WWE SmackDown Star Appears At NXT Vengeance Day 2023

This blue brand star appeared and turned on a former friend.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE NXT Vengeance Day 2023 Dabba-Kato Commander Azeez Apollo Crews
WWE

Having been absent from WWE TV for several months, Dabba-Kato appeared at last night's NXT Vengeance Day.

Kato made his presence known during Apollo Crews' match against Carmelo Hayes. While the big man stopped Trick Williams from interfering in Crews and Hayes' two-out-of-three falls encounter - a bout with Hayes won - Dabba delivered a post-match beating to Apollo.

Of course, Dabba-Kato, under the Commander Azeez moniker, previously served as the muscle for Apollo Crews when the pair were a featured SmackDown act, including Crews having a 123-day reign as the Intercontinental Champion.

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Prior to being presented as Commander Azeez, the 33-year-old was known as Dabba-Kato as a part of the ill-fated Raw Underground. Going back further, the 6' 9" talent made his WWE debut in the Greatest Royal Rumble back in 2018. There, the Polish-born powerhouse took the name of Babatunde. Now, it appears that the former football player has once again reverted back to the Dabba-Kato mantle.

Dabba-Kato's last televised match was a win over Akira Tozawa on a May 2022 episode of WWE Main Event. In terms of his most recent match, period, Kato teamed with Xyon Quinn at an NXT live event last month - with that tandem coming up short against the Dyad's Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.