User:Curtis23/Zack Ryder

Zack Ryder is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestling on its Raw brand. Upon making his debut in the WWE Ryder formed a tag team with Curt Hawkins where they would go on to capture the WWE Tag Team Championship.

Developmental territories (2006–2007)
On February 24, 2006, Brian and Brett Majors signed developmental contracts with World Wrestling Entertainment. The Majors Brothers are former two time DSW Tag Team Champions, winning the titles from The Untouchables and then winning a triple threat match involving William Regal and Dave Taylor and The Samoan Fight Club. In early 2007, the Majors Brothers started working dark matches on Raw and SmackDown!.

On June 15, 2007 at Ohio Valley Wrestling's third Super Summer Sizzler Series event of the year at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville, Kentucky, the Majors defeated Charles "The Hammer" Evans and Justin "The Ox" LaRouche (who later became their La Familia stablemate, Bam Neely) to capture the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship. On June 29, however, they dropped the titles to the James Boys (K.C. James and Cassidy James).

The Major Brothers (2007)
The Major Brothers (with the 's' dropped from the Majors name outside of plural reference) made their WWE television debut on the May 1, 2007 edition of ECW on Sci Fi defeating Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von in a tag team match. They were depicted as an unknown team and their initial victory was the only win the team had in ECW. Following their debut match, they lost to the team of Elijah Burke and Cor Von, as well as both losing singles matches to Burke and Striker.

The Majors were drafted from ECW to SmackDown! on June 17, 2007, as the eighth pick in the 2007 Supplemental Draft. Vignettes aired hyping their impending debut on the brand. On their July 6, 2007 SmackDown! debut, the Majors defeated Jeremy Young and Mike Foxx. The following week, the Majors were victorious again, defeating the team of Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Jamie Noble. After a loss to Deuce 'n Domino on August 17, 2007, The Majors would not compete on the show again until October 12, 2007, when the debuting Drew McIntyre defeated Brett. The following week, McIntyre defeated Brian. On November 9, 2007, they received a tag title match after winning a number one contender's battle royal, but could not defeat the champions, Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy.

Hawkins and Ryder; La Familia (2007–2009)
At Armageddon, the duo dressed as Edge and interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match, taking bumps in Edge's place to help him win the title and thus turning heel for the first time in their WWE career. On December 21, 2007, the Major Brothers were revealed as an acquaintance to Edge and his lover, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed, as Brett Major's name was changed to "Zack Ryder" and Brian Major to "Curt Hawkins". They were now called Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. Occasionally teaming with their mentor Edge and/or their "La Familia" associate Chavo Guerrero on SmackDown, they even went on to be featured in the main event on multiple occasions. With this new gimmick, they were sometimes referred as "The Rated-R Entourage" by commentators Michael Cole and John "Bradshaw" Layfield. They also dropped the short trunks the team wore as the Major Brothers and started wearing long tights identical to Edge's tights. To differentiate between the two, Hawkins wore his hair in a ponytail. Later on, the team updated their attires, with Ryder debuting tights with new designs while Hawkins switched back to short trunks with new designs, and they began wearing sunglasses and a hoodie, respectively, to the ring.

At The Great American Bash on July 20, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Championship from John Morrison and The Miz in a fatal four-way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle after Hawkins pinned Jesse. Their victory meant that they collectively became the youngest tag team champions in WWE history. At SummerSlam, La Familia seemed to have ended when a returning Undertaker sent Edge to Hell and then refused to forgive Vickie - prompting all the members to abandon Vickie, who would later align with Big Show. On the September 26, 2008 airing of SmackDown, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder lost the titles to Carlito and Primo Colón in their first televised title defense. On December 5, 2008 edition of SmackDown, they returned in a tag team gauntlet match against Jeff Hardy and Triple H where they were the first and only team eliminated. They also participated in the battle royal for the last spot in the SmackDown Elimination Chamber match, but were eliminated by The Great Khali.

ECW (2009-2010)
On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team. Ryder re-debuted on ECW on Sci Fi on May 5, 2009 with a new look, in a backstage promo with Tiffany. His new look featured short hair, sunglasses, a purple headband, half trunks/half-pants tights and frequent use of the catchphrases "Woo woo woo" and "You know it." Ryder's first match since the draft was on WWE Superstars on May 7, 2009 in a losing effort against Finlay. On the May 19 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, Ryder picked up his first victory since rejoining the ECW roster when he defeated a local competitor. Ryder would then go on to pick up wins over the likes of Tyler Reks, Goldust , and Yoshi Tatsu while having competitive matches with Evan Bourne , Shelton Benjamin  , and ECW Champion Christian.

On the September 15 episode of ECW, Ryder won a 10-man battle royal to be crowned the new number-one contender to Christian's ECW Championship. Ryder then went on to lose his title match the next week. On the October 20th episode of ECW Ryder lost a number one contenders match to Yoshi Tatsu. On the November 3rd episode of ECW Ryder fell in love with guest ring annoucer for his match diva Rosa Mendes which caused him to lose his match against Shelton Benjamin this love escalated the next week when Ryder imagined him with Rosa after speaking to her. On the November 12th episode of WWE Superstars in a rematch from the November 3rd episode of ECW Ryder again got distracted by Rosa Mendes which caused him to lose to Shelton Benjamin by countout. On the December 29 episode of ECW Zack Ryder defeated Tommy Dreamer to end his ECW career. On the final ECW he interfered in the final ECW and ECW Championship match though General Manager Tiffany came in attacks his love, Rosa so he left.

Raw (2010-present)
After ECW ended Ryder signed a contract to go to Raw. But his first match on Raw saw a loss to Montel Vontavious Porter (MVP) in a Money in the Bank qualifying match.

In wrestling

 * Finishing moves
 * Lifting inverted DDT
 * Zack Attack (Inverted overdrive) – 2009–present
 * Signature moves
 * Facewash
 * Leaping leg lariat
 * Missile dropkick
 * Russian legsweep
 * Swinging neckbreaker


 * Double team finishing moves


 * Double lifting DDT – 2008 - (with Curt Hawkins)
 * Heat Stroke (NYWC) / Long Island Express (DSW / OVW) (Samoan drop / Diving neckbreaker combination) (with Curt Hawkins)
 * STO / Russian legsweep combination (with Curt Hawkins)


 * Double team signature moves
 * Double hip toss, sometimes preceded by a double leapfrog or transitioned into a backbreaker (with Curt Hawkins)
 * Double spear – 2008 - (with Curt Hawkins)


 * Nicknames
 * "The Rated-R Entourage"
 * "Long Island Loudmouth"


 * Entrance themes
 * "What I Want" by Daughtry (DSW / OVW)
 * "In the Middle of it Now" by Disciple (WWE; as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder)
 * "Radio" by Jim Johnston (May 2009–present)

Championships and accomplishments

 * Deep South Wrestling
 * DSW Tag Team Championship (2 times) with Curt Hawkins
 * New York Wrestling Connection
 * NYWC Tag Team Championship (2 times) with Curt Hawkins
 * Ohio Valley Wrestling
 * OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Curt Hawkins
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * PWI ranked Ryder #140 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2008
 * World Wrestling Entertainment
 * WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Curt Hawkins