.jpg) Daivari in August 2025 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ariya Daivari (1989-04-11)April 11, 1989 (age 36)[6] Plymouth, Minnesota, U.S.[7] |
| Family | Shawn Daivari (brother) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ari Daivari Ariya Daivari[1] Arya Daivari[2] Sheik Ariya Daivari[3] Sheik Mustafa Bashir[4] |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 189 lb (86 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Las Vegas,Nevada Minneapolis, Minnesota by way ofTehran, Iran[1] Tehran, Iran[4] |
| Trained by | Arik Cannon Ken Anderson Shawn Daivari Shelton Benjamin |
| Debut | September 26, 2006[5] |
Ariya Daivari (Persian:آریا داوری; born April 11, 1989) is an Americanprofessional wrestler. He is signed toAll Elite Wrestling (AEW), and is a member of The Premier Athletes stable. He also works as acoach for the promotion. Daivari is best known for his time inWWE, where he performed in the now-defunctCruiserweight Division. He has also performed forRing of Honor (ROH),New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and has made brief appearances forGlobal Force Wrestling andImpact Wrestling's projectRing Ka King.
After building a background inTaekwondo andamateur wrestling during his high school years, Ariya was trained in professional wrestling by his brotherShawn Daivari and fellow wrestlerArik Cannon.[6] He also trained withShelton Benjamin and formerWWE wrestlerKen Anderson.[8] Ariya debuted in a Midwest Pro Wrestling Academy event on September 26, 2006, at theFirst Avenue nightclub.[5] Before his 2016WWE debut, Ariya performed for various U.S. wrestling promotions, includingRing of Honor,[9]Global Force Wrestling,[10] andImpact Wrestling's India project,Ring Ka King.[2][4]
Daivari's first experience with WWE was wrestling in anon-televised match forWWE SmackDown at theTarget Center in 2013.[8] The following year he participated in a tryout at the WWE Performance Center.[11] On June 13, 2016, Daivari was announced as a competitor in theWWE Cruiserweight Classic.[1] On June 23, 2016, Daivari was eliminated from the tournament in his first round match byHo Ho Lun.[12]On the October 10, 2016 episode ofRaw, Daivari made his main roster debut as part of the cruiserweight division onRaw as aheel, losing by submission to theCruiserweight ChampionT. J. Perkins. On theHell in a Cell pre-show, Daivari teamed withTony Nese andDrew Gulak in a losing effort toCedric Alexander,Lince Dorado andSin Cara.[13] On theSurvivor Series pre-show, Daivari, Nese and Gulak were defeated by TJ Perkins,Rich Swann andNoam Dar. He then started a feud withGentleman Jack Gallagher, which ended in an"I forfeit" match, which he lost.
Daivari began his championship pursuits for the Cruiserweight Championship in July 2017.Akira Tozawa called Daivari out on the July 24 episode ofRaw for a rematch afterTitus O'Neil forfeited their singles match the week prior on Tozawa's behalf. WhileNeville showed up to confront Tozawa, Daivari then appeared to attack both Tozawa and Neville. He faced off against Neville the next night on205 Live, winning via count-out. WhenEnzo Amore became the Cruiserweight Champion, Daivari appeared to support Amore on205 Live and became a member of Amore's heel faction "The Zo Train", along withTony Nese,Drew Gulak, andNoam Dar. On January 23, 2018, Enzo Amore was fired from WWE after allegations of sexual assault were made public, thus forcing Amore to vacate the Cruiserweight Championship and quietly disbanding "The Zo Train". Following this, Daivari participated in atournament to crown a new Cruiserweight Champion but lost in the first round to the debutingBuddy Murphy on the February 6, 2018 episode of205 Live.
InWWE Greatest Royal Rumble, Ariya teamed up with his brotherShawn Daivari and insulted four Saudi Arabian prospects before being driven out byMansoor. After an extended break from action to recover from an unspecified injury, Daivari returned on the November 28 episode of205 Live, joiningHideo Itami in an attack on a local competitor. After that, he began accompanying Itami to the ring for his matches and interfering on his behalf. On January 29 episode of205 Live Daivari turned on Itami after the latter lost to Akira Tozawa, the same day that Itami requested his release from WWE. On the March 23 episode of205 Live, Daivari defeated Cedric Alexander, following a distraction fromOney Lorcan. On the April 23 episode of205 Live, Daivari defeated Lorcan to become the number one contender for the Cruiserweight Championship. However atMoney in the Bank, he failed to capture the title fromTony Nese. Shortly after he would feud withOney Lorcan which lead to anAnything Goes match where he was defeated to end their feud.
In October 2019 he would begin a feud withIsaiah "Swerve" Scott but never defeated him. Around this time he would start wearing white pants and a Gucci belt to the ring. In 2020 he took a long hiatus from the ring and returned in August 2020 upset that new cruiserweights weren't respecting him. He would then form an alliance withTony Nese calling themselves the "205 Live OG's" and throughout the first few months of 2021, they would mostly be defeated by the likes of newcomers Curt Stallion and August Grey. On June 25, 2021, Daivari was released from his WWE contract.[14]
In April 2022, Daivari was rehired byWWE as a producer.
On September 28, 2021, it was announced that Daivari would be debuting for New Japan Pro Wrestling for their New Japan Showdown shows facingAlex Zayne on Night 1 and teaming withLio Rush againstEl Phantasmo andChris Bey on Night 2.[15][16] He would make his return on June 18, 2022, atNJPW Strong, scoring a victory overDelirious.[17]
On November 12, 2021, Daivari made his All Elite Wrestling debut onAEW Rampage losing to Dante Martin.[18] On the June 28, 2022 episode ofAEW Dark, he would make his return for the brand, defeatingCaleb Konley.[19] Daivari also serves as acoach for AEW.[20]
On April 16, 2022, Daivari made his debut for theNational Wrestling Alliance, facingNick Aldis in a losing effort.[21]
Daivari attendedWayzata High School inPlymouth, Minnesota.[6] He isIranian-American and sometimes incorporates spokenPersian in his performances.[6] His brother,Dara, is also a professional wrestler, mostly known for his time in WWE under the names Khosrow Daivari and Daivari (shortened from his previous in ring name).[1]
Ariya Daivari made hisvideo game debut as a playable character inWWE 2K19.[22] He would also appear inWWE 2K20.
He would make a reappearance inWWE 2K22.
,Cagematch,Internet Wrestling Database