Dartanyon Ruffin is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in

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 performed 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 ...

Leon Ruff, and was a one-time

NXT North American Champion The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended as the secondary men's championship of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champio ...

Professional wrestling career

Evolve (2018–2020)

Ruffin adopted his ring name "Leon Ruff" to honor his grandfather Leon Ruffin. Ruff made his debut at Evolve 106 on June 23, 2018, teaming with Tommy Maserati in a losing effort against Adrian Alanis and Liam Gray. At Evolve 131 on July 13, 2019, Ruff and A. R. Fox defeated The UnWanted (

Eddie Kingston Edward Moore (born December 12, 1981), better known by the ring name Eddie Kingston, is an American professional wrestler. , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is out of in-ring action because of a leg injury, but continues to mak ...

and

Joe Gacy Joseph Ruby (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. As of August 2020, he is signed to WWE, on the WWE SmackDown, SmackDown brand, where he performs under the ring name Joe Gacy and is a member of The Wyatt Sicks faction. Gac ...

) to win the

Evolve Tag Team Championship The Evolve Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the Evolve promotion. The inaugural champions were crowned on January 24, 2016, at the end of an eight-team tournament. Like most professional wrestlin ...

. At Evolve 142 on December 7, Ruff and Fox lost the titles to The Besties in the World (Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett), ending their reign at 147 days.

WWE (2019–2021)

Though not under contract, Ruff made an appearance on the December 4, 2019 episode of '' NXT'', teaming with Adrian Alanis in a losing effort against The Forgotten Sons ( Steve Cutler and Wesley Blake). Throughout early 2020, Ruff wrestled as a local competitor on a variety of

television program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

s including Raw, SmackDown, NXT, 205 Live, and

Main Event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

. On October 7, 2020, Ruff signed a contract with WWE and was assigned to the

WWE Performance Center WWE Performance Center (WWE PC) is a group of professional wrestling schools owned by American company WWE. They serve as tryout and training facilities for WWE, and also contain sports science and medical facilities as well as live events and ...

. On the November 11 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff defeated

Johnny Gargano John Anthony Nicholas Gargano (born August 14, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. , he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand and is one-half of #DIY with Tommaso Ciampa. Gargano is known for his time in NXT, where ...

to win the

NXT North American Championship The NXT North American Championship is a professional wrestling championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended as the secondary men's championship of NXT, the promotion's developmental brand. The current champi ...

after he was chosen as Gargano's opponent by a roulette-style spinning wheel. The following week on ''NXT'', Ruff retained the championship against Gargano via disqualification when

Damian Priest Luis Martínez (born September 26, 1982) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Damian Priest and is a former one-time World Heavyweight Champion. He is also know ...

, Gargano's rival, intentionally punched Ruff. At NXT TakeOver: WarGames, Ruff lost the title back to Gargano in a triple threat match also involving Priest, ending Ruff's reign at 25 days. On the December 30 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff faced Gargano in a rematch for the title but was defeated. Leon Ruff would begin teaming with Kushida and both men would enter the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. In the first round, Ruff and Kushida would defeat The Way (

and

Austin Theory Austin Tyler White (born August 2, 1997) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Bodybuilding, bodybuilder. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring nam ...

) on the January 20 episode of ''NXT''. On the January 27 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff and Kushida would lose to The Grizzled Young Veterans in the quarterfinals. On the February 17 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff would begin feuding with Isaiah "Swerve" Scott after Ruff defeated him in a match but was attacked by Scott afterwards. On the February 24 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff was attacked by Scott before his match with Tyler Rust. On the March 31 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff would qualify for the gauntlet eliminator on night 1 of NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver. At the event, Ruff was the first man eliminated in the match by Scott. On the April 13 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff would be defeated by Scott in a one on one match and backstage after the match, Ruff would attack Scott. The two fought once more on the May 4 episode of ''NXT'' with Ruff being defeated by Scott in a Falls Count Anywhere match due to interference from Top Dolla. On the May 11 episode of ''NXT'', Ruff would be defeated by

Pete Dunne Peter Thomas England (born 9 November 1993) is an English professional wrestler best known under the ring name Pete Dunne. As of April 2017, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, and is one-half of the New Catch Republic wit ...

despite attacking Dunne before the match had begun. On August 6, Ruff was released from his WWE contract. His final match took place the same night with a win over Grayson Waller on ''205 Live''.

Game Changer Wrestling (2021)

Leon Ruff made his GCW debut on November 11, 2021, in Detroit, Michigan with a win in a 5-Way Scramble Match.

All Elite Wrestling (2022)

On the May 1, 2022 taping of

AEW Dark ''AEW Dark'', or simply ''Dark'', is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from October 8, 2019, to April 25, 2023, on AEW's YouTube channel. ...

, Ruff made his debut for

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 ...

facing

Tony Nese Anthony Nese (born August 6, 1985) is an American professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He also appears for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor, where he is a member of The Premier Athletes stable. He is best known for his ...

in a losing effort. He made his televised debut on the June 17 episode of

AEW Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from August 13, 2021, to Dece ...

, teaming with Bear Country in a losing effort against The Gunn Club and Max Caster. He made a further appearance on the July 6 episode of

AEW Dynamite ''AEW Dynamite'', also known as ''Wednesday Night Dynamite'' or simply ''Dynamite'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American Professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It air ...

teaming again with Bear Country and Fuego Del Sol in a losing effort to The Gunn Club, Caster, and Anthony Bowens.

Personal life

Ruffin is currently married to WWE

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

Aja Smith. They became engaged on November 30th, 2020 and married on September 4th, 2022. They have a dog named Juni.

Championships and accomplishments

* Evolve **

( 1 time) – with A. R. Fox *''

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. 165 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 *

( 1 time)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruff, Leon 1996 births Living people American male professional wrestlers African-American professional wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Florida Sportspeople from Pensacola, Florida Evolve Tag Team Champions NXT North American Champions 21st-century African-American sportsmen