Babatunde Łukasz Aiyegbusi (; born May 26, 1988) is a Nigerian-Polish

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

and former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player. He is currently working on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

under the

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Babathunder. He is best known for his tenure with

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, where he performed under the ring names Dabba-Kato, Babatunde, and Commander Azeez. He previously played for a number of teams in the

Polish American Football League The Polish American Football League or shortly PLFA ( pl, Polska Liga Futbolu Amerykańskiego) was a structured system for the American football competitions in Poland founded in 2004 by the Polish federation PZFA. In 2012, the Topliga was creat ...

and

German Football League The German Football League (GFL) is an American football league in Germany and was formed in 1979. Playing rules are based on those of the American National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA. In 1999, the league switched its name from ''Ameri ...

, and had a stint with the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

during the 2015 preseason.

Early life and football career

Born in

Oleśnica Oleśnica (pronounced ; german: Oels; szl, Ôleśnica) is a town in Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland, within the Wrocław metropolitan area. It is the administrative seat of Oleśnica County and also of the rural district of ...

Wrocław Voivodeship Wrocław (; , . german: Breslau, , also known by other names) is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, roughly fr ...

(now part of

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

) of South-West Poland on May 26, 1988, to a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

mother and an immigrant

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

father, Aiyegbusi began playing

in 2005 as an

offensive lineman In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

. He played in the

for the Giants Wrocław (formerly known as The Crew Wrocław) and the

Warsaw Eagles The Warsaw Eagles are an American football team in Warsaw, Poland. They play in the Polish Football League. Paul Kusmierz is the owner of the team. History The team was founded in 1999 by a group of NFL enthusiasts consisting of Jędrzej Staszew ...

and in the

for the

Dresden Monarchs The Dresden Monarchs are an American football team from Dresden, Germany. They have been a member of the first tier German Football League since 2002 and play in its Northern Division. They are the reigning champion after having won German Bowl XL ...

. In 2015, Aiyegbusi was signed by the

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and he participated in their preseason program, playing three preseason games before being released as part of roster cuts prior to the

2015 NFL season The 2015 NFL season was the 96th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL), and the 50th in the Super Bowl era. To celebrate the 50th season of the Super Bowl, a gold-plated NFL logo and other various gold-themed promotions w ...

Professional wrestling career

WWE (2016–2023)

On April 12, 2016, Aiyegbusi joined the

WWE Performance Center The WWE Performance Center is the official professional wrestling school system of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. The promotion currently operates two Performance Center locations, which serve as training facilities for WWE wre ...

as part of a new class of recruits. He made his professional wrestling debut under his

birth name A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth r ...

, portraying a

face The face is the front of an animal's head that features the eyes, nose and mouth, and through which animals express many of their emotions. The face is crucial for human identity, and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities may aff ...

, at a

NXT NXT may refer to: Professional wrestling * ''WWE NXT'', a professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that began in 2010 ** NXT (WWE brand), WWE's Florida-based brand and former developmental territory * ''NXT UK'', the British spin- ...

house show A house show or live event is a professional wrestling event produced by a major promotion that is not televised, though they can be recorded. Promotions use house shows mainly to cash in on the exposure that they and their wrestlers receive du ...

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, on September 30, 2016, competing in a battle royal. In April 2018, Babatunde started to accompany

Lio Rush Lionel Gerard Green (born November 11, 1994), better known by the ring name Lio Rush, is an American professional wrestler and musician currently signed to New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Chaos stable. He has also ap ...

to the ring at NXT live events until Rush was called up to the main roster as part of ''

205 Live ''WWE 205 Live'' is an American professional wrestling streaming television program that was produced by WWE. It premiered on November 29, 2016, and ended on February 11, 2022. The show originally aired exclusively on the WWE Network until March ...

''. Babatunde made his televised debut on April 27 at the

Greatest Royal Rumble WWE Greatest Royal Rumble was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brand divisions. The event took place on April 27, 2018, a ...

, entering the match as the 37th entrant and being eliminated by

Braun Strowman Adam Joseph Scherr (born September 6, 1983) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Strongman (strength athlete), strongman. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDo ...

. In 2019, Babatunde had several matches for Evolve, a WWE affiliated promotion. During his time in the company, he would challenge for the Evolve Championship. On August 3, 2020, Babatunde would make his return to television and his ''

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

'' debut. He would debut as part of a Raw Underground segment under the ring name Dabba-Kato. He would develop a winning streak on Raw Underground defeating several local wrestlers until he was defeated by Strowman on the September 21 episode of ''Raw''. As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Dabba-Kato was drafted to the

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create an ...

. However following the draft, he would not make a single appearance on the brand. On Night 2 of

WrestleMania 37 WrestleMania 37 was the 37th annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view and livestreaming event produced by WWE. It was held for wrestlers from the promotion's Raw and SmackDown brand divisions. The event took place as a two-night ev ...

on April 11, 2021, he returned to help

Apollo Crews Sesugh Uhaa (born August 22, 1987) is a Nigerian-American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Apollo Crews. He started his career in 2009, originally working under the ring name ...

win the Intercontinental Championship from Big E. Crews would then re-introduce him as Commander Azeez the following Friday on ''SmackDown'', with no mention made of his previous time as Dabba-Kato on ''Raw'', thus transferring to the

SmackDown brand SmackDown is a WWE brand extension, brand of the American professional wrestling promotion WWE that was established on March 25, 2002. Brands are divisions of WWE's roster where wrestlers are assigned to perform on a weekly basis when a brand ex ...

. As part of the 2021 Draft, both Crews and Azeez were drafted to the Raw brand. In June 2022, Crews and Azeez were sent to NXT and reunited at NXT Vengeance Day. On September 21, 2023, Aiyegbusi was released from his WWE contract.

Independent circuit (2024–present)

On February 4, 2024, Aiyegbusi made his debut for Prime Time Wrestling (PTW) and later revealed his new ring name to be Babathunder.

Other media

Aiyegbusi, as Commander Azeez, made his

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

debut in ''The Whole Dam Pack'' DLC for ''

WWE 2K22 ''WWE 2K22'' is a 2022 professional wrestling sports video games, sports video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports. It is the twenty-second overall installment of the video game series based on WWE, the ninth game under ...

''. He also appeared in '' WWE 2K23'' as the same character. Aiyegbusi portrayed the villainous Samson in the 2020 film ''The Main Event''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aiyegbusi, Babatunde 1988 births Living people Minnesota Vikings players People from Oleśnica Polish professional wrestlers Sportspeople from Lower Silesian Voivodeship American football offensive linemen Polish players of American football German Football League players Polish people of Nigerian descent Polish expatriates in the United States People of Yoruba descent Yoruba sportspeople 21st-century male professional wrestlers