Byron Saxton

Byron Saxton
Ring name(s) Bryan Kelly[1]
Byron Saxton[2]
Michael Cade[1]
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[3]
Billed weight 219 lb (99 kg)[3]
Born August 20, 1981 (1981-08-20) (age 30)[1]
Burke, Virginia[1]
Resides Tampa,FL
Billed from Burke, Virginia[3]
Trained by Florida Championship Wrestling[1]
Debut 2003[1]

Bryan Jesus Kelly[1] (born August 20, 1981) is an American professional wrestler, manager, color commentator and former journalist. He is currently signed to WWE, working in their developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name Byron Saxton.[1] He was a competitor in the fourth season of NXT, and was competing in the show's fifth season, NXT Redemption.[3][4] until his elimination on May 31, 2011.

Contents

Early life

Kelly was raised in Burke, Virginia and Orlando, Florida. He studied at the University of Florida, where he worked as a producer and a reporter for WRUF-AM, WUFT-FM and WUFT-TV.[5] He graduated in 2003.[6] Kelly worked for WJXT Channel 4 News in Jacksonville, Florida as an associate producer and was then promoted to work on camera as a traffic reporter.[2][5]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling

He signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). Kelly, at first using his real name, made his FCW debut on October 13, 2007, losing to Hade Vansen.[7] His next appearance was just over a week later on October 23, when he lost to "The Carnival Freak" Sinn Bowdee.[8] Kelly competed sporadically in FCW over the next few months, winning a six-man tag team match against Vansen, Sheamus O'Shaunessy and Bowdee with Rycklon Stephens and Chet Douglas as his partners, but losing a singles match to Afa Jr. a few weeks later.[9][10] He finished off 2007 with a win against Tommy Taylor on December 18.[11]

Kelly started off 2008 with a win, defeating Steve Lewington on FCW's first show of the year on January 8.[12] His next match against Afa Jr., however, was ruled a no contest after TJ Wilson interfered.[13] Kelly then began teaming with Rycklon, losing to the teams of Nick Nemeth and Big Rob, Jake Hager and Shawn Osborne, and Heath Miller and Steve Lewington.[14][15][16] Another match on April 15, when Kelly and Rycklon faced Johnny Curtis and Gabe Tuft ended in a double countout.[17]

On June 3, Kelly became a manager, cutting a promo for Black Pain.[18] Kelly managed Black Pain regularly, accompanying him for matches, and also teaming occasionally with him.[19][20] On September 30, Kelly debuted a new ring name, Byron Saxton.[21] With Black Pain, and the rest of his faction, known as the Saxton Conglomerate or simply the Conglomerate, composed of Stu Sanders (later Lawrence Knight) and Tyson Tarver, Saxton began a feud with Kafu, having the members of the Conglomerate face off against him in matches.[22][23][24] After this feud ended, the Conglomerate quickly began another one with Johnny Prime.[25][26][27] In the course of this feud Kaleb O'Neal began teaming with Prime in order to help him out, however, O'Neal later turned on Prime and joined the Conglomerate.[28][29] In January 2009, Black Pain broke away from the Conglomerate, and changed his ring name to Sweet Papi Sanchez, prompting a feud with the remaining Conglomerate members.[30][31][32] Since then, Saxton has associated himself with Abraham Saddam Washington. When Josh Mathews left FCW to commentate on ECW full-time, Saxton began working as a commentator alongside first Dusty Rhodes and then Abraham Washington. In November 2010 Saxton turned on Washington and began feuding with him.[33]

ECW (2009–2010)

In October 2009, the SmackDown color commentator, Jim Ross, suffered a Bell's palsy attack, resulting in a shuffle of the other commentators. Matt Striker was moved from ECW to SmackDown, and Saxton was called up to ECW as a commentator, working alongside Josh Matthews.[34] He debuted on the October 27 episode.[34] He continued commentating until February 2010, when Vince McMahon announced that ECW was to be replaced with NXT. Saxton then returned to FCW.

