Dijak began his professional wrestling career in 2013 under the ring name Donovan Dijak, working in several promotions on the
independent circuit, most notably for
Chaotic Wrestling, where he trained. In 2014, he signed a contract with
Ring of Honor (ROH), where he won the
2015Top Prospect Tournament. After leaving ROH in 2017, he signed a contract with WWE. He was assigned to their NXT brand under the ring name of Dominik Dijakovic. In September 2020, he made his main roster debut as part of the
Retribution faction under the ring name T-Bar. Although Retribution disbanded in March 2021, he continued teaming with fellow member
Mace until he was drafted to the SmackDown brand in the
2021 WWE Draft. In November 2022, he returned to the NXT brand as Dijak.
Early life
Christopher James Dijak was born and raised in
Lunenburg, Massachusetts. He is of Croatian, Hungarian, and Italian ancestry. Dijak was a standout three-sport athlete at
Lunenburg High School, excelling specifically at football, resulting in him being recruited by many top
New England area college football programs. He was named the 2005 Sentinel & Enterprise Male Scholar Athlete of the Year, a Central Massachusetts Shriners All-Star selection, and was named a captain and selected as the team MVP during his senior season. Ultimately, Dijak accepted a scholarship to play college football for the
UMass Minutemen.[6]
After
redshirting his freshman season at UMass and struggling to adjust at the large campus, Dijak ultimately decided to transfer to
Bridgewater State University, a mid-sized liberal arts college located approximately 20 miles outside
Boston,
Massachusetts. At Bridgewater State, Dijak excelled at both football and basketball, leading the football team in both tackles and sacks in his junior and senior years, and led the basketball team in rebounding his senior year. Dijak also earned all-league honors in both sports. He was also named to the NCAA Division III Football East Region All-American team in his senior season playing for the Bears. Dijak graduated from Bridgewater State in 2010 with a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice.[7][8][9]
Professional wrestling career
Chaotic Wrestling (2013–2017)
Following two losses in smaller promotions, Dijak joined
Chaotic Wrestling, training under Brian Fury and
Todd Hanson.[10] He made his debut in August 2013 in a winning effort against Vern Vicallo, and remained undefeated until July 2014 when he lost to Chaotic Wrestling champion Mark Shurman. After earning another title shot in a fatal four-way match the next month, he went on to defeat Shurman in their rematch on October 24 and claim the
CW Heavyweight Championship. After a reign of 148 days, he lost the title against Chase Del Monte on March 21, 2015. In 2016, Dijak teamed with Mikey Webb to form the tag team The American Destroyers. Dijak and Webb would go on to win the
Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Championship by defeating The Logan Brothers on December 26, 2016, before losing them less than a month later to The Mill City Hooligans. In his final match for the promotion, Dijak defeated
Christian Casanova and
Josh Briggs in a
triple threat match for the
Chaotic Wrestling New England Championship. Immediately after the match, he vacated the title.[11]
Ring of Honor (2014–2017)
This section needs expansion. You can help by
adding to it. (May 2019)
On December 19 (aired January 13, 2016), he was banned from Truth Martini's stable, initially turning
face in the process.[15] At the February 27 ROH TV tapings, Dijak came out with
Prince Nana and attacked Truth Martini, turning heel again and making a rare double-turn with Jay Lethal and becoming Prince Nana's latest crown jewel in the Embassy stable.[16] Dijak announced his departure from ROH via Twitter on February 12, 2017.[17]
WWE
NXT (2017–2020)
In January 2017,
WWE pulled a contract offer from Dijak, following a legal threat from ROH, who still had him under contract.[18] The following month, Dijak opted not to re-sign with ROH, essentially putting his career on hold, waiting for another contract offer from WWE.[18] On July 20, it was reported that Dijak was finishing up his independent bookings ahead of joining WWE.[18] Dijak reported to the
WWE Performance Center on August 21.[19] His signing was announced by the company on September 5.[20]
Dijak made his debut for WWE's developmental branch,
NXT, on September 23.[21] His television debut, under his real name, came on May 30, 2018, in a loss against
Ricochet. In July 2018, WWE revealed Dijak's new
ring name as Dominik Dijakovic. Promos started to appear on the December 5, 2018 episode of NXT, promoting the debut of Dominik Dijakovic. Dijakovic made his debut as a
villain on the December 19 episode of NXT, defeating Aaron Mackey.[22] Following
WrestleMania 35, he was set to feud with then
NXT North American ChampionVelveteen Dream over the championship. However, in April 2019, he suffered a torn meniscus that would require surgery.[23] He would be out of action until late July, when he returned at an NXT live event.[24]
On November 13, 2019 episode of NXT, Dijakovic turned
face when he joined Team Ciampa for the annual WarGames match with
Tommaso Ciampa,
Matt Riddle and
Keith Lee against
The Undisputed Era at
TakeOver: WarGames. Riddle proceeded to leave the team to pursue his rivalry with
Finn Bálor.[25] At the event, Dijakovic and Team Ciampa defeated The Undisputed Era, with Riddle's place being taken by
Kevin Owens.[26] On the January 29, 2020 episode of NXT, Dijakovic defeated
Damian Priest to become the number one contender for
Keith Lee's NXT North American Championship at
TakeOver: Portland on February 16, where he failed to win the title. After the match, Lee and Dijakovic shook hands as a sign of respect.[27] After Lee's
NXT Championship win against
Adam Cole at
The Great American Bash, Dijakovic was challenged by Lee for both the NXT Championship and NXT North American Championship on the following episode, but was unsuccessful in capturing the titles. He was then attacked by
Karrion Kross during a backstage interview, resulting in a match between the two on the July 22 episode of NXT, which Dijakovic lost. This marked his final appearance on NXT.
