On Wednesday’s episode of NXT, the NXT Universe was introduced to a new NXT Superstar in Stacey Ervin Jr. The athletic Ervin was the tag partner of 205 Live/NXT Superstar Humberto Carrillo in a match against The Street Profits. While Carrillo has been making a name for himself on 205 Live and in the Worlds Collide tournament, most viewers were seeing Ervin for the first time.
While it may have been the first time he appeared on NXT television, it wasn’t the first time he’d been seen on television. From Taylor, Michigan the University of Michigan grad was a top NCAA gymnast during his collegiate days. An NCAA medalist and the 2013 captain of the U. of M. gymnastics team, which Ervin Jr. captained to the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championship that year.
In February of 2018, Ervin Jr. attended a WWE tryout and impressed the scouting staff immediately. In May, he was signed to a WWE developmental deal and assigned to the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida.
He made his in-ring debut on the NXT Live Events circuit in September of that year, starting off against veterans Kassius Ohno, Adam Cole and Tony Nese, as well as newer stars like Velveteen Dream and Fabian Aichner. In mid-January, he won a tournament of the top class from the WWE Performance Center, Unleash The Universe, defeating Monsoor in the finals (Monsoor made his own debut last week in a loss to the Forgotten Son‘s Jaxon Ryker). Two weeks later, he was paired with Humberto Carrillo at the NXT tapings, with his debut match appearing on Wednesday night. While it’s unclear if the team will continue into the rest of 2019, the Full Sail got its first dose of Stacey Ervin Jr. in action, and the future looks bright for this athletic aerialist as one of the next future Superstars of the Yellow and Black Brand.
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