Travis Banks
Travis Bligh (born 15 February 1987), better known by his ring name Travis Banks, is a New Zealand professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE on their NXT UK brand. He is also known for competing in promotions such as Fight Club Pro, What Culture Pro Wrestling, Attack! Pro Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, and most notably Progress Wrestling, where he is a former World Champion. Professional wrestling career. Independent circuit (2013–2018). On 30 March 2013, at IPW Genesis, Banks was involved in a #1 Contendership Battle Royal for the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship , Banks and Liam Fury both eliminated each other making the match a draw. On 27 April 2013, at IPW Decade Of Impact, Banks would win the IPW New Zealand Heavyweight Championship in a Triple Threat Match against Kingi and Liam Fury. On 6 September 2013, on ROH Road To Greatness Night 1, Banks would debut in Ring of Honor as he teamed with Aaron Solo and Mike Dean in a losing effort to Cheeseburger, Nick Merriman and Will Ferrara. He returned to ROH on 20 November 2016, at ROH Reach For The Sky Night 3, where he was defeated by  Kyle O'Reilly at York Hall during one of the company's UK shows. He would appear again for the promotion at a UK show when he and Chris Brookes, as CCK, defeated The Boys at War of the Worlds Night 2 on 18 August 2017. On 28 June 2017 it was announced that Banks would debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) by entering the 2017 Battle of Los Angeles. He defeated Mark Haskins in the first round and Marty Scurll in the quarter finals before being eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Ricochet. On 16 February 2018 at  Neon Knights, Banks beat David Starr. On 26 June 2018, it was announced that Banks would be taking part in the 2018 Battle of Los Angeles. What Culture Pro Wrestling / Defiant Wrestling (2016–2018). Banks made his What Culture Pro Wrestling debut in a Tag Team match as he teamed with Martin Kirby as they defeated Gabriel Kidd & Liam Slater. At WCPW Refuse To Lose, Banks was involved in a triple threat match to crown the first WCPW Internet Champion which was won by El Ligero. At WCPW True Legacy Banks teamed with Pete Dunne and went on to defeat Alberto  El Patron and El Ligero in the first round of the WCPW Tag Team Championship tournament. On WCPW Loaded #16 Banks and Dunne were defeated by the Coffey Brothers (Joe Coffey & Mark Coffey) in the semifinal of the WCPW Tag Team Championship tournament. At WCPW Delete WCPW Banks and Dunne defeated Prospect (Alex Gracie & Lucas Archer) in a Number One Contendership Match for the WCPW Tag Team Championship tournament. On WCPW Loaded #17 Banks and Dunne unsuccessful at winning the WCPW Tag Team Championship against Johnny Moss & Liam Slater. At WCPW Lights Out Banks defeated Zack Sabre Jr. At WCPW  Loaded #24 Coffey and Travis Banks helped Joe Hendry defeat Alberto El Patron. At Exit Wounds, it transpired that Banks, Joe Coffey and Joe Hendry had formed a stable called The Prestige. BT Gunn joined the group later in the night. On WCPW Pro Wrestling World Cup - English Qualifying Round The Prestige defeated Bullet Club (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson) and Gabriel Kidd. On 29 April, at No Regrets, Banks entered at #14 in a thirty-man rumble for the WCPW Championship; however, he was eliminated by Rampage. On 22 July 2017 Banks defeated Mark Davis in the first  round of the Rest of the World Leg, Banks then defeated Jurn Simmons in the second round and was in the Final Bracket. Banks was then defeated by Mike Bailey in the Round of 16 in the PWWC. On the Penultimate episode of WCPW Loaded, Banks would wrestle Marty Scurll in a losing effort to capture the WCPW title. On the final episode of loaded, during an interview, Banks would be attacked by Hendry and Ligero, effectively kicking him out of The Prestige. At the company's first PPV after rebranding, #WeAreDefiant, Banks would defeat El Ligero in a match . On the first episode of the company's new YouTube show, Defiant, Banks would defeat David Starr in a match. On Defiant's fifth episode, Joe Coffey (who had also left The Prestige by that point), as a sign of goodwill, would grant Banks a shot at the newly crowned Defiant Champion, Austin Aries. However, he would not be successful in capturing the title. On the next episode he would team up with Coffey where they would defeat Hendry and Ligero. On the next episode, however, Hendry and Ligero would exact a certain measure of revenge when they managed to  defeat Banks and fellow CCK member Chris Brookes. At Chain Reaction 2018, Banks would be chosen by General Manager Stu Bennett to be part of Team Defiant (Martin Kirby, Primate, Rampage and BT Gunn) in a match against Team IPW (Austin Aries, Mark Haskins, Damian Dunne, Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher). Team Defiant would win the match and take back control of the promotion from IPW. On the 10th episode of Defiant, due to the Defiant Internet Title being vacated, Stu Bennett would put Banks in a four-way elimination match for the title against David Starr, Chris Brookes and  Mike Bailey. Bennett would also announce that whoever win the title would have their first defense at Lights Out 2018 against a debuting Walter. Banks would manage to win the match by last eliminating Starr and win his first title for the company. Later that night Banks would convince Bennett to add Starr to the match at Lights Out due to the history between Starr and Walter. Banks would however injure his foot before the event making the match at Lights Out a number one contendership match instead which Walter would win. At the Road to No Regrets Starr and  Walter would once again wrestle with Walter once again picking the win and setting up a match against Banks for the title at No Regrets. At No Regrets, the