Joseph Ariola, under thering name Joey Ariola, made hisprofessional wrestling debut on November 9, 2019, at the WrestleRage 17 event held by POWW Entertainment, teaming with Joey Cece against Dave Rydell and Jeff Luxon in atag team match that ended in adouble count out.[6][7] On March 7, 2020, at the Slamfest 17 event, Ariola and Cece defeated Rydell and Luxon to win the POWW Tag Team Championship.[8][9] On November 7, they lost the title to Bruiser Mass Index (Jamie Race and Mike Idol) in agauntlet match.[10]
On February 22, 2021, it was reported that Ariola signed withWWE.[11] On the October 5, 2021 episode ofNXT, Ariola made his WWE debut under the ring nameTony D'Angelo, with theheel gimmick of anItalian-Americanmafia, defeatingMalik Blade in a few minutes.[12] On December 5, atNXT WarGames, Team 2.0 (D'Angelo,Bron Breakker,Carmelo Hayes andGrayson Waller) defeated Team Black & Gold (Johnny Gargano,LA Knight,Pete Dunne andTommaso Ciampa) in aWarGames match.[13] D'Angelo suffered his first loss against Dunne on the December 21 episode ofNXT, brutally attacking him with a crowbar after the match.[14] As a result of the feud that ensued, D'Angelo defeated Dunne in a Crowbar On a Pole match on the January 11, 2022 episode ofNXT.[15] On the February 15 episode ofNXT: Vengeance Day, D'Angelo lost to Dunne in a Weaponized Steel Cage match, ending their feud.[16] On April 2, atNXT Stand & Deliver, D'Angelo defeated Ciampa in the latter's final match in NXT.[17]
On the April 26 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo introducedChanning "Stacks" Lorenzo andTroy "Two Dimes" Donovan as his henchmen who attackedSantos Escobar the previous week, forming a stable calledThe D'Angelo Family.[18] AtNXT In Your House on June 4, The D'Angelo Family defeatedLegado del Fantasma (Escobar,Cruz Del Toro andJoaquin Wilde). As per the stipulation, Legado del Fantasma had to join The D'Angelo Family.[19] On June 11, Two Dimes was released by WWE.[20] On the June 21 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo challenged Carmelo Hayes for the NXT North American Championship, but lost after interference from Escobar.[21] D'Angelo and Stacks facedThe Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed and Julius Creed) for theNXT Tag Team Championship on the August 2 episode ofNXT but again lost due to Escobar's interference.[22] On the August 16 episode ofNXT: Heatwave, D'Angelo defeated Escobar in a Street Fight and, as per the stipulation, Legado del Fantasma had to remain linked to The D'Angelo Family while Escobar had to (kayfabe) leave NXT.[23]
D'Angelo facedWes Lee for the NXT North American Championship on the December 27 episode ofNXT but lost after interference fromDijak.[24] The following week onNXT, D'Angelo turnedface by challenging Dijak to a match atNXT: New Year's Evil on January 10, 2023, which he lost.[25][26] He then defeated Dijak on the March 7 episode ofNXT: Roadblock in aJailhouse Street Fight.[27] AtNXT Stand & Deliver on April 1, D'Angelo and Stacks failed to win the NXT Tag Team Championship in a triple threat match.[28] The D'Angelo Family entered a brief feud withPretty Deadly, defeating them on April 25 atSpring Breakin' in a trunk match.[29][30] On July 30, atNXT: The Great American Bash, D'Angelo and Stacks defeatedGallus to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, the first championship in his wrestling career.[31] They defeated The Dyad (Rip Fowler andJagger Reid) in their first title defense on the August 15 episode ofNXT.[32] AtNXT No Mercy on September 30, D'Angelo and Stacks retained the titles against Out the Mud (Lucien Price and Bronco Nima), The Creed Brothers, andAngel Garza andHumberto Carrillo in a fatal four-way tag team match.[33] On the October 24 episode ofNXT: Halloween Havoc, D'Angelo and Stacks lost the titles toChase University (Andre Chase andDuke Hudson), ending their first reign at 86 days,[34] but they would later regain the titles from Chase and Hudson on the November 14 episode ofNXT.[35] During this time,Adriana Rizzo became a part of the D'Angelo Family, feuding with Price, Nima andJaida Parker of OTM, leading to a six-person mixed tag team match atNXT Vengeance Day on February 4, which the D'Angelo Family won.[36] On the February 13, 2024 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo and Stacks lost the titles toDusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic winners Bron Breakker andBaron Corbin, ending their second reign at 91 days.[37]
