.jpg) Crusifino in 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roman Macek (2000-11-16)November 16, 2000 (age 25)[3] |
| Alma mater | Duquesne University[4] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Luca Crusifino |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (188 cm) |
| Billed weight | 246 lb (112 kg) |
| Billed from | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Trained by | Chris LeRusso[1] WWE Performance Center[2] |
| Debut | February 21, 2023 |
Roman Macek (born November 16, 2000) is an Americanprofessional wrestler and formerAmerican football player. He is signed toWWE, where he performs on theNXT andEvolvebrands under thering nameLuca Crusifino.
Macek was born inMcKees Rocks, Pennsylvania. He attendedMontour High School in McKees Rocks, where he playedfootball. He was a first team all-Northwest Nine Conference pick on both the offensive and defensive lines for two-straight years. He also participated as four-year letterman and three-year captain for thewrestling team.[4]
After graduating from high school, Macek went on to study atDuquesne University, majoring in sociology. While attending Duquesne, Macek played football for theDuquesne Dukes. As a freshman in 2017, he playedspecial teams anddefense; in 2018, he appeared in all 13 games for the Dukes; in 2019 he moved to offense as aleft guard; In 2020–2021 season, he started all five games at left guard for the Dukes in first season on the offensive line and played major role in success of Dukes’ offense. In 2021, he started all 10 games at left guard for the Dukes and was a part of an offensive front which paced the NEC and ranked 17th in the FCS in fewest sacks allowed per game (1.2).[4] After graduating with a B.A. from Duquesne University, Macek continued his education at Duquesne, enrolling in thelaw school. However, he took a leave of absence to pursue professional wrestling. Macek is still enrolled in law school at Duquesne.[5]
On April 6, 2022, it was reported that Macek had signed with WWE after undergoing a tryout at theWWE Performance Center.[6] He was later assigned the nameLuca Crusifino and thegimmick of alawyer.[7] In early 2023 before his debut, Crusifino made his own website called crusifinolaw.com for his gimmick of a lawyer.[8] In January 2024, Crusifino participated in theNXT men's breakout tournament,[9] but was defeated byTavion Heights in the first round. On February 27, Crusifino facedDijak in a losing effort. After the match, Crusifino would hit Dijak with his owncrowbar, setting upJoe Gacy to attack him, turning face in the process for the first time in his WWE career. Crusifino would then slip Dijak's crowbar behind the steel steps. Impressed by Crusifino’s match,Tony D’Angelo would tellChanning "Stacks" Lorenzo to “remember that” and “go get ‘em.”[10] AtNXT: Roadblock on March 5, D'Angelo welcomed Crusifino as the new "consigliere" ofThe D'Angelo Family stable, cementing his face turn.[11][12][13] Crusifino made hisEvolve debut on the March 5, 2025 episode ofEvolve, where he was sent there as a representative of The D'Angelo Family.[14] He defeated Javier Bernal on the March 19 episode ofEvolve in his Evolve debut match.[15] AtNXT Stand & Deliver on April 19, during the six-man tag team match between The D'Angelo Family against DarkState (Dion Lennox,Saquon Shugars andOsiris Griffin), Lorenzo turned on D'Angelo after months of D'Angelo distrusting Lorenzo.[16] In the following episode ofNXT, Crusifino met Lorenzo in a desert, and Crusifino was later deemed "missing". He returned atNXT Battleground on May 25, where he seemingly helped Lorenzo to defeat D'Angelo.[17] On June 25 episode ofNXT, Crusifino accidentally hit D'Angelo and cost him the NXT Heritage Cup match against Lorenzo. A week later, Crusifino attacked both D'Angelo and Lorenzo, officially leaving The D'Angelo Family.