In January 2017, James Drake participated in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament to crown the inaugural WWE United Kingdom Champion, losing to Joseph Conners in the first round.
Zack Gibson was announced for WWE's WrestleMania Axxess during WrestleMania 34 weekend as part of a WWE United Kingdom Championship invitational, where he lost to Mark Andrews in the first round. Both would participate in the WWE United Kingdom Championship Tournament with the winner facing Pete Dunne for the United Kingdom Championship. Drake lost to Flash Morgan Webster in the first round, but Gibson won the tournament after defeat Travis Banks in the finals and would go on to challenge Dunne, the next night in a losing effort.
In 2019, they defeated Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate and Trent Seven) at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool in the finals of a tournament to become the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions. After some defenses, they would lose the titles to Mark Andrews and Flash Morgan Webster at NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff in a triple threat tag team also involving Gallus. On September 11, Drake and Gibson unsuccessfully challenged Andrews and Webster in a rematch. They would have another title match at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II against the new champions Gallus, Andrews and Webster, and Imperium in a ladder match where the champions retained.
In parallel to their NXT UK Tag Team Championship pursuit at NXT UK TakeOver: Blackpool II, Drake and Gibson competed in the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. They defeated Kushida and Alex Shelley in the quarterfinals and NXT Tag Team Champions Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era in the semifinals, before losing to The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) in the finals.
On the February 19, 2020 episode of NXT, the Grizzled Young Veterans joined the NXT brand as tweeners, defeating Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde before announcing their intent to take over NXT's tag team division. However the two would soon disappear from television as a result of the pandemic. The two returned on the November 25 episode of NXT, attacking Ever-Rise. In early January 2021, the Grizzled Young Veterans took part in the 2021 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, defeating Ever-Rise in the first round and the team of Kushida and Leon Ruff in the second. On the February 10 episode of NXT, they defeated Timothy Thatcher and Tommaso Ciampa in the semi-finals, pitting them against MSK in the finals at NXT TakeOver: Vengeance Day. At the event, the Grizzled Young Veterans were defeated by MSK, once again failing to win in the tournament finals. On the December 21 episode of NXT, they faced The Creed Brothers, which ended in a no-contest when both teams got into a brawl with Kushida and Ikemen Jiro. who were on commentary, as well as Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen.
On the July 19, 2022 episode of NXT 2.0, Joe Gacy's masked allies named The Dyads were revealed to have been James Drake and Zack Gibson, now under the ring names Jagger Reed and Rip Fowler, officially renaming the tag team The Dyad, therefore turning heel once again. Gacy and the Dyad subsequently named their group Schism. Schism gained an additional member on the October 25 episode of NXT, which was revealed to be Ava Raine. On the December 27 episode of NXT, Schism (Gacy, Fowler, and Reid) defeated Odyssey Jones, Edris Enofe, and Malik Blade. At NXT Stand and Deliver, the Schism faced the team of Chase U (Andre Chase, Duke Hudson, and Thea Hail), and Tyler Bate in a losing effort. The Dyad would fail to win the NXT Tag Team Championships from Gallus on the April 18 episode of NXT in a triple threat match involving the Creed Brothers and on the May 9 episode of NXT. On the July 4 episode of NXT, the Dyad defeated the Creeds in a "Loser Leaves Town" match. However, the Creeds would defeat the Dyad in a steel cage match on August 29, being reinstated in NXT in the process. On September 14th, Reid and Fowler departed WWE.