Michael Tarver

Michael Tarver

Tarver in September 2010
Ring name(s) Michael Tarver[1]
Mike Tarver[1]
Mr. Tarver[1]
Tyrone Evans[1]
Tyrone Jones[1]
Tyson Tarver[1]
Billed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[2]
Billed weight 256 lb (116 kg)[2]
Born 1977 (Age 33-34)
Akron, Ohio[1]
Billed from Cleveland, Ohio[1]
Akron, Ohio[2]

Tyrone Evans (born 1977)[1] is an American professional wrestler . He is best known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment, where he performed on the Raw brand under the name Michael Tarver as a member of The Nexus. He also participated in the first season of WWE NXT in early 2010.[2]

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2005–2008)

Evans defeated Brandon X in a match at an NWA East event on February 19, 2005.[3] Evans defeated Daron Smythe for the Pro Wrestling Express (PWX) Brass Knuckles Championship on April 2, 2005.[4] On June 11, Venom defeated Evans for the Brass Knuckles Championship.[4] After the title loss, Evans challenged Brandon K for the territory's Heavyweight Championship on September 8, 2006, and was unsuccessful.[5] Later that year, he wrestled for Dan Severn's promotion Price of Glory Wrestling, where he participated in an elimination match won by N8 Mattson.[6]

Evans also wrestled for several Cleveland, Ohio-based promotions. In March 2006, Evans debuted for the Main Event Wrestling League in Ohio, teaming with Kato to defeated Chris Kole in a handicap match.[7] In December, Evans challenged Robby Starr for the MEWL Championship, but lost the match by disqualification.[8] A rematch in March 2007, saw Starr defeat Evans again.[9] At MEWL's Honky Tonk Saturday Night show the following month, however, Evans defeated Starr and won the MEWL Heavyweight Championship.[10] In July 2006, Evans beat Savage at an Absolute Intense Wrestling show.[11] He returned to AIW in May 2007, losing to Thrillbilly, and in September 2007, where he defeated Eddie Kingston by submission in the third round of their 'Strong Style' Challenge match.[12][13] In April 2007, Evans challenged Jason Bane for the Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling Television Championship, but was unsuccessful.[14] On May 6, at May Meltdown, The B.E.T. (Evans and Josh Emmanuel) defeated Jeff Brooks and Kid Hybrid in a tag team match, and the following month at A Hot Summer's Night The B.E.T. defeated The Clash (Ernie Ballz and Brian Bender).[14]

Evans also wrestled for Pro Wrestling Unplugged, making his debut on October 27, 2007 at Dark Night, where he introduced himself as "The Panther" Tyrone Evans before losing to The Sandman by disqualification.[15][16] In December, Evans lost once again to The Sandman, before he changed his nickname to "Black Panther" in February 2008 at Last Chance: Do or Die.[15]

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2008-2011)

Florida Championship Wrestling (2008-2010)

In 2008, Evans signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling, their developmental territory. In FCW, he began wrestling under the ring name Tyrone Jones.[1] In May, he feuded with Atlas DaBone.[17] Throughout June and July, he faced wrestlers including Kevin Kiley, Jr. and TJ Wilson, and on July 21, he lost a dark match to Jamie Noble on July 21 prior to Raw.[1][17] In September he gained Byron Saxton as a manager, and changed his ring name to Tyson Tarver.[17] He became part of The Saxton Conglomerate, a faction composed of Tarver, Black Pain, Stu Sanders and led by Byron Saxton. Tarver had his first match with the Conglomerate on October 30, where he, Pain and Sanders lost to Johnny Prime, Kafu and Sinn Bowdee.[17] Prime soon began feuding with the Conglomerate, and on November 20, Tarver lost to him in a singles match.[17] On December 18, Tarver and Sanders lost to Prime and Kaleb O'Neal.[17] At the December 9 FCW television tapings, Tarver returned from his injury and defeated Donny Marlow.[18]

In 2009, Evans changed his ring name to 'Michael Tarver'.[19] He continued competing in FCW throughout the remainder of 2009, facing wrestlers including Wes Brisco and Skip Sheffield, with whom he feuded in November 2009.[19] In December, Tarver became associated with Heath Slater, interfering in Slater's matches and accompanying him to the ring.[19] The following month, Tarver began a feud with Titus O'Neil. After twice interrupting O'Neil, Tarver defeated him in a singles match on February 18.[19]

NXT, The Nexus and departure (2010-2011)

