MSK or The Rascalz were an American

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

stable and later,

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

. It was formed by Dezmond Xavier, Trey Miguel, Zachary Wentz and Myron Reed. They began teaming with each other for the first time on the independent circuit in 2015 and competed in various independent promotions. They soon joined a stable called Scarlet and Graves, which primarily competed in

Combat Zone Wrestling Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent wrestling promotion. In 1998, John Zandig and five of his students, Ric Blade, T.C.K, Lobo (wrestler), Lobo, Nick Gage and Justice Pain, along with trainer Jon Dahmer, began to run professio ...

(CZW) as well as other independent promotions. In 2018, the stable ended as Xavier and Wentz went on to form a new tag team called The Rascalz. They were soon joined by Myron Reed and Trey Miguel, but Reed soon left the group and the remaining three continued on as a trio, making their debut in Impact Wrestling shortly after. The trio would depart from the company in November 2020 with Xavier and Wentz signing with WWE the following month while Miguel went his separate way and returned to Impact Wrestling the following January. In WWE, Xavier and Wentz names were changed to Wes Lee and Nash Carter and performed as MSK on the NXT

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

, where they were two-time

NXT Tag Team Champions The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on January 2 ...

. In April 2022, Wentz would be fired from WWE as a result of multiple allegations. After Wentz returned to the indies, he would rejoin Reed and Miguel who had been using the Rascalz name on the indies.

History

Background and formation

Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz teamed with each other for the first time at a Rockstar Pro event ''Amped'' on December 12, 2015 by defeating

Ohio Is 4 Killers Ohio Versus Everything (OVE, stylized as oVe) was an American professional wrestling stable that consisted primarily of Sami Callihan, Dave Crist, Jake Crist, and Madman Fulton. The group's name is based on all four members hailing from the stat ...

(Dave Crist and Jake Crist). They soon formed an alliance with Dave Crist, JT Davidson and Brittany Blake called Scarlet And Graves at a

event ''Seventeen'' on February 13, 2016 by defeating Conor Claxton, Frankie Pickard and Neiko Sozio. Xavier and Wentz won many tag team titles as part of the stable including the

CZW World Tag Team Championship The CZW World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship owned and copyrighted by the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion; it is contested for in their tag team division. It was created and debuted on Februa ...

twice Twice (; Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn: ''To~uwaisu''; commonly stylized as TWICE) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, ...

and the All American Wrestling

Tag Team Championship A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rival ...

once. In CZW, they split up from Dave Crist and JT Davidson, with whom Xavier and Wentz had begun feuding and continued to compete as Scarlet And Graves. Xavier and Wentz teamed with their future partner Trey Miguel for the first time to defeat

(Dave Crist, Jake Crist and

Sami Callihan Samuel Alton Johnston (born September 1, 1987) is an American professional wrestler and promoter, better known by the ring name Sami Callihan, currently signed with Impact Wrestling and is a former Impact World Champion. He also wrestled for Lu ...

) in a doors match at ''EVILution'' on July 8, 2017. Scarlet and Graves dissolved in 2017 and Xavier and Wentz formed a tag team called The Rascalz in Fight Club Pro by teaming with

Meiko Satomura Meiko Satomura (里村明衣子, Satomura Meiko, born November 11, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler. She is currently signed to the American promotion WWE performing on the NXT brand and the Japanese promotion Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestl ...

against Travis Banks and Aussie Open in a six-person tag team match at the second day of the Dream Tag Team Invitational tournament on March 31, 2018.

Independent circuit (2018–2020)

Xavier and Wentz added Trey Miguel and Myron Reed as the new members of Rascalz in CZW at ''Welcome to the Combat Zone'' on April 7, 2018. They defeated Bandido and Flamita and Ohio Versus Everything in a three-way match. At FCP's ''International Tekkers: Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted'', Xavier and Wentz captured The Wrestling Revolver's PWR Tag Team Championship by defeating the defending champions Millie McKenzie and Pete Dunne and The Besties In The World (Davey Vega and Mat Fitchett) in a three-way match. They successfully defended the titles in a one-night tag team tournament against Killer Death Machines ( Jessicka Havok and

Nevaeh Nevaeh is a feminine given name created by spelling the word ''heaven'' backwards. History and meaning The name Nevaeh is the word ''heaven'' spelled backwards. An erroneous belief is that the name has an Irish origin, a variation of the name ...

