 Tarver in 2010 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Tyrone Evans (1977-03-08)March 8, 1977 (age 48)[6] Akron, Ohio, U.S.[6] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Michael Tarver[1] Mike Tarver[1] Monster Tarver[2][3] Mr. Tarver[1] Tyrone Evans[1] Tyrone Jones[1] Tyson Tarver[1] Tarver[1] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[4][5] |
| Billed weight | 256 lb (116 kg)[4][5] |
| Billed from | Akron, Ohio |
| Trained by | FCW |
| Debut | 2005[5] |
| Retired | 2021 |
Tyrone Evans[1] (born March 8, 1977)[6] is an Americanprofessional wrestler and rapper known asMichael Tarver.[3] He is best known for his time withWWE where he appeared on the first season ofWWE NXT and later debuted as a member of the factionThe Nexus. After he left WWE in 2011, he wrestled for theNational Wrestling Alliance and made a few appearances forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling andChikara.
Evans defeated Brandon X in a match at anNWA East / Pro Wrestling eXpress event on February 19, 2005.[7] Evans defeated Daron Smythe for the Pro Wrestling Express (PWX) Brass Knuckles Championship on April 2, 2005.[8] On June 11, Venom defeated Evans for the Brass Knuckles Championship.[8] After the title loss, Evans challenged Brandon K for the territory's Heavyweight Championship on September 8, 2006, and was unsuccessful.[9] Later that year, he wrestled for Coldwater Michigan-based promotion Price of Glory Wrestling, where he participated in anelimination match won by N8 Mattson.[10]
Evans also wrestled for severalCleveland,Ohio-basedpromotions. In March 2006, Evans debuted for the Main Event Wrestling League in Ohio, teaming with Kato to defeat Chris Kole in ahandicap match.[11] In December, Evans challenged Robby Starr for the MEWL Championship, but lost the match bydisqualification.[12] A rematch in March 2007, saw Starr defeat Evans again.[13] At MEWL'sHonky Tonk Saturday Night show the following month, however, Evans defeated Starr and won the MEWL Heavyweight Championship.[14] In July 2006, Evans beat Savage at an Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) show.[15] He returned to AIW in May 2007, losing to Thrillbilly, and in September 2007, where he defeatedEddie Kingston bysubmission in the third round of their 'Strong Style' Challenge match.[16][17] In April 2007, Evans challenged Jason Bane for the Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling (CAPW) Television Championship, but was unsuccessful.[18] On May 6, atMay Meltdown, The B.E.T. (Evans and Josh Emmanuel) defeated Jeff Brooks and Kid Hybrid in atag team match, and the following month atA Hot Summer's Night The B.E.T. defeated The Clash of Ernie Ballz and Brian Bender.[18]
Evans also wrestled for Pro Wrestling Unplugged, making his debut on October 27, 2007, atDark Night, where he introduced himself as "The Panther" Tyrone Evans before losing toThe Sandman by disqualification.[19][20] In December, Evans lost once again to The Sandman, before he changed hisnickname to "Black Panther" in February 2008 atLast Chance: Do or Die.[19]
In 2008, Evans signed a WWE contract and was assigned toFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a WWEdevelopmental territory. AtWrestleMania XXIV, he appeared as one of the bodyguards forFloyd Mayweather Jr. in Mayweather's match againstBig Show. In FCW, he began wrestling under thering name Tyrone Jones.[1] In May, hefeuded withAtlas DaBone.[21] Throughout June and July, he faced wrestlers includingKevin Kiley andTJ Wilson, and on July 21, he lost adark match toJamie Noble on July 21 prior toRaw.[1][21] In September he gainedByron Saxton as amanager, and changed his ring name to Tyson Tarver.[21] He became part of The Saxton Conglomerate, afaction composed of Tarver, Black Pain,Stu Sanders and led byByron Saxton. Tarver had his first match with the Conglomerate on October 30, where he, Pain and Sanders lost toJohnny Prime,Kafu andSinn Bowdee.[21] Prime soon began feuding with the Conglomerate, and on November 20, Tarver lost to him in a singles match.[21] On December 18, Tarver and Sanders lost to Prime and Kaleb O'Neal.[21]
In 2009, Evans changed his ring name to 'Michael Tarver'.[22] He continued competing in FCW throughout the remainder of 2009, facing wrestlers includingWes Brisco andSkip Sheffield, with whom he feuded in November 2009.[22] In December, Tarver became associated withHeath Slater, interfering in Slater's matches and accompanying him to the ring.[22] The following month, Tarver began a feud withTitus O'Neil. After twice interrupting O'Neil, Tarver defeated him in a singles match on February 18.[22]
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 theNXT show, withCarlito as his storyline mentor.[23] On the inaugural episode ofNXT on February 23, Tarver and Carlito were defeated byChristian andHeath Slater in a tag team match.[24] 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 ofNXT by defeatingDaniel Bryan.[25][26] Tarver also neglected to perform any of the rookie challenges inNXT stating that he was not there to perform menial tasks. On May 11, Tarver was eliminated during the first elimination round ofNXT alongside Daniel Bryan as they lacked the confidence to continue in the competition.[27]
The week after theNXT season finale, Tarver and the rest of the season oneNXT rookies interfered in themain event match betweenJohn Cena and CM Punk onRaw, attacking Cena, Punk, the announce team andring announcerJustin Roberts, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment, turning heel in the process.[28] On the June 14, 2010, edition ofRaw the rookies (excluding Daniel Bryan) attackedGeneral ManagerBret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts.[29] The following week onRaw,Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new general manager, who had signed the seven season oneNXT rookies to contracts.[30] The following week the group was namedThe Nexus.[31]
On the July 12 edition ofRaw, The Nexus competed in their first match together, withoutDarren Young, defeating John Cena in a 6–on–1 handicap match.[32] The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in aseven-on-seven elimination tag team match atSummerSlam which saw the return of former Nexus memberDaniel Bryan, who aligned himself with team WWE. Tarver was the second person eliminated from the match when he was pinned byJohn Morrison, and The Nexus went on to lose the match.[33] On the October 4 edition ofRaw, Tarver was attacked by Cena, with Barrett later stating that he would have thrown Tarver out of The Nexus anyway, but Cena did him a favor.[34] This storyline was put in place due to Tarver sustaining a groin injury.[35]
At the December 9 FCW television tapings, Tarver returned from his injury and defeatedDonny Marlow.[36] In 2011, Tarver began mysteriously appearing in the background