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Josh Briggs

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Josh Briggs
Briggs in July 2019
Birth nameJoshua Bruns
Born (1993-03-05) March 5, 1993 (age 31)
Bullhead City, Arizona, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Josh Briggs[1]
Billed height6 ft 8 in (203 cm)[1]
Billed weight268 lb (122 kg)[1]
Trained byBrian Fury
Mike Hollow[1]
Matt Bloom
Shawn Michaels
Steve Corino
Norman Smiley
The Great Muta
Naomichi Marufuji
DebutDecember 14, 2016[1]

Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In WWE, he is a one-time and the final NXT UK Tag Team Champion. He previously appeared for Evolve, where he was the final Evolve Champion.

Early life

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Bruns played football at UMass after two years at Glendale Community College in Arizona.[2]

Professional wrestling career

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WWE (2020–present)

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On August 31, 2020, it was reported that Briggs had signed a contract with WWE, following the company's purchase of Evolve in July.[3] On October 7, WWE announced that he had reported for training at the Performance Center, alongside five other professional wrestlers from Evolve.[4] On July 6, 2021, Briggs was announced to be a part of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament. On the July 27 episode of NXT, Briggs was defeated by Carmelo Hayes in the first round.[5] On the NXT 2.0 premiere on September 14, Briggs formed a tag team with the debuting Brooks Jensen and faced Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) in a losing effort, establishing themselves as faces.[6] On the January 18, 2022 episode of NXT, Briggs and Jensen competed in the Dusty Rhodes Men's Tag Team Classic, but were eliminated by eventual winners the Creed Brothers (Brutus and Julius) in the first round.[7] On the April 12 episode of NXT, they took part in a five-team gauntlet match for the vacant NXT Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.[8] On the June 22 episode of NXT UK, Briggs and Jensen defeated Dave Mastiff and Jack Starz, Mark Andrews and Wild Boar, and Die Familie (Teoman and Rohan Raja) in a Fatal 4-Way elimination match to win the vacant NXT UK Tag Team Championship, making them the first and only non-European tag team to win the titles.

On the December 27, 2023 episode of NXT, Briggs, Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley agree to go their separate ways splitting up the team.[9] On the January 16, 2024 episode of NXT, Briggs received an endorsement from John "Bradshaw" Layfield in a backstage segment.[10] The following week, Briggs took on Trick Williams in a losing effort. After the match, Briggs attacked Williams with a clothesline, thus turning heel for the first time in his WWE career.[11] On the February 6 episode of NXT, Briggs seemingly consoled his former partner Jensen about having to work alone, only to then badmouth him and tell him to grow up, thus cementing his heel turn. On the February 20 episode of NXT, Briggs defeated Jensen in a singles match and consoled him after by saying "I did this for you, I love you man", turning back into a face once again. At NXT Roadblock, Briggs would try to talk Jensen out of taking a match with Oba Femi but Jensen was persistent on facing Femi and would be ultimately defeated the following week with Briggs watching at ringside.[12][13][14][15] At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, Briggs failed to win the NXT North American Championship from Femi in a triple threat match which also include Dijak.[16] On the July 9 episode of NXT, Briggs reunited with Jensen after Briggs vouched for Jensen, who had been trespassing the WWE Performance Center on tapings of NXT after being (kayfabe) released from WWE, to get his job back. Moments later, Jensen was seen attacking Je'Von Evans backstage.[17] On the following week, Jensen was defeated by Evans. After the match, Jensen attacked Evans and was stopped by Briggs, to which Jensen challenged Briggs to a No Disqualification match where Jensen won after interference from Shawn Spears.[18][19]

After his excursion to Pro Wrestling Noah, Briggs formed a tag team with Noah's Yoshiki Inamura. On the November 12 episode of NXT, both men entered a battle royal for a NXT Tag Team Championship match opportunity but they failed to win the match.[20]

Pro Wrestling Noah (2024)

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In July 2024, it was announced that Bruns, as Josh Briggs, would be one of two NXT representatives (the other being Tavion Heights) to enter Pro Wrestling Noah's N-1 Victory tournament.[21]

Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Josh Briggs". Cagematch – The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved November 5, 2020.
  2. ^ "Josh Bruns - Football". University of Massachusetts Athletics.
  3. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (August 31, 2020). "Report: WWE Signs Six Former EVOLVE Talents". Fightful. Archived from the original on November 6, 2021. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  4. ^ "EVOLVE standouts, NCAA All-American among new recruits at WWE Performance Center". WWE. October 7, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  5. ^ Moore, John (July 27, 2021). "7/27 NXT TV results: Moore's review of Adam Cole vs. Bronson Reed, Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher vs. Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan, Carmelo Hayes vs. Josh Briggs in an NXT Breakout Tournament match, Franky Monet and Jessi Kamea vs. Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on April 12, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  6. ^ Moore, John (September 14, 2021). "9/14 NXT TV results: Moore's review of the NXT 2.0 premiere with Tommaso Ciampa vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. LA Knight vs. Pete Dunne for the vacant NXT Championship, Indi Hartwell and Dexter Lumis wedding, Kayden Carter and Kacy Catanzaro vs. Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne, B-Fab's in-ring debut". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on March 16, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  7. ^ Moore, John (January 18, 2022). "1/18 NXT 2.0 results: Moore's review of Walter vs. Roderick Strong, Julius Creed and Brutus Creed vs. Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs in a Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament match, Kay Lee Ray vs. Ivy Nile, Tony D'Angelo's memorial service for Pete Dunne". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on January 27, 2022. Retrieved June 23, 2022.
  8. ^ Moore, John (April 12, 2022). "4/12 NXT 2.0 results: Moore's review of a five-team gauntlet for the vacant NXT Tag Titles, Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa for the NXT North American Title, Mandy Rose vs. Dakota Kai for the NXT Women's Championship, Von Wagner vs. Kushida, Xyon Quinn vs. Draco Anthony". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on May 7, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  9. ^ Gronemann, Markus (June 23, 2022). "NXT UK results: Tag Team Championship four-way elimination match". Figure Four Online. Archived from the original on June 24, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022.
  10. ^ "JBL gives Josh Briggs some advice: NXT highlights, Jan. 16, 2024". WWE.com. January 16, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  11. ^ "Trick Williams vs. Josh Briggs: NXT highlights, Jan. 23, 2024". WWE.com. January 23, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
  12. ^ "WWE NXT Results: February 6, 2024". WWE.com. February 6, 2024. Archived from the original on February 10, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  13. ^ "WWE NXT results: Feb. 20, 2024". WWE.com. February 20, 2024. Archived from the original on May 23, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  14. ^ "NXT Roadblock 2024 Results". WWE.com. March 5, 2024. Archived from the original on May 23, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  15. ^ "WWE NXT Results: March 12, 2024". WWE.com. March 12, 2024. Archived from the original on April 17, 2024. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  16. ^ Powell, Jason (April 6, 2024). "NXT Stand & Deliver results: Moore's live review of Trick Williams vs. Carmelo Hayes, Ilja Dragunov vs. Tony D'Angelo for the NXT Title, Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez for the NXT Women's Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on May 24, 2024. Retrieved April 7, 2024.
  17. ^ Moore, John (July 9, 2024). "NXT TV results (7/9): Moore's review of the NXT Heatwave fallout show, Tony D'Angelo vs. Lexis King for the NXT Heritage Cup, Sol Ruca vs. Fallon Henley, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows vs. OTM". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Archived from the original on July 16, 2024. Retrieved July 11, 2024.
  18. ^ Pulido, Luis (July 16, 2024). "WWE NXT (7/16/2024) Results: Rascalz vs Gallus, Oba Femi Defends, OC vs OTM, Brooks Jensen, More". Fightful. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  19. ^ "WWE NXT results, July 23, 2024: The Rascalz score another major Six-Man Tag Team Match victory". WWE. July 23, 2024. Archived from the original on July 30, 2024. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  20. ^ Moore, John (December 3, 2024). "NXT TV results (12/3): Moore's review of Iron Survivor Challenge last chance qualifiers, Eric Bischoff and Sean "X-Pac" Waltman appearances, Battle Royal for a shot at the NXT Tag Titles at Deadline". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 11, 2024.
  21. ^ Flanagan, Neal (July 13, 2024). "NXT's Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights announced for Pro Wrestling NOAH's N-1 Victory tournament". POST Wrestling. Archived from the original on August 14, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  22. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 2, 2018). "A1 Zero Gravity Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  23. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 15, 2017). "Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  24. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 15, 2017). "Chaotic Wrestling New England Title Tournament (2017)". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  25. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (November 9, 2019). "Evolve Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  26. ^ MFPW CageMatch
  27. ^ NCW Reunion 2017 CageMatch
  28. ^ PWI 500 CageMatch
  29. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (August 23, 2017). "UFO Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  30. ^ "NXT UK Tag Team Championship". World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE).
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