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Charlie Dempsey (wrestler)

Bailey Matthews (born 30 December 1996) is an American-English professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE, where he performs on their NXT brand under the ring name Charlie Dempsey. He is a member of the No Quarter Catch Crew stable and is the current NXT Heritage Cup Champion in his first reign.

Professional wrestling career

Training and independent circuit (2018–2022)

On 9 February 2018, Matthews made his wrestling debut for All Star Wrestling as Joe Bailey, where he was defeated by Tony Spitfire. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Bailey made appearances in Progress Wrestling, Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and Evolve.

In 2020, Matthews joined NJPW as a Young Lion. Although he would never end up appearing for the company, as he later left for WWE.

In 2022, Matthews returned to Progress Wrestling, under his Charlie Dempsey ring name. He competed in the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, where he defeated Charles Crowley in the first round and was defeated by Chris Ridgeway in the quarterfinal.

WWE (2021–present)

NXT UK (2021–2022)

In January 2021, Matthews signed with WWE, where he was assigned to the NXT UK brand. Matthews later reverted to the ring name, Charlie Dempsey. Dempsey made his debut on 25 February edition of NXT UK, where he was defeated by Tyler Bate. Dempsey later joined Teoman and Rohan Raja to form Die Familie and began a feud with Gallus. On the 18 November edition of NXT UK, Die Familie defeated Gallus in their first ever match as a team. Die Familie also started a feud with A-Kid. On the 10 March 2022 edition of NXT UK, Dempsey defeated A-Kid. Dempsey was later challenged by A-Kid to a British Rounds Rules match. This took place on the 21 April edition of NXT UK, where Dempsey won 2–1 in the sixth round. Dempsey competed in a tournament for the NXT United Kingdom Championship, where he lost to Oliver Carter in his final match for NXT UK.

NXT (2022–present)

In August 2022, Dempsey moved to the NXT brand. On the 14 February 2023 edition of NXT, Dempsey started associating with Drew Gulak, where Gulak served as a teacher for Dempsey. On the 18 April 2023 edition of NXT, Dempsey challenged Wes Lee for the NXT North American Championship, which he lost. In the following months, Dempsey and Gulak formed the No Quarter Catch Crew (NQCC), where they would later be joined by Myles Borne and Damon Kemp. Throughout August and September, Dempsey competed in the NXT Global Heritage Invitational to crown a #1 Contender for the NXT Heritage Cup. Dempsey came up empty-handed as he lost to the likes of Axiom (formerly A-Kid), Tyler Bate, and Butch. On the 13 December 2023 edition of NXT, Dempsey was involved in a triple threat match for the NXT North American Championship with Joe Coffey and the NXT North American Champion Dragon Lee, who retained his title.

On the 27 February 2024 edition of NXT, Dempsey defeated The Meta-Four's Noam Dar 2–1 in a British Rounds Rules match to become the new NXT Heritage Cup Champion. At NXT: Roadblock, NQCC announced that the NXT Heritage Cup will be defended by the whole stable under the "Catch Clause". Under the Catch Clause, NQCC as a whole referred to themselves as the NXT Heritage Cup Champions but WWE only recognize Dempsey as the official champion. The Catch Clause was invoked on the 19 March episode of NXT, with Gulak defeating Chase University's Riley Osborne 2–1 to successfully defend the Cup. On the 16 April episode of NXT, The D'Angelo Family leader Tony D'Angelo revealed that his Family were hired by NQCC to (kayfabe) eliminate Gulak. In reality, Gulak was written off following allegations from Ronda Rousey that Gulak grabbed her pants' drawstrings backstage in 2022 and was subsequently released by WWE on 3 May. 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 Week 1 of Spring Breakin', which was won by The D'Angelo Family (D'Angelo, Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo and Luca Crusifino). On the 7 May episode of NXT, Dempsey and Borne faced Tyson DuPont and Tyrek Igwe in a tag team match. 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. Later that night, D'Angelo and his Family kidnapped Kemp and Borne to nullify the Catch Clause.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2023–2024)

Dempsey made his All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) debut on 31 December 2023, where he teamed up with Yuma Anzai to face LEONA and Tatsumi Fujinami in a victorious effort. At AJPW’s New Year Giant Series, Dempsey challenged Katsuhiko Nakajima for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, which Nakajima won.