NXT and heel turn (2010, 2011)

On the third season finale of NXT on November 30 it was announced that Saxton would be competitor on season four, with Chris Masters as his mentor.[4][35] He made his in-ring debut on the December 14 episode of NXT, teaming with Masters in a loss to Brodus Clay and his mentor, Ted DiBiase. Earlier that night, Saxton won the karaoke challenge, earning a point towards immunity from elimination.[36] He earned his first win on the following episode when he teamed with Masters and WWE Diva Natalya to defeat Clay, DiBiase, and Maryse in a six-person mixed tag team match.[37] On January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, Dolph Ziggler became Saxton's new Pro, after Ziggler won a Battle royal to earn the right to choose a new rookie and he chose Saxton.[38] On the February 8 episode of NXT, Saxton was eliminated.[39]

In March 2011, Saxton was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, Saxton was mentored by Yoshi Tatsu. On the April 26 Edition of NXT, Saxton attacked Tatsu after he cost him the match against Lucky Cannon.[40] Going into late May 2011, he began referring to himself as "Big League" Byron Saxton, believing that he is bigger than the NXT Rookies and/ or the WWE Pros, turning heel. On the following week (the last day of May), Saxton was voted off of NXT Redemption.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

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  2. ^ a b "Byron Saxton Bio". World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/shows/ecw/superstars/byronsaxton/. Retrieved 2009-10-31. 
  3. ^ a b c d "Byron Saxton Bio". World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/superstars/wwenxt/byronsaxton/. Retrieved 2010-12-04. 
  4. ^ a b Bishop, Matt (2010-11-30). "WWE NXT: Season 3 mercifully ends with new breakout diva crowned". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2010/11/30/16381991.html. Retrieved 2010-12-01. 
  5. ^ a b "Bryan Kelly". news4jax.com. http://www.news4jax.com/station/4108384/detail.html. Retrieved 2008-03-04. 
  6. ^ "Meet WWE superstar Sheamus at FCW show; Interview with Batista". The Miami Herald. 2010-10-20. Archived from the original on 2010-10-23. http://www.webcitation.org/5thVx3K3V. Retrieved 2010-10-23. 
  7. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2007) – October 13, 2007–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Jewish Community Center". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-10-13. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2007/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  8. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2007) – October 23, 2007–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Bourbon Street Night Club". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-10-23. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2007/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  9. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2007) – November 6, 2007–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Bourbon Street Night Club". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-11-06. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2007/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  10. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2007) – December 4, 2007–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Bourbon Street Night Club". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-12-04. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2007/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  11. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2007) – December 18, 2007–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Bourbon Street Night Club". Online World of Wrestling. 2007-12-18. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2007/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
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  18. ^ Westbrook, David (2008-06-03). "Florida Championship Wrestling (2008) – June 3, 2008–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at Club Bourbon Street". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2008/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  19. ^ Cooper, Tony (2008-08-26). "Florida Championship Wrestling (2008) – August 26, 2008–Florida Championship Wrestling in New Port Richey, Florida at the Bourbon Street Night Club". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2008/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  20. ^ Cooper, Tony (2008-07-12). "Florida Championship Wrestling (2008) – July 12, 2008–Florida Championship Wrestling in Port Richey, Florida". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2008/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
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  25. ^ Pritchard, Andrew (2008-10-30). "Florida Championship Wrestling (2008) – October 30, 2008–Florida Championship Wrestling in Florida". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2008/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  26. ^ Pritchard, Andrew (2008-11-06). "Florida Championship Wrestling (2008) – November 6, 2008–Florida Championship Wrestling in Florida". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2008/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
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  29. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2009) – January 22, 2009–Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa, Florida at the FCW Arena". Online World of Wrestling. 2009-01-22. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2009/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
  30. ^ "Florida Championship Wrestling (2009) – January 29, 2009–Florida Championship Wrestling in Tampa, Florida at the FCW Arena". Online World of Wrestling. 2009-01-29. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/fcw/_2009/. Retrieved 2009-04-21. 
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External links