{"id":7575,"date":"2017-09-05T16:02:34","date_gmt":"2017-09-05T20:02:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonprowrestling.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=7575"},"modified":"2017-09-05T17:06:02","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T21:06:02","slug":"official-donovan-dijak-signs-nxt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2017\/09\/05\/official-donovan-dijak-signs-nxt\/","title":{"rendered":"It&#8217;s Official: Donovan Dijak Signs With NXT"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WWE confirmed what many had speculated for months (<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprowrestling.com\/2017\/07\/20\/donovan-dijaks-announcement\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">including Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/a>)\u00a0&#8211; former ROH star Donovan Dijak has signed with the WWE and is heading to the WWE Performance Center, most likely to start work with NXT.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">A new recruit has arrived at the @WWEPerformCtr &amp; <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWENXT?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@WWENXT<\/a>, and his name is <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DonovanDijak?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DonovanDijak<\/a>! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWENXT?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWENXT<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ZordAWZZdW\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ZordAWZZdW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; WWE NXT (@WWENXT) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/WWENXT\/status\/905144420202414082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 5, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>WWE mentioned the following <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wwe.com\/shows\/wwenxt\/article\/donovan-dijak-wwe-performance-center\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on their official website<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div class=\"copy-paste-block\">\n<p><em>A new hoss has arrived at the WWE Performance Center.<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"text-58\" class=\"widget_text\"><em>\u00a0Six-foot-7, 265-pound Chris Dijak of Worcester, Mass., better known to ring fans as Donovan Dijak, is the latest signee to join WWE\u2019s training center in Orlando, Fla.<\/em><\/div>\n<p><em>Combining heavy-hitting power with cat-like agility, Dijak\u2019s explosive offense has won him admirers around the world. His \u201cFeast Your Eyes\u201d knee-smash, meanwhile, has downed enough opponents to put Dijak on WWE\u2019s radar with only four years\u2019 experience.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A football and basketball standout in high school and college, Dijak stormed onto the New England independent wrestling scene in 2013. He remained a force in the region ever since, crossing paths with the likes of Tommaso Ciampa and Oney Lorcan, and becoming a fixture in organizations including Massachusetts\u2019 Chaotic Wrestling, Connecticut\u2019s Northeast Wrestling and Rhode Island\u2019s Beyond Wrestling.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dijak\u2019s search for new competition broadened in short order. In 2015, he won Ring of Honor\u2019s Top Prospect tournament, and earlier this year he competed in the wXw 16 Carat Gold tournament in Germany. He has also wrestled for EVOLVE, and this past weekend, he fought in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla\u2019s Battle of Los Angeles tournament, held in Reseda, Calif.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Dijak\u2019s arrival at the Performance Center comes on the heels of WWE signing another sensation from the independent ranks, high-flyer Lio Rush.<\/em><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Congratulations to former Chaotic Heavyweight Champion <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DonovanDijak?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@DonovanDijak<\/a> for making it to the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/WWE?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#WWE<\/a> Performance Center!<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ffxXmxKZa2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/ffxXmxKZa2<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/k8Dy88iUJu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/k8Dy88iUJu<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Chaotic Wrestling (@ChaoticWrestlin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ChaoticWrestlin\/status\/905144062797328389?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 5, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/twitter.com\/BookItGabe\/status\/905146029292609536<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WWE confirmed what many had speculated for months (including Last Word on Pro Wrestling)\u00a0&#8211; former ROH star Donovan Dijak has signed with the WWE and is heading to the WWE Performance Center, most likely to start work with NXT. A new recruit has arrived at the @WWEPerformCtr &amp; @WWENXT, and his name is @DonovanDijak! #WWENXT [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":649,"featured_media":7576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[178,116,47],"class_list":["post-7575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-wwe-universe","tag-donovan-dijak","tag-nxt","tag-wwe"],"modified_by":"Jamie Greer","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/649"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}