| Duke Hudson | |
| Birth Name: | Brendan Vink |
| Birth Date: | df=y February 8, 1990[1] |
| Birth Place: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Names: | Brendan Vink Duke Hudson Elliot Sexton[2] Tony Modra |
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in |
| Weight: | 260 lb |
| Billed: | Adelaide, Australia |
| Trainer: | Damian Slater Hartley Jackson |
| Debut: | 28 April 2006 |
Brendan Vink (born 8 February 1990) is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE where he performs on the NXT brand under the ring name Duke Hudson and is a member of the Chase University stable. He is a former one-time NXT Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his time in Melbourne City Wrestling where he was a part of The Mighty Don't Kneel.[3]
Brendan Vink made his professional wrestling debut on 28 April 2006 under the ring name Elliot Sexton. Wrestling primarily in Australia, Sexton appeared in independent promotions including Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW) and Wrestle Rampage. During his time in both promotions, Sexton became a one-time MCW Heavyweight Champion and a one-time WrestleRock Champion. In 2018, he made his international debut in matches for the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and the British promotion Progress Wrestling.
On 11 February 2019, it was announced that Vink had signed a contract with WWE and that he would report to the WWE Performance Center.[4] Vink debuted under his real name at an NXT house show on 15 March 2019, defeating Nick Comoroto. He went on to spend the remainder of March and the following month of April wrestling on house shows. Vink made his televised debut on the 25 March 2020 episode of NXT, teaming with his former TMDK stablemate Shane Thorne in a losing effort against Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch.[5]
Vink made his debut for EVOLVE in 2019 as part of EVOLVE's business relationship with WWE at EVOLVE 141 where he defeated Colby Corino in his first singles match.[6] Vink would then go on a winning streak in EVOLVE, defeating the likes of A. R. Fox, Stephen Wolf, JD Drake and Leon Ruff.[7] [8] [9] [10]
In March 2020, Vink began appearing on Raw alongside Shane Thorne where they faced teams such as the Street Profits and Cedric Alexander and Ricochet but were defeated.[11] [12] On the April 27 episode of Raw, Thorne and Vink became MVP’s newest associates as he challenged Alexander and Ricochet to a match the next week on their behalf. On the May 4 episode of Raw, Thorne and Vink defeated Alexander and Ricochet earning their first victory.[13] However, their alliance with MVP ended after they were both traded back to NXT and Thorne and Vink would quietly disband as a team soon after.[14]
See main article: articles and Chase University. In July 2021, Vink, under the new ring name Duke Hudson was announced to be a part of the 2021 NXT Breakout Tournament. On the 13 July episode of NXT, Hudson defeated Ikemen Jiro in the first round. On the 17 August episode of NXT, Hudson was eliminated in the semi-finals by Carmelo Hayes. Hudson would then confront Kyle O'Reilly and a brawl would ensue leading to a match being made between the two on next weeks episode of NXT.[15] On 5 December, at NXT WarGames, Hudson lost to Cameron Grimes in a Hair vs. Hair match, and therefore had to shave his hair per the match's stipulation.[16]
On the 1 November 2022 episode of NXT, Hudson accompanied Thea Hail and Andre Chase as Chase University's flag bearer. On 24 October 2023 on Night 1 of NXT: Halloween Havoc, Hudson and Chase defeated The D'Angelo Family (Tony D'Angelo and Channing "Stacks" Lorenzo) to become the NXT Tag Team Champions, winning his first championship in WWE.[17] Chase and Hudson later lost the titles to D'Angelo and Stacks on the 14 November edition of NXT, ending their reign at 21 days.[18]
In early May 2024, Ridge Holland started associating himself with Chase U. On the 21 May episode of NXT, Fallon Henley defeated Hail to qualify for a spot at the six-woman ladder match to crown the inaugural NXT Women's North American Championship at NXT Battleground. Backstage, Riley Osborne got into an argument with Holland for costing Hail the match, to which Chase proposed that both men settle their differences in the ring[19] where Holland defeated Osborne. After the match, Osborne still do not approve of Chase U working with Holland, with Hudson agreeing with Osborne.[20] On the 4 June episode of NXT, Osborne and Hudson refused to walk out with Holland for Hail's match against Jazmyn Nyx. Halfway through the match, Osborne and Hudson showed up to ringside to Hail's surprise, to which Nyx used as an advantage to defeat Hail.[21] The stable would eventually accept Holland as an official member.[22] On the 25 June episode of NXT, Chase and Hudson won a tag team turmoil match for a NXT Tag Team Championship title match at NXT Heatwave. At the event on 7 July, Chase and Hudson failed to defeat Nathan Frazer and Axiom for the titles.[23] [24] On the 17 July episode of NXT, Hudson failed to defeat Oba Femi for the NXT North American Championship with Holland arranging the match the previous week.[25]
Vink worked as a personal trainer for Goodlife Health Clubs in Melbourne before getting signed by the WWE.
Vink made his WWE video game debut in WWE 2K24.
| width=20% | Winner (wager) | width=20% | Loser (wager) | width=13% | Location | width=13% | Event | width=13% | Date | width=21% | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Grimes (hair) | Duke Hudson (hair) | Orlando, Florida |