The former Harland, Parker Boudreaux, made his debut at today’s AEW Dark tapings in Orlando, Florida.
Ariya Daivari, now going by the name Ari, introduced Boudreaux as a new recruit to the Trust Busters stable he created during the tapings. Boudreaux, going under his real name, defeated Serpentico.
Earlier in the tapings, Daivari cut a promo saying that his trust fund had hit and is now the richest person in pro wrestling. He later recruited former ROH star Slim J, who also made his AEW debut during today’s tapings.
Boudreaux was released by WWE back on May 1. After signing with the company in February of 2021, he made his debut in October of that year and soon aligned himself with Joe Gacy under the name Harland. After his release, Boudreaux appeared as part of MLW’s 40-man Battle Riot match that was eventually won by Jacob Fatu.
Prior to becoming a professional wrestler, Boudreaux was a football player for the University of Central Florida.
Eight wrestlers, a manager, and a referee have been released by WWE as part of a set of NXT roster cuts.
Dakota Kai, Malcolm Bivens, and Dexter Lumis are among those who were released by WWE today. The 10 releases are listed below:
Dakota Kai (real name Cheree Crowley)
Malcolm Bivens (the former Stokely Hathaway)
Harland (Parker Boudreaux)
Dexter Lumis (Samuel Shaw)
Persia Pirotta (Stephanie De Landre)
Draco Anthony (Reginald Chase Crews)
Referee Blair Baldwin (Paige Prinzivalli)
Vish Kanya (Sanjana George)
Mila Milani (Kellie Morga)
Raelyn Divine (Jaylen Williams)
The releases were first reported by Fightful.
Fightful reports that WWE asked Bivens to re-sign with the company this February, but Bivens made it clear that he didn’t want to do so. Bivens was the manager of NXT’s Diamond Mine faction.
On Twitter, Bivens posted a video joking about his release:
Kai was a two-time NXT Women’s Tag Team Champion, holding the titles with Raquel Gonzalez both times. Kai worked several WWE dark matches in 2021 and one dark match this January, but she was never called up to the main roster. Kai also wrestled one match on Main Event last year.
Harland was an offensive lineman for the University of Central Florida before signing with WWE. He made his NXT debut last October and was paired with Joe Gacy. Over the past couple of weeks, Harland didn’t appear on television and was no longer part of Gacy’s act.
Anthony had recently feuded with Gacy and Harland.
In storyline, Lumis was Indi Hartwell’s husband in NXT. Hartwell & Lumis and Pirotta & Duke Hudson were involved in a storyline where Hartwell and Pirotta debated who the hottest couple in NXT was.
Kanya, Milani, and Divine had yet to be featured on NXT TV.
New WWE Hall of Famer Rick Steiner was tied up and caged by Joe Gacy and Harland in the closing scene of this week’s episode of NXT 2.0.
Following his son Bron Breakker’s successful NXT title defense against Gunther in the show’s main event, Steiner was shown on the arena’s video wall. He congratulated Breakker on his victory, and told his son that he was proud of him.
The camera zoomed out to reveal that Steiner was tied to a chair and locked in a cage. The camera zoomed out further to show Gacy and Harland were responsible for Steiner’s capture.
Gacy said that he and Harland would “see if they could teach this old dog [Steiner] some new tricks” as Harland menacingly banged on the bars of the cage with a wrench.
Gacy had cut a series of promos throughout the show aimed at Breakker, and Harland and/or Gacy vs. Breakker for the NXT title looks to be the direction going forward.
Breakker lost an NXT title match to Dolph Ziggler at last Saturday’s Stand & Deliver event, then won the title from Ziggler in a rematch on Monday’s Raw, kicking off his second reign as NXT Champion.
Rick and brother Scott were inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame last Friday as part of the class of 2022.
There was absolutely nothing special about this match.
Quinn and Drake opened by trading holds. Quinn gained the upper hand by interrupting Drake mid-sprint; Zack Gibson pulled Drake to the outside to save him. Quinn pursued Drake, only for Gibson to land some strikes while the referee wasn’t paying attention.
Back in the ring, Quinn continued to fight, even after Gibson’s interference. He endured a deep choke, responding with more strikes after escaping. A chokeslam from the top rope prompted Gibson to distract Quinn again. Drake grabbed the tights, rolling Quinn into a pin that ended this match.
After the match, Quinn pulled Gibson into the ring and hit him with a swinging Samoan drop.
Elektra Lopez defeated Sarray
This was bad—really bad. Sarray is some kind of magic school girl now, so that’s something.
Lopez used her size advantage early to gain control. She tossed, pulled, slammed, and dropped Sarray, with next to no resistance. Eventually, Sarray dodged an elbow drop, opening Lopez up to a dropkick and a pair of double stomps. Sarray tried for the knee but missed, crashing into Joaquin Wilde. Lopez capitalised, dropping Sarray on her face before pinning her to close the match.
Joe Gacy and Harland defeated Ikeman Jiro and KUSHIDA (Jacket Time)
The more I see from the Harland/Gacy pair, the cooler I get on them. This match wasn’t bad, but the culty stuff is too much for me.
KUSHIDA wrestled Gacy to the mat early and tagged out after proving his superiority. Jiro continued KUSHIDA’s lead, landing multiple jacket punches, forcing Harland to tag in.
