when Punk, while still technically signed to AEW, visited backstage of Monday Night RAW, sparking a massive reaction from the WWE Universe on social media. Fans began to speculate that the rumors of Punk’s desire to depart AEW for his old home of WWE were, in fact, true.
While surveying the scene, Dijak had no gripe with CM Punk, but he grew frustrated that fans were more focused on people from outside the company than those inside the company who could not get significant TV time. This led to him sending out what some could see as a passive-aggressive tweet, leading some to accuse Dijak of having a case of sour grapes and real-life heat with the former world champion. However, Dijak makes it abundantly clear that this couldn’t be further from the truth.
“CM Punk, I wouldn’t say we’re friends. But like, if we’re in the same room, we go into, we talk to each other, we have a conversation because we both enjoy each other’s presence…It’s not like it’s like we’re best friends, and I’m going to his birthday party, but if I walk into a locker room, and he’s in there, we’ll have a conversation. It’s a nice, pleasant light hearted conversation. That being said, before I met him, I had two of my actual best friends. These are guys who I will go to their birthday party, and I know their children had been to there. And that’s MXM, the former Maximum Male Models, Mason and Mansor..they’re flown out to TV and they don’t have anything that week. So I hear through the grapevine that that CM Punk is backstage and everybody’s blowing up…And in my mind, I’m thinking ‘my best friends are also backstage at RAW and nobody cares.’ Nobody. There’s not one mention of it. There’s not one tweet, there’s not one. And I understand why. Right? I understand that. CM Punk is this huge… That being said, I’m not just going to sit back well, my friends are being ignored, and are going to get released and all these negative things are going to happen that people that I love, and I want to see succeed. So I’m going to use what’s happening to benefit them.
So I posted something, and again, probably not the probably not the best or smartest thing I’ve ever done or it was honest. It’s honestly how I felt at the time…I wanted to shift the narrative as much as I could To get focused on the people that I love and respect at that time, well, CM Punk fans did not see it that way. And they destroyed me. They eviscerated me. They hate my guts. To this day there’ll be a lot of times where I’ll see like hate comments pop up, and I’m like, why is this guy hate me? And [after clicking on their profile” it’d be like, “CM Punk number one fan” and I’m like, Oh, well, they never got over it. Right? Usually, there’s a pretty obvious reason, when someone’s just spewing hate at me…I met CM Punk, and we have a great relationship.”
WWE Contracts and The Realities of Being “Stuck In Catateoring”:
As he’s touched upon and discussed in previous interviews, Dijak’s made it a point to try to explain to fans both the problematic ways WWE’s contracts are structured and why “sitting in catering” is a particularly anxiety-ridden existence.
“We tried to keep our minds focused on that, right. I’m getting paid a good amount of money to basically do nothing. I need to keep I need to keep that in my mind that there are a lot of people out There are struggling to make ends meet. And I need to, you know, be thankful and gracious. Here’s the reality of the situation. We don’t know when that’s going to end and it could end any second. And when it does, you’re in trouble, right? Because you’ve been sitting in catering, you’re not gaining any momentum, this can end in a second.”
“…I love the the platform and the compensation, but I hate the fact that they do not need to have a reason [to release a Superstar] and it kind of defeats the purpose of the word ‘contract’. They don’t have to hold up their end of the three-year bargain, right? Again, this is written in there, and we read it and we know it, but just feels like that part of the contract should be more solid to me…
“If Just you’re sitting in the back, that’s a really good reason for you to get released. If you’re just not doing anything, they don’t have any creative. So it’s difficult, it’s a dark place to be in because you’re trying to do these things you’re trying to get on TV, you’re trying to show them how much value you’re worth. And that’s that’s a hard thing to comprehend for someone who’s saying, you’re just getting this huge deposit in your account every week. Yes, correct. Still difficult mentally, because the future is uncertain. We’re professional wrestlers, we can’t do this our entire lives, our bodies will break down when we’re 45 years old. So we need to have enough money to retire by that age. Or we’re going to be limping around a ring trying to do because a lot of us don’t have a backup skill set, right? You can’t just go ‘oh, well, I’ll be a lawyer’. The only thing I can do is lock up and grant a headlock. So I need a backup plan for when I turn 45 I don’t have enough money to live for the next 40 years of my life, God willing, and to support my children send them through college, you know, I need all that money saved up by X amount of days. So if I get released at this point, and these are all the dots that are connecting in our heads is we’re sitting in catering, staring at the wall, praying that someone reads our pitch…”
The “War” Between WWE and AEW and his visit to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024:
In 2019, the professional wrestling world was turned upside down when All Elite Wrestling broke onto the scene, providing fans with a true large-scale alternative to WWE for the first time in nearly two decades. Since then, a section of the audience has become increasingly tribalistic, mimicking the battle cries of the Monday Night Wars of the Attitude Era.
