| Ryan Taylor | |
|---|---|
Taylor in June 2010. |
|
| Ring name(s) | Ryan Taylor |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] |
| Billed weight | 185 lb (84 kg)[1] |
| Born | January 26, 1987 [2] |
| Resides | Phelan, California[2] |
| Billed from | Long Beach, California[1] |
| Trained by | Jesse Hernandez[1] |
| Debut | March 27, 2004[2] |
Russell "Ryan" Taylor[2] (born January 26, 1987)[2] is an American professional wrestler, who is currently working for several independent wrestling promotions on the west coast of the United States and continues to travel outside the country to Mexico City and Japan. He also does much work with the WWE while never being under contract.
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At 16 years old he began training at the EWF's training school, Jesse Hernandez's School of Hard Knocks and had his match for the EWF on March 27, 2004. Taylor wrestled to gain experience and won the 2004 Rookie of the year award in the company. In the spring of 2006 Taylor had his first feud with Joey Harder and after a series of hard matches, Taylor won the EWF Cruiserweight Championship on June 9, 2006. Taylor also won the 2006 Most Improved Award, becoming the first recipient of it. Taylor's reign as the Cruiserweight Champion lasted for 399 days until ending on July 13, 2007 when Markus Riot defeated Taylor in a Best of 3 Falls match to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship.[3] Ryan won back the EWF Cruiserweight Championship by ending Markous Riot's reign after only 22 days. At EFW's Meltdown, Taylor forced Riot to submit to win back the title. Taylor's second reign as the EWF Cruiserweight Champion only 77 days until October 10, 2007 when Maximo defeated Ryan Taylor to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship.[3] In November, Ryan Taylor competed in the EWF's Inland Title Series Tournament against J.T. Blackstar, Scorpio Sky, and Brandon Gatson. He placed third with a final score of 1-2-0.[4] Taylor also won the 2007 Match of the Year Award for his match against Marcus Riot at the Covina Classic on June 9. Then in the early part of 2008 Taylor formed a stable known as the KOS alongside Mondo Vega and Hook Bomberry. On August 23, 2008 in San Bernardino, California, Taylor defeated Vizzion in the main event at Flirting With Disaster for the EWF American Championship [5] and had new female wrestler Aiden Riley join the KOS as well. The KOS then feuded with Tj Perkins and Liger Rivera until the end of the year in a very intense feud that not only won the Feud of the Year 2008 Award but Taylor would win the Match of the Year 2008 Award for his Belt on a Pole match against Tj Perkins in which Taylor would win the NWA Heritage Championship from Perkins. Taylor also wrestled the main event of the first ever So-cal supershow featuring the combined companies of EWF and AWS against Tj Perkins and Scott Lost in a triple threat match for the AWS Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Championships and Taylor's NWA Heritage Championship, in which Taylor retained his title. Taylor held and defended both the EWF American Championship and the NWA Heritage Championship in the early parts of 2009 until losing the Heritage title to Oliver John in a Fatal 4-way match at the main event of the Cauliflower Ally Club Show after pinning Chris Hero and he lost the American title to Liger Rivera at the EWF's 14th Anniversary Show. On October 30, 2009, after returning from Japan and being set on climbing the EWF to the top, Taylor defeated Brandon Gatson to win the EWF Heavyweight Championship. Taylor began to feud with his former stable the KOS in late 2009 and the early parts of 2010, ultimately ending with a Street Fight between Taylor and Mondo Vega, that ended the KOS as Taylor prevailed.
On December 12, 2008 Taylor defeated T.J. Perkins for the NWA Heritage Championship in Covina, California. He held the NWA Heritage title until April 13, 2009, when, after first pinning Chris Hero with a LaMajestra Cradle, he lost the title to PWR Heavyweight Champion Oliver John at Las Vegas, Nevada.
On November 20, 2009, Taylor made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla debut at the first night of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles, where he teamed with Malachi Jackson in a losing effort against the Cutler Brothers (Brandon and Dustin Cutler).[6] Taylor continued to perform on every PWG show since, including having a standout and stellar match against Brandon Gatson at Titannica and teaming with Roderick Strong at the DDT4 tournament in May 2010, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Cutler Brothers.[7][8] On September 4 Taylor entered the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles, but was eliminated in the first round by Brandon Gatson.[9] The following day Taylor formed a new alliance with Chuck Taylor and Brian Cage (who would adopt the ring name Brian Cage-Taylor), called the Fightin' Taylor Boys.[10][11]
| Wager | Winner | Loser | Location | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair | Ryan Taylor | Peter Avalon | Hollywood, California | July 10, 2011 | Six man tag team captain's hair vs. captain's hair match, where Taylor, Aaron Bolo and Famous B faced Avalon, Ray Rosas and Rico Dynamit. |