), The Crew (Jason Cade and Shane Strickland) and The Latin American Exchange ( Santana and Ortiz) at ''Catalina Wrestling Mixer 2''. Miguel and Reed also participated in the tournament, losing to Besties in the World in the opening round. Rascalz held the PWR Tag Team Championship until ''It's Always Sunny In Iowa'' on March 3, 2019, where they lost the titles to Latin American Exchange in a three-way match, also involving Besties in the World. Reed would leave the group after Miguel, Xavier and Wentz signed with

Impact Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the pro ...

. On May 12, Miguel and Wentz won the WC Big Top Tag Team Championship at WrestleCircus event ''Encore'' by defeating The Dirty Devils (Andy Dalton and Isaiah James) and The Riegel Twins (Logan and Sterling) in a three-way match. After a successful title defense against Riegel Twins and Private Party at ''Big Top Revival'', Miguel and Wentz vacated the titles on July 25. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

-based Southside Wrestling Entertainment, Xavier and Wentz captured the SWE Tag Team Championship by defeating Chris Tyler and Stixx at ''III Manors'' on August 10. They lost the titles to Deadly Sins at ''Lock, Stock And Three Smoking Rascalz''.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2018–2020)

Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz debuted for

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Los Angeles, California. It is owned and operated by wrestlers themselves, having been created by Disco Machine, Excalibur, Scott Lost, Joey Ryan, Super ...

(PWG) at ''Time is a Flat Circle'' on March 23, 2018 by defeating Bandido and Flamita in a tag team match. The following month, during the night one of ''All Star Weekend'' on April 20, Rascalz defeated The Chosen Bros (

Jeff Cobb Jeffrey Cobb (ジェフ・コブ　''Jefu Kobu'', born July 11, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and former amateur wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion with United E ...

and Matt Riddle) and

The Young Bucks The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team and promoters, consisting of brothers Matthew and Nicholas Massie, who are known by their ring names Matt and Nick Jackson, respectively. They are signed to All Elite Wrestling (A ...

in a three-way match to capture the World Tag Team Championship. Rascalz made their first successful title defense the following night against Violence Unlimited. Rascalz would retain the titles throughout the rest of 2018 and 2019 as they successfully defended the titles against Young Bucks, Lucha Brothers, Latin American Exchange and

Best Friends Best Friend or Best Friends may refer to: * Someone with whom one shares the strongest type of friendship. Film and television * ''Best Friend'' (film), a 2020 South Korean film * ''Best Friends'' (1982 film), a film starring Goldie Hawn and B ...

in quick succession. At ''Two Hundred'', Rascalz retained the title against LAX and Lucha Brothers in a three-way match. They successfully defended the titles against Flamita and Rey Horus at ''Mystery Vortex VI'' and LAX in a

ladder match A ladder match is a type of match in professional wrestling, most commonly one in which an item (usually a title belt) is hung above the ring, and the winner is the contestant who climbs a ladder and retrieves the item. The ladder itself becom ...

at ''Sixteen''. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing PWG to postpone running shows for over a year, the team remained champions even after signing with WWE/NXT. Their reign is the longest ever in the promotion’s history.