On one hand, the landscape of professional wrestling has never been stronger, with more opportunities for wrestlers to find work and for fans to be given many options. On the other hand, according to Dijak, the desire for “war” between the companies may exist more in the echo chamber of social media than in each locker room.
“Nobody wants the fans to like ‘pick a side’ that doesn’t exist from our point of view…Most of us have all the same friends. And we’re all we’re all working towards the same goal, which is let’s make this the most entertaining, profitable, pro wrestling landscape possible for all of us. So the fans can enjoy it as much as possible, and the wrestlers can make as much money as we possibly can. I mean, that’s the goal.”
However, the former WWE talent clarifies that healthy competition among wrestlers for rival promotions is natural. Citing that he himself is very “team-oriented,” going back as far as his days as a young athlete. When asked if his former employer perpetuated the drums of war with their talent, he detailed the only time ever such a significant conversation about AEW took place, when it was announced that Tony Khan’s flagship program Dynamite would directly compete with WWE’s developmental brand NXT, which had just been announced to debut on the USA Network.
” So basically…let’s keep it vague and say “the office” is like, hyping us up like ‘hey, that. That’s our time slot. They’re coming for our time slot’… That was true; WWE NXT was on historically on Wednesday nights at 8pm or whatever it happened to be, and then They took that. I don’t know if they took that personally, but they took that as a attack on business which it was right? It’s trying to divide a market share of fans and make them choose between one product to the other. It’s a business decision, right? It’s a business decision at the end of the day. And but they, a lot of the office was trying to let us know…”We’re going head to head, and we need to show them what we’re all about. We need to show the world what we’re all about…”
As fate would have it, WWE NXT and AEW Dynamite would eventually find themselves on separate nights. NXT moved to Tuesday nights, where it has found strong results. At the same time, Dynamite continues to reign supreme on Wednesday nights for TNT.
AEW has become one of the top landing places speculated by fans since Dijak’s. On June 30th, AEW hosted its annual Forbidden Door pay-per-view at the UBS Arena in Long Island. Dijak later teased showing up to the event, which he did, but only as a visitor and not a performer. Dijak told SEScoops during his visit to Forbidden Door he never entered the locker room, noting that he doesn’t believe in entering locker rooms of promotions he doesn’t work for.
Dijak states that his overall experience visiting AEW was pleasant but very limited.
“I think people were surprised to see me there. But since it was so fresh, and it was so kind of out of left field. But you know, quite frankly, I was surprised to be there. You know, if you told me. You told me two weeks before, you know, I was I was in the web locker room on speed on web speed wrestling Xavier Woods, like three weeks ago or four whatever the time, right? …It was nice, it was nice to see my friends. And it was nice to catch up with people. Other than that I didn’t get like ‘the full experience'”
Dijak made it clear that he never got to visit “gorilla”, and never spoke to Tony Khan at the event. He would praise the company’s production quality, noting it had “all the bells and whistles you could want” for a “full scale operation”.
Comparing His 2 Runs with NXT
Like Dijak’s on-screen character in WWE, the company’s NXT brand itself has gone through some major redesigns in its history. Dijak is one of only a few stars in WWE history to have extensive runs in both the original “Black & Gold” version of NXT, which was run almost exclusively by Triple H, and the current “White & Gold” version.
When asked to compare both runs, and even reveal if he preferred one over the other, Dijak remarked that he looks back on both runs fondly, each for different reasons. However, he especially enjoyed his most recent NXT run. As he feels it provided him with an opportunity to expand his character and be a bit more outside the box than he traditionally had been.
