Wes Lee turned his back on his MSK brothers this week in shocking scenes from the second week of this year’s WWE NXT Great American Bash. During the show, MSK (Lee & Zachary Wentz) failed to win the NXT Tag Team Titles from Axiom and Nathan Frazer.

After the match, Wentz and Trey Miguel tried to console Lee, but he responded by superkicking Miguel and delivering a low blow to Wentz. The former North American Champion wasn’t done, as he put Trey through the barricade before slamming Wentz into the steel steps.

Not winning the titles would have been a huge setback for Lee, whose second reign as an NXT Tag Team Champion ended without him being beaten. After he and Wentz (then Nash Carter) won the titles at Stand & Deliver 2022, the team was stripped of the gold after Wentz’s release from WWE following allegations by his ex-wife Kimber Lee. This shocking betrayal also marks Lee’s first heel turn since coming to WWE NXT.

With this betrayal, fans could be seeing more of Miguel and Wentz, both of whom are signed to TNA Wrestling, on WWE NXT programming. The ongoing crossover has seen talent be shared between the two sides and has proven especially popular with fans. Stay tuned to SE Scoops for all the latest on Wes Lee and MSK after the shocking betrayal seen at WWE NXT Great American Bash 2024 (Week Two.)

MSK, aka The Rascalz, are back together on WWE NXT programming, and this has been quite the journey for all members of the group.

On this week’s WWE NXT, Wes Lee was in a somber mood as he reflected on his loss to North American Champion Oba Femi at Heatwave. Just as it appeared Lee was ready to say goodbye to NXT, Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz emerged to loud T-N-A chants from the crowd. The duo reflected on their past with Lee and were able to convince him not to leave NXT behind. On the contrary, Lee, Miguel, and Wentz will face Gallus on next week’s show.

Before WWE NXT

MSK’s history dates back to December 2015 when Lee (known as Dezmond Xaiver at the time) first teamed with Wentz. After teaming for years and holding gold in CZW and AAW, the duo added Trey Miguel and Myron Reed into the group in April 2018 and dubbed themselves ‘The Rascalz.’ That same year, the group, minus reed, joined Impact Wrestling with their names shortened to Dez, Trey, and Wentz. The group became a staple of the tag-team scene though the Tag Team Championships continued to allude them. In November 2020, it was revealed that the group would be leaving Impact amid interest from both WWE and AEW.

Arriving In WWE NXT

Xavier and Wentz debuted in WWE NXT in January 2021, now under the names of Wes Lee and Nash Carter respectively, while Miguel would later return to Impact. It was during this run that Wes and Carter were dubbed MSK and wasted no time in establishing themselves as a top team in the brand. A month after their debut, MSK won the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and by April had become the WWE NXT Tag Team Champions.

The pair held the titles for six months and would dispatch of teams like Tommaso Ciampa &Timothy Thatcher and Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch along the way. Their reign would end at the hands of Imperium at NXT Stand & Deliver in April 2022.

The Nash Carter Release

Around the time of MSK’s second tag title win, Nash Carter’s ex-wife Kimber Lee publicly claimed that she had been abused by the NXT wrestler. At the time, Dave Meltzer noted that WWE did not find Lee’s claims to be credible which is why they did not back out of plans to put the titles on the tag-team. After Kimber Lee shared a photo of Carter parodying Adolf Hitler though, the decision was made to release him and MSK was stripped of the tag titles.

Now, Nash, once again known as Zachary Wentz, is back, alongside Trey Miguel. With the WWE NXT-TNA Wrestling crossover proving a hit so far, fans can expect many more exciting moments from the trio moving forward.

WWE has released NXT star Nash Carter (Zachary Green). He’s one half of the NXT tag team champions, MSK.

Green’s wife, wrestler Kimber Lee (Ann Frankele), alleges Carter was physically and emotionally abusive. Se provided photos to support her claim.

Per David Bixenspan, Green filed for a divorce petition against Frankele last week

On Monday, Frankele posted photos on social media alleging Green “got wasted” and struck her in the face, splitting her lip open.

She tagged the official NXT Twitter account and wrote, “Hey @WWENXT this is my face after your tag champ @NashCarterWWE got wasted and hit me so hard he split my lip open. He told me I’m a wrestler so I’m always marked up. I’ve hid this for a year and even forgave him. But I can’t hide it anymore.”

