Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder
Ryder (left) and Hawkins at WrestleMania Axxess in 2009.
Tag team
Members	Curt Hawkins (Brian Major(s)/Myers) Zack Ryder (Brett Major(s)/Matthews)
Name(s)	Brian Myers and Brett Matthews Major Brothers Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder Edge Heads La Familia
Heights	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) each[1][2]
Combined weight	450 lb (200 kg) Zack Ryder: 214 lb (97 kg)[3] Curt Hawkins: 236 lb (107 kg)[3][4]
Billed from	Long Island, New York[3][4]
Debut	2004
Disbanded	April 15, 2009
Years active	2004-2009, 2011
Promotions	NYWC JAPW[5] DSW OVW WWE
Trainer	Mikey Whipwreck[6] Deep South Wrestling

Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder were an American professional wrestling tag team who appeared on the independent circuit and WWE under a variety of evolving names.

While in New York Wrestling Connection, the two wrestled as Brian Myers and Brett Matthews, both as a tag team and as singles wrestlers. During their time in WWE, they would become almost exclusively tag team wrestlers. From May 1, 2007 to December 16, 2007 the team was known as the Major Brothers, until they were repackaged and renamed to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder as fans and associates of Edge on December 21, 2007, on an episode of SmackDown.^[7]

Career

New York Wrestling Connection (2004–2006)

The two debuted as a team in New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) during 2004 with Matthew Cardona using the name Brett Matthews and Bryan Myers using his real name. By 2005 they were a regular tag team and after briefly tagging with other people for a two night tournament they reformed to defeat the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and Mason Raige by disqualification.^[8] At the next event on June 4 they won a rematch decisively to become Tag Team Champions.^[9] Later that month they were attacked by The Dead Presidents (Lo Lincoln and Boog Washington). Though they initially defended their titles against them in July,^[8] on August 27.^[9] On September 23 they were entered into a three way match with the champions but Team Tremendous (Dan Barry and Ken Scampi) ended up with the belts.^[8] After continuing to win matches they re-earned a match against the champions and won the titles for the second time on January 25, 2006. They held the titles until they faced The B.S. Xpress (Tony Burma & Mike Spinelli), who defeated them for the gold on March 26.^[9]

Deep South Wrestling (2006–2007)

Matthews and Myers moved to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) in Georgia tweaking their ring names to Brett and Brian Majors, appearing collectively as The Majors Brothers. They lost their debut match on June 1 to Montel Vontavious Porter and Eric Pérez. They picked up their first wins on June 15 against Francisco Ciatso and Cru Jones but lost a Four Way title contendership match in July to Urban Assault (Peréz and Sonny Siaki. They continued to feud with Ciatso who changed partners frequently but never defeated The Majors Brothers. After a six match winning streak^[10] they were given a match against The Untouchables (Dice Domino and Deuce Shade) who were reigning as DSW Tag Team Champions. On 12 October, The Majors Brothers became the new champions^[11] after the match was restarted following a double pin situation.^[10]

As champions, the team became targets for aspiring champions and after their first title defence were attacked by Urban Assault. A scheduled match against them in November ended in double disqualification when The Gymini interfered in the match to attack both teams while a defence against The Gymini the following week saw another disqualification when Urban Assault made a return interference.^[10] The following week on November 30 The Majors Brothers lost their titles to Urban Assault.^[11] Their rematch went to a no contest when Urban Assault's manager G-Rilla began fighting with The Freakin' Deacon who was in The Majors' corner.^[10] After the DSW Tag Team Championship was vacated when the incumbents were released, The Majors were placed in a Three Way Tag Team match on January 19, 2007 for the titles, defeating The Samoan Fight Club (Afa Jr. and Siaki) and The Blue Bloods (William Regal and Dave Taylor) to become two time champions. They held the championships briefly, losing them on 8 March to Team Elite (Derrick Neikirk and Mike Knox).^[11] The Majors stayed in DSW until April, exchanging victories with The Blue Bloods and teaming with Kofi Nahaje Kingston to defeat The Next Generation Hart Foundation (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) and Shawn Osborne.^[12]

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2007)