See also: The Nexus

On February 16, 2010, it was announced that Tarver was one of the eight FCW wrestlers that would be competing on the first season of the WWE NXT show, with Carlito as his storyline mentor.[20] On the inaugural episode of NXT on February 23, Tarver and Carlito were defeated by Christian and Heath Slater in a tag team match.[21] After six more losses and being ranked second to last in the first Pro's Poll, Tarver picked up his first victory on the May 4 episode of NXT by defeating Daniel Bryan.[22][23] Tarver also neglected to perform any of the rookie challenges in NXT stating that he was not there to perform menial tasks. On May 11, Tarver was eliminated during the first elimination round of NXT alongside Daniel Bryan as they lacked the confidence to continue in the competition.[24]

The week after the NXT season finale, Tarver and the rest of the season one NXT rookies interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk on Raw, attacking Cena, Punk, the announce team, and the ring announcer Justin Roberts, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment.[25] On the June 14 edition of Raw the rookies (excluding Daniel Bryan) attacked General Manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.[26] The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager, who had signed the seven season one NXT rookies to contracts.[27] The following week the group was named The Nexus.[28] On the July 12 episode of Raw, The Nexus competed in their first match together, without Darren Young, defeating John Cena in a six–on–one handicap match.[29] The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam which saw the return of former Nexus member Daniel Bryan, who aligned himself with team WWE. Tarver was the second person eliminated from the match when he was pinned by John Morrison, and The Nexus went on to lose the match.[30] On the October 4 episode of Raw, Tarver was attacked by Cena, with Barrett later stating that he would have thrown Tarver out of The Nexus anyway.[31] This storyline was put in place due to Tarver sustaining a groin injury.[32]

In January 2011, Tarver began mysteriously appearing in the background of backstage segments on both Raw and SmackDown!.[33] During these instances, he often wore a suit jacket, typed on his phone, and quietly smirked at the ongoing situations much to the curiosity of the commentators. Tarver would also be the focus in some segments, being introduced to Alberto Del Rio and watching a tag team match on a TV screen.[34] However, nothing would ultimately come of this, and on June 13, 2011, it was announced that Tarver had been released from his contract.[35]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

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  2. ^ a b c d "WWE bio". World Wrestling Entertainment. http://www.wwe.com/superstars/raw/michaeltarver/. Retrieved 2010-06-22. 
  3. ^ "National Wrestling Alliance (2005)". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/nwa/_2005/. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  4. ^ a b c "PWX Brass Knuckles Championship history". Solie's Title Histories. http://www.solie.org/titlehistories/bktnwae.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  5. ^ "NWA Pro Wrestling eXpress". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/nwa-pwx/. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  6. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – July 2005". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2005-07.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  7. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – March 2006". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2006-03.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  8. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – December 2006". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2006-12.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  9. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – March 2007". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2007-03.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  10. ^ a b "Independent Wrestling Results – April 2007". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2007-04.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  11. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – July 2006". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2006-07.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  12. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – May 2007". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2007-05.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  13. ^ "Independent Wrestling Results – September 2007". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/other/2007-09.html. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  14. ^ a b "Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/capw/. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
  15. ^ a b c d "Pro Wrestling Unplugged". Online World of Wrestling. http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/pwu/. Retrieved 2011-01-22. 
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  22. ^ Bishop, Matt (2010-03-30). "WWE NXT: Bryan laughs first, Otunga laughs last". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2010/03/30/13417431.html. Retrieved 2010-05-05. 
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  25. ^ Plummer, Dale (2010-06-08). "RAW: Vote early, vote often; NXT takes over". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2010/06/08/14303706.html. Retrieved 2010-06-12. 
  26. ^ Stephens, David (2010-06-14). "Raw Results – 6/14/10". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1276572395. Retrieved 2010-06-22. 
  27. ^ Keller, Wade (2010-06-21). "WWE Raw results 6/21: Keller's report on the fallout from the Fatal 4-Way PPV event, Jericho puts his career on the line". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/wwerawreport/article_42106.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-22. 
  28. ^ Keller, Wade (2010-06-28). "WWE Raw results 6/28: Keller's ongoing report on NXT-McMahon attack fallout, Sheamus-Cena confrontation". Pro Wrestling Torch. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/wwerawreport/article_42230.shtml. Retrieved 2010-06-29. 
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  34. ^ WWE: Nevermore- The Mysterious Backstage Role of Michael Tarver Bleacher Report (February 15, 2011). Retrieved on 8-24-11.
  35. ^ "Several WWE releases, but no major names". Wrestling Observer. 2011-06-13. http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/3-news/20989-several-wwe-releases-but-no-major-names. Retrieved 2011-06-13. 
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  41. ^ a b "Cagematch profile". http://www.cagematch.de/?id=2&nr=5730&name=Michael+Tarver. 
  42. ^ "We Are One (WWE Version)". Apple Inc.. http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/we-are-one-wwe-version/id408046476?i=408046477. Retrieved 30 January 2011. 
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External links

Members
See also