Bo Dallas Taylor Michael Rotunda ( May 25 , 1990 ) is a third generation American professional wrestler . He is signed to WWE , where he is working at the main roster as Bo Dallas . While at WWE ' s development territory NXT , Dallas was the longest - reigning NXT Champion in the championship ' s history at 280 days . He had previously held the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship three times and is a former two - time FCW Florida Tag Team Champion with his older brother Windham Rotunda . He is the grandson of WWE Hall of Famer Blackjack Mulligan , son of Mike Rotunda , and nephew of WWE Hall of Famer Barry Windham . World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE . Florida Championship Wrestling ( 2008 – 2012 ) . In 2008 , Rotunda signed a developmental contract with WWE and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling ( FCW ) , where he debuted in December by defeating Caleb O ' Neal . On December 16 , 2008 , Rotunda , wrestling under his real name teamed with Kris Logan to defeat Ryback and Jon Cutler in a tag team match . Throughout early 2009 , Rotunda continued wrestling in tag team matches , and changed his name to ' Tank Rotunda ' in February . In June , he began wrestling as ' Bo Rotunda ' and later ' Bo Rotundo ' , and the following month he began teaming with his brother , Duke Rotundo . At the FCW television tapings on June 23 , The Rotundo Brothers defeated The Dude Busters ( Caylen Croft and Trent Barretta ) to become the number one contenders to the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . That same night , they defeated Justin Angel and Kris Logan for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship . They went on to successfully defend the championship against Dylan Klein and Vance Archer and the team of Curt Hawkins and Heath Slater . At the FCW television tapings on November 19 , the Rotundos lost the championship to The Dude Busters ( Hawkins and Croft ) . In early 2010 , the Rotundos began feuding with The Usos ( Jimmy and Jules ) , and their manager , Sarona Snuka . They lost to The Usos on January 14 , but defeated The Usos and Donny Marlow in a six - man tag team match , with Wes Brisco as their partner . In a straight rematch on March 11 , the Rotundos defeated The Usos . In April , they moved into a feud with Jackson Andrews and Curt Hawkins , which began when Rotundo faced Andrews in a singles match and won by disqualification when Hawkins interfered . At the television tapings the following week , the Rotundos teamed up with Eli Cottonwood in a loss to Hawkins , Andrews , and Leo Kruger . Rotundo was then absent from FCW due to injury , making his return in June . He moved into singles competition , defeating wrestlers including Derrick Bateman , Hawkins , Tyler Reks , and Brodus Clay . In August , FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion Mason Ryan issued an open challenge , which Rotundo accepted . He lost the subsequent championship match by submission . On February 3 , 2011 , Rotundo defeated Ryan to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship for the first time , but lost the championship to Lucky Cannon immediately afterward . He regained the championship from Cannon three months later , on May 19 . Rotundo made his WWE debut on July 25 , defeating Primo in a dark match before the " WWE Raw " broadcast began . On August 16 , Rotundo defeated Joey Ryan in another dark match at the " SmackDown " tapings , and the following week on August 23 , Rotundo lost to Wade Barrett in a dark match prior to " SmackDown " . On September 1 , Rotundo vacated the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship due to injury . Later that month , it was reported that Rotundo had suffered a lacerated kidney , and was expected to be absent for several months to recuperate . Rotundo returned at the tapings of the January 29 , 2012 , episode of FCW television , cutting a promo declaring his intentions to reclaim the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship . On February 2 , Rotundo and his brother , renamed Husky Harris , defeated Brad Maddox and Eli Cottonwood , a substitute for the injured Briley Pierce , to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship for the second time . The brothers held the championship until March 15 , when they lost it to Corey Graves and Jake Carter . In May 2012 , Rotundo made several appearances at WWE house show s , defeating Drew McIntyre . At a FCW live event on June 16 , 2012 , Dallas defeated Rick Victor to win the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship for a third time , right after Victor had just defeated Seth Rollins for the title . He lost the title back to Victor at another FCW live event on July 13 , 2012 . NXT Wrestling ( 2012 – 2014 ) . When WWE rebranded its developmental territory , FCW , into NXT Wrestling , Dallas ' NXT television debut took place on the first episode of the rebooted " WWE NXT " taped at Full Sail University , as he played a happy - go - lucky and resilient babyface ( heroic character ) , while defeating Rick Victor . On the August 8 " NXT " , Dallas was inserted into the Gold Rush Tournament to crown the first NXT Champion , where he was eliminated by Jinder Mahal in the quarter - finals . On the November 7 " NXT " , Dallas competed in a number one contender fatal four - way elimination match against Mahal , Drew McIntyre and Justin Gabriel ; despite eliminating McIntyre and Gabriel , Dallas succumbed to Mahal . The next week , Dallas goaded Mahal into facing him in a match with the title shot on the line , but Mahal prevailed once again . On the December 5 " NXT " , Dallas offered an open challenge to anyone in WWE due to his love of fighting . The challenge was answered by WWE ' s World Heavyweight Champion Big Show , who defeated Dallas on the December 19 " NXT " . On January 26 , 2013 at WWE ' s first - ever Royal Rumble Fanfest , Dallas participated in an eight - man NXT tournament and defeated Luke Harper , Conor O ' Brian and lastly Leo Kruger to win the tournament , thus becoming the first NXT wrestler to qualify for the 2013 Royal Rumble match . The next day , Dallas entered the Rumble match at number 16 , where he lasted over 20 minutes and eliminated the Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett , who returned to the ring and eliminated Dallas . This started a feud between the duo , with Barrett challenging Dallas to a non - title match the following night on " Raw " , in which Dallas pulled off an upset victory in his first singles match on " Raw " . Dallas later challenged Barrett on the April 24 " NXT " for the Intercontinental Championship , but was defeated . Simultaneously with his feud with Barrett , Dallas entered the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament alongside Michael McGillicutty , who had earlier saved Dallas from a beating at the hands of Primo and Epico . The pairing defeated Primo and Epico in the first round of the tournament . In the tournament semi - finals , Dallas and McGillicutty lost to the Wyatt Family ( Luke Harper and Erick Rowan ) due to Bray Wyatt ' s interference . An attack by the Shield then prevented Dallas from participating in a NXT Championship number one contender match against Conor O ' Brian and Corey Graves ( both who were later attacked as well ) . The triple - threat match did occur the next week and Wyatt prevented Dallas from winning the match due to Dallas ' earlier refusal to join the Wyatt Family , resulting in a match being set up between Dallas and Wyatt , which Dallas won . From late April 2013 , the NXT audience turned against Dallas ( despite Dallas not changing his character ) and started booing him . NXT Tag Team Champion Adrian Neville chose Dallas to replace his injured partner , Oliver Grey . On the May 8 " NXT " , Neville and Dallas failed in their first defense of the tag titles when they lost them to the Wyatt Family . Soon after , Dallas ' character began showing subtle heel ( villainous ) traits of being disingenuous . On the May 29 " NXT " , Dallas competed in an 18 - man battle royal to determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship ; he eliminated his former tag partner Neville to win the battle royal . On the June 12 " NXT " ( originally taped on May 23 ) , Dallas defeated champion Big E Langston after twice ramming Langston into an exposed turnbuckle to become the new NXT Champion . As Leo Kruger set his sights on Dallas ' title , Dallas made his first successful title defense on the July 3 " NXT " by exploiting Kruger ' s interference to defeat Antonio Cesaro . On the August 7 " NXT " , Dallas defeated Kruger to retain his title . By then , the NXT audience ' s hate of Dallas translated to them literally turning their backs on him while cheering his opponents , even heels like Cesaro and Kruger or unknowns like Mickey Keegan . Dallas then held an open challenge to determine the next title contender but banned Sami Zayn from competing , so Zayn masqueraded as the masked El Local and defeated Dallas to earn his title shot . The match occurred on the [ [ [ [ October 16 ] ] ] ] " NXT " ; General Manager John " Bradshaw " Layfield restarted the match when Zayn won despite Dallas ' foot on the ropes , but not when Dallas sent Zayn into an exposed turnbuckle to retain his title . Dallas then faced his next title contender and former tag team partner Adrian Neville and lost by count - out to retain his title . However , Dallas would lose the title to Neville at NXT Arrival in a ladder match . He lost his rematch on the March 27 " NXT " . On the April 10 episode of " NXT " , Dallas attempted to mimic Daniel Bryan by trying to " Occupy NXT " , but the crowd turned their backs on him as a response . He was then forced into a match against Justin Gabriel , which he won . Two weeks later he lost to Tyson Kidd , and after the match Bo threw a tantrum , mimicking what happened after the " Occupy NXT " incident weeks prior . On the May 8th edition of NXT , he