Grizzled Young Veterans
The Grizzled Young Veterans are a British professional wrestling tag team consisting of James Drake and Zack Gibson. They are currently signed to the WWE, working under their NXT brand. Drake and Gibson were the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. They are also three-time Progress Tag Team Champions. History. Progress Wrestling (2017–2019). In 2017, Zack Gibson and James Drake formed a villainous tag team called Grizzled Young Veterans. Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos of CCK to become the Progress Tag Team Champions. They successfully defended the titles against Aussie Open at  Progress Chapter 59. At Chapter 61, Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain to retain their championships. In 2018, Gibson took part of the Super Strong Style 16 Tournament, defeating Joey Janela in the first round and Pete Dunne by disqualification in the quarter finals before he was eliminated by Kassius Ohno in the semi-finals. WWE. NXT UK (2018–2020). In January 2017, Drake participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion, losing to Joseph Conners in the first round. Gibson was announced for WWE's WrestleMania Axxess during Wrestlemania 34 weekend as  part of a WWE United Kingdom Championship invitational where he lost to Mark Andrews in the first round. On day four of Axxess, Grizzled Young Veterans retained their Progress Tag Team championships by disqualification against Heavy Machinery. Around this time, it was revealed by Wrestling Observer that Gibson was signed to a WWE contract. Both would participate in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament with the winner facing Pete Dunne for the United Kingdom Championship. Drake lost to Flash Morgan Webster in the first round but Gibson won the tournament after defeat Travis Banks in the finals and would go  on to challenge Dunne, the next night in a losing effort. In 2019, they defeated Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate & Trent Seven) at in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. After some defences, they would lose the titles to Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster at in a triple-threat tag team also involving Gallus. On September 11, Drake and Gibson unsuccessfully challenged Andrews & Webster in a rematch. They would have another title match at against the new champions Gallus, Andrews & Webster and Imperium in a ladder match where the champions retained. In  parallel to their NXT UK Tag Team Championship pursuit at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Drake and Gibson competed in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They defeated Kushida and Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era in the semifinals, before losing to The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) in the finals. NXT (2020–present). On the February 19, 2020 episode of "NXT", the Grizzled Young Veterans joined the NXT brand as tweeners, defeating Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde before announcing their intent to take over  NXT's tag team division. However the two would soon disappear from television as a result of travel issues from the COVID-19 pandemic. The two returned on the November 25 episode of "NXT", attacking Ever-Rise. In early January 2021, the Grizzled Young Veterans took part in the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic defeating Ever-Rise in the first round and the team of Kushida and Leon Ruff in the second. On the February 10 episode of "NXT", they defeated Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa in the semi-finals and are scheduled to face MSK in the finals at  . At the event, the Grizzled Young Veterans were defeated by MSK, once again failing to win in the tournament finals. On the December 21, 2021 episode of "NXT", they faced The Creed Brothers which ended in a no-contest when both teams got into a brawl with Kushida and Ikemen Jiro (wrestling as the tag team Jacket Time) who were on commentary as well as Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen.