Donovan Dijak Wins First Title Since WWE Exit

Donovan Dijak is a champion for the first time since his WWE exit.

Dijak was in action for Ryse Pro Wrestling on Saturday, July 13 and the former WWE NXT star ended up having three matches at Ryse Rumble, first defeating Edric Everhart before Dijak went on to win the Ryse Rumble. Then, in the main event of the show, Donovan Dijak picked up the win over Cowpoke Paul to capture the Ryse Grand Championship.

July 13 was the first title that Dijak had won since 2017. He signed with WWE later that year but never won a championship in the company. Dijak, after also wrestling as Dominik Dijakovic and T-Bar, departed WWE in June when his contract expired and WWE opted not to renew his deal.

Dijak has already made All Elite Wrestling's Tony Khan aware of his interest in joining the promotion but the 37-year-old told Wrestlemobs that he isn't "in a big rush" to sign with a company.

"I mean, yeah, we've...I wouldn't say that they're conversations, per se, but we've reached out to pretty much everybody at this point, just to see what the field has to offer in terms of what people either want or don't want or what they're looking for. I know that there's a lot of things going on backstage with TV rights deals and things like that. New Japan's doing some shifting around in terms of contracts and stuff," Donovan Dijak said.

"Listen, I'm not in a big rush. I've been under a contract for seven years. I could use some time not under contract. If the right contract comes around, that's great. It has to be accomplished by the right conversation to go with it. I've been down the road of being handed a contract and said, 'Take it or leave it and whatever happens, happens,' and I go, 'Okay, I need to prove myself. I need to show that I'm a good employee, I need to show that I'm loyal.'" 

Other options for Dijak beyond AEW/ROH could be New Japan Pro-Wrestling, TNA, or simply wrestling on the independent wrestling scene.

H/T WrestleZone