Impact Wrestling (2018–2020)

The Rascalz signed with

in the fall of 2018. Dezmond Xavier had already worked for Impact, having won the Super X Cup tournament the previous year. Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel made their first appearance in Impact by teaming with Ace Austin as enhancement talents against oVe ( Dave Crist, Jake Crist and

) in a losing effort on the September 6 episode of '' Impact!''. A vignette aired promoting the debut of Rascalz on the November 15 episode of ''Impact!''. Rascalz made their debut as a fan favorite team on the November 29 episode of ''Impact!'' as Xavier and Wentz defeated Chris Bey and Mike Sydal. Miguel was in their corner for the match. Rascalz began their feud against

Moose The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...

in 2019, which led to Rascalz making their pay-per-view debut against Moose and The North in a six-man tag team match at

Rebellion Rebellion, uprising, or insurrection is a refusal of obedience or order. It refers to the open resistance against the orders of an established authority. A rebellion originates from a sentiment of indignation and disapproval of a situation and ...

, which Rascalz lost. During the match, the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name 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, or projectin ...

s of Xavier, Miguel and Wentz were shortened to Dez, Trey and Wentz respectively. Dez and Wentz would lose to North at Code Red. The Rascalz would then go on to defeat oVe members Dave Crist, Jake Crist and Madman Fulton at A Night You Can't Mist. On the June 7 episode of ''Impact Wrestling'', Dez and Wentz received their first opportunity for the World Tag Team Championship against The Latin American Exchange ( Santana and Ortiz), which they lost via disqualification after Wentz interfered in the match. This led to a rematch between the two teams for the titles at

Slammiversary XVII Slammiversary XVII was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by Impact Wrestling. It took place on July 7, 2019 at the Gilley's Dallas in Dallas, Texas. It was the fifteenth event under the Slammiversary chronology. Eig ...

. On the July 5 episode of ''Impact Wrestling'', Dez and Wentz defeated Trey in a three-way match to earn the right to be LAX's opponents at Slammiversary. In the meanwhile, LAX lost the titles to The North, which led to North being added into the match, making it a three-way match for the titles, where North retained the titles. Rascalz would then defeat Andy Dalton, Matthew Palmer and Steve O Reno at Bash at the Brewery. At Slammiversary, The Rascalz, represented by Dez and Wentz, issued an open challenge to any tag team. The reunited Motor City Machine Guns accepted the challenge and won the match. Trey challenged for the vacant

Impact World Championship The Impact World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by Impact Wrestling. It is the promotion's principal championship. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result o ...

in the main event. However, the match was won by Eddie Edwards. On November 11, it was revealed that The Rascalz would be leaving Impact amid interest from both WWE and

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

. During the November 17 tapings, The Rascalz were given a "send off" by the Impact locker room. Trey confirmed the following day that he, Dez and Wentz were in fact finished with Impact Wrestling. However, since then, Trey Miguel has made his return to IMPACT, effectively ending The Rascalz as a trio.

WWE (2020–2022)

On December 2, 2020, it was announced that Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz had signed with WWE and would be reporting to the

WWE Performance Center The WWE Performance Center is the official professional wrestling school system of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The promotion currently operates two Performance Center locations, which serve as training facilities for WWE ...

. On the January 13, 2021 episode of '' NXT'', Xavier and Wentz debuted as Wes Lee and Nash Carter respectively under the new team name MSK. They defeated Jake Atlas and Isaiah "Swerve" Scott in the first round of the

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic The Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic is an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament held by the American promotion WWE, and is featured on its NXT brand, having first been established in 2015. In subsequent years, wrestlers from the NXT UK ...

tournament. The duo then defeated Drake Maverick and

Killian Dain Damian Mackle (born 20 February 1985) is an Irish professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Killian Dain and since his departure from WWE he has reverted back to his ring name on the in ...

in the second round on the January 27 episode of ''NXT'' to advance to the semi-finals. On the February 10 episode, they defeated Legado Del Fantasma in the semi-finals. On February 14, at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day, MSK defeated the

Grizzled Young Veterans The Dyad is a British professional wrestling tag team consisting of Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler, currently performing in WWE on the NXT brand. They are members of The Schism stable alongside Joe Gacy and Ava Raine. Reid and Fowler were previously ...

in the finals to become the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classics Winners. At NXT Takeover: Stand & Deliver, MSK defeated Grizzled Young Veterans and Legado Del Fantasma in a triple threat tag team match to win the vacant

NXT Tag Team Championship The NXT Tag Team Championship is a men's professional wrestling tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion WWE. It is defended on the NXT brand division, the promotion's developmental territory. Introduced on Januar ...

