Darren Kenneth Matthews (born 10 May 1968) is a British professional wrestler, trainer, talent scout, author, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE under the ring name William Regal. He is also known for his time in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) under the ring name Steven Regal. Having started his career on a rare surviving carnival booth in Britain, he moved on to wrestle for national-level promotions on the British wrestling circuit and on British television. He then progressed to touring around the world, in countries such as Germany and South Africa, before being called up to WCW in 1993.

In 2000, after leaving WCW, Matthews joined the World Wrestling Federation (later World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE), where he became commissioner. More recently, he has been general manager of Raw, the 2008 King of the Ring, and the official match coordinator for NXT Redemption in 2011. He is currently the general manager of NXT. He is highly respected amongst his peers and fans and has achieved considerable championship success in professional wrestling, although he has never been a world champion. Throughout his career, he has won several titles, including four in WCW and 15 in WWE. He has overcome multiple drug problems as well as a major heart defect during his career, and has written an autobiography, entitled Walking a Golden Mile.

Josh Lomberger (born November 25, 1980), better known by his ring name Josh Mathews, is an American presenter, announcer, and former professional wrestler signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He is best known for his tenure with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).

Professional wrestling career

Tough Enough and independent circuit (2001–2002)

Lomberger was a runner-up to Maven and Nidia in the first WWE Tough Enough in 2001. After Tough Enough, Lomberger gained some in-ring experience on the independent circuit and in Xcitement Wrestling Federation, which was run by WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Velocity and backstage interviewer (2002–2005)

Lomberger was eventually hired by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and began using the name Josh Matthews. In December 2002, he began appearing as the backstage interviewer for the SmackDown! brand and as an announcer on Velocity. In January 2003, his name was tweaked to Josh Mathews. He also hosted the WWE webcast Byte This! after Kevin Kelly was released. He later hosted several shows on WWE's official website, including Weekly Top 5, The WWE Experience, and After Burn.

Thaddeus Michael Bullard Sr. (born April 29, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and retired professional football player. He is currently signed to WWE under the ring name Titus O'Neil. Bullard played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played professionally in the Arena Football League (AFL). Bullard's career as a professional wrestler began when he was part of the second season of NXT, and also competed in the show's fifth season, NXT Redemption.

Background

Thaddeus Bullard was born in Boynton Beach, Florida. He grew up in Live Oak, Florida, where he attended Suwannee High School. He was a standout player for the Suwannee Bulldogs high school football, and was recognized by USA Today, SuperPrep, and Parade magazine as a high school All-American as a senior in 1995.

Football career

Bullard accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, and played for coach Steve Spurrier's Florida Gators football team from 1997 to 2000. He redshirted during the Gators' 1996 national championship season. Bullard lettered the next four seasons, playing in forty-four regular season games with three starts. He was elected student body vice president in April 2000, and graduated in August 2000. While he was an undergraduate, he was initiated as a brother of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity.

WWE NXT is the professional wrestling developmental branch for WWE, based in Winter Park, Florida. From its inception in August 2012 to June 2013, it was a distinct but affiliated developmental territory for WWE under the name NXT Wrestling. In June 2013, the NXT Wrestling website was shut down and NXT content was moved to WWE.com. From February 2014, NXT started a series of live special events broadcast on the WWE Network, comparable to main roster pay-per-view shows.

Despite its status as a developmental branch, NXT has been praised for its high quality of wrestling, captivating storylines, and the opportunities they afford female wrestlers as opposed to on the main roster; the latter of which has led to a change on how women's wrestling is portrayed in WWE.

History

In August 2012, WWE ceased operating Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), its developmental promotion in Tampa, Florida, and began running all of its developmental events and operations at Full Sail University under the "NXT Wrestling" banner. WWE had been using the NXT name for a television program featuring rookies from FCW competing to become WWE main roster members, though the reality television aspects of the show had been dropped earlier in 2012; WWE NXT now serves as the primary television program for the promotion.

WWE NXT is a professional wrestling television program that is produced by WWE and is broadcast on the WWE Network. Since June 2012, it has served as the flagship television show of WWE's developmental system. Prior to this, NXT existed as a seasonal show which was presented as a hybrid between reality television and WWE's scripted live event shows, in which they acquired any select talent contracted from WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) as the Developmental subsidiary of NXT to participated in a competition to become WWE's next "breakout star" with the help of mentors from WWE's Raw and SmackDown brands. Five seasons of this version of NXT were broadcast from February 23, 2010 to June 13, 2012, with the first four seasons seeing Wade Barrett, Kaval, Kaitlyn and Johnny Curtis as winners. In the later stages of season five, the all-rookie competition was abandoned with no winner being officially named, although Derrick Bateman was the final remaining rookie on NXT Redemption after both Titus O'Neil and Darren Young were signed to the SmackDown brand. Following the end of the fifth season, WWE ended the seasonal competition format of the show and renamed its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling to WWE NXT. The show originally made its debut on Syfy on February 23, 2010, replacing ECW, which concluded the previous week. In April 2010, a month after its premiere, it was announced that SmackDown would move from MyNetworkTV to Syfy on October 1.NXT aired its final episode on Syfy on September 28, 2010 to make way for SmackDown moving there on October 1, 2010 and began airing as a webcast at WWE.com for visitors from the United States from October 5, 2010 to June 13, 2012. It soon aired as a WWE Network exclusive from 2014, where it remains today.

Matthew Kaye (born June 26, 1974) is an American professional wrestler and English language professional wrestling commentator working under the ring name Matt Striker. He is currently an English language commentator primarily for Lucha Underground but also frequently provides English commentary for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) PPV events in Mexico and New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) PPV events in Japan. He also wrestles on the United States independent circuit and is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as both a wrestler and commentator. He is also an occasional actor in film and a former high school social studies teacher.

After obtaining a Master's degree in educational psychology, Kaye began working as a high-school teacher. He also began a career in professional wrestling, and made his debut in 2000 after being trained by Johnny Rodz. In early 2005, Kaye quit his full-time teaching job at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School, when the school board found out that he had been using sick days as a way to pursue his wrestling career.