Jack Rea is a 32-year-old professional wrestler from the United Kingdom. He is currently signed with the WWE and performs on NXT under the ring name, Zack Gibson.

Rea’s Early Wrestling Career

Rea made his professional wrestling debut in 2009 for the English promotion, FutureShock Wrestling, as Zack Diamond. In March 2010, he started using the ring name, Zack Gibson, and a year later, he entered the 2011 FutureShock Trophy Tournament making it to the finals where he lost to CJ Banks. He also started wrestling for Grand Pro Wrestling in 2010 and became the GPW British Champion after defeating former champion CJ Banks, Gallagher and Martin Kirby in a four-way scramble match. At GPW Heroes & Villains, he lost the championship to Jack Gallagher.

In 2016, Gibson started wrestling for 5 Star Wrestling and then made his debut for What Culture Pro Wrestling in March 2017. Gibson also wrestled for Progress Wrestling off and on beginning in 2012 and then wrestled from 2014 to 2019 for the promotion. In 2017, he formed the tag team, The Grizzled Young Veterans, with James Drake. Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Brookes and Kid Lykos of CCK to become the Progress tag team champions in 2018. They successfully defended their titles against Aussie Open and Moustache Mountain.

Zack Gibson’s WWE Debut

At WWE’s WrestleMania 34 Axxess Show, it was announced that Zack Gibson would take part in the WWE United Kingdom Championship invitational. Gibson lost in the first round to Mark Andrews. But on day four of Axxess, Grizzled Young Veterans retained their Progress Tag Team championships by disqualification against Heavy Machinery. It was also around this time that WWE announced that Gibson had signed a contract with the company.

Zack Gibson was one of 16 participants in the 2018 WWE United Kingdom Championship tournament with the winner facing Pete Dunne for the NXT United Kingdom Championship. In the opening round, Gibson defeated Amir Jordan and then beat Gentleman Jack Gallagher and Flash Morgan Webster in the second round and semi-finals. Gibson defeated Travis Banks in the finals and challenged WWE United Kingdom Champion, Pete Dunne, the next night in a losing effort.

NXT UK Tag Team Championship

At NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool, the Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain to become the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. Gibson and Drake defended their titles several times before losing them to Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster at NXT Takeover: Cardiff in a triple-threat tag team match also involving Gallus. On September 11, they did not win the titles back in a rematch against Moustache Mountain.

Drake and Gibson competed in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and defeated Kushida and Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals. They beat NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly of The Undisputed Era in the semi-finals, before losing to The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) in the finals.

On the 19 February 2020 episode of NXT, the Grizzled Young Veterans joined the NXT brand, defeating Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde and then announced they would be taking over NXT’s tag team division.

STATS

Birth name: Jack Rea
Born: August 8, 1990, Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Height: 6 ft 3 in (190 cm)
Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
Ring Name(s): Zack Diamond, Zack Gibson
Current Roster: WWE NXT UK
Finishing Move(s): Shankly gates, Helter Skelter

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