Charlie Dempsey made his WWE NXT 2.0 debut this week.
Dempsey, the son of the legendary William Regal, participated in a pre-recorded Chase University comedy segment with Andre Chase, Bodhi Hayward, Thea Hail, and a few of Chase’s students.
Chase introduced Dempsey as someone who impressed him while Chase U was on their recent visit to London for NXT UK, calling him a tremendous competitor who is familiar with the Catch-As-Catch-Can style. Chase then revealed that Dempsey was there to teach the class some moves. The first student stepped up and Dempsey immediately ordered him to his hands and knees. Dempsey stretched the student out and man-handled him on the mat as Hail and Hayward looked on. Chase had to call Dempsey off the student, telling him to take it easy as this was only an exhibition.
Chase then sent Hayward to the mat with Dempsey because Hayward is a bit more advanced than the first student. Dempsey ignored a handshake attempt and immediately took Bodhi down, also man-handling him on the mat and choking him out, forcing him to tap. Chase then yelled at Dempsey and told him that was enough. Hayward snapped and jumped up at Dempsey, while Chase said maybe Dempsey misunderstood the goal of the class, and maybe he was the wrong person to teach the class.
Dempsey then said the Chase U class is too soft, and he told them to research the legendary Billy Robinson.
“Your class is soft. If y’all want homework, Google Billy Robinson,” Dempsey said before walking off.
Dempsey signed with WWE in late January 2021 as part of a WWE UK Performance Center Class that also included NXT UK Women’s Champion Meiko Satomura, Teoman, and Rohan Raja. He was then billed as Bailey Matthews from England.
While WWE has never acknowledged the relationship between Dempsey and Regal, WWE noted when they signed Dempsey that he was from Blackpool, England, which is also Regal’s hometown, and it was said that his in-ring style was inspired by the likes of Regal, Billy Robinson, and NXT UK General Manager Johnny Saint.
Dempsey actually made his pro wrestling debut back in 2018, working for UK indie promotions as Joe Bailey. His first match was a loss to Tony Spitfire at an All-Star Wrestling event on February 9, 2018. Dempsey went on to work for ASW and other UK indie promotions through 2018, and made his PROGRESS Wrestling debut on November 26, 2018 at PROGRESS Chapter 79, coming up short against Jordan Breaks in a dark match. Dempsey then made his EVOLVE debut at EVOLVE 117 on December 16, 2018, and it’s interesting to note that he took a loss to Chase that night. He also competed the next night at EVOLVE 118, losing to Joe Gacy in a dark match.
Dempsey would go on to work for other UK and European promotions in 2018 and 2019, including FSW and wXw. He worked as a NJPW Young Lion trainee in 2020, and was spotted at ringside for Wrestle Kingdom 14 in January 2020. After training at the NJPW Dojo in Japan during 2020, Dempsey signed with WWE in late January 2021. He made his NXT UK debut on the February 25, 2021 episode with a loss to current NXT UK Champion Tyler Bate. He then defeated Josh Morrell in his next match on the September 30, 2021 episode. Dempsey was then re-branded to his current name, with a darker gimmick, and he weight on an eight-match winning streak in NXT from September 30, 2021 – April 21, 2022, reuniting with Raja and Teoman as the Die Familie stable. During that time Dempsey picked up wins over the various Gallus members, Danny Jones, Saxon Huxley, and A-Kid, who he defeated multiple times.
After the win over A-Kid (now known as Axiom) on April 21 of this year, Dempsey didn’t wrestle until he worked the PROGRESS Chapter 135 Super Strong Style 16 Tournament Edition Day 2 event on June 4, losing to Chris Ridgeway. He returned to the ring the next day for the PROGRESS Chapter 135 Day 3 event, teaming with Charles Crowley, Dean Allmark and Rickey Shane Page for an eight-man win over Callum Newman, Jody Fleisch, Maggot and current PROGRESS Champion Big Damo. Dempsey then took a loss to Oliver Carter on the August 11 NXT UK episode, in a match for the NXT UK Title Tournament, and that was his last match for the brand, for now.
There’s no word yet on if Dempsey will remain on the NXT 2.0 brand as the company wraps up NXT UK while preparing to launch NXT Europe in 2023. Before last week’s NXT UK invasion at the Heatwave special, it was reported that several NXT UK Superstars were brought over to Orlando to train at the WWE Performance Center, and Dempsey was one of those wrestlers, along with Gallus.
Dempsey has not commented on his NXT 2.0 debut as of this writing as he does not have social media. Regal also has not commented on the appearance, but he usually does not tweet about the work his son is doing in WWE.
There’s no word yet on if Dempsey will wrestle Chase or Hayward in the near future, perhaps at NXT Worlds Collide on September 4, but we will keep you updated.
Stay tuned to WrestlingHeadlines.com for more. Below is footage of the Dempsey segment from this week’s NXT 2.0:
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