. MSK would have their first successful title defense against the team of

and Drake Marverick on the April 13 episode of ''NXT.'' At NXT Takeover: In Your House, MSK would team with NXT North American Champion, Bronson Reed to take on Legado Del Fantasma in a winners take all match, where the team of MSK and Reed would be successful. At NXT: The Great American Bash, MSK would defeat

Tommaso Ciampa Tommaso Whitney (born May 8, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Tommaso Ciampa. Whitney began his career in 2005, working on several independent p ...

and Timothy Thatcher to retain their NXT Tag Team Titles. On the September 8 episode of ''NXT,'' MSK would defeat

Oney Lorcan Christopher Girard (born December 21, 1985) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE as a coach at their Performance Center. Previously he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Oney Lorcan. He is a former NXT Tag Tea ...

and

Danny Burch Martin Harris (born 31 December 1981) is an English professional wrestler best known for his time with WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand under the ring name Danny Burch. He is a former one time NXT Tag Team Champion with Oney Lorcan. He ...

to retain the NXT Tag Team Titles. On the October 5 episode of ''NXT 2.0,'' MSK would successfully defend their Tag Titles in a fatal-4-way elimination match''.'' At NXT: Halloween Havoc on October 26, MSK would lose their titles to

Imperium In ancient Rome, ''imperium'' was a form of authority held by a citizen to control a military or governmental entity. It is distinct from '' auctoritas'' and '' potestas'', different and generally inferior types of power in the Roman Republic ...

, ending their reign at 201 days. They would regain their title from Imperium several months later on April 2, 2022, at NXT Stand & Deliver in a triple threat match that also involved

The Creed Brothers The Creed Brothers are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of brothers Brutus Creed (Drew Kasper; born May 13, 1996) and Julius Creed (Jacob Kasper; born October 3, 1994). They are currently working for the professional wrestl ...

. However a few days later on April 6, Nash Carter would be released from his WWE contract and two days later, the NXT Tag Team Championship would be declared vacant.

Independent Circuit (2022)

On June 9, it was announced that the Rascalz would be reforming with Miguel, Wentz and Reed, facing the team of Blake Christian, Nick Wayne and

Fuego Del Sol Fuego Del Sol ("Fire of the Sun") (born October 16, 1995), is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Professional wrestling career Del Sol debuted in May 2014, largely competing on the independent circuit ...

at Warrior Wrestling 24 on June 26.

Championships and accomplishments

* All American Wrestling ** AAW Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – Xavier and Wentz *

(2 times) – Xavier and Wentz *

** Turkey Bowl (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

) – Xavier with KM, Alisha Edwards,

Kikutaro (born November 17, 1976), better known as his wrestling persona and formerly , is a freelance Japanese professional wrestler. Though best known for wrestling under a mask, he also regularly works unmasked under the ring name Kikuzawa (stylize ...

, Fallah Bahh ** Impact Super X Cup – Xavier *

** PWG World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) – Xavier and Wentz *Southside Wrestling Entertainment **SWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Xavier and Wentz *The Wrestling Revolver **PWR Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Xavier and Wentz **PWR Tag Team Championship One Night Tag Team Tournament (2018) – Xavier and Wentz *WrestleCircus **WC Big Top Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Miguel and Wentz * WWE **

(

2 times "2 Times" is a song co-written and recorded by British Italian-based singer Ann Lee. It was released in 1999 as the lead single from her debut album, ''Dreams'' (1999). The single entered and peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart. Outsid ...

) – Lee and Carter ** Men's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic (

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

) – Lee and Carter * Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling ** XICW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Miguel, Xavier, and Wentz with Aaron Williams, Dave Crist, and Kyle Maverick

References

External links

The Rascalz profile
at

The Rascalz profile at CagematchThe Rascalz profile at Wrestlingdata
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