On the September 21 episode of Raw, he was revealed as a member of the
villainous stable
Retribution, under the ring name T-Bar, with a new outfit and a mask.[28] On the October 5 episode of Raw,
Mustafa Ali was revealed as the stable's leader. Over the following weeks, the faction had little success. At
Fastlane on March 21, 2021, T-Bar and
Mace attacked Ali, disbanding the stable. On the April 12 episode of Raw, T-Bar and Mace attacked
Drew McIntyre, showing signs of joining
The Hurt Business. The following week on Raw , T-Bar was finally unmasked along with Mace in a tag team match against McIntyre and
Braun Strowman, in which T-Bar and Mace won by disqualification. Later in an interview, they confirmed the start of their tag team run. After a few weeks of absence from television, T-Bar and Mace were put as lumberjacks in a
Lumberjack match between
John Morrison and
Damian Priest on the May 17 episode of Raw.
As part of the
2021 Draft, Mace was drafted to the
SmackDownbrand while T-Bar remained on the
Raw brand, thus disbanding the team.[29] On the October 25 episode of Raw, T-Bar got himself disqualified in a match against
WWE United States ChampionDamian Priest after throwing an office chair at the champion.[30] On the November 1 episode of Raw, he lost to Priest in a no disqualification match in which Priest retained the US title.[31] Throughout 2022, he was relegated to competing on
WWE Main Event until October.
Return to NXT (2022–present)
On the October 25 episode of NXT, a vignette was shown of T-Bar's Retribution mask being tossed into a fire, teasing his return to the NXT brand. On the November 22 episode of NXT, he returned to the brand, now repackaged as a Terminator-inspired character under the Dijak name, and attacked
Wes Lee after Wes successfully defended the NXT North American Championship against
Carmelo Hayes.[32][33] At
Vengeance Day, Dijak lost his NXT North American Championship match due to interference from
Tony D'Angelo and fellow NXT superstar
Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo, thus giving Wes Lee the opportunity to capitalise on the distraction and retain the championship.[34] On March 7 at
Roadblock, Dijak was defeated by D'Angelo in a
Jailhouse Street Fight.[35] In April, Dijak began a feud with
Ilja Dragunov.[36] At
Spring Breakin', Dijak attacked Dragunov backstage.[37] At
Battleground on May 28, Dijak was defeated by Dragunov in a
Last Man Standing match, ending the feud.[38]
On the November 7 episode of NXT, Dijak defeated
Tyler Bate to qualify for the
Iron Survivor Challenge at
Deadline,[39] which was won by
Trick Williams.[40] On the January 15 episode of NXT, Dijak faced Trey Bearhill, with
Joe Gacy serving as commentator. During the match, Gacy headbutted Dijak. After Dijak won the match against Bearhill, Gacy attacked Dijak from behind and both men started brawling.[41] The following week, a match between Dijak and Gacy was scheduled, but the match didn't happen due to Gacy attacking Dijak before the bell rang. Both men continued fighting until they were pulled apart by referees and security guards.[42] On February 4, 2024 at
Vengeance Day, Dijak defeated
Joe Gacy in a No Disqualification match.[43] During Dijak's matches after Vengeance Day, Gacy started appearing under the ring apron. On the February 13 episode of NXT, Gacy faced
Carmelo Hayes in a losing effort. After the match, Dijak attacked Gacy with a
nightstick and then locked him in a
straitjacket and left.[44] The following week, Dijak locked Gacy in an asylum cell, with Gacy laughing and telling Dijak that "this wasn't over".[45] On the February 27 episode of NXT, Dijak defeated
Luca Crusifino. After the match, Gacy ripped apart the straitjacket and started beating down Dijak until both men went backstage, where they continued fighting.[46] On March 5 at
Roadblock, Dijak defeated Gacy in an
Asylum match.[47] At
Stand & Deliver on April 6, Dijak failed to win the NXT North American Championship from
Oba Femi in a
triple threat match which also include
Josh Briggs.[48]
Other media
As T-Bar, he made his
video game debut as a playable character in WWE 2K22,[49] but was also featured in the game's MyRise mode as Dominik Dijakovic. This character was only available in the MyRise mode, however, and was originally not accessible by players. WWE2K added the Dominik Dijakovic character[50] in patch 1.12 released on May 16, 2022,[51] thus giving Dijak two characters in the game. He made an additional appearance as T-Bar in WWE 2K23 and as Dijak in WWE 2K24.