Gzim Selmani

Gzim Selmani
Birth name Gzim Selmani
Born (1994-06-16) 16 June 1994
Huizen, North Holland, Netherlands[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Rezar[2]
Gzim Selmani
Billed height 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Billed weight 330 lb (150 kg)
Billed from Albania[3]
Trained by Matt Bloom
Debut 30 January 2016

Gzim Selmani (born 16 June 1994) is an Albanian professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist currently signed to WWE, where he performs in its developmental territory NXT under the ring name Rezar as part of the Authors of Pain with Akam.[2]

Early life

Selmani is an ethnic Kosovo Albanian who grew up in the Netherlands. He began practicing judo from the age of four, took up kickboxing at age 12 and began training in mixed martial arts alongside his brother Egzon at the age of 15.[1]

Mixed martial arts career

Gzim Selmani
Born (1994-06-16) 16 June 1994
Nationality Albanian
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight 265 lb (120 kg; 18 st 13 lb)
Division Heavyweight
Team Golden Glory
Years active 2012–2014 (MMA)
Mixed martial arts record
Total 6
Wins 4
By knockout 1
By submission 3
By decision 0
Losses 2
By knockout 2
By submission 0
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: 9 June 2016 (2016-06-09)

Selmani joined Golden Glory management team and began to compete in amateur mixed martial arts Shooto competitions in the Netherlands in 2012.[4] His first professional fight was in November 2012 against Anatoli Ciumac, which he won.[5] He faced Ante Delija at Final Fight Championship 05 and lost by TKO. Selmani defeated Mario Milosavljevic in November 2013 to record his second professional victory, and beat Tomaž Simonič at FFC 10 in Skopje, Macedonia. Selmani defeated Oli Thompson in 18 seconds in the main event of BAMMA 15 on 5 April 2014 in London.[6] Selmani competed for Bellator MMA at Bellator 130 in October 2014, losing via TKO to Daniel Gallemore.[7]

Mixed martial arts record

Res. Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes
Loss 4–2 Daniel Gallemore TKO (punches) Bellator 130 October 24, 2014 2 4:33 Mulvane, Kansas, United States
Win 4–1 Oli Thompson Technical submission (guillotine) BAMMA 15 April 5, 2014 1 0:18 London, United Kingdom
Win 3–1 Tomaz Simonic Submission (arm-triangle choke) Final Fight Championship 10 December 13, 2013 1 1:54 Skopje, Macedonia
Win 2–1 Mario Milosavljevic Submission (guillotine) Bosnia Fight Championship 1 November 9, 2013 1 0:35 Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Loss 1–1 Ante Delija TKO (punches) Final Fight Championship 5 May 24, 2013 1 3:09 Osijek, Croatia
Win 1–0 Anatoli Ciumac TKO (retirement) Klash Champions Battlefield 4 - Road to Glory November 24, 2012 2 5:00 Brasov, Romania

Professional wrestling career

WWE

NXT (2015–present)

Main article: The Authors of Pain

In May 2015, it was reported that Selmani had signed a contract with WWE and would begin training to become a professional wrestler at the WWE Performance Center.[8] In October 2015, WWE confirmed that Selmani was a WWE developmental recruit already training at the Performance Center.[9] He made his in-ring debut at a WWE NXT house show in Venice, Florida on 30 January 2016, losing to Josh Woods.[3] By February 2016, Selmani had formed a tag team with Sunny Dhinsa,[10] and they became known as the Authors of Pain by April 2016.[11]

Selmani and Dhinsa made their televised NXT debuts on 8 June 2016 at NXT TakeOver: The End;[12] following the NXT Tag Team Championship match, they attacked former champions American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan) before leaving backstage with Paul Ellering.[13] On the 15 June episode of NXT, the Authors of Pain won their first televised match and were managed by Ellering.[14] On the August 24 edition of NXT Selmani's ring name was revealed to be Rezar,[2] while Dhinsa would be billed as Akam.[15] The duo won the 2016 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating TM-61 in the tournament final at NXT TakeOver: Toronto.

In wrestling

Championship and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 "Team Selmani about". Team Selmani. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  2. 1 2 3 "Rezar_WWE". Twitter. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  3. 1 2 "1/30 WWE NXT in Venice, Fla. – PARKS'S In-Person Report on Asuka vs. Emma main event, Sara Lee in action, more". pwtorch. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  4. ↑ "Shooto Holland - Warriors 3". Sherdog. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  5. ↑ "TKlash Champions Battlefield - Road to Glory". mmacore.com. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  6. ↑ "BAMMA 15 results". British Association of Mixed Martial Arts. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  7. ↑ "Bellator 130 results: Emanuel Newton survives early trouble, taps Linton Vassell". MMAJunkie. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  8. ↑ Johnson, Mike. "WWE signs former Bellator fighter". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Tough Enough Competitors Join New Class at The WWE Performance Center". WWE. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "NXT Tampa, FL, live results: Sami Zayn vs. Manny Andrade for the first time". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "4/22 WWE NXT in Tampa Results – TMDK & Nikki Storm make NXT debuts, A-Riley vs. Dillinger main event, No Way Jose, Mandy Rose". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  12. ↑ Johnson, Mike. "Dillinger has strong showing: Ongoing NXT TakeOver - The End blog". pwinsider.com. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
  13. ↑ "NXT TakeOver live results: Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor cage match; Nakamura vs. Austin Aries". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 2016-06-09.
  14. 1 2 Tylwalk, Nick. "NXT: Finn Balor finds out what's next". Canoe.ca. Retrieved 18 June 2016.
  15. ↑ "Akam_WWE". Twitter. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
  16. ↑ "Pain".
  17. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
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