Dijak began his professional wrestling career in 2013 under the ring nameDonovan Dijak, working in several promotions on theindependent circuit, most notably forChaotic Wrestling, where he trained. In 2014, he signed a contract withRing of Honor (ROH), where he won the2015Top Prospect Tournament. After leaving ROH in 2017, he signed a contract withWWE. He was assigned to theirNXTbrand under the ring name ofDominik Dijakovic. In September 2020, he made his main roster debut as part of theRetribution faction under the ring nameT-Bar. Although Retribution disbanded in March 2021, he continued teaming with fellow memberMace until he was drafted to theSmackDown brand in the2021 WWE Draft. In November 2022, he returned to the NXT brand asDijak. During the2024 WWE Draft, he was drafted to the Raw brand before leaving the company in June 2024.[7][8]
Christopher James Dijak was born and raised inLunenburg, Massachusetts. He is of Croatian, Hungarian, and Italian ancestry. Dijak was a standout three-sport athlete atLunenburg High School, excelling specifically at football, resulting in him being recruited by many topNew England area college football programs. He was named the 2005 Sentinel & Enterprise Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, a Central Massachusetts Shriners All-Star selection, and was named a captain and selected as the team MVP during his senior season. Ultimately, Dijak accepted a scholarship to play college football for theUMass Minutemen.[9]
Afterredshirting his freshman season at UMass and struggling to adjust at the large campus, Dijak ultimately decided to transfer toBridgewater State University, a mid-sized liberal arts college located approximately 20 miles outsideBoston,Massachusetts. At Bridgewater State, Dijak excelled at both football and basketball, leading the football team in both tackles and sacks in his junior and senior years, and led the basketball team in rebounding his senior year. Dijak also earned all-league honors in both sports. He was also named to the NCAA Division III Football East Region All-American team in his senior season playing for the Bears. Dijak graduated from Bridgewater State in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.[10][11][12]
Following two losses in smaller promotions, Dijak joinedChaotic Wrestling, training under Brian Fury andTodd Hanson.[13] He made his debut in August 2013 in a winning effort against Vern Vicallo, and remained undefeated until July 2014 when he lost to Chaotic Wrestling champion Mark Shurman. After earning another title shot in a fatal four-way match the next month, he went on to defeat Shurman in their rematch on October 24 and claim theCW Heavyweight Championship. After a reign of 148 days, he lost the title against Chase Del Monte on March 21, 2015. In 2016, Dijak teamed with Mikey Webb to form the tag teamThe American Destroyers. Dijak and Webb would go on to win theChaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship by defeating The Logan Brothers on December 26, 2016, before losing them less than a month later to The Mill City Hooligans. In his final match for the promotion, Dijak defeatedChristian Casanova andJosh Briggs in atriple threat match for theChaotic Wrestling New England Championship. Immediately after the match, he vacated the title.[14]
On December 19 (aired January 13, 2016), he was banned from Truth Martini's stable, initially turningface in the process.[18] At the February 27 ROH TV tapings, Dijak came out withPrince Nana and attacked Truth Martini, turning heel again and making a rare double-turn with Jay Lethal and becoming Prince Nana's latest crown jewel in the Embassy stable.[19] Dijak announced his departure from ROH via Twitter on February 12, 2017.[20]
In January 2017,WWE pulled a contract offer from Dijak, following a legal threat from ROH, who still had him under contract.[21] The following month, Dijak opted not to re-sign with ROH, essentially putting his career on hold, waiting for another contract offer from WWE.[21] On July 20, it was reported that Dijak was finishing up his independent bookings ahead of joining WWE.[21] Dijak reported to theWWE Performance Center on August 21.[22] His signing was announced by the company on September 5.[23]
Dijak made his debut for WWE's developmental branch,NXT, on September 23.[24] His television debut, under his real name, came on May 30, 2018, in a loss againstRicochet. In July 2018, WWE revealed Dijak's newring name as Dominik Dijakovic. Promos started to appear on the December 5, 2018 episode ofNXT, promoting the debut of Dominik Dijakovic. Dijakovic made his debut as avillain on the December 19 episode ofNXT, defeating Aaron Mackey.[25] FollowingWrestleMania 35, he was set to feud with thenNXT North American ChampionVelveteen Dream over the championship. However, in April 2019, he suffered a torn meniscus that would require surgery.[26] He would be out of action until late July, when he returned at an NXT live event.[27]
On the November 13, 2019 episode ofNXT, Dijakovic turnedface when he joined Team Ciampa for the annual WarGames match withTommaso Ciampa,Matt Riddle andKeith Lee againstThe Undisputed Era atTakeOver: WarGames. Riddle however proceeded to leave the team to pursue his rivalry withFinn Bálor, and would be replaced byKevin Owens.[28] At the event, Dijakovic and Team Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era.[29] On the January 29, 2020 episode ofNXT, Dijakovic defeatedDamian Priest to become the number one contender forKeith Lee's NXT North American Championship atTakeOver: Portland on February 16, where he failed to win the title. After the match, Lee and Dijakovic shook hands as a sign of respect.[30] After Lee'sNXT Championship win againstAdam Cole atThe Great American Bash, Dijakovic was challenged by Lee for both the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship on the following episode, but was unsuccessful in capturing the titles. He was then attacked byKarrion Kross during a backstage interview, resulting in a match between the two on the July 22 episode ofNXT, which Dijakovic lost. This marked his final appearance onNXT.
