.jpg) Dempsey in 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bailey Matthews[3] (1996-12-30)30 December 1996 (age 29) |
| Parent | William Regal (father)[3] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring names | |
| Billed weight | 208 lb (94 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Blackpool, England[2] |
| Trained by | William Regal[1] |
| Debut | 9 February 2018[1] |
Bailey Matthews (born 30 December 1996) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is signed toWWE, where he performs on theNXTbrand under thering nameCharlie Dempsey. He is a member of theNo Quarter Catch Crewstable, and is a two-timeNXT Heritage Cup Champion. He also makes appearances in WWE's partner promotionTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Bailey Matthews was born on 30 December 1996, inAtlanta,Georgia, the son of Christina Beddoes and professional wrestlerWilliam Regal.[3]
Matthews made hisprofessional wrestling debut on 9 February 2018, under thering name Joe Bailey. Throughout 2019 and 2020, Bailey made appearances inAll Star Wrestling (ASW),Progress Wrestling,Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), andEvolve.[1] In 2020, Matthews joinedNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as aYoung Lion. However, he would never end up appearing for the company, as he later left forWWE.[4] In 2022, Matthews returned to Progress Wrestling, under his Charlie Dempsey ring name. He competed in theSuper Strong Style 16 Tournament, where he defeated Charles Crowley in the first round and was defeated by Chris Ridgeway in the quarterfinal.[1]
In January 2021, Matthews signed with WWE, where he was assigned to theNXT UKbrand. Matthews later reverted to the ring nameCharlie Dempsey. Dempsey made his debut on 25 February edition ofNXT UK, where he was defeated byTyler Bate.[citation needed] Dempsey later joinedTeoman and Rohan Raja to form Die Familie[5] and began a feud withGallus, establishing himself as aheel in the process. On the 18 November edition ofNXT UK, Die Familie defeatedGallus in their first ever match as a team.[6] Die Familie also started a feud withA-Kid. On the 10 March 2022 edition ofNXT UK, Dempsey defeated A-Kid. Dempsey was later challenged by A-Kid to aBritish Rounds Rules match. This took place on the 21 April edition ofNXT UK, where Dempsey won 2–1 in the sixth round. Dempsey competed in a tournament for theNXT United Kingdom Championship, where he lost toOliver Carter in his final match for NXT UK.[citation needed]
In August 2022, Dempsey moved to theNXT brand. On the 14 February 2023 edition ofNXT, Dempsey started associating withDrew Gulak, where Gulak served as a teacher for Dempsey. On the 18 April 2023 edition ofNXT, Dempsey challengedWes Lee for theNXT North American Championship, which he lost. In the following months, Dempsey and Gulak formedNo Quarter Catch Crew (NQCC), where they would later be joined byMyles Borne andDamon Kemp.[citation needed] Throughout August and September, Dempsey competed in theNXT Global Heritage Invitational to crown a #1 Contender for theNXT Heritage Cup. Dempsey came up empty-handed as he lost to the likes ofAxiom (formerly A-Kid), Tyler Bate, andButch. On the 13 December 2023 edition ofNXT, Dempsey was involved in atriple threat match for the NXT North American Championship withJoe Coffey and the NXT North American ChampionDragon Lee, who retained his title.[citation needed]
On the 27 February 2024 edition ofNXT, Dempsey defeatedThe Meta-Four'sNoam Dar 2–1 in a British Rounds Rules match to become the new NXT Heritage Cup Champion.[7] AtNXT: Roadblock, NQCC announced that the NXT Heritage Cup will be defended by the whole stable under the "Catch Clause".[8][9] Under the Catch Clause, NQCC as a whole referred to themselves as the NXT Heritage Cup Champions but WWE only recognize Dempsey as the official champion. The Catch Clause was invoked on the 19 March episode ofNXT, with Gulak defeatingChase University'sRiley Osborne 2–1 to successfully defend the Cup.[10] On the 16 April episode ofNXT,The D'Angelo Family leaderTony D'Angelo revealed that his Family were hired by NQCC to (kayfabe) eliminate Gulak. In reality, Gulak was written off following allegations fromRonda Rousey that Gulak grabbed her pants' drawstrings backstage in 2022. Gulak subsequently left WWE on 3 May.