Bo Dallas

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**Taylor Michael Rotunda** (born May 25, 1990) is an American professional wrestler who is signed to WWE where he performs under the ring name **Bo Dallas**. While in WWE's developmental territories, he was a three-time FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, a two-time FCW Florida Tag Team Champion with his older brother Bray Wyatt, and the youngest NXT Champion in WWE history.

## Professional wrestling career

#### **NXT(2012-2014)**

In 2012, WWE rebranded FCW as WWE NXT, Rotundo made his NXT television debut in June 20 episode of NXT, portraying a happy-go-lucky and resilient character under the ring name Bo Dallas, where he defeated Rick Victor. In August, Dallas competed in a tournament to crown the first NXT Champion; he was eliminated by Jinder Mahal in the quarter-finals. On the November 7 episode of NXT, Dallas competed in a number one contenders fatal four-way elimination match against Mahal, Drew McIntyre, and Justin Gabriel; despite eliminating McIntyre and Gabriel, Dallas succumbed to Mahal.

On January 26, 2013, at WWE's Royal Rumble Fanfest, Dallas participated in an eight-man NXT tournament for a place in the 2013 Royal Rumble match; he defeated Luke Harper, Conor O'Brian, and Leo Kruger to win the tournament. 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 provoked a brief feud, with Barrett challenging Dallas to a non-title match the next night on Raw, in which Dallas earned an upset victory in his first singles match on Raw. On the February 11 episode of Raw Dallas appeared, attacking Barrett before Barrett's match against Kofi Kingston. Dallas later challenged Barrett for the Intercontinental Championship, but was defeated.

Simultaneously with his feud with Barrett, Dallas entered the NXT Tag Team Championship tournament alongside Michael McGillicutty. The pair defeated Primo and Epico to advance to the semi-finals, but lost to the Wyatt Family (Luke Harper and Erick Rowan) due to Bray Wyatt's interference. In an NXT Championship number one contender's three-way match against Conor O'Brian and Corey Graves, Dallas was prevented from winning by Wyatt, due to Dallas' earlier refusal to join The Wyatt Family. This resulted in a match between Dallas and Wyatt, which Dallas won. Starting in late April 2013, the NXT audience began to turn 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, but on May 8, they lost the title to The Wyatt Family. Soon after, Dallas' character began showing subtle villainous traits of being disingenuous.

On the May 29 episode of NXT, Dallas won a battle royal to become the number one contender to the NXT Championship. On NXT on June 12 (taped on May 23), Dallas defeated Big E Langston to become the new NXT Champion. He successfully defended the championship against Antonio Cesaro and Leo Kruger during mid-2013.[45][46] By then, the NXT audience's dislike of Dallas had grown to the point of the crowd literally turning their backs on him while cheering all his opponents, regardless of who he faced. In September, Dallas held an open challenge to determine his 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 episode of NXT, and Dallas retained his title by sending Zayn into an exposed turnbuckle. Dallas then faced Adrian Neville in December and lost by countout to retain his title. In a rematch at NXT Arrival in February 2014, Dallas lost the title to Neville, and failed to regain it in a rematch on NXT on March 27. The following month, Dallas attempted to "Occupy NXT", but the crowd turned their backs on him, and he was forced into a match against Justin Gabriel, which he won. Beginning to throw tantrums after failing to get his own way, he was put in a match against Big E on May 22. Dallas subsequently lost the match and was forced to leave NXT as a result. In June, he attempted to return to NXT by appearing as the masked character "Mr. NXT", but was exposed by Zayn and forced to leave.