participated in a number - one contender ' s Battle Royal , and made it to the final four before being eliminated by Tyson Kidd . On the May 15th NXT , it was announced that he was put in a match for the May 22nd show against Big E with the stipulation that if he won , he would earn another NXT title shot and if he lost , he would be forced to leave NXT forever . Dallas subsequently lost the match and was forced to leave . During the taping ' s break , he turned heel towards NXT ( and only NXT ) by saying that he hates everyone and that they should leave . Sooner in the NXT tapings for June , Bo secretly trespassed briefly under a new gimmick , " Mr . NXT " . However , he lost to Sami Zayn who exposed Dallas and had security take him away . The following week after , he found his way into the building and ran around for help from security . Bolieve ( 2014 – 2015 ) . From the post - WrestleMania XXX " Raw " on April 7 , WWE started airing introductory videos for Dallas to promote his return to the main roster . These motivators created a portmanteau of his first name " Bo " and the word " Believe " creating the term " Bolieve " , which he would retain as his new slogan . Dallas ' return was in a winning effort , as he defeated Sin Cara on the May 23 episode of " SmackDown " as well as the May 26 episode of " Raw " . Dallas made his first pay - per - view appearance at Payback , where he was scheduled to face Kofi Kingston . However , the match never happened due to interference from Kane . Dallas would face Kingston the following night on " Raw " in a winning effort . Bo took his undefeated streak higher when he defeated Santino Marella on " SmackDown " on 6 June 2014 . Bo continued to remain undefeated when he defeated Xavier Woods a second time on the June 9 edition of " Raw " . On July 28 , during latter part of the " Raw " show , Bo Dallas ' undefeated streak was finally broken by R - Truth after Truth caught Dallas in a pinning roll - up during Dallas ' premature victory lap around the ring . Afterwards , Dallas opted to beat down Truth for having defeated him in such short fashion . Bo Dallas began feuding with Mark Henry after defeating him on the September 29 episode of Raw , tormenting him like he did Swagger following Henry ' s losses to Rusev at Night of Champions and the September 22 episode of Raw . Dallas was beaten down by Henry after the match but defeated him again the following night on WWE Main Event and was attacked again . On the October 6 episode of Raw he picked up another win over Henry via count - out but escaped before Henry could attack him . On the October 7 episode of Main EVent , he unsuccessfully challenged Dolph Ziggler for the Intercontinental Championship . Dallas then went on to pick up three more wins over Henry in both singles and tag team matches , before being quickly defeated by Henry in a match on the Hell in a Cell pre - show . Dallas injured his left foot in November and it was reported he would be out of action for around 6 – 8 weeks . At WrestleMania 31 , Dallas returned for the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal but was eliminated . The next night on RAW , he made his first RAW appearance for months but was attacked by Sting after his WWE Network Exclusive interview . Bo would continue to anger WWE Superstars the likes of Brock Lesnar , and Roman Reigns . Dallas would then take part in The Social Outcasts , alongside Heath Slater , Curtis Axel and Adam Rose . Bo - Lieve In Bo ( 2016 – present ) . On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft , Dallas was drafted to Raw in the 10th round ( 50th overall ) . Bo returned on the September 5 edition of Raw , carrying a sign saying " Bo - lieve in Bo " and displaying a new , more vicious style as he defeated a local competitor . The trend continued the next week , despite a loss to Bin Wang at WWE ' s Shanghai live event , with Dallas defeating another local competitor . Personal life . Rotunda is a third generation professional wrestler ; his grandfather Blackjack Mulligan , father Mike Rotunda and uncles Barry and Kendall Windham were all professional wrestlers . He has an older brother , Windham Rotunda , who is also a professional wrestler under the ring name Bray Wyatt , and a younger sister , Mika . Rotunda attended Hernando High School , and graduated in 2008 . During his final two years of high school , he qualified for the state wrestling championships . He also played football as a linebacker . Originally , he was offered a football scholarship at Webber International University in Babson Park , Florida , but when the offer fell through , he decided to become a wrestler instead . On February 19 , 2012 , Rotunda was arrested for driving under the influence in Tampa , Florida , with blood - alcohol levels of 0 . 166 and 0 . 178 according to two breathalyser tests , more than twice the legal limit . He was released later that day on a US $ 500 bond . On June 27 , 2014 , Rotunda married Sarah Bäckman , a former WWE NXT talent .