Jiro tried striking down Harland, but the tree did not fall. Harland landed a splash into the corner before slamming Jiro into the mat. Harland stretched Jiro over the ropes, forcing Gacey to calm him down. Gacy tagged in, landed a DDT, and tried for the pin; Jiro kicked out.
Jiro reversed a backdrop into a crossbody, buying him enough time to tag KUSHIDA into the match. KUSHIDA unloaded with heavy offence before Harland interrupted a handspring. KUSHIDA tried following up with an octopus, but Harland hit the ring. Gacy had to calm Harland down again, allowing Jiro to tag back in. Harland’s gaze froze Jiro, opening him up to a big lariat from Gacy. Harland tagged in once more, landed a giant splash, and pinned Jiro to close the show.
WWE has revealed the lineup for the second episode of NXT Level Up.
The new series made its debut last week, replacing 205 Live on Friday nights. It features some of NXT’s “brightest young talent as they look to make a name for themselves and begin their climb to the top of NXT 2.0.”
Jacket Time (Kushida & Ikemen Jiro) vs. Joe Gacy & Harland
Xyon Quinn vs. James Drake
Sarray vs. Elektra Lopez
Kushida was also involved in the main event of the premiere episode of Level Up last week. He lost to Edris Enofe on the show.
Drake and his tag team partner Zack Gibson recently made it to the semifinals of the 2022 men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic before losing to The Creed Brothers, who went on to win the tournament.
Quinn lost to Gacy in the main event of the final 205 Live episode two weeks ago.
Neither Sarray nor Lopez are involved in this year’s women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. That tournament began on NXT earlier this week.
Sarray is currently on a three-match winning streak.
NXT Level Up airs on Peacock/WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Fridays. It’s taped before NXT each week.
Brian Kendrick will have his first match in over a year on next week’s WWE NXT.
After last week’s angle where Harland threw Kendrick down a flight of stairs, Harland and Joe Gacy cut a promo this week sating that Kendrick owed Harland an apology and only had himself to blame for the attack. Kendrick responded and said that if Harland wants his apology, he can get it from him in the ring next week. During the show’s main event, it was clarified that it would be in a match. Kendrick’s last bout happened on the October 28, 2020 205 Live, where he teamed with Mansoor to defeat Ever-Rise.
Also set for next week’s episode, Dexter Lumis will face Grayson Waller. A tag match was also announced, with Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade teaming against Toxic Attraction’s Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne. Gonzalez and Jade will challenge Mandy Rose for the NXT Women’s Championship in a triple threat match at New Year’s Evil on January 4.
Also announced for next week, contract signing will be held for the North American and Cruiserweight Championship unification match set for New Year’s Evil. North American Champion Carmelo Hayes will face Cruiserweight Champion Roderick Strong in that bout. Wade Barrett will host the contract signing.
Riddle and MSK also announced that they will confront NXT Tag Team Champions Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel of Imperium on next week’s show.
On the road to a potential NXT Championship match against Tommaso Ciampa, Bron Breakker will face off with Roderick Strong.
WWE has announced that Breakker vs. Strong will take place on next Tuesday’s episode of NXT. The match was made after Strong’s manager Malcolm Bivens interrupted Breakker on tonight’s show.
Breakker pinned Ciampa to get the win in the men’s WarGames match on Sunday. Breakker then cut a promo on tonight’s NXT challenging Ciampa to an NXT Championship match. But Bivens instead made his way out alongside Diamond Mine’s Creed Brothers and Ivy Nile. Bivens challenged Breakker to face Strong next week. Bivens said Breakker may have his sights set on Ciampa, but Strong’s sights are on Breakker.
Breakker accepted the challenge, saying he doesn’t care who he has to run through to get another title match against Ciampa.
Ciampa retained his NXT Championship against Breakker at Halloween Havoc this October.
WWE has also announced that Harland will make his in-ring debut on NXT next Tuesday. His opponent hasn’t been revealed.
Harland (real name Parker Boudreaux) debuted on NXT this October and is aligned with Joe Gacy. Strong defeated Gacy to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship at WarGames.
Here’s the full list of what’s been announced for next week’s NXT:
Bron Breakker vs. Roderick Strong
Harland’s in-ring debut
No holds barred match: Cameron Grimes vs. Duke Hudson
Tony D’Angelo vs. Andre Chase
Boa vs. Edris Enofe
Grimes vs. Hudson is a rematch from NXT WarGames. Grimes defeated Hudson in a hair vs. hair match at that show.
Parker Boudreaux debuted on tonight’s episode of NXT, appearing in the crowd after Joe Gacy defeated Ikemen Jiro. Though Boudreaux wasn’t identified by name, he’s using the name “Harland” in WWE.
Boudreaux, who previously resembled Brock Lesnar, had his head shaved on NXT tonight. He was standing in the crowd as Gacy headed to the back after facing Jiro. Boudreaux ominously stared down Gacy.
Gacy is playing a woke heel character in NXT. He smiled at Boudreaux as Boudreaux stared at him.
Boudreaux is a former college football player who played offensive line for the University of Central Florida. Boudreaux was originally recruited to Notre Dame before transferring to UCF. Boudreaux left UCF to sign with WWE.
WWE.com wrote about Boudreaux when he reported to the Performance Center this February: “Parker Boudreaux of Winter Garden, Fla., stands 6-foot-4 and weighs 300 pounds. The big man was an offensive lineman for the University of Central Florida and has caught the eye of Paul Heyman on social media.”