Brian Majors pre-empted the tag team's first appearance in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) on April 25's TV tapings in a 15-minute time limit draw against Jay Bradley. As a team they debuted on May 9 to pick up a win against Los Locos (Ramon and Paul) with a slightly tweaked name of The Major Brothers. After defeating Gothic Mayhem (Johnny Punch and Pat Buck) in successive matches they went on to defeat the reigning OVW Southern Tag Team Champions "The Hammer" Charles Evans and "The Ox" Justin LaRouche (future La Familia stablemate Bam Neely) twice in non-title matches, once by disqualification.^[13] These series of victories led to them facing Evans and LaRouche, joined by Dr. Thomas in a three-on-two handicap tag match on June 15 and winning the OVW Tag Team Championship.^[14]

The former champions defeated them in a Four-Way Elimination Tag Team match the following week but a title match between the two of them on June 22 saw The Major Brothers retain. This was short lived though as they lost a non-title^[13] and subsequent title match to The James Boys (K.C. James and Kassidy James) on 29 June.^[14] Their rematch ended in a double countout and after this The Major Brothers won only by disqualification, by which titles can't change hands, but ultimately lost a decisive rematch on July 13. In October they shared a rivalry with Paul Burchill, initially winning against him and Drew McIntyre and then again against Burchill and Stu Sanders and finally The Empire (Sanders and McIntyre). They continued to win in a Four Corners Tag Team match against Los Locos, The Empire and LaRouche with Andrew Vain. They took this momentum into a tournament for the Southern Tag Team Championship defeating Gothic Mayhem and Los Locos in successive rounds before finally being defeated by Burchill and Sanders, thus failing to recapture the titles.^[13]

World Wrestling Entertainment

The Major Brothers (2007)

The Major Brothers made their WWE television debut on the May 1, 2007 episode of ECW on Sci Fi defeating Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von in a tag team match.^[15] 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 Marcus Cor Von, as well as both losing singles matches to Burke and Striker.^[16][17][18]

The Majors were drafted from ECW to SmackDown! on June 17, 2007, as the eighth pick in the 2007 Supplemental Draft.^[19] Vignettes aired hyping their impending debut on the brand. On their July 6, 2007 SmackDown! debut, the Majors defeated Jeremy Young and Mike Foxx.^[20] The following week, the Majors were victorious again, defeating the team of Chavo Guerrero and Jamie Noble.^[21] 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.^[22][23] The following week, McIntyre defeated Brian.^[24] 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.^[25]

Hawkins and Ryder; La Familia and split (2007–2009)

Hawkins and Ryder posing with Edge before the match.

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.^[26] 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".^[7] 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.^[27][28] Their victory meant that they collectively became the youngest tag team champions in WWE history.^[29] 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.^[30] On December 5, 2008 episode 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.^[31]

On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team.^[32]

Hawkins and Ryder had a brief reunion in 2011, when Hawkins helped Ryder defeat Vladimir Kozlov on the May 12 episode of WWE Superstars. On the May 19 episode of WWE Superstars. Hawkins teamed with Ryder in a losing effort against Kozlov and Santino Marella, but the tag team didn't reform beyond this. Subsequently, Hawkins was released from the WWE along with 10 wrestlers in June 2014.

In other media

In 2011 and onwards, Hawkins began making occasional appearances on Ryder's web show, Z! True Long Island Story in comedic segments.^[33][34][35]

In wrestling

• Double-team finishing moves
  • Double lifting DDT^[36] – 2008
  • Heat Stroke^[37] (NYWC) / Long Island Express^[37] (DSW / OVW) (Samoan drop / Diving neckbreaker combination)
  • STO / Russian legsweep combination^[38]

• Double-team signature moves
  • Double hip toss, sometimes preceded by a double leapfrog or transitioned into a backbreaker^[38]
  • Double spear^[39] – 2008

• Entrance themes
  • "What I Want" by Daughtry (DSW / OVW)^[37]
  • "Gasoline Upcharge" by Chris Weerts & Daniel Holter (WWE; as Major Brothers)
  • "In the Middle of it Now" by Disciple (WWE; as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder)^[40]

Championships and accomplishments

• Deep South Wrestling
  • DSW Tag Team Championship (2 times)^[11]

• New York Wrestling Connection
  • NYWC Tag Team Championship (2 times)^[9][41]

• Ohio Valley Wrestling
  • OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[14]

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)^[42]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zack Ryder.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Curt Hawkins.

• Ryder's Official Website
• Hawkins's WWE profile
• Ryder's WWE profile
• Hawkins and Ryder's Online World Of Wrestling profile