[11][12] D'Angelo demanded payment for the job but NQCC refused, causing a brawl between the two factions[13] and resulting in asix-man tag team match between the two factions at Week 1 ofSpring Breakin', which was won by The D'Angelo Family (D'Angelo,Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo andLuca Crusifino).[14] On the 7 May episode ofNXT, Dempsey and Borne faced Tyson DuPont and Tyrek Igwe in a tag team match. Before the match started, the match referee was declared "unavailable" and Stacks was announced as thespecial guest referee, costing Dempsey and Borne the match through a fast count. After the match, an irate Dempsey gave D'Angelo a title shot at the NXT Heritage Cup as payment due to the D'Angelo Family and invoked the Catch Clause, which was nullified when D'Angelo and his Family kidnapped Kemp and Borne later that night.[15] One week later, D'Angelo defeated Dempsey 2–1 to win the Cup, ending Dempsey's reign at 76 days.[16] After the loss of the Cup, Dempsey declared that the stable needs structure and a chain of command and assumed a leadership role. He then ordered Kemp to face D'Angelo in a rematch for the Cup but Kemp lost the match 0–2 on the 4 June episode ofNXT.[17][18] On the 13 August episode ofNXT, Dempsey defeated Tony D’Angelo 2–1 to win the NXT Heritage Cup for the second time after some outside interference from new stablemateWren Sinclair.[19]
On the 24 December episode ofNXT,Lexis King, with Dempsey's fatherWilliam Regal as his cornerman, faced Dempsey in a rematch for the NXT Heritage Cup. Regal passed hisbrass knuckles for King to use against Dempsey but King refused. Regal then punched King, to which the brass knuckles fell into the ring. The referee saw Dempsey pick up the brass knuckles and assumed that Dempsey used it on King and disqualified Dempsey. In British Round Rules, the Cup change hands upon disqualification of the reigning champion, resulting in King becoming the new NXT Heritage Cup Champion, ending Dempsey's second reign at 134 days. This is also the first instance of the NXT Heritage Cup changing hands due to disqualification.[20] However, due to a grey area in British Round Rules on whether the Cup changes hand upon disqualification of the reigning champion, NXT general managerAva ordered King to return the Cup back to Dempsey and announced that they will compete for the Cup in a one-fall match atNXT: New Year's Evil[21] on 7 January 2025, where he lost the Cup back to King. WWE does not recognize this change.[22]
FollowingNXT Battleground, Dempsey and the rest of No Quarter Catch Crew effectively turnedface due to the outpouring support for Myles Borne during hisNXT Championship match againstOba Femi despite failing to win the title.[23] On the 3 June episode ofNXT, Borne defeated Dempsey "British Rounds Rules" match, thus leaving No Quarter Catch Crew. It was meant to settle Borne's ambition to be a singles competitor independent of the group while Dempsey could test him in a match style that was in his favor.[24]
Dempsey made his return to Japan withAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) on 31 December 2023, where he teamed up withYuma Anzai to faceTatsumi Fujinami and his son LEONA in a winning effort. At AJPW's New Year Giant Series, Dempsey challengedKatsuhiko Nakajima for theTriple Crown Heavyweight Championship, which Nakajima won.[25][26]
Dempsey made hisTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) debut on the 4 July 2024 episode ofTNA Impact! where he attackedLeon Slater andTrey Miguel during their match. After the attack, Miguel's tag team partner Zachary Wentz (who formerly wrestled on NXT asNash Carter), challenged Dempsey to a match.[27] On the following week, Dempsey defeated Wentz in his TNA in-ring debut after interference from Myles Borne.[28]
Dempsey made hisGame Changer Wrestling (GCW) debut atGCW Josh Barnett's Bloodsport X on 4 April 2024, beating Matt Makowski by submission.[29]
He then made another appearance at Josh Barnett's Bloodsport XII on 24 November, defeatingTracy Williams bysubmission.[30]
Matthews, as Charlie Dempsey, made hisvideo game debut as a playable character inWWE 2K25.[31]
,Cagematch,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database