Dijak (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 mononymous ring name Dijak (stylized in all caps).

He 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.

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.

Following two losses in smaller promotions, Dijak joined Chaotic Wrestling, training under Brian Fury and Todd Hanson.

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.

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.

In 2014, he signed a contract with Ring of Honor (ROH), where he won the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament.

After a reign of 148 days, he lost the title against Chase Del Monte on March 21, 2015.

Dijak won the 2015 Top Prospect Tournament, defeating Will Ferrara in the finals.

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.

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).

On June 19, at Best in the World 2015, he wrestled against Mark Briscoe on a losing effort.

He managed to win his next pay-per-view match against Takaaki Watanabe at Death Before Dishonor XIII.

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.

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.

On December 19 (aired January 13, 2016), he was banned from Truth Martini's stable, initially turning face in the process.

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.

After leaving ROH in 2017, he signed a contract with WWE.

He was assigned to their NXT brand under the ring name of Dominik Dijakovic.

Dijak announced his departure from ROH via Twitter on February 12, 2017.

In January 2017, WWE pulled a contract offer from Dijak, following a legal threat from ROH, who still had him under contract.

The following month, Dijak opted not to re-sign with ROH, essentially putting his career on hold, waiting for another contract offer from WWE.

On July 20, it was reported that Dijak was finishing up his independent bookings ahead of joining WWE.

Dijak reported to the WWE Performance Center on August 21.

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.

Christopher James Dijak was born and raised in Lunenburg, Massachusetts.

He is of Croatian, Hungarian, and Italian ancestry.

Dijak 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.