match would end in a draw after the referee counted a pin on Walter at the same time Banks would tap out. Due to the finish and Zach Sabre Jr. returning (who held the title before it was vacated), at the Road to Destruction, the three men would meet in a match for the title. The match would end with Walter tapping out Zack Sabre Jr. to win the title. Progress  Wrestling (2016–2020). Banks debuted for Progress Wrestling in June 2016 by assisting TK Cooper in defeating Jack Sexsmith at Chapter 32. His debut match for Progress took place a month later at Chapter 33 where he and Cooper defeated Sexsmith and Roy Johnson. Banks and Cooper would collectively be known as the South Pacific Power Trip and began a winning streak as a team that lasted until Chapter 45 where they were unsuccessful in challenging British Strong Style (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate) for the Progress Tag Team Championship. Banks entered the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament in 2017 where  he defeated Jimmy Havoc in the first round, Flamita in the quarter finals and Zack Sabre Jr. in the semi-finals. Banks would defeat Tyler Bate in the tournament finals, after which he asked to face the Progress World Champion at Chapter 55 at Alexandra Palace in September 2017. On 10 September Banks defeated Pete Dunne to become the new Progress World Champion. He successfully defended the title against a diverse range of opponents such as Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, Will Ospreay, and Mark Andrews. Over WrestleMania 34 weekend in April 2018, PROGRESS Wrestling held two shows in Louisiana during  which Banks successfully defended his title in matches against Jeff Cobb and Shane Strickland. Also in April 2018, PROGRESS embarked on a mini tour of Australia, culminating in Banks retaining his title against Robbie Eagles. After a feud that saw Banks previously retain the title by count-out, he eventually lost the PROGRESS World Championship to Walter at Chapter 74. Due to a dislocated shoulder, Banks was unable to take part in PROGRESS’ Coast to Coast tour of America in August 2018. He returned from injury at Chapter 79, defeating David Starr. Progress cut all ties with Banks after the  Speaking Out movement in June 2020. Revolution Pro Wrestling (2017–2018). Alongside Chris Brookes as CCK (Commonwealth Catch Kings), Banks won the Revolution Pro Wrestling tag team titles from Charlie Sterling and Joel Redman in his first match for the company. CCK successfully defended those titles against a number of teams including Ryan Smile and Shane Strickland, Sami Callihan and Martin Stone, and "Los Ingobernables de Japón" (Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi) before losing the belts to Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate). CCK had a successful "Global Wars 2017", winning against CHAOS (Rocky Romero and Yoshi-Hashi) on Night One  and successfully teaming with Kid Lykos on Night Two against the CHAOS team of Gedo, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. CCK then attempted to regain the tag team titles from new champions Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki & Zack Sabre Jr) but lost to the champions at "Epic Encounter 2018". WWE (2017–2020). Banks first worked for the WWE on 1 April 2017, participating in a match at WWE Wrestlemania Axxess where he teamed with TK Cooper in a losing effort to Mustafa Ali and Rich Swann. On 18 May 2018, it was announced that Banks would be taking part in the second  ever WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament. Banks beat El Ligero in the first round at NXT Download on 8 June. On 18 June, the first night of the two-night tournament event at the Royal Albert Hall, Banks beat Ashton Smith in the quarter finals and Joe Coffey in the semi finals before ultimately losing to Zack Gibson in the final. On the second night, he lost a match to decide the number one contender for the WWE United Kingdom Championship to Noam Dar in a bout that also featured Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster. On the day of  NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool, Banks was supposed to face Jordan Devlin but Devlin attacked a few hours before their match. On the January 23 episode of NXT UK, Banks faced Devlin but it ended in a double count-out. After months of feuding, Banks lost to Devlin in a falls count anywhere match on the March 6 episode of NXT UK ending their feud. On the June 5 episode of NXT UK, Banks defeated Devlin, Dave Mastiff, and Joe Coffey to be the #1 contender to face the NXT UK Champion Walter. On the June 26 episode of NXT UK , Banks was defeated by Walter. Post #SpeakingOut (2021-present). On November 10, 2021, Banks would make his first statement, stating because of the allegations, his work visa in the United Kingdom was revoked and was to leave the country. He would also announce his return to professional wrestling at the beginning of 2022. He would also announce that he would only wrestle in the Mexican independent scene. He would make his in-ring return in October at an IWRG Lucha Libre event. In February 2022, Banks would win the vacant IWRG IC Middleweight Championship, his first title win since his  release. Emotional abuse allegations. As part of the Speaking Out movement wrestler Millie McKenzie accused Banks of emotional abuse and of abusing his position of trust over her by having a relationship with her when she was seventeen years old and his trainee at Fight Club Pro. Banks had been thirty years old at the time of the relationship. Banks released a statement admitting to the relationship. McKenzie released screenshots of abusive messages allegedly from Banks and claimed he had abused his position of trust over other trainees. Progress cut ties with Banks on June 20, 2020. On June 26 , Banks was released (without formal confirmation) from WWE.