On August 31, 2020, it was reported that Briggs had signed a contract withWWE, following the company's purchase ofEvolve in July.[4] On October 7, WWE announced that he had reported for training at thePerformance Center, alongside five other professional wrestlers from Evolve.[5] On July 6, 2021, Briggs was announced to be a part of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament. On the July 27 episode ofNXT, Briggs was defeated byCarmelo Hayes in the first round.[6] On theNXT 2.0 premiere on September 14, Briggs formed a tag team with the debutingBrooks Jensen and facedImperium (Fabian Aichner andMarcel Barthel) in a losing effort, establishing themselves asfaces.[7] On the January 18, 2022 episode ofNXT, Briggs and Jensen competed in theDusty Rhodes Men's Tag Team Classic, but were eliminated by eventual winners theCreed Brothers (Brutus and Julius) in the first round.[8] On the April 12 episode ofNXT, they took part in a five-teamgauntlet match for the vacantNXT Tag Team Championship, but failed to win.[9] On the June 22 episode ofNXT UK, Briggs and Jensen defeatedDave Mastiff and Jack Starz,Mark Andrews andWild Boar, and Die Familie (Teoman and Rohan Raja) in aFatal 4-Way elimination match to win the vacantNXT UK Tag Team Championship, making them the first and only non-European tag team to win the titles.
On the December 27, 2023 episode ofNXT, Briggs, Brooks Jensen and Fallon Henley agree to go their separate ways splitting up the team.[10] On the January 16, 2024 episode ofNXT, Briggs received an endorsement fromJohn "Bradshaw" Layfield in a backstage segment.[11] The following week, Briggs took onTrick Williams in a losing effort. After the match, Briggs attacked Williams with a clothesline, thus turningheel.[12] On the February 6 episode ofNXT, Briggs seemingly consoled his former partner Jensen about having to work alone, only to then badmouth him and tell him to grow up, thus cementing his heel turn. On the February 20 episode ofNXT, Briggs defeated Jensen in a singles match and consoled him after by saying "I did this for you, I love you man", turning back into a face once again. AtNXT Roadblock, Briggs would try to talk Jensen out of taking a match withOba Femi but Jensen was persistent on facing Femi and would be ultimately defeated the following week with Briggs watching at ringside.[13][14][15][16] AtNXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, Briggs failed to win theNXT North American Championship from Femi in atriple threat match which also includedDijak.[17] On the July 9 episode ofNXT, Briggs reunited with Jensen after Briggs vouched for Jensen, who had been trespassing the WWE Performance Center on tapings ofNXT after being (kayfabe) released from WWE, to get his job back. Moments later, Jensen was seen attackingJe'Von Evans backstage.[18] On the following week, Jensen was defeated by Evans. After the match, Jensen attacked Evans and was stopped by Briggs, to which Jensen challenged Briggs to aNo Disqualification match where Jensen won after interference fromShawn Spears.[19][20]
After his excursion toPro Wrestling Noah, Briggs formed a tag team with Noah'sYoshiki Inamura. On the November 12 episode ofNXT, Briggs and Inamura entered abattle royal for aNXT Tag Team Championship match opportunity but they failed to win the match.[21] On the February 11, 2025 episode ofNXT, Briggs and Inamura defeatedNo Quarter Catch Crew (Myles Borne andTavion Heights) and Hank and Tank (Hank Walker andTank Ledger) in a triple threat tag team match for a NXT Tag Team Championship match atNXT Vengeance Day[22] but failed to win the titles.[23] On the May 6 episode ofNXT, Inamura inadvertently eliminated Briggs in the 25-man battle royal to determine the #1 contender for theNXT Championship and was eliminated as well. After the match, Inamura announced that he would be returning to Japan, disbanding his tag team with Briggs and ending his excursion in WWE.[24] AtNXT Battleground on May 25, Briggs and Hank and Tank defeatedThe Culling (Brooks Jensen,Niko Vance,Shawn Spears) in a six-man tag team match. After the match, The Culling attacked Briggs and Hank and Tank. They were saved by a returning Inamura, who reunites with Briggs in the process.[25]
On the June 17 episode ofNXT, Inamura pinnedTNA World Champion Trick Williams in a six-man tag team match. As a result, Inamura was given a TNA World Championship match but he passed the title match to Briggs as he set his sights on the NXT Championship.[26] On the following week, Briggs failed to defeat Williams for the title.[27] On the July 22 episode ofNXT, Briggs and Inamura faced Femi for the NXT Championship in atriple threat match where Femi retained the title. After the match, Briggs attacked Inamura, turning heel and disbanding their tag team partnership for the second time in the process, with Brooks Jensen berating his former tag team partner in the process.[28]
In July 2024, it was announced that Bruns, as Josh Briggs, would be one of two NXT representatives (the other beingTavion Heights) to enterPro Wrestling Noah'sN-1 Victory tournament.[29] Briggs was placed in the A-block and finished the tournament with 10 points and was tied for the most points in his block, but failed to advance to the finals after losing the tiebreaker toKaito Kiyomiya. During their short tenure in Pro Wrestling Noah, both Briggs and Heights received training fromKeiji Muto andNaomichi Marufuji.[30]
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