Last month, a fan-favorite group of IMPACT Wrestling, The Rascalz, bid farewell from the company. Rumors spread that Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz, and Trey Miguel would be heading to WWE. It didn’t take long, as we got to see two of The Rascalz show up in WWE’s latest announcement today.
https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1334253361844121602?s=20
The newest Performance Center Class featured Dezmond Xavier and Zachary Wentz, along with standouts Alex Zayne and Sojiru Higuchi. Below is WWE’s official statement.
The latest class of recruits has reported for training at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Fla. The group brings a wide array of experience to the WWE PC, including independent and international wrestling experience as well as in professional sports.
Deveon Everheart Aiken, better known to fans as Dezmond Xavier, brings a dazzling array of aerial offense to the PC. Aiken, a nine-year-veteran of the squared circle, has competed for promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Impact Wrestling.
Zachary Green, aka Zachary Wentz, is a frequent tag team partner of Aiken’s. The 26-year-old Ohio native is also a former MMA fighter.
Alex Brandenburg competed under the name Alex Zayne on the independent scene. The Kentucky native has made a name for himself in promotions like Game Changer Wrestling, Black Label Pro and Ring of Honor during his 15-year career.
Sojiru “Ikemen” Higuchiis a 26-year-old wrestler from Japan who was trained by former United States and WWE Tag Team Champion Tajiri, and he has competed for Wrestle-1 and All-Japan Pro Wrestling.
Twenty-three-year-old Georgia native Anriel Howard played college basketball at Mississippi State and Texas A&M. She was selected in the 2019 WNBA Draft, and played professionally for the Seattle Storm.
Russ Taylorof Phelan, Calif. brings plenty of global experience to the WWE PC. Taylor has competed for wXw in Germany, as well as in Japan and across the United States.
Notably absent from the grouping is, of course, the third Rascal Trey Miguel. It’s not known at the moment why he didn’t join Dez and Wentz, though he could just be finishing up the rest of his indie dates. After all, he is the current Warrior Wrestling Champion.
