Anthony Bowens (born December 18, 1990) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

. He is signed to

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

(AEW), where he is a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion and one-time and longest reigning AEW World Trios Champion as a former member of The Acclaimed.

Early life

Bowens was born in

Nutley, New Jersey Nutley is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 30,143, an increase of 1,773 (+6.2%) from the 2010 United ...

. He attended Nutley High School and

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

. He played baseball "for eleven years", including at Montclair State and

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

, playing two seasons each for the Pirates and Red Hawks. He was discovered by professional wrestler

Santino Marella Anthony Carelli (born March 14, 1974), better known by the ring name Santino Marella, is a Canadian professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he works as the on-screen director of authority. He is best kn ...

, who asked him whether he had ever thought about professional wrestling. He went on to train under Pat Buck.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2012–2016)

Bowens started training in 2012 and made his professional wrestling debut in 2013. On the December 21, 2016 episode of ''

WWE NXT ''WWE NXT'', also known simply as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring wrestlers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show c ...

'', Bowens and John Ortagun faced

The Authors of Pain ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

( Akam and Rezar) in a

tag team match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. ...

. Bowens suffered a concussion during the match when Ortagun was dropped onto Bowens' head.

Independent circuit (2016–2022)

Once back from injury, Bowens would work prolifically for tristate and New England independent wrestling promotions like

Combat Zone Wrestling Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded in 1999 by John Zandig. Commonly associated with the 2000s hardcore wrestling genre, early CZW shows showcased a brand of wrestling dubbed by the p ...

and Beyond Wrestling while also making appearances for Global Force Wrestling and

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

. He captured the WrestlePro Heavyweight Championship twice between 2016 and 2017. On January 21, 2017, Bowens challenged

Drew Galloway Andrew McLean Galloway IV (born 6 June, 1985) is a Scottish professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Drew McIntyre. Galloway began his career in 2001 in the United Kingdom wit ...

unsuccessfully for the WCPW World Heavyweight Championship at Battle Club Pro's Fight Forever event, which marked the first time the title had been defended outside of the UK.

All Elite Wrestling (2020–present)

In November 2020,

President

Tony Khan Antony Rafiq Khan (born October 10, 1982) is an American businessman, sports executive, and professional wrestling promoter. He is best known as the founder, co-owner, president, CEO, executive producer, and head booker of All Elite Wrestling ...

announced that Bowens, alongside Max Caster, had been signed to a five-year contract with the promotion. The announcement also stated that Bowens and Caster would compete as a tag team named The Acclaimed, and went on to establish themselves as heels. In May 2022, Bowens underwent knee surgery, sidelining him for several months. During this time Bowens, still attended AEW shows and performed his regular promos, although did not wrestle and was using a wheelchair; Caster would subsequently team increasingly with the Gunns, with whom they had forged an alliance. Bowens returned from injury at the ''

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

'' : Blood and Guts. In September 2022, The Acclaimed turned

face The face is the front of the head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may affect th ...

due to the favorable crowd reactions they would receive. At the 2022 AEW Grand Slam, The Acclaimed won the

AEW World Tag Team Championship The AEW World Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a standard tag team championship, being contested by teams of two wr ...

. This made Bowens the first openly gay wrestler to win a championship in AEW. During this run, they would feud with, and eventually lose the titles to The Gunn Club. They would also end up forming an alliance with

Billy Gunn Monty Kip Sopp (born November 1, 1963), better known by his ring name Billy Gunn, is an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to the WWE under a Legends contract and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he also perfo ...

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

and Colten Gunn's biological father, where he was affectionately referred to as "Daddy Ass". Bowens, Castor, and Billy would go on to defeat The House of Black to become AEW World Trios Champions. At

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

: ''Zero Hour'' on April 21, 2024, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club Gold (

Jay White Jamie White (born 9 October 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is the leader of the Bullet Club sub-group Bang Bang Gang. White is a former ...

, Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) defeated Bowens, Castor, and Billy for the AEW World Trios Championship in a winner takes all

championship unification Championship unification is the act of combining two or more separate professional wrestling championships into a single title. History In professional wrestling, championships may be unified to consolidate the number of championships in a giv ...

match to unify the titles as the Unified World Trios Championship, ending their reign at a record 238 days. The Acclaimed then began a feud with

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Matthew Massie and Nicholas Massie, who perform under the ring names Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson. , they are signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), whe ...

, defeating them on the June 19 episode of ''

'', in a eliminator match to earn a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship. The Acclaimed were also a part of Team AEW that defeated The Elite in a Blood and Guts match on July 24 at the namesake event. On the August 14 episode of ''Dynamite'', The Acclaimed's title match against The Young Bucks ended in a disqualification loss due to interference from FTR. On August 25 at All In, The Acclaimed once again failed to win the titles from The Young Bucks in a

three-way tag team match Much like the singles match, tag team professional wrestling matches can and have taken many forms. Just about any singles or melee match type can be adapted to tag teams; for example, hardcore tag team matches are commonplace. Tag team ladder m ...

, also involving FTR. In November 2024, tension between The Acclaimed began to rise as Caster began to act more arrogant and put himself over the group. In January 2025 on the

Maximum Carnage "Maximum Carnage" is a 14-part comic book crossover published in Marvel Comics' ''Spider-Man'' family of titles in 1993. It featured Spider-Man, Venom, and a host of other superheroes teaming up to face Venom's murderous offspring Carnage and h ...

special episode of ''

Collision In physics, a collision is any event in which two or more bodies exert forces on each other in a relatively short time. Although the most common use of the word ''collision'' refers to incidents in which two or more objects collide with great for ...

'', Bowens chose to side with Billy over Caster, which resulted in the latter disbanding The Acclaimed. On April 6 at

Zero Hour, Bowens defeated Caster in a

squash match Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that o ...

Personal life

Bowens is openly gay. He is a fan of the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

, and previously worked in the production department of the

MLB Network MLB Network is an American television sports channel dedicated to baseball. It is primarily owned by Major League Baseball, with TNT Sports (United States), TNT Sports, Comcast's NBC Sports Group, Charter Communications, and Cox Communications h ...

studio.

Championships and accomplishments

( 1 time) – with Max Caster **

AEW World Trios Championship The AEW World Trios Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the United States, American professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a specialized tag team ...

( 1 time) – with Max Caster and

*Battle Club Pro **BCP Franchise Championship (1 time) * Independent Wrestling Federation ** IWF Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' ** Male Breakout Wrestler of the Year (2022) *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' **Ranked No. 304 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

'' in 2021 *WrestlePro **WrestlePro Gold Championship (3 times) **Dream 16 Tournament (2019) * ''

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...

'' **

Most Improved Most Improved (foaled 3 May 2009) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2012 St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. He was owned by Iraj Parvizi and trained by Brian Meehan, before being purchased by Derrick Smith, Sue Magnier and Mic ...

(2022) with Max Caster as The Acclaimed

References

External links

*
Montclair State bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowens, Anthony 1990 births Living people AEW World Tag Team Champions African-American professional wrestlers All Elite Wrestling personnel American male professional wrestlers LGBTQ people from New Jersey LGBTQ professional wrestlers LGBTQ YouTubers American gay entertainers American gay sportsmen Montclair State Red Hawks baseball players Montclair State University alumni Nutley High School alumni People from Nutley, New Jersey Professional wrestlers from New Jersey Seton Hall Pirates baseball players Sportspeople from Essex County, New Jersey 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American LGBTQ people LGBTQ baseball players 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers AEW World Trios Champions YouTubers from New Jersey