WWE NXT Stars Repackaged with New Look and Names, Another Member of The Schism?

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PWMania.com Staff
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Finally, the Dyad has been made known.

The Schism, Joe Gacy, and his masked henchmen appeared in a backstage segment on Tuesday night’s WWE NXT 2.0 broadcast. Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler, who make up The Dyad, were revealed by Gacy.

Reid is the former James Drake and Fowler is the former Zack Gibson of The Grizzled Young Veterans.

Both of the former Grizzled Young Veterans have switched to wearing contact lenses and have lost their facial hair. Evidently, Fowler’s transformation was the greatest of the two.

In Tuesday night’s episode, Gacy recalled how The Dyad had been sitting under his tree for the past 10 weeks, surrendering to his teachings, tearing down their own egos, and rebuilding themselves as pillars of inclusion and acceptance. The Dyad would become what they were always supposed to be under his leadership, Gacy continued. He said it was time for The Dyad to come out, and then he told them what they were now.

Reid then proclaimed that they had at last found redemption, and Fowler added that they could all now rejoice in being completely and fully recognized. Reid and Fowler are the first to be un-shackled according to Gacy, but many more will soon follow them. He also mentioned that The Schism’s tree provides a plenty of shade. Reid and Fowler were welcomed by Gacy to conclude the segment.

The possibility of Cameron Grimes joining The Schism has already generated speculation. In Tuesday night’s episode, JD McDonagh defeated Grimes. Gacy looked down at Grimes while watching the match from a platform above the WWE Performance Center audience. Gacy looked at Grimes after the defeat, seemingly disappointed. Later, when asked for comments, Grimes flipped on an NXT camera and said that all he wanted to do was go home. Then Gacy apepared and claimed to know exactly what Grimes was going through while expressing his understanding of how he was feeling. Grimes yelled “not now!” once more, this time directed at Gacy, and left the building.

After late April, Reid and Fowler have mainly been quiet on social media, but this has changed since Tuesday night’s revelation. Reid shared a new image of his appearance along with an introduction, as can be seen in the tweets below.

“Hello everyone, my name is Jagger. #WWENXT,” Reid wrote.

Fowler also posted a photo of his new look, and thanked Gacy.

“Thank you @JoeGacy #WWENXT,” Fowler wrote, signing his name to the message.

Gacy responded to Fowler and wrote, “I’m so proud of you”

Reid’s name, Twitter handle @JamesDrake GYT, and bio have not been updated as of the time of writing. Fowler still uses the @ZackGibson01 handle, but he now goes by Rip Fowler, and his bio only states “Schism.”

Prior to Tuesday night’s revelation, Reid and Fowler had already participated in a number of matches as The Dyad. On the NXT show from June 14, they defeated Javier Bernal and Dante Chen. On the NXT show from June 28, they teamed up with Gacy to defeat Roderick Strong and the NXT Tag Team Champions The Creed Brothers in a six-man match. They also competed at two NXT live events with Gacy; on June 11 in Largo, they were defeated by NXT Champion Bron Breakker and the NXT UK Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen, and on June 25 in Venice, they were defeated by Breakker, Apollo Crews, and Solo Sikoa.

Just last week, it was revealed that Drake and Gibson would now go by the names Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler. WWE applied to trademark the names Fowler and Reid on May 4 and July 11, respectively. The Grizzled Young Veterans had not appeared on NXT TV since their defeat by Legado del Fantasma on the episode of April 19 until Tuesday night. Initially, WWE referred to the pair only as Drake and Gibson, but on that April 19 NXT broadcast, they hinted at the veteran tag team’s impending breakup. Drake and Gibson were set to challenge the former NXT Tag Team Champions Pretty Deadly for the championship during that angle, but Cruz Del Toro and Joaquin Wilde intervened to stop them. While Pretty Deadly observed the fight between the two teams, Cruz and Wilde later on in the event defeated GYV in a match. Drake and Gibson expressed their frustration in an interview with Mitchell that was conducted after the show. They talked about how they had been promising for some time to win gold after leaving their friends and family during the pandemic, to travel across the globe to become champions, and to be the team they knew they could be, but kept falling short. After apologizing, Gibson said he was “done” and was heading home. Drake then said that he and Gibson would no longer be seen in NXT 2.0 as he left, leaving Mitchell with his signature scarf.

Fowler and Reid both started their career with WWE in 2018. In 2019, The Grizzled Young Veterans won the NXT UK Tag Team Championship for the first time, and they retained the title for 230 official days. They later competed in the 2020 NXT Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, but The BroserWeights defeated them in the championship match. Since February 2020, Reid and Fowler have worked for the primary NXT brand.

We will keep you informed as more information becomes available about The Schism’s future and whether Grimes will be supporting or opposing the group.

Here are related shots from Tuesday night’s show:

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