She added that Green was “telling her lies all weekend” in an effort to silence her.

The following day, she wrote on social media that she’s “saved herself” and is finally free.

Later in the day, Frankele posted a photo of Zachary Green with an Adolph Hitler mustache giving a Nazi salute. She said the photo is another look into the kind of person her husband is.

Tagging the official WWE and NXT accounts, she wrote, “I’ve hid so much for so long because I was mentally abused. Not to mention the countless anti LGBTQIA+ statements him and his family make…..”

WWE has yet to publicly comment on the matter.

WWE NXT Tag Team Champions Imperium (Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner) vs. The Creed Brothers (Brutus & Julius) vs. MSK (Wes Lee & Nash Carter) was booked on the card of Saturday’s Stand & Deliver event in Dallas, Texas at the American Airlines Center.

The match was a typical three-way, but had some chaotic moments throughout in the ring and outside on the floor. Carter with a hurricanrana to Marcel off the top rope then Lee with an outside dive. Brutus with dive off the top rope to the floor. Carter with a hurricanrana off the top rope that sent Marcel into Lee, who hit a powerbomb for the finish. MSK are the new champions. 

On the March 8th edition of NXT 2.0, the title match between Imperium and MSK ended in a no contest after the return of the Creed Brothers, who the week prior were taken out in the parking lot by an unknown team. The following week, the three teams got into a heated exchange on the mic. Fabian Aichner challenged both MSK and the Creed Brothers to the match at Stand & Deliver.

WWE holds the fallout episode from this show of NXT on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if WWE continues this feud or goes in a different direction. Either way, they put on one heck of a match that delivered.

Jeff Hardy was set for a big angle in NXT 2.0 prior to his surprise release from WWE last month.

WWE had plans for Hardy to be revealed as “The Shamon” for MSK, as first reported by Fightful. Hardy’s release left WWE scrambling. With just days until the culmination of this storyline, WWE tapped Matt Riddle to fill this role and “rush” to film the necessary content.

“Just days before the reveal was to happen, Hardy was released by the company, and Matt Riddle had to rush to film content with MSK to make it work,” the report states.

Luckily Matt Riddle and MSK’s characters mesh together quite nicely. The trio is scheduled to face Imperium at tonight’s NXT New Years Evil special.

Jeff Hardy’s WWE Release

WWE released Jeff Hardy back on December 9th. At the time, Sean Ross Sapp and Jeremy Lambert noted that Hardy was let go after refusing to enter a rehabilitation program at WWE’s request.

Just days before the bombshell news broke, the Charismatic Enigma worried fans with a bizarre incident a WWE live event from Edinburg, Texas.

Jeff’s brother Matt Hardy shared on Twitch that he believes WWE made a mistake by canning Jeff. According to Matt, Jeff doesn’t need rehab and WWE didn’t even wait to see any drug test results before making its decision.

Here’s what Matt had to say during that Twitch stream, as transcribed by SEScoops’ own Andrew Ravens:

“Before anyone rushes to judgment, obviously they [WWE] drug tested him after all this stuff, wait until you hear the results of that and when that comes back clean then hopefully people will feel better about it. They [WWE] felt like they were backed into a corner because of his [Jeff’s] history. Even though they may have jumped the gun with this a little bit, they made a decision and it is what it is,”said Matt.

In recent weeks, Jeff Hardy has been doing meet and greets with fans. Christian Cage and Ric Flair have both said they could see Jeff joining All Elite Wrestling. However, neither side has addressed this possibility in public.

MSK put up the WWE NXT Tag Team Titles on the line when they faced Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher on Tuesday’s episode of NXT: Great American Bash. 

The match allowed both teams to get their spots in for the opening bout. MSK rolled up Ciampa for the win to retain their titles. This was an interesting finish as Ciampa and Thatcher were favored in the betting odds to win the titles. 

Ciampa & Thatcher became the top contenders to MSK’s titles by defeating The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) in a tornado tag match on a recent episode of NXT. 

MSK became the champions when they won it in a triple threat match against The Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado del Fantasma (Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde) at TakeOver: Stand & Deliver this April.

