Andrzej Hughes-Murray (born January 16, 1998) 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 ...

and former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He is signed to

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

, where he performs on the NXT

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

Dion Lennox as the leader of the Darkstate

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

. Hughes-Murray previously played college football for the

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Division I ...

and was signed to the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West ...

Football career

Hughes-Murray played college football as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

for the

for six seasons, missing the 2019 season due to injury. After being undrafted in the

2022 NFL Draft The 2022 NFL draft was the 87th edition of the National Football League's annual NFL draft, draft and was held from April 28–30, 2022, at the Caesars Forum on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, Paradise next to Las Vegas. The first round ...

, he signed a three-year contract with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

, but was released prior to appearing in a game.

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2023–present)

Hughes-Murray made his professional wrestling debut on August 19, 2023 at a NXT

live event A house show (also commonly called a live event) is a professional wrestling event produced by a major Professional wrestling promotion, promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in o ...

, losing to Joe Coffey. He made his NXT on-screen debut as Dion Lennox on the December 5 episode of '' NXT'', where he was announced as a participant of the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

NXT Breakout Tournament. Lennox made his in-ring televised debut on the December 8 episode of '' NXT Level Up'' where he lost to Brooks Jensen. On the December 19 episode of ''NXT'', Lennox lost to Lexis King in the first round of the NXT Breakout Tournament. Around October 2024, Lennox and Brinley Reece was involved in a love triangle storyline between Ashante "Thee" Adonis, Karmen Petrovic and Nikkita Lyons, where Adonis and Petrovic defeated Lennox and Reece in a

mixed 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 ...

on the November 19 episode of ''NXT'' and culminated in a match between Lennox and Adonis on the December 24 episode of ''NXT'' won by Adonis after interference from Lyons. After losing multiple matches and feeling disrespected in late 2024 and early 2025, Lennox began to have a change of attitude on the January 21, 2025 episode of ''NXT'' after losing to

Wes Lee Deveon Everhart Aikens (born November 2, 1988) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT and Evolve brands under the ring name Wes Lee and is the leader of The High Ryze stable. He is a former one-t ...

. He returned at NXT Vengeance Day on February 15 with Cutler James, Saquon Shugars, and Osiris Griffin, attacking Josh Briggs and

Yoshiki Inamura is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also making appearances for WWE on their NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2 ...

and NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazer

and And or AND may refer to: Logic, grammar and computing * Conjunction, connecting two words, phrases, or clauses * Logical conjunction in mathematical logic, notated as "∧", "⋅", "&", or simple juxtaposition * Bitwise AND, a Boolean oper ...

Axiom An axiom, postulate, or assumption is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. The word comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning 'that which is thought worthy or ...

as well as NXT Champion

Oba Femi Isaac Odugbesan (born April 22, 1998) is a Nigerian professional wrestler and former shot putter. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Oba Femi and is the current NXT C ...

after their respective matches, turning heel for the first time in his career. The group made their second appearance at ''NXT'': Roadblock on March 11, where they attacked

Je'Von Evans Malachi Jeffers (born April 28, 2004) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs under the ring name Je'Von Evans on the NXT brand. He was previously known under the ring name Jay Malachi on the independent cir ...

after his match. On the following week, the group's name was revealed as Darkstate. On the April 8 episode of ''NXT'', Lennox, James and Shugars defeated

Trick Williams Matrick Mondre Belton (born May 26, 1994) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on its NXT brand, under the ring name Trick Williams. He also makes appearances in WWE's partner promotion Total Nonstop Acti ...

, Evans and Femi in a

six-man 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 ...

in their first match as a team. At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 19, Lennox, Osiris and Shugars faced The D'Angelo Family (

Tony D'Angelo Joseph Ariola (born June 9, 1995) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT WWE brand extension, brand under the ring name Tony D'Angelo. Working with a American Mafia, mafia gimmick ...

Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo Mitchell LaValley (born March 3, 1997) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, where he is currently the NXT Heritage Cup Champion in his first r ...

, and

Luca Crusifino Roman Macek (born November 16, 2000) is an American professional wrestler and former American football player. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT (WWE brand), NXT and Evolve (WWE brand), Evolve WWE brand extension, brands under the ...

), where DarkState won after Stacks turned on his team.

Personal life

Hughes-Murray was born in

Federal Way, Washington Federal Way is a city in King County, Washington, United States and part of the Seattle metropolitan area. One of the most recently incorporated cities in the county, its population was 101,030 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Feder ...

and graduated from

Federal Way High School Federal Way High School is a public high school located in Federal Way, Washington. It was originally built in 1938. A new campus opened in the fall of 2016. Academics * Advanced Placement courses: Calculus, Statistics, and Photography. * Pre-AP ...

in 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lennox, Dion 1998 births Living people People from Federal Way, Washington African-American professional wrestlers American football linebackers Sportspeople from Federal Way, Washington Professional wrestlers from Washington (state) American male professional wrestlers 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers Oregon State Beavers football players WWE personnel