Babatunde Łukasz Aiyegbusi (; born May 26, 1989) 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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He is currently signed to

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 performs on the

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- ...

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 ...

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 ...

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, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...

(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, 1989 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

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 ...

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–present)

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

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 ...

. 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

. 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.

Evolve (2019)

On May 10, 2019, Babatunde made his debut for Evolve (a WWE affiliated promotion) at ''Evolve 127'', defeating Adrian Alanis. He would go on to feud with The Unwanted, led by

Eddie Kingston Edward Moore (born December 12, 1981), better known by his ring name Eddie Kingston, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Kingston started his wrestling career in 2002, and has wrestled for numerous ...

. This came about at ''Evolve 130'', when Kingston and

Joe Gacy Joseph Ruby (born August 8, 1987) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Joe Gacy. He is the leader of The Schism. Gacy is best known for his work in Combat Zon ...

interfered in the title match between Babatunde and JD Drake, resulting in a no-contest. After a post-match beatdown, The Unwanted then ran to the back, while Babatunde chased after them. Later that night, Babutunde reappeared and was about to perform a double chokeslam on Kingston and Gacy, until

Colby Corino Colby Steven Corino (born August 28, 1996) is an American/Canadian professional wrestler. Corino is best known for his time with Ring of Honor (ROH) and is currently wrestling for NWA as well as various independent promotions including PWF, PWX, ...

and

Sean Maluta Sean Maluta (born September 30, 1988) is an American professional wrestler currently competing on the independent circuit. He made a number of appearances with WWE and took part in the first Cruiserweight Classic. Professional wrestling career M ...

came out to make the save, resulting in another beatdown. In the coming months, Babatunde mostly faced members of The Unwanted. At ''

Evolve 131 Evolve 131, also known as Evolve's 10th Anniversary Celebration, was a professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by the American promotion Evolve in partnership with WWE. The event aired on the WWE Network, making it the first Evolve sh ...

'', Babatunde defeated Corino in a

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

match, and at ''Evolve 132'', he gained a disqualification win over Gacy. He returned at ''Evolve 135'' facing

Austin Theory Austin White (born August 2, 1997) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and Bodybuilding, bodybuilder. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw WWE brand extension, brand under the ring ...

, which ended in a no-contest, after an attack by The Unwanted, continuing the feud. At ''Evolve 137'', the match between Babatunde and Kingston went to a no-contest, and at ''Evolve 138'', he defeated Maluta and allied himself with The Skulk. At ''Evolve 139'', he defeated Kingston in a relaxed rules match. Babatunde's last interaction with The Unwanted was at ''Evolve 141'', where he teamed with Anthony Gutierrez and

Arturo Ruas Adrian Jaoude (born October 11, 1981) is a Brazilian professional wrestler, Jiu-Jitsu practitioner, and former amateur wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, where he performed under the ring name Arturo Ruas. Previously, he has also w ...

in a losing effort. Babtunde's final appearance for the promotion came at ''Evolve 142'', when a singles match between him and Anthony Greene was changed to a tag team match involving him and

Josh Briggs Joshua Bruns (born March 5, 1993) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Josh Briggs. He is currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand. In WWE, he is a one-time NXT UK Tag Team Champion with Brooks Je ...

and The In Crowd. This ended in a disqualification win for The In Crowd, when Briggs hit Greene with a kendo stick.

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 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 the ''WWE 2K'' banne ...

''. 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 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 professional wrestlers