Aikens made his professional wrestling debut in 2011 under the name Dezmond Xavier.[5] In 2017 at WrestleCircus he won the WC Sideshow Championship by defeating Joey Ryan.[6] Afterwards, he went to wrestle in Desastre Total Ultraviolento where he won the DTU Alto Impacto Championship.[7]
In 2015, Dezmond Xavier teamed with Zachary Wentz while working in the independent circuit and formed a tag team by the name of Scarlet and Graves. The team competed in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) where he and Wentz went on to become 2-time Combat Zone Wrestling World Tag Team Champions their first time at an event called 'Cage Of Death 18' on December 10, 2016 against EYFBO and their second time at Lucha Forever Catch Me Outside against CCK Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos after losing the titles to them in year 2017.[8] In year 2016, before he and Wentz second AAW World Tag Title reign Dezmond Xavier and Wentz at Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling teamed together with Trey Miguel, Aaron Williams, Kyle Maverick and the all five of them together won the XICW Tag Team Championships.[9] Also a year after that in year 2017, he and Wentz went on to wrestle at All American Wrestling where they went on to win the AAW World Tag Team Championships on July 15, 2017 at United We Stand againstA. R. FoxandRey Fenix.[10] A year later after that, Trey Miguel and Myron Reed joined the group and then the group name changed into The Rascalz.
Also in the year 2018, Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz wrestled at The Wrestling Revolver where they won both the PWR Tag Team Championships[11] and the One Night Tag Team Tournament[12] of 2018. In the same year, Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz also went on to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) to win the PWG World Tag Team Championships. They would hold the titles for 1025 days, which to this day is the longest reign in the company's history.[13]
In 2017, Dezmond Xavier signed with Impact Wrestling.[14] On the April 20 episode of Impact Wrestling, Xavier made his debut in a six-way match for the X Division Championship.[15] His first singles match in Impact took place on the July 8 episode of Xplosion, where he defeated Idris Abraham. Later that month, Xavier entered the GFW Super X Cup tournament,[16] in which he defeated Idris Abraham in the quarterfinals, Drago in the semifinals, and Taiji Ishimori in the final to win the GFW Super X Cup.[17] In October, Xavier made his pay-per-view debut at Bound for Glory, where he competed against Trevor Lee, Garza Jr., Matt Sydal, Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt in a six-way match for the X Division Championship but failed to win the title. Xavier also received a singles title shot for the X Division Championship against Taiji Ishimori on the January 18, 2018 episode of Impact!, which he lost.
At Redemption, Xavier competed in a six-way X Division match, which he lost. He then lost to Brian Cage at the Under Pressure special to determine the #1 contender for the X Division Championship and he also lost to Brian Cage in a match for the X Division Championship on an episode of Impact Wrestling as well. He also has another title challenge for the X Division Championship in 2018 against Matt Sydal at the One Night Only pay-per-view event Zero Fear, in which he came up short. He then took a brief hiatus from Impact.
In late 2018, Xavier was aligned with Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz, forming a fan favorite stable under the name The Rascalz. A vignette aired promoting the debut of Rascalz on the November 15 episode of Impact!. Xavier returned to Impact, teaming with Wentz under the new stable name on the November 29 episode of Impact!, where they defeated the team of Chris Bey and Mike Sydal.[18] After months of competing in the tag team division in the fall of 2018 and early 2019, the trio made their pay-per-view debut at Rebellion in April, and lost to Moose and The North. Around this time Xavier shortened his ring name to Dez while Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz shortened their ring names to Trey and Wentz respectively. At Slammiversary XVII, Dez and Wentz unsuccessfully challenged The North for the World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Latin American Exchange (Santana and Ortiz). Dez and Trey then unsuccessfully challenged North for the World Tag Team Championship on the August 2 episode of Impact!.[19]
In October, Dez competed against Sami Callihan in a losing effort at the Impact PluseventPrelude to Glory. In December, Dez unsuccessfully challenged Ace Austin for the X Division Championship at Motown Showdown. In 2020, Dez and Wentz unsuccessfully challenged The North for the World Tag Team Championship at February's Sacrifice event. Dez and Wentz continued their success in the tag team division by defeating XXXL and the team of TJP and Fallah Bahh at the Rebellion special. On the June 2 episode of Impact!, Dez and Wentz defeated TJP and Bahh to earn a World Tag Team Championship against The North on the June 16 episode of Impact!, which they lost. On July 18, 2020, Dez and Wentz issued an open challenge to any tag team at Slammiversary. The reunited Motor City Machine Guns accepted the challenge and won the match.
