Tony D'Angelo


Tony D'Angelo


Joseph Ariola (born June 9, 1995) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Tony D'Angelo. He is the leader of The D'Angelo Family stable as "The Don of NXT" and is the current NXT Heritage Cup Champion in his first reign. He is a former two-time NXT Tag Team Champion.

Early life and education

Before becoming a professional wrestler, Ariola was a collegiate wrestler for the University of Buffalo, from which he graduated in 2018.

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2021–present)

On the October 5, 2021 episode of NXT, Ariola made his WWE debut under the ring name Tony D'Angelo, with the heel gimmick of an Italian-American mafia, defeating Malik Blade in a few minutes. On December 5, at NXT WarGames, Team 2.0 (D'Angelo, Bron Breakker, Carmelo Hayes and Grayson Waller) defeated Team Black & Gold (Johnny Gargano, LA Knight, Pete Dunne and Tommaso Ciampa) in a WarGames match.

D'Angelo suffered his first loss against Dunne on the December 21 episode of NXT, brutally attacking Dunne with a crowbar after the match. As a result of the feud that ensued, D'Angelo defeated Dunne in a Crowbar On a Pole match on the January 11, 2022 episode of NXT. On the January 25 episode of NXT, D'Angelo faced Cameron Grimes for an opportunity to challenge for the NXT North American Championship, but lost after interference from Dunne. On the February 15 episode of NXT: Vengeance Day, D'Angelo lost to Dunne in a Weaponized Steel Cage match, ending their feud. On April 2 at NXT Stand & Deliver, D'Angelo defeated Tommaso Ciampa in the latter's final match in NXT.

On the April 26 episode of NXT, D'Angelo introduced Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and Troy "Two Dimes" Donovan as his henchmen who attacked Santos Escobar the previous week, forming a stable called The D'Angelo Family. At NXT In Your House on June 4, The D'Angelo Family defeated Legado del Fantasma (Escobar, Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde). As per the stipulation, Legado del Fantasma had to join The D'Angelo Family. On June 11, Two Dimes was released by WWE. On the June 21 episode of NXT, D'Angelo failed to win the NXT North American Championship from Carmelo Hayes after interference from Escobar. D'Angelo and Stacks faced The Creed Brothers for the NXT Tag Team Championship on the August 2 episode of NXT but again lost due to Escobar's interference. On the August 16 episode of NXT: Heatwave, D'Angelo defeated Escobar in a Street Fight and, as per the stipulation, Legado del Fantasma had to remain linked to The D'Angelo Family while Escobar had to (kayfabe) leave NXT.

D'Angelo faced Wes Lee for the NXT North American Championship on the December 27 episode of NXT but lost after interference from Dijak. On the following episode of NXT, D'Angelo turned face by challenging Dijak to a match at NXT: New Year's Evil on January 10, 2023, which he lost. He then defeated Dijak on the March 7 episode of NXT: Roadblock in a Jailhouse Street Fight. At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 1, D'Angelo and Stacks failed to win the NXT Tag Team Championship in a triple threat match. The D'Angelo Family entered a brief feud with Pretty Deadly where they lost to them on the following episode of NXT but defeated them on April 25 at Spring Breakin' in a trunk match. On July 30 at NXT: The Great American Bash, D'Angelo and Stacks defeated Gallus to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, the first championship in his wrestling career. They defeated The Dyad (Rip Fowler and Jagger Reid) in their first title defense on the August 15 episode of NXT. At NXT No Mercy on September 30, D'Angelo and Stacks retained the titles against Out the Mud (Lucien Price and Bronco Nima), The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed), and Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo in a fatal four-way tag team match. On the October 24 episode of NXT: Halloween Havoc, D'Angelo and Stacks lost the titles to Chase University (Andre Chase and Duke Hudson), ending their first reign at 86 days, but would later defeat Chase and Hudson in a rematch on the November 14 episode of NXT to regain the titles. During this time, Adriana Rizzo became a part of the D'Angelo Family, feuding with Price, Nima and Jaida Parker of OTM, leading to a six-person mixed tag team match at NXT Vengeance Day on February 4 which the D'Angelo Family won. On the February 13, 2024 episode of NXT, D'Angelo and Stacks lost the titles to Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners Bron Breakker and Baron Corbin, ending their second reign at 91 days.

On the February 27 episode of NXT, D'Angelo interrupted the contract signing between Carmelo Hayes and NXT Champion Ilja Dragunov, willing to earn a title shot at the NXT Championship. NXT General Manager Ava then set a match between Hayes and D'Angelo at NXT: Roadblock to determine who would face Dragunov for the NXT Championship at NXT Stand & Deliver. At NXT: Roadblock on March 5, D'Angelo introduced Luca Crusifino as the "consigliere" of The D'Angelo Family and defeated Hayes after using Trick Williams' entrance music to distract Hayes. At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, D'Angelo failed to win the title from Dragunov. On the April 16 episode of NXT, D'Angelo revealed that his Family were hired by No Quarter Catch Crew (Charlie Dempsey, Damon Kemp, and Myles Borne) to (kayfabe) eliminate their leader Drew Gulak. D'Angelo demanded payment for the job but NQCC refused, causing a brawl between the two factions and resulting in a six-man tag team match between the two factions at Spring Breakin' on April 23, which was won by The D'Angelo Family. On the May 7 episode of NXT, Dempsey and Borne faced Tyson DuPont and Tyrek Igwe. Before the match started, the match referee was declared "unavailable" and Stacks was announced as the special guest referee, costing Dempsey and Borne the match through a fast count. After the match, an irate Dempsey gave D'Angelo a title shot at the NXT Heritage Cup as payment due to the D'Angelo Family and invoked the Catch Clause, which was then nullified when D'Angelo and his Family kidnapped Kemp and Borne later that night. On the following episode of NXT, D'Angelo defeated Dempsey 2–1 in British Rounds Rules to win the Cup, his first singles championship in WWE.

Championships and accomplishments

  • POWW Entertainment
    • POWW Tag Team Championship (1 times) – with Joey Cece
  • Pro Wrestling Illustrated
    • Ranked No. 182 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2022
  • WWE
    • NXT Heritage Cup (1 time, current)
    • NXT Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo

References

External links

  • Tony D'Angelo on WWE.com
  • Tony D'Angelo's profile at Cagematch.net , Wrestlingdata.com , Internet Wrestling Database
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Text submitted to CC-BY-SA license. Source: Tony D'Angelo by Wikipedia (Historical)



 


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