He began his wrestling career in 2015 and signed with AEW in November 2020, beginning a team with Bowens called The Acclaimed. Caster is known for hiship hop-inspired persona, often rapping todiss his opponents during his entrance. He released his debut album,Critically Acclaimed, Vol.1, in May 2021, under the name Platinum Max.[2]
Caster trained underBrian Myers andPat Buck at their Create A Pro Wrestling Academy and made his debut for the school's promotion in February 2015, later becoming the inaugural CAP Champion in December of that year. He wrestled on theindependent circuit for a number of promotions includingCombat Zone Wrestling. He also made aWWE appearance asFrances, one ofBobby Lashley's (kayfabe) sisters, on the May 21, 2018 episode ofRaw.[1]
On the March 3, 2021, episode ofDynamite, Caster defeated10 to qualify for the Face of the Revolutionladder match atRevolution.[9] However, at Revolution, the match was won byScorpio Sky.[10] AtDouble or Nothing on May 30, Caster competed in theCasino Battle Royale, but he was eliminated byChristian Cage.[11] On the August 3 episode ofDark, while making his entrance, Caster rapped about subjects such as Olympic gymnastSimone Biles' mental health issues, theDuke lacrosse case, the validity ofPCR COVID-19 testing, and made a sexual joke aboutJulia Hart. AEW ownerTony Khan called the rap "terrible", said it should have been edited out of the show and announced that he would personally be taking over the editing of the show. Caster was later removed from several independent events and AEW programming following the incident.[12] He returned to action atDark: Elevation on September 1.[13]
Billy Gunn, Caster and Anthony Bowens in 2022 during the Acclaimed's AEW World tag team title reign
Beginning in 2022, the Acclaimed allied with theGunn Club (Billy Gunn and his sonsAustin Gunn andColten Gunn). OnDark andDark: Elevation, the alliance defeatedthe Dark Order and later the team ofLee Johnson,Brock Anderson,Lee Moriarty, andMatt Sydal.[14] Their alliance with the Gunns broke down and turned into a rivalry in mid-2022, leading to a "Dumpster Match" in August 2022, which the Acclaimed won.[15] While Billy Gunn was initially caught between the two groups, his sons turned on him, having joinedthe Firm, leading to him becoming the Acclaimed's manager.[16] In the latter half of 2022, the Acclaimed entered a feud with tag team champions Swerve in our Glory (Swerve Strickland andKeith Lee). AtAll Out of that year the Acclaimed challenged for tag team championships, although Strickland and Lee retained.[17] After All Out, The Acclaimed turnedface due to the favorable crowd reactions they would receive. The On September 21, 2022, atGrand Slam, The Acclaimed would win the AEW World Tag Team Championship from Swerve In Our Glory. On February 8, 2023, after 140 days as champions, they lost the championships toColten andAustin Gunn onDynamite. AtAll In, Caster, Bowens and Billy won theAEW World Trios Championship fromThe House of Black. AtDynasty:Zero Hour on April 21, 2024,ROH World Six-Man Tag Team ChampionsBullet Club Gold (Jay White, Austin Gunn and Colten Gunn) defeated Caster, Bowens, and Billy for the AEW World Trios Championship in awinner takes allchampionship unification match to unify the titles as the Unified World Trios Championship, ending their reign at a record 238 days.[18][19] The Acclaimed then began a feud withThe Young Bucks, defeating them on the June 19 episode ofDynamite, in a eliminator match to earn a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship.[20] The Acclaimed were also a part of Team AEW that defeatedThe Elite in aBlood and Guts match on July 24 at thenamesake event. On the August 14 episode ofDynamite, The Acclaimed's title match against The Young Bucks ended in a disqualification loss due to interference fromFTR (Dax Harwood andCash Wheeler).[21] On August 25 atAll In, The Acclaimed once again failed to win the titles from The Young Bucks in athree-way tag team match, also involving FTR.[22]
Between November 2024 and January 2025, Caster began to tease aheel turn, referring to himself as the "best wrestler alive" and declared himself as the leader of The Acclaimed.[23] On January 18 (taped January 16) at theCollision edition ofMaximum Carnage, Caster cemented his heel turn and disbanded The Acclaimed after Bowens chose to side with Gunn over him.[24][25] After disbanding The Acclaimed, Caster began his open challenge series onDynamite andCollision, losing to various wrestlers such asRush,"Hangman" Adam Page,Brody King,Jay White,Konosuke Takeshita,Hook,Mark Briscoe,Hologram andDaniel Garcia.[26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33] On April 6 atDynasty Zero Hour, Caster was defeated by former Acclaimed stablemate, Bowens, in his open challenge.[34] On July 12 atAll In, Caster competed in the men'sCasino Gauntlet match. which was won byMJF.[35] On the July 26 episode ofCollision, Caster began teasing aface turn after being assaulted by Bowens following their match, and Bowens had to be held back by Billy Gunn.[36] On the September 13 episode ofCollision, Caster cemented his face turn after fighting alongside Bowens andJerry Lynn against The Swirl (Blake Christian andLee Johnson).[37] On the September 27 episode ofCollision, Caster and Bowens temporarily reunited to defeat The Swirl.[38] For the rest of the year, Caster and Bowens would begin teasing a potential reunion and teamed up against various opponents.[39]
Caster, under his alias Platinum Max, provided several original tracks for the soundtrack to AEW's first video game releaseAEW Fight Forever, which were later made available to stream as a collection titled "Songs From a Video Game".[42]
^Meltzer, Dave (February 2023). "February 2023 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Results of the 2022 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards".Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
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