The Rascalz (Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz and Trey Miguel) are an amazingly talented trio that aren’t afraid to be themselves.
Personally, that’s the thing that I respect about these three the most. If you know what the numbers 420 represent and then you see 3 great wrestlers proudly displaying those symbolic numbers on their T-shirts, ring gear and jackets, that creates a sense of pride amongst their most loyal fans. For a medicinal cannabis using pro wrestling fan like me, that all really means something. I don’t expect all wrestling enthusiasts out there to be marijuana advocates because we all have our own values and beliefs and we come from different backgrounds. I’m also not trying to make this column political, but I do want to sincerely thank The Rascalz for not being scared to let the world know that they are unapologetic stoners.
Regardless of how you might feel about the weed portion of their gimmick, I really want to know….. who doesn’t love these guys? They’re very captivating and funny and they exude a coolness factor that is undeniable. They’re all in great shape and have real athleticism. All three have different personalities too, which I’ll touch on later. The best part is that they haven’t even come close to reaching their potential yet. For instance, there’s so much more that they could do with their comedy segments. Remember the hilarious workout video stuff they did about a year ago? That’s the type of content that they could do more of at times where they actually leave The Treehouse and venture out into the outside world with their antics.
As the world and especially North America continues to normalize cannabis, this trailblazing trio have become the poster boys for that campaign. Of course, Rob Van Dam is the original representative in pro wrestling when it comes to marijuana use and advocacy. Matt Riddle is also notorious when it comes to this subject. However, neither of them are as blatant with it (as far as an on-screen wrestling product) as The Rascalz are. Hell, their Impact theme song starts with a bong rip sound bite followed by a person coughing. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what that is. Maybe someday they actually will be allowed to smoke on TV for real as the legality of it all continues to change and evolve?
Real quick, let me give you some background on this subject matter, in case you don’t follow this stuff very much. Medical marijuana is currently legal in 33 states in the U.S. with nine of those (plus D.C.) also offering legit recreational use, similar to how alcohol is sold. The entire country of Canada has legal recreational and medical use. Mexico is expected to do the same nationwide later this month. CBD products are legal and available in all fifty U.S. states. This whole thing is no longer a hidden, secretive subculture anymore. It has all moved into the mainstream. The fact that Impact Wrestling has embraced this marijuana element with The Rascalz entrance music, imagery and the Treehouse segments is a perfect example of being a more adult and distinctive product overall.
As we approach the actual 420 date, this one seems different than the rest. First off, the numbers are crazy as this year it’s 420 2020. Say that out loud and you’ll see what I mean. Secondly, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic, one in which we haven’t seen of this magnitude for over a hundred years. I don’t want to veer off into this subject too much because it’s a massive and complicated one, but it does bring up another interesting aspect when it comes to Impact as the original Rebellion date was going to be April 19th. So, in a pre-pandemic world back in early March, I figured that we were all going to be celebrating the results of another fantastic pay-per-view on 420.
Then reports surfaced from Tommy Dreamer and others that Impact was set to tape two months of TV in 3 days time. As of the time of this column being published, that information has been kept very secret but it appears from some sources that these tapings have now been completed. Maybe Rebellion will be (or has been) taped in Nashville and we’ll see it air on AXS TV and Twitch soon, followed by Impact episodes into June? We shall see.
Back to The Rascalz. All three of these guys are somewhat underrated when it comes to in-ring skills. The consensus among fans is that Trey is the best wrestler of the trio and while I can’t argue with that too much, I feel like Dez and Wentz get overlooked at times because they are both excellent also. I obviously would like to see The Rascalz stay together as a group for the foreseeable future, but each individual member could be successful as singles wrestlers too. Also, I’d like to point out that Dez and Wentz have been very gracious when it comes to Retweeting our DiscussPW content at times and we appreciate that very much.
I’m not trying to pretend as if I know The Rascalz personally, because I don’t, but the remainder of this column are simply my observations. These are some fun-loving dudes and that was on full display when I saw them walking into the Sam’s Town Live venue on a late morning when I was in Vegas at the February TV tapings. I can’t remember exactly what song they were singing but it all looked like they were having the time of their lives. It reminded me of like a modern day version of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs song that goes, “Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it’s off to work we go”. You get the picture. Very cheery and happy stuff. It was hilarious to watch as an observer just waiting in line to see a movie at the adjacent theater.
Let’s take a look at each competitor:
Dezmond Xavier – The first of The Rascalz to appear on Impact Wrestling, Dez made his serendipitous on-screen debut on April 20th of 2017. If you want a taste of what he can really do in the ring as a solo act, go watch the Super X Cup that year (which he won). Even before The Rascalz all came to Impact, I distinctly remember the final match of that tournament against Ishimori being one of my favorite bouts in Impact history. It was a tremendous display of two athletes putting on a clinic and doing some crazy high flying. One word to describe Dez is fearless.
Dez is the oldest of the three but you wouldn’t necessarily know that if you were judging a book by its cover, especially when he shaved recently and looked like he was 20 years old all the sudden. He has a cool persona with a very laid back vibe as we saw on a recent edition of “Around the Ring”. I dig the longer hair look that he’s sported in recent months. The Jim Nasium character that showed up on the IPWF show was very funny. He also enjoys streaming video games and you can find all of the details on that through his Twitter account.
Zachary Wentz – He’s my personal favorite member of The Rascalz. There’s something about watching Wentz in The Treehouse segments that just cracks me up. He definitely is the best at naturally acting stoned during their backstage stuff. He puts off more of a punk vibe with the polished fingernails and intense personality. He’s a good follow on Twitter as he posts pics of his cat and dog and updates on the relationship with his fiance Kimber Lee. Wentz comes across as a more sensitive guy and I totally respect that.
The Hot Fire Flame finishing maneuver that he and Dez have mastered is something that I had never seen in pro wrestling before and that is tough to do nowadays. The dude is real life tough too as he has a background in MMA and very few professional wrestlers can say that. Wentz is better in the ring than he gets credit for and I think that he and Dez deserve a run with the tag titles at some point. Maybe we’ll get some more Ray Strack someday too.
Trey Miguel – Trey has proven to be remarkable as an X-Division competitor as well as in a tag team with either Dez or Wentz. I thought that we may get a trios title or just more 3 on 3 matches when The Rascalz came to Impact as a group, but instead we’ve seen Trey kind of breakout more as a singles wrestler at times. He is the youngest Rascal but perhaps the most smooth and athletic at the same time? Many fans think that he has the most upside. He also comes off as the biggest daredevil of the three. It’s debatable between Dez and Trey regarding who has the best in-ring skills.
Trey seems to be the most reserved one but he’s shown some great personality traits at times also with comedy and so forth. It’s interesting how there’s a connection to Sami Callihan and the Crist brothers with The Rascalz as they all have ties to Ohio with their wrestling careers. In fact, there are several wrestlers with connections to Ohio on Impact’s roster. He’s not as active on social media as Dez and Wentz are which is understandable given the toxic nature of Twitter at times. He goes by LL Cool Trey on his Twitter account and maybe there’s something to that as far as a slightly different persona? I wonder if Trey’s mom will make an appearance on-screen again in the future because I enjoyed that storyline between him and Ace Austin. Perhaps Bill Ding could make a glorious return in the future?
It’s suddenly become very cramped in The Treehouse. #IMPACTonAXSTV @TheTreyMiguel @DezmondXavier @zachary_wentz @legendoflarryd @THEACEYROMERO @MegaTJP @FALLAH1 @CodyDeaner @JakeSomething_ pic.twitter.com/tKpgEBigrh
— IMPACT (@IMPACTWRESTLING) April 8, 2020
The very first time that The Treehouse segment appeared on TV in the fall of 2018, it seemed like a parody of a bit that used to regularly happen on “That 70’s Show”. However, as the weeks and months went on and we saw more and more of it, the guys really made it their own and it has become one of the most enjoyable backstage segments that are featured consistently on Impact. It’s normally a combination of funny with a little edge to it, and sometimes it’s just downright silly. Nevertheless, I’ve still never seen one person say that they don’t like it.
Who do you wanna see in The Treehouse in 2020? We just had the biggest group of people yet appearing on Impact with the boys as Triple XL, Fallah & TJP and The Deaners all got together in The Treehouse. That was one of the funniest editions as these character developing segments are often the most enjoyable comedy relief portions of the show.
The absolute funniest, in my opinion, so far was the one with Fallah Bahh getting stoned and really speaking in a full English conversation for the first time. I would love to see Rosemary show up with the boys and maybe partake of a little 420 action. That could be pure gold. Chris Bey would be a perfect fit to perhaps start a feud with one of The Rascalz. Also, having RVD revisit with Katie Forbes this time would be very intriguing.
What does the future hold for these guys? It’s hard to say exactly because they are so versatile. You could have different combinations of which two make up a tag team (which they’ve done several times) or maybe Dez branches off for a while, like Trey has at times, and pursues the X-Division Championship. Whatever way it shakes out, this trio is very valuable to Impact Wrestling and I hope that they are all with the company for many years to come. I honestly can’t imagine Impact without them at this point.
In closing, Happy 420 to everyone that celebrates it! Also look for our special Spark the Discussion podcast 420 episode that will drop on April 20th as this will be our third annual edition.