” I think they were both incredibly strong in terms of a product presentation… for me, on a personal level, the second run means a lot more to me, because I got a lot more of what I wanted to do in terms of presentation. I had a lot more matches, I was on TV a lot more. I was on premium live events a lot more. So On a personal level, it was much more fulfilling for me. It seems that the fans sentiment, for the most part, is split. If you look at like ratings and stuff and things like that, I think YouTube views and maybe social media stuff was probably higher for black and gold…”
“For me, I prefer what was happening more recently, because it had more elements of of character integration and storytelling in that aspect. And I prefer a little bit more than that, rather than just the sole focus on in ring product, which isn’t to say that’s what NXT black and gold was. But it was, it was more in that direction. Right?…Like yes, we’ll do some vignettes, backstage or whatever. But for the most part, it’s like ‘hey, we’re wrestlers. And we’re wrestling and here’s why we’re wrestling and we’re trying to win championships’, whereas the newer version of NXT seemed like it had more like, ‘Oh, I’m a vigilante renegade cop, and I’m investigating this guy. And this is and this guy’s in the mob, and he’s taking guys and throwing them off a bridge’, That it had more of that stuff, which I can sink my teeth into a little bit. That being said, it still had the presentation. Of course, I’m an in ring guy.”
Donovan Dijak’s Longterm and Shorterm Goals
As he enters free agency for the first time since 2017, the world of independent wrestling has significantly changed since Dijak last participated. Something Dijak is excited to take advantage of.
He expressed a similar sentiment when asked about his goals for the near and distant future. Overall, Dijak’s objective is to improve and refine his standing in the eyes of wrestling fans. He plans to achieve this by winning titles and getting the chance to compete overseas.
“…The things that have been kind of evading me the most [through my career], are championships, right? You think about how many championships I’ve had, beetween WWE and Ring of Honor, the answer is zero…Even outside of WWE, before I was in Ring of Honor, I didn’t have a lot of championships, and that’s just a fact, I just didn’t have a lot of them…outside of Chaotic Wrestling, I had one championship in my entire life. That doesn’t sit well with me…
Number two is wrestling in Japan. I never had the opportunity to wrestle in Japan. For whatever reason, I wrestled for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship before, but I never wrestled for it in Japan. I obviously didn’t win… I feel like I’ve wrestled for every championship, but I just lost all of them (laughs). So I feel like I want to change that narrative. I want to work in a place that’s a prestigious and hotbed of professional wrestling.”
In terms of long-term goals, Dijak’s mission is to return to a larger platform where he can perform in front of fans who know him and those who have never seen him before.
“You asked about longterm as well. That’s getting back to a platform where I can do those things that I’m talking about in terms of my brand and representing myself, and then also continuing to have those outstanding, excellent matches in front of the biggest audience possible, right? Because now we’re talking about getting in front of people who aren’t aware of a new audience who’s not familiar with me.”
The sky is truly the limit for Donovan Dijak. Promotions and fans are highly familiar with the quality of his in-ring abilities and on-screen character. Any promotion would be instantly better by having him on their roster.
Former WWE Superstar Donovan Dijak has captured his first championship in close to seven years, in what is the wrestler’s second match since being released.
At a July 13, event, Dijak captured the Ryse Wrestling Grand Championship. On Twitter, Ryse Wrestling shared some photos of the new champion. Dijak himself shared a photo with the gold and had a message for his followers.
This championship victory has been a long time coming for Dijak. The last time Dijak won a title came in July 2017 when he captured the Pro Wrestling Resurgence Heavyweight Championship, according to ProFight. In WWE, Dijak challenged for the NXT, NXT Tag, and North American Championships but never won the gold.
Leaving WWE
Dijak’s victory comes mere weeks after his abrupt exit from WWE. On Twitter, the former Retribution alum shared that not only would he be leaving WWE, but very little effort had been made by the company to retain his services. Dijak had been called to the main roster during the 2024 WWE Supplemental Draft after years of re-establishing himself in WWE NXT. Despite the call-up, Dijak was not used in any capacity as a RAW Superstar and has since said that he was sure he was doomed when he was the last pick in the Supplemental Draft.
This win is certainly a strong start for Dijak now that his career with WWE has come to an end. The question now is whether Dijak will be able to keep this momentum going forward in Ryse Wrestling and other promotions.
AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door 2024 is set to take place tonight, but what are the rumors heading into the big show?
Always take these rumors with a grain of salt, because although some of these sensationalized headlines can seem more exciting than the usual news cycle, they are just that right now…rumors.
Here are the rumors that are doing the rounds this week ahead of the PPV event and everything you need to know to keep up with the latest updates.
One of the biggest stories right now surrounds former WWE Superstar Dijak, as he appears to be teasing a debut with All Elite tonight.