Their previous title defense came in a winners-take-all six-man tag match at the WWE NXT TakeOver:  In Your House event when MSK teamed with then-North American Champion Bronson Reed to retain by beating Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde). 

Another rivalry looks to be reaching its conclusion in NXT. William Regal has sanctioned an NXT tag team title match between MSK and Mendoza and Wilde from Legado del Fantasma.

The match came about after Mendoza and Wilde picked up a win over Tomasso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher. The match itself served as a device for escalating two different feuds. The MSK feud for one and the growing storyline between the duo of Ciampa and Thatcher and the Grizzled Young Veterans. The British pair being the reason Legado del Fantasma picked up the victory on Tuesday night.

The group have been feuding with the current Tag Team champions for a while now. MSK beat Mendoza and Wilde on the opening night of NXT Stand and Deliver to claim the then vacant belts. In recent weeks, the pair have been teaming up with Cruiserweight champion Kushida. Kushida himself is locked in a feud with Santiago Escobar, the leader of Legado del Fantasma.

MSK are currently enjoying their first reign as champions in WWE. The championship fight, which is set for June 1^st, will be the second time they have defended the belts. At this time there are no stipulations attached the bout. However, expect to see Escobar show up at some point to try and steer the odds in his teams favor. Hopefully Kushida will be on hand however to even up the score.

It could be hard to pick a winner between these two groups, but either way, the match is bound to be a show-stealer.

New WWE NXT Tag Team Champions have been crowned and it’s MSK. 

On the first night of WWE NXT TakeOver: Stand & Deliver event from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center, the company booked MSK vs. Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Legado del Fantasma in a three-way match. 

The bout featured a wild start with MSK getting the early advantage and a few dives. The end came when MSK hit a double cutter to Drake and followed up with a tag team move out of the corner to Gibson.

The titles became vacant after Danny Burch suffered a separated shoulder while teaming with Oney Lorcan against Finn Balor & Karrion Kross in the main event of a recent episode of NXT. Unfortunately, Burch is expected to be out of action for six months.

Lorcan and Burch had been NXT Tag Team Champions since winning the titles from Breezango in October 2020. In the finals of the men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic at TakeOver: Vengeance Day, MSK defeated The Grizzled to win the tournament.

Just a month ago, MSK were supposed to challenge for the titles against Lorcan and Burch, but that match was nixed due to Lee being out with a broken hand. 

MSK has arrived in NXT. The tag team formerly known as The Rascalz made their in ring debuts on Wednesday’s NXT TV.

Earlier in the day, WWE released the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament brackets. Among the 16 teams listed was MSK, a team that we had yet to meet. As expected, it was the Rascalz. The men formerly known as Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz are now using the ring names Wes Lee and Nash Carter.

MSK defeated Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Jake Atlas in the first round of the tournament.

MSK in WWE NXT

The two high flying stars signed with WWE back in December. Though the third member of the Impact Wrestling stable Trey Miguel did not sign with the promotion at the time and it was reported that he was still weighing his options.

This wasn’t the only match of the tournament that took place during tonight’s episode of NXT and The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Ever-Rise to advance in the first round of Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic as well.

MSK will now be face the winners of the match between Kushida & Leon Ruff and The Way in the second round.

• Trey Miguel Reacts To Triple H Comments About WWE Not Signing Him

You can check out video of MSK’s NXT debut below:

A new tag team named “MSK” will debut for NXT in the upcoming Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Tournament.

SEScoops readers know that WWE recently filed to trademark the name MSK. On Wednesday, WWE released the complete Dusty Classic tournament brackets. Among the 16 teams included in the tournament: MSK.

According to sources, MSK is the name WWE will use for Desmonz Xavier and Zachary Wentz, formerly known as The Rascalz in Impact Wrestling. Xavier and Wentz are among the latest class of WWE Performance Center recruits.

Update: MSK, Formerly The Rascalz, Debut In NXT (Video)

The Dusty Classic kicks off tonight with two opening round matches: The Undisputed Era vs. Breezango and Ever-Rise vs. The Grizzled Young Veterans. MSK will face Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Jake Atlas in a first round match that is expected to take place over the next two weeks.

A tweet sent out by WWE indicates that we may find out the identities of MSK on tonight’s episode of NXT TV.

• Backstage Update On Status Of Third Rascalz Member Trey Miguel