On November 11, it was revealed that The Rascalz would soon be leaving Impact and had interest from both WWE and All Elite Wrestling. 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 done appearing on Impact Wrestling. Dez and Wentz went on to sign with WWE while Trey eventually returned to Impact Wrestling, effectively ending The Rascalz as a trio.
Dragon Gate (2018)
Dragon Gate announced the debut of Xavier and his indy tag team partner Zachary Wentz at Open The New Year Gate, Dragon Gate's first show of 2018. They debuted on 13 January, where Xavier and Wentz, collectively known as Scarlet and Graves, teamed with Susumu Yokosuka in a winning effort against Genki Horiguchi, Flamita and Bandido.
Lucha Underground (2018)
On the July 18, 2018, episode of Lucha Underground Xavier made his debut under the name Dezmond X defeating Paul London for one of the seven ancient Aztec Medallions. The series was discontinued after season finale, Ultima Lucha Cuatro.[20]
At NXT Halloween Havoc, Imperium defeated MSK in a Lumber Jack-o'-Lantern Tag Team match to win the titles, only for MSK to reclaim them at NXT Stand & Deliver.[28][29] However, just four days later, on April 5, 2022, it was reported that WWE had released Carter due to multiple domestic abuse allegations and photos relating to Adolf Hitler and Nazi symbolism. WWE later confirmed that the NXT Tag Team Championships were officially vacated on April 8, 2022, ending Lee's second reign at six days and also leading to the end of the group MSK in WWE.
Longest reigning NXT North American Champion (2022–2023)
On the April 19 episode of NXT 2.0, Lee returned to television, vaguely addressing the vacating of the tag titles, before being confronted by Xyon Quinn. This led to a match between Quinn and Lee later in the evening, with Lee losing.[30][31] On the May 24, 2022 episode of NXT 2.0, Lee lost against Sanga, and was taunted by Quinn before Sanga pulled him away.[32][33] The following week, Lee challenged Quinn to a match and won.[34][35] On the June 14, 2022 episode of NXT 2.0 Wes Lee had another highly acclaimed match against Xyon Quinn that he also was successful at winning in.[36] At NXT The Great American Bash, Lee lost to Trick Williams after Williams rubbed an unknown substance into Lee's eyes.[37]
Lee broke the record for the most successful title defenses at NXT Stand & Deliver after defending the title in a Fatal 5-Way match against Axiom, Dragon Lee, Ilja Dragunov, and JD McDonagh. Lee retained against Axiom on the next episode of NXT and on the April 18, 2023 episode of NXT against Charlie Dempsey. This defense was his record-successful defense, tying Keith Lee's record for most defenses with the championship. At NXT Battleground, Lee retained the NXT North American Championship against Tyler Bate and Joe Gacy and surpassed Velveteen Dream's 231 day title reign to become the longest reigning NXT North American Champion. On the July 18 episode of NXT, Lee lost the NXT North American Championship to "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio after interference from The Judgment Day, ending his reign at a record 269 days (which has since been broken by Oba Femi at 273 days in October 2024).[40][41] Lee failed to regain the title in a triple threat match against Mysterio and Mustafa Ali at NXT The Great American Bash after interference from Rhea Ripley.[42]
