Wes Bennett

Bennett in June 2018

**Wesley Charles Burke** (born August 29,1994), better known by the ring name **Wes Bennett**, is an English professional wrestler currently signed to CWL, where he is one half of the current Nemesis Tag Team Champions. He is best known for his work in the CWL and XCW (Extreme Chicago Wrestling). He is a current member of the CWL faction The Order, and a former member of the XCW faction Crowd Control.

Burke is a former one-time XCW World Heavyweight Champion and a former two-time XCW Deathmatch Tag Team Champion.

## Early Career

**Early Life**

Wesley grew up in North Yorkshire, England with two older brothers. He received an academic scholarship to study journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago, where he dropped out to pursue a career in professional wrestling. After he completed his training under Scott “Dreadnaught” Dresden, he made his debut in 2012 in a loss against Dresden.

In a 2017 interview, Wesley cited Triple H, Christian, and Chris Jericho as wrestling influences growing up, specifically citing Jericho’s Undisputed Championship reign as the period that made him want to become a wrestler.

**XCW (2013-2017)**

Wesley wrestled around various independent Chicago promotions, before ultimately debuting as a member of the XCW faction Crowd Control, a group of three popular, young wrestlers known for their tag team deathmatch wrestling. They used their signature move, a trio of dragon suplexes performed by each member of the team, to capture the XCW Deathmatch Tag Team Championships. The faction feuded with another faction named the Dutch Destroyers over 2013, ultimately losing their tag team championships in a brutal scaffold match. In the finish of the match, Burke was thrown from the top of the scaffold to the ring below through a stack of tables. After landing awkwardly, Burke fractured his left elbow. The ending of the match was roundly criticized, as Burke himself tweeted that he was fortunate to have survived the spot at all.

Wesley served as a manager for Crowd Control for the remainder of 2014, being known for using his cast to strike his opponents in a similar gimmick to that of “Cowboy” Bob Orton. He helped Crowd Control reclaim the Tag Championships, before turning on them in December of 2015, revealing that his arm was in fact fully healed.

Now a singles wrestler, Burke began to develop a heel persona, disavowing his past as a deathmatch wrestler and pressuring the referee for strict enforcement of the rules. He would begin to win matches by disqualifications after his opponents did trivial, but technically illegal, maneuvers, such as dives off the top rope or throwing your opponent over the top rope. He would also insult the audience through condescension, accusing them of not appreciating his true technical wrestling skill.

In mid-2016, Burke won the XCW World Heavyweight Championship from former stable member Casey Azazel, retaining the championship for almost a year before losing it back to Azazel in a Chicago Deathmatch, in which Burke kayfabe-injured his elbow once more. Burke would continue to feud with Azazel over the belt, acting as a manager while having several other wrestlers fight for him in surrogate.

In November of 2017, Burke would compete in a retirement match against Azazel. At the end of the match, in which Burke lost, he embraced his former friend, turning face once more before he left XCW.

## At CWL (2018-present)

After taking a four-month hiatus, Burke joined the CWL, wrestling under the name Wes Bennett. He debuted in Week 24, taking a pinfall loss from Seth Lantern in a Fatal-4-Way match.

Bennett joined the Nemesis brand in the draft, and requested a match against Evildead, who he would take a pinfall loss against. The two engaged in a brief 1-on-1 rivalry that culminated in an Extreme Rules match in Week 31 that saw Bennett’s first return to weapons-based wrestling since XCW. After Wes Bennett beat Evildead, Bennett cut a promo backstage, announcing a newly formed partnership with Maverick Dallas. The pair defeated Loco Jr and El Toro Toxico to become number one contenders for the Nemesis Tag Team Championships, but were ultimately defeated by Thunder Gunn (Alex Thunder and Tommy Gunn) at the Karmageddon Pay-Per-View.

After their loss to The Disciples in Week 38, Maverick Dallas and Wes Bennett were beat down by Sicario and Keen. Ricky Valentine attempted to save Dallas and Bennett, but was ultimately overwhelmed by Evildead and new Disciples member Ryan Blaze. Following a press conference that devolved into a fight between the two stables, a match between the Disciples and Valentine, Dallas, and Bennett was announced. At Battle Lines, Ebak joined Valentine, Dallas, and Bennett in their efforts, and defeated the Disciples in an eight-man tag team elimination match, formerly naming the stable “The Order”.

After defeating Thunder Gunn in Week 46, Dallas and Bennett once again became number one contenders for the tag championships. They defeated the team of El Toro Toxico and Loco Jr. at Supremacy to become Nemesis Tag Team Champions for the first time. This also meant that the members of The Order controlled all the major male championships on the Nemesis brand, the first stable in CWL history to do so.

In Week 58, The Order defeated The Disciples in a non-title match. Nemesis GM Lisa Lovecraft proceeded to make a rematch for the Tag Championship at Endgame, this time in a Steel Cage match.

## Signature Moves

### **Signatures**

* *Russian Roulette* (Caribbean Kick)
* Guillotine Choke (Guillotine Choke 1)