On the September 21 episode ofRaw, he was revealed as a member of thevillainous stableRetribution, under the ring name T-Bar, with a new outfit and a mask.[3] On the October 5 episode ofRaw,Mustafa Ali was revealed as the stable's leader. Over the following weeks, the faction had little success. AtFastlane on March 21, 2021, T-Bar andMace attacked Ali, disbanding the stable. On the April 12 episode ofRaw, T-Bar and Mace attackedDrew McIntyre, showing signs of joiningThe Hurt Business. The following week onRaw , T-Bar was finally unmasked along with Mace in a tag team match against McIntyre andBraun Strowman, in which T-Bar and Mace won by disqualification. Later in an interview, they confirmed the start of their tag team run. After a few weeks of absence from television, T-Bar and Mace were put as lumberjacks in aLumberjack match betweenJohn Morrison andDamian Priest on the May 17 episode ofRaw.
As part of the2021 Draft, Mace was drafted to theSmackDownbrand while T-Bar remained on theRaw brand, thus disbanding the team.[31] On the October 25 episode of Raw, T-Bar got himself disqualified in a match againstWWE United States ChampionDamian Priest after throwing an office chair at the champion.[32] On the November 1 episode of Raw, he lost to Priest in a no disqualification match in which Priest retained the US title.[33] Throughout 2022, he was relegated to competing onMain Event until October.
On the October 25 episode ofNXT, a vignette was shown of T-Bar's Retribution mask being tossed into a fire, teasing his return to the NXT brand. On the November 22 episode ofNXT, he returned to the brand, now repackaged as aTerminator-inspired character under the Dijak name, and attackedWes Lee after Wes successfully defended the NXT North American Championship againstCarmelo Hayes.[34][35] AtVengeance Day, Dijak lost his NXT North American Championship match due to interference fromTony D'Angelo and fellow NXT superstarChanning "Stacks" Lorenzo, thus giving Wes Lee the opportunity to capitalise on the distraction and retain the championship.[36] On March 7 atRoadblock, Dijak was defeated by D'Angelo in aJailhouse Street Fight.[37] In April, Dijak began a feud withIlja Dragunov.[38] AtSpring Breakin', Dijak attacked Dragunov backstage.[39] AtBattleground on May 28, Dijak was defeated by Dragunov in aLast Man Standing match, ending the feud.[40]
On the November 7 episode ofNXT, Dijak defeatedTyler Bate to qualify for theIron Survivor Challenge atDeadline,[41] which was won byTrick Williams.[42] On the January 15 episode ofNXT, Dijak faced Trey Bearhill, withJoe Gacy serving as commentator. During the match, Gacy headbutted Dijak. After Dijak won the match against Bearhill, Gacy attacked Dijak from behind and both men started brawling.[43] The following week, a match between Dijak and Gacy was scheduled, but the match didn't happen due to Gacy attacking Dijak before the bell rang. Both men continued fighting until they were pulled apart by referees and security guards.[44] On February 4, 2024 atVengeance Day, Dijak defeatedJoe Gacy in a No Disqualification match.[45] During Dijak's matches after Vengeance Day, Gacy started appearing under the ring apron. On the February 13 episode ofNXT, Gacy facedCarmelo Hayes in a losing effort. After the match, Dijak attacked Gacy with anightstick and then locked him in astraitjacket and left.[46] The following week, Dijak locked Gacy in an asylum cell, with Gacy laughing and telling Dijak that "this wasn't over".[47] On the February 27 episode ofNXT, Dijak defeatedLuca Crusifino. After the match, Gacy ripped apart the straitjacket and started beating down Dijak until both men went backstage, where they continued fighting.[48] On March 5 atRoadblock, Dijak defeated Gacy in anAsylum match.[49] AtStand & Deliver on April 6, Dijak failed to win the NXT North American Championship fromOba Femi in atriple threat match which also includedJosh Briggs.[50]
At Night 2 of the2024 WWE Draft, Dijak was drafted to the Raw brand in the supplemental draft, marking his return to the main roster after two years.[51] On the June 19 episode ofSpeed, Dijak lost toThe New Day'sXavier Woods in theSpeed Championship#1 Contender's tournament.[52] This would be Dijak's final WWE appearance as on June 27, Dijak announced that he would be leaving WWE after revealing that the company had decided not to renew his contract.[8]
AtMLW Summer of the Beasts, a Doomsday clock appeared throughout the night and during a match between Nolo Kitano, LSG,Jimmy Lloyd andLittle Guido, the timer on the Doomsday clock expired and Dijak appeared, making hisMajor League Wrestling (MLW) debut. He attacked Kitano, LSG, Lloyd and Little Guido and said that he was here to stay in MLW.[54]
As T-Bar, he made hisvideo game debut as a playable character inWWE 2K22,[59] but was also featured in the game's MyRise mode as Dominik Dijakovic. This character was only available in the MyRise mode, however, and was originally not accessible by players. WWE2K added the Dominik Dijakovic character[60] in patch 1.12 released on May 16, 2022,[61] thus giving Dijak two characters in the game. He made an additional appearance as T-Bar inWWE 2K23 and as Dijak inWWE 2K24.
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