Dijak took to social media to cut a promo walking out of his house, claiming that it was time for a “Dijak Hijack”
“Today is such a beautiful day, it’s early in the morning right now, why don’t we go for a nice little drive, huh? Maybe a four-and-half hour drive? Maybe that’s exactly what today calls for.”
Long Island fits the bill for a four and a half hour drive for Dijak which is where Forbidden Door takes place, so there’s a very good chance that he appears tonight.
It didn’t take Dijak long at all to show up in a wrestling ring after his WWE exit and he may have bigger plans involving AEW.
The former T-Bar revealed before the weekend that he was not offered a new contract by WWE, sharing out a typed out letter explaining his exit in detail. Donovan Dijak stated that he was told at the “eleventh hour” that WWE would not be re-signing him and that they never even attempted to negotiate a new deal. Dijak stated that two months ago he was apart of one of the greatest matches in NXT history during WrestleMania weekend before being called up to RAW where he was never used.
Dijak didn’t let his exit cook for long as on Saturday, he made a return in his own backyard at Blitzkreig Luau in Conneticut. The “punk rock pro wrestling party” promotion stated that Dijak is a “free man.”
That notion may be all the more concrete as Dijak took to social media to cut a promo walking out of his house, claiming that it was time for a “Dijak Hijack”
“Today is such a beautiful day, it’s early in the morning right now, why don’t we go for a nice little drive, huh? Maybe a four-and-half hour drive? Maybe that’s exactly what today calls for.”
When considering the distance, Long Island fits the bill for a four and a half hour drive for Dijak which is where Forbidden Door takes place. In his letter, Dijak stated that he’d be taking bookings starting June 28 so him appearing at Forbidden Door is plausible to happen.
Dijak didn’t become the new WWE NXT North American Champion at the recent Vengeance Day event, but did show his toughness in the ring.
In the opening match of the night, Dijak hoped to capture his first title in WWE when he faced off against NXT North American Champion Wes Lee.
Going just over 17 minutes, the two put on a hard-hitting affair which saw Lee (who has held the title since October) get the pinfall victory.
The Injury
While it was Lee who got the victory, the main story coming out of this match is Dijak’s finger and his tenacity for continuing to wrestle after his injury
On social media, the former RETRIBUTION member showed off his nasty injury.
There’s no word yet on if Dijak will miss any ring time after suffering this injury.
Even if he does miss time in the ring, the former T-BAR is expected to continue his feud with Tony D’Angelo and Channing ‘Stacks’ Lorenzo, who interfered during the NXT North American Championship match.
According to Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, Shawn Michaels informed Bruce Prichard that Dijak’s finger is not broken.
Dijak in WWE
Though WWE had plans to sign Dijak in early 2017, a legal threat from ROH (who he was under contract to) led WWE to rescind that offer.
The following month in February, Dijak opted not to re-sign with ROH, and was signed to WWE that September.
Competing as Dominik Dijakovic, Dijak would be a solid performer on the gold brand, but never captured the NXT or NXT North American titles.
In September 2020, Dijakovic was called up to the main roster as T-BAR as part of the doomed Retribution angle.
After the group split in early 2021, Dijakovic would hover around WWE Main Event before his return to WWE in late 2022.
WWE star Dominik Dijakovic made his return to NXT at the end of last week’s episode of NXT under the name DIJAK.
He attacked North American Champion Wes Lee following his title defense against Carmelo Hayes on the show. This name change comes after he spent two years of his career portraying the T-Bar character on the main roster, where he was part of the infamous ‘RETRIBUTION’ stable in 2020.
DIJAK isn’t able to change his Twitter name to match his current WWE name following the change in Twitter ownership and terms and services.
The Request
The NXT star took to the platform to ask new owner Elon Musk if he could change his name if he paid for the new ‘Twitter Blue’ service. He wrote the following:
“Hello @elonmusk, if I pay your stupid $8 fee would that mean I can finally change my God forsaken name officially to DIJAK because the last thing on this planet that I want to be is T-BAR. Thank you.”
DIJAK was not the only main roster star to debut a new gimmick on last week’s NXT show, as the mysterious Scrypts was revealed as former 24/7 Champion Reggie under a mask. WWE had been airing hype videos for him for several weeks.
Another WWE Superstar is set to undergo a name change, but this is one that most fans will appreciate.