On the February 27 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo interrupted the contract signing between Carmelo Hayes andNXT ChampionIlja Dragunov, willing to earn a title shot at the NXT Championship. NXT General ManagerAva set a match between Hayes and D'Angelo atNXT: Roadblock to determine who would face Dragunov for the NXT Championship atNXT Stand & Deliver.[38] AtNXT: Roadblock on March 5, D'Angelo introducedLuca Crusifino as the "consigliere" of The D'Angelo Family and usedTrick Williams' entrance music to distract and defeat Hayes.[39] At NXT Stand & Deliver on April 6, D'Angelo failed to win the title from Dragunov.[40] On the April 16 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo revealed that his Family were hired byNo Quarter Catch Crew (Charlie Dempsey,Damon Kemp, andMyles Borne) to (kayfabe) eliminate their leaderDrew Gulak. D'Angelo demanded payment for the job but NQCC refused, causing a brawl between the two factions and resulting in asix-man tag team match between the two factions atSpring Breakin' on April 23, which was won by The D'Angelo Family.[41][42] On the May 7 episode ofNXT, Dempsey and Borne facedTyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe. Before the match started, the 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 then nullified when D'Angelo and his Family kidnapped Kemp and Borne later that night.[43] On the following episode ofNXT, D'Angelo defeated Dempsey 2–1 inBritish Rounds Rules to win the Cup, his first singles championship in WWE.[44] He lost the Cup back to Dempsey on the August 13 episode ofNXT after outside interference from NQCC's new stablemateWren Sinclair, ending his reign at 90 days.[45]
D'Angelo (right) facingNunzio atNXT 2300 in November 2024
AtNXT No Mercy on September 1, D'Angelo failed to win theNXT North American Championship fromOba Femi.[46] However, the following month, D'Angelo defeated Femi in a rematch on the October 8 episode ofNXT to win the title, ending Femi's record-setting title reign at 273 days and becoming the first wrestler to win the NXT Tag Team, Heritage Cup and North American Championships.[47] AtHalloween Havoc on October 27, D'Angelo defeated Femi in aTables, Ladders and Scares match to retain the title.[48] AtNXT 2300 on November 6, he successfully defended the title againstNunzio.[49] On the December 10 episode ofNXT, he defeatedEthan Page to retain the title.[50] In early 2025, The D'Angelo Family started a feud withShawn Spears and his stable overIzzi Dame. On the March 4 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo lost the title to Spears, ending his reign at 147 days.[51]
AtNXT Stand & Deliver on April 19, 2025, during the six-man tag team match between The D'Angelo Family against DarkState (Dion Lennox,Saquon Shugars and Osiris Griffin), Lorenzo turned on D'Angelo after months of D'Angelo distrusting Lorenzo.[52] This led to a match atBattleground, where D’Angelo lost to Lorenzo due to a distraction from Luca Crusifino.[53] A week later, Crusifino attacked D'Angelo and Lorenzo during a face off and announced that he was leaving The D'Angelo Family. On the July 15 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo defeated Lorenzo and Crusifino in a triple threat match and effectively disbanded The D'Angelo Family stable.[54]
On the July 29 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo appeared in a pre-taped segment where he appeared to retire his "Don" persona and was confronted by a shadowy figure hidden to the audience.[55] After a five-month hiatus, D'Angelo returned atNXT Deadline on December 6, attacking the 2025Men's Iron Survivor Challenge winnerJe'Von Evans and stared downNXT ChampionOba Femi.[56] However on the December 9 episode ofNXT, D'Angelo attacked NXT North American ChampionEthan Page, cementing himself becoming atweener.[57]
Ariola, as Tony D'Angelo, made hisvideo game debut as a playable character inWWE 2K23[58] and has since appeared inWWE 2K24,[59] andWWE 2K25.[60] He also appeared on the premiere episode of the second season of the television seriesWild Cards in February 2025 as the character "Jaws".[61]
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