Two WWE NXT Stars Reportedly Receive New Names

By Sai Mohan

The Grizzled Young Veterans are getting new ring names, according to PWInsider.

While James Drake will now be known as Jagger Reid, Zack Gibson will be using the name Rip Fowler.

It's unknown if the former WWE NXT UK Tag Team Champions will remain a team going forward, or be split up into singles wrestlers.

Although GYV hasn't appeared on "NXT 2.0" since their loss to Joaquin Wilde & Cruz Del Toro of Legado Del Fantasma on April 19, it is being widely speculated that they have been used on WWE NXT TV as "The Dyad" or the druids led by Joe Gacy.

Following that loss to Legado Del Fantasma, a dejected Gibson & Drake said in a backstage interview they're past the point of frustration. The promo ended with Drake saying "we won't be seeing Drake & Gibson around here" anymore.

On July 11, WWE filed to trademark Jagger Reid, after an earlier filing for Rip Fowler in May. Both were listed for entertainment purposes.

If the speculation of Grizzled Young Veterans being repackaged as Gacy's druids is true, they're off to a winning start on NXT. On the June 8 "NXT 2.0" episode, they defeated Dante Chen & Javier Bernal in a tag team bout. On June 28, Gacy & The Dyad defeated The Creed Brothers & Roderick Strong in a Six-Man Match.

Grizzled Young Veterans signed with WWE in 2018 after working for various independent promotions such as PROGRESS. Following a successful stint at WWE NXT UK, they were called up to the NXT brand in February 2020. They competed in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating KUSHIDA & Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals and Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era in the semifinals, before losing to The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) in the finals.

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