WWE has a penchant for shortening wrestler names, a practice that appears to be on its way out since Triple H took over as the head of creative. We’ve also seen countless NXT stars saddled with cringeworthy generic monikers that are straight out of the Superstar Name Generator 3000.
Over the past several weeks, WWE has run vignettes on NXT television depicting a shadowy figure burning a Retribution mask and letting fans know that his ‘second coming’ is imminent.
The Return of Donovan Dijak
T-BAR of the defunct Retribution faction is now listed as Donovan Dijak on WWE’s internal roster, according to a report at PWInsider. Dijak used this name early in his wrestling career, including in Ring of Honor. He wrestled as Chris Dijak and Dominik Dijakovic in NXT before he was repackaged for the short-lived Retribution angle.
Triple H is said to be a strong proponent of Donovan Dijak, so he should fare well upon his return to WWE’s developmental brand. His most recent match for WWE took place on the September 5th edition of Main Event.
Dijak’s Superstar Profile at the WWE website still lists him as T-Bar, but expect to see that change in the coming weeks when he officially returns as his old persona.
The former Ring of Honor star Donovan Dijak is going to make his debut on WWE NXT under a new ring name: Dominik Dijakovic.
WWE had signed Donovan last year in September where he made a few appearances in NXT under the name Chris Dijak, where he was mostly used as an enhancement talent.
WWE aired a vignette on the 28 November edition of NXT introducing Chris Dijak as Dominik Dijak and on the vignette aired this week WWE has revealed that he would be making his debut on the very next episode.
The 270 pounder was a force to be reckoned with in ROH where he went on to win the Top Prospect Tournament in 2015. If you want to see his performance in the WWE, just check out this clip of his televised match on NXT with Ricochet:
Not only is his agility impressive for his 6 ft 7 in height and size, he is pretty athletic as his moonsault showed. The point is, he has a lot of potential and it looks like WWE wants to give him a chance with this new character.
Former ROH wrestler Donovan Dijak made his NXT in-ring debut at Saturday’s live event in Largo, Florida. He lost to Aleister Black in the main event.
The 6-foot-7 Dijak began training at the WWE Performance Center earlier this month. WWE.com touted, “Combining heavy-hitting power with cat-like agility, Dijak’s explosive offense has won him admirers around the world. His ‘Feast Your Eyes’ knee-smash, meanwhile, has downed enough opponents to put Dijak on WWE’s radar with only four years’ experience.”
Dijak tweeted the following about his first NXT match:
On Tuesday, WWE announce Donovan Dijak has arrived in Orlando to begin training at the Performance Center.
WWE.com touted, “Combining heavy-hitting power with cat-like agility, Dijak’s explosive offense has won him admirers around the world. His ‘Feast Your Eyes’ knee-smash, meanwhile, has downed enough opponents to put Dijak on WWE’s radar with only four years’ experience.”
The 6-foot-7 grappler has wrestled primarily in the North East US since making his professional debut just four years ago. He won Ring of Honor’s Top Prospect Tournament back in 2015, has wrestled for EVOLVE, Germany’s wXw promotion and competed in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla’s Battle of Los Angeles tournament this past weekend.
With his size, agility and experience wrestling for the world’s top independent leagues, Dijak possesses characteristics that will serve him well in this new chapter of his career.
The news of Dijak’s arrival at the Performance Center comes just weeks after WWE announced the signing of another popular performer from the independent scene, Lio Rush.
Discussion: Are you familiar with Donovan Dijak? If so, what do you think about this signing?
Here are some reactions to the news of Dijak joining WWE:
WWE Legend, Hardcore Icon and former RAW General Manager Mick Foley took to Twitter to endorse two of the US independent wrestling scene’s top prospects.
Foley tweeted during a Northeast Wrestling bout between EVOLVE/PWG performer Keith Lee and former Ring of Honor standout Donovan Dijak.
Nicknamed ‘Limitless,’ Keith Lee is not only known for his impressive power but also for his incredible aerial abilities. He is just as likely to hit a Powerbomb as he is a Corkscrew Plancha in his matches.
Donovan Dijak’s won the Ring of Honor Top Prospect Tournament in 2015, he was also a long standing member of Truth Martini’s ‘The House of Truth’ stable in ROH. He left the company in February of this year and his future plans are still very much up in the air. It has been rumoured that a move to NXT may soon be finalised.
