When news broke that the wrestler formerly known in NXT as Harland, Parker Boudreaux, made a surprise appearance at AEW‘s Dark tapings live from Orlando, Florida, it sent minor shockwaves through the independent wrestling world.
Infamously known online as some variation of ‘Next Brock Lesnar' or ‘Brock Lesnar 2.0,' the supersized former Central Florida/Notre Dame lineman had a cup of coffee in WWE before being released from the promotion as part of their budget cuts back in the spring. Despite going undefeated in singles action and holding down a 5-1 overall record thanks to a tag team loss to Edris Enofe and Malik Blade alongside Joe Gacey by disqualification in the qualifying round of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic – which is a very WWE statement – the promotion apparently didn't see enough development from the 24-year-old performer and opted to take their plans in another direction moving forward.
Fortunately, their loss is Tony Khan's gain, as, after securing a spot in the 40-man Battle Riot IV MLW show, which isn't expected to air on their weekly YouTube programming until next month, Boudreaux made his way to Orlando to wrestle a dark match versus notable AEW bar-setter, Serpentico. The results? Well, according to Dave Meltzer, we might just be looking at the newest faction to either grace AEW or Ring of Honor moving forward.
If you don't know the Trust Busters, you will soon, AEW/ROH fans.
According to Josh Nason of The Wrestling Observer, Parker Boudreaux's new faction, the Trust Busters, is composed of ex-NXT performer Ariya Daivari, who now goes by simply Ari, and Slim J, the former Ring of Honor performer who has been an on-again, off-again member of the business dating all the way back to 2001.
Trust Busters have recruited @TheParkerB_ #AEWDark pic.twitter.com/WgpYbIoKSL
— JJ Williams (@JJWilliamsWON) July 16, 2022
Who, you may ask, are Ari and Slim J? Well, I'm glad you asked.
After kicking it on the indies for the better part of a decade, wrestling for well over a dozen promotions across the United States and beyond, Ari signed up with the WWE, where he performed from 2016-21, mostly for the NXT and the 205 Live brands. Though his career never quite popped off, with his career highlight probably coming from a 2019 feud with the man then known as Swerve Scott, when he was released by the promotion in 2021 due to budget cuts, he was eventually brought back for a few months as a producer before being released yet again at the beginning of July. Though Ari has gone on to wrestle all over since his time in WWE came to an end, with appearances in NJPW, AEW – Dark and Rampage – F1rst, and the NWA, his post-WWE career didn't really take off until Saturday, July 16th, when he wrestled four(!) matches on a single day of AEW Dark tapings and let it be known that he was suddenly the richest man in professional wrestling thanks to his trust fund kicking in.
Sidebar: A trust fund kid using his riches to buy a wrestling faction? Oh goodness, Jim Cornette is going to have a field day with that one.
Then came Slim J, who joined up with Ari in Orlando as well and was wrestling a tag team match with his newfound friend as the Trust Busters before they could hit Citywalk for post-show drinks at Universal Studios. While the duo had never wrestled together before that fateful July day in Orlando, J is no newcomer to the wrestling world, as he's been wrestling professionally since 2001, when he took on Mr. Delicious at NWA Wildside when he was just 16. Since then, J, who performs under a Slim Shady-style gimmick, has wrestled 504 matches for two dozen promotions, including stops in Ring of Honor in 2018 and GCW in 2019, and may soon find himself the unlikeliest member of the greater AEW/ROH roster at the ripe old age of 37.
And as for Boudreaux? Well, you certainly know about him by now, and if you don't we have a full-length primer on his professional career that you can read here. Though he may be relatively green in the ring, there's little reason to believe Boudreaux couldn't become a legit star in a professional wrestling ring, as he has the athletic tools and Brock Lesnar-esque looks to become a full-on star.
Will it work? Will a faction that's basically a Malibu's Most Wanted-meets-Ready to Rumble get over with fans the wrestling world over, or will it instead serve as an annoying match eater that eventually puts over Parker Boudreaux when Tony Khan feels confident enough in his in-ring work to set him off either on his own or with a Paul Heyman-style manager? Either way, it'll certainly be… interesting.
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