A month after being released by WWE, Cole Karter returned to AEW at Saturday’s Universal Studios Dark tapings in Orlando, Florida.
The former Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan in WWE NXT competed in the first set of tapings, defeating Mike Orlando.
Karter (real name Cole McKinney) wrestled nine times for AEW in 2021 in a variety of singles, tag team and trios matches. Today’s win was his first.
Part of The D’Angelo Family along with Tony D’Angelo and Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo in NXT, Karter was released on June 11th due to what Dave Meltzer called a policy issue. Karter was told he could be brought back in a year.
While Karter never specified what the issue was, he tweeted a thanks the next day and said that “Mistakes happen and lessons are learned.”
He was signed to WWE in March of this year after 18 months on the indie scene.
Saturday marked his first match since being released. He will also work for IWC in Washington, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan has confirmed that he’s no longer with WWE.
Dave Meltzer reported on Sunday night that Donovan, who had been part of the NXT roster, was released by WWE on June 11. Meltzer wrote that Donovan’s release was due to a “policy issue,” and that Donovan was told he “may be brought back in a year.”
Donovan confirmed the release in a tweet on Monday morning: “Thank you to everyone who’s reached out. Mistakes happen and lessons are learned. A bump in the road doesn’t define me though. I’ll be back”
On NXT television, Donovan was a member of Tony D’Angelo’s mob family. He was part of a tag team with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo.
D’Angelo, Donovan & Lorenzo defeated Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Cruz Del Toro & Joaquin Wilde) at NXT In Your House earlier this month. The match had a stipulation where the losing team had to join the winning team’s faction.
Donovan (real name Cole McKinney) was part of the group of recruits that joined the WWE Performance Center this March. He used the in-ring name Cole Karter before signing with WWE, including appearing on several episodes of AEW Dark.
Dave Meltzer is reporting that Donovan was released from the company yesterday due to a policy issue.
“Troy ‘Two Dimes’ Donovan of the D’Angelo family was let go yesterday [June 11],” Meltzer reports. “This wasn’t a budget or creative decision, but a policy issue and he was told he may be brought back in a year.”
Donovan had recently been introduced on NXT television along with Channing “Stacks” Lorenzo as associates of Tony D’Angelo. His highest profile match to date was at NXT’s In Your House event on June 4, where he, Stacks, and D’Angelo defeated Legado del Fantasma. As a result, Legado del Fantasma had to join D’Angelo’s stable.
WWE had announced Donovan’s signing back in March. Prior to signing with the company, he had been wrestling for a year and a half on the independent scene. Under the name Cole Karter, he appeared on several episodes of AEW Dark and AEW Dark Elevation, most notably losing a three-on-one handicap match to Paul Wight on the episode of Elevation that aired on October 23 of last year.
Tatum Paxley and Ivy Nile defeated Erica Yan and Sarray
I enjoyed this; it was simple and focused — precisely what it needed to be.
Nile took control of the match immediately following the opening bell. After being handed the Yan & Sarray gained control after Paxley was tagged in.
Nile tagged back in and caught Sarray with a quick kick to retake momentum. Nile then took her time delivering power moves, leaving Sarray desperate before tagging back into Paxley.
Paxley took the match to the mat for a while, buying Sarray enough time for a hot tag. Yan’s rally was cut short as Nile stealthfully tagged back in. Nile hit Yan with a superman punch and locked in a dragon sleeper to bring this match to a close.
Salone Jacobs defeated Thea Hail
These women are green (both are under 20), and it showed. The match was far from memorable, which is probably a good thing.
The match opened with standard back and forth wrestling, arm drags, and strikes. Jacobs eventually worked Jacobs into the corner, gaining control with some boots, which she followed with a scoop slam. After scoring a near fall, Jacobs took things to the mat for quite some time.
Once in a standing position, Hail began to rally but was cut short after Jacobs caught a stray kick and hit Hail with some kind of fireman’s carry drop. Jacobs then pinned Hail to win the match.
Channing Lorenzo and Troy Donovan defeated Javier Bernal and Dante Chen
This mafia gimmick is terrible, and this match was boring.
Both teams traded momentum early, mainly utilizing headlocks. After a fumble, Lorenzo tagged into the match and started putting the boots to Bernal. Donovan and Lorenzo then traded tags, working to isolate Bernal.
Bernal eventually hit a lariat and enziguri to tag out to Chen. Chen ran through his opponents but couldn’t connect with his finish. After a blindside boot from Lorenzo, the mafia guys hit Bernal with a double boot and pinned him to win the match.
Tony D’Angelo has introduced a pair of new associates in his battle against Santos Escobar and Legado Del Fantasma.
In a backstage interview on this week’s NXT 2.0 episode, D’Angelo introduced Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan and “Stacks” Channing Lorenzo as his new allies.
While not explicitly stated, it appears as though Donovan and Lorenzo were the figures that attacked Escobar on last week’s NXT show.
Donovan and Lorenzo began appearing on the NXT Level Up show earlier this month, with Lorenzo working under the name Channing Lauren. The two tagged in a loss against Andre Chase and Bodhi Hayward on the April 8 episode, then Lorenzo accompanied Donovan to the ring in a loss against Damon Kemp the following week.
Donovan signed with WWE in February after a run on the indies and a handful of AEW enhancement matches as Cole Karter. Lorenzo was Jake Tucker on the independent scene, and also worked as enhancement talent on AEW Dark in 2021.
A sit-down meeting between Escobar and D’Angelo has been announced for next week’s Spring Breakin’ episode of WWE NXT.
The show opened with a new intro package that showed off NXT’s greatest successes (Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, Big E, etc.). No one on the current NXT brand was included, which seems a little strange.
Javier Bernal defeated Guru Raaj
Bernal opened the match with a prolonged headlock. Bernal held on to this headlock for dear life, maintaining it on the mat and standing. Raaj eventually escaped and gained a foothold with a dropkick following a series of quick pin attempts.
Bernal fought to a standing position after a submission attempt from Raaj. Bernal led a short offensive sequence, punctuated with a double-knee facebreaker (basically a codebreaker). Bernal pinned Raaj, bringing the opening match to an end.
Ivy Nile defeated Thea Hail
This was not good.
Hale came to the ring with a long red cape. I think this was meant to be a reference to her ‘spartan’ heritage.
Nile opened the match with a drop from the fireman’s carry onto the top rope. Nile tossed Hail across the ring and scored multiple strike downs. Nile connected with a shiranui from the top and a German suplex.
Hail launched a very short-lived rally, but after awkwardly rolling around on the mat, Nile locked in an equally as awkward dragon sleeper; the hold forced Hail to submit.
Bodhi Hayward and Andre Chase defeated Channing Lauren and Troy Donovan
This was a fine little match. Lauren and Donovan looked great and were good in their role.
Lauren and Chase opened the match, trading wrist locks. Chase took the lead from the sequence, laying the boots to Lauren before tagging to Bodhi. Donovan tagged in as well, but Bodhi maintained his team’s lead with a wrist lock that he passed over to Chase.
Lauren connected with a sneaky strike while Chase was looking away. Donovan took this opportunity, taking control of the match. Lauren and Donovan then worked to isolate Chase from Bodhi.
Chase scored a hot tag after a long struggle. Bodhi knocked both opponents off their feet in a burst of energy. After a series of slams, Chase tagged back in. Chase and Hayward hit a strange double team move, leading to a pinfall in their favour.
Three recent WWE signees are set to debut on this week’s edition of NXT Level Up.
Troy Donovan (real name Cole McKinney), Channing Lauren (Mitchell Lavalley), and Thea Hail (Maddie Knisley) will debut on the Level Up episode that airs this Friday night. Donovan & Lauren will face Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward in a tag team match, while Hail will take on Ivy Nile in singles action.
Donovan, Lauren, and Hail were all independent wrestlers before signing with WWE. They were part of the group of recruits that reported to the Performance Center last month.
Donovan went by the name Cole Karter prior to signing with WWE, Lauren went by “Motherlover” Jake Tucker, and Hail went by Nikita Knight.
Donovan, Lauren, and Hall have all appeared on AEW Dark in the past.
WWE.com wrote about them when they joined the Performance Center:
Cole McKinney from Charleston, W.Va., has been honing his craft for over a year and a half already after foregoing wrestling offers from multiple DI Universities to pursue his passion for professional wrestling, going by the ring name Cole Karter on the independents.
Mitchell Lavalley has made a name for himself on the independent circuit under the moniker ‘Motherlover’ Jake Tucker. Trained by the likes of WWE Hall of Famer Kane, Natalya, Tyson Kidd, and Dr. Tom Prichard, Lavalley won the 2014 ‘WWE Show Us Your Superstar’ Contest when he was 19, making a series of videos at the WWE Performance Center before appearing on the SummerSlam Pre-Show Panel.
18-year-old Maddie Knisley is a six-time state champion in vault, having trained in competitive gymnastics for 11 years. She also competed on the independent wrestling scene as Nikita Knight.
NXT Level Up replaced 205 Live this February. The show airs on Peacock/WWE Network at 10 p.m. Eastern time on Fridays.
Here’s the full lineup for this week’s show:
Andre Chase & Bodhi Hayward vs. Troy Donovan & Channing Lauren