On the August 15 episode of NXT, Lee defeated Dijak to become the number one contender for the NXT Championship, with Lee challenging Carmelo Hayes for the title at NXT Heatwave in a losing effort.[43] On the September 12 episode of NXT, Lee lost to Ilja Dragunov in a number one contender match for the NXT Championship. Lee was later seen clearing out his locker and when asked about it, Lee said that he was going home and that "he's done."[44] Lee quietly returned on October 30 for a November 2 Main Event episode taping[45] and later appearing on the following night's NXT: Halloween Havoc Night 2 to attack Mysterio after Mysterio's NXT North American Championship match against Nathan Frazer.[46] On the November 28 episode of NXT, Lee defeated three former NXT North American Champions in Cameron Grimes, Bronson Reed and Johnny Gargano in a fatal-four way match, as demanded by Mysterio the week before, for a title match against Mysterio at NXT Deadline.[47] However, a week later, Lee announced that he would need back surgery and will be out of action for 8-12 months, with Dragon Lee replacing him in the match at NXT Deadline.[48] In a media call for the event, Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels revealed that Lee was suffering from back injury for some time and the decision to pull him from the match was a last minute call made by Lee and the medical team.[49] It was later reported that Lee had started losing feeling in his legs and considered retirement due to the injury.[50]
The Rascalz mini-reunion and heel turn (2024–present)
At Week 2 of Spring Breakin' on April 30, 2024, Lee made a surprise return from injury and confronted NXT North American Champion Oba Femi after his title match against Ivar.[51] On the following week's episode of NXT, Lee defeated Josh Briggs in his first match since the injury.[52] On the May 21 episode of NXT, Lee and Gallus' Joe Coffey both pinned Briggs in a triple threat match, and the two men were considered the winner. Later that night, NXT General Manager Ava set up a triple threat match between Lee, Femi and Coffey for the NXT North American Championship at NXT Battleground on June 9, where Femi successfully retained his title.[53][54] On the June 16 episode of NXT, Lee again requested for a title match against Femi. Femi agreed under the stipulation that Lee could never challenge Femi for the title for as long as he was champion if Lee lost. At NXT Heatwave on July 7, Femi defeated Lee to retain the title.[55][56]
On the following episode of NXT, Lee was to announce that he would walk away but was interrupted by The Rascalz teammates Trey Miguel (who makes his debut WWE appearance) and Zachary Wentz (the former Nash Carter, who makes his return to WWE). Miguel and Wentz managed to convince Lee to stay and the trio reunite for the first time since 2020.[57] On the following week, The Rascalz defeated Gallus (Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, and Wolfgang) in a six-man tag team match.[58] Lee made his return to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA; formerly known as Impact Wrestling) on July 20 at Slammiversary with The Rascalz to defeat No Quarter Catch Crew (Charlie Dempsey, Myles Borne, and Tavion Heights) in a six-man tag team match.[59] At Week 2 of NXT: The Great American Bash on August 6, Wentz and Lee failed to defeat NXT Tag Team Champions Nathan Frazer and Axiom for the titles. After the match, Lee turned on Miguel and Wentz, lashing out at the latter for leaving him back in 2022 and turning heel for the first time in his career, leaving The Rascalz in the process.[60][61] On the August 20 episode of NXT, Lee faced Pete Dunne and TNA's Joe Hendry in a triple threat match for an NXT Championship match opportunity at NXT No Mercy, which was won by Hendry. After the match, Lee was attacked by Wentz.[62] A week later, a match was set between Lee and Wentz at NXT No Mercy on September 1 where Lee lost.[63][64] At NXT's CW premiere on October 1, Lee defeated Wentz in a Street Fight to end the feud.[65] On the October 15 episode of NXT, Lee competed in a triple threat number one contender's match for the NXT Championship at Halloween Havoc against Ethan Page and Je'Von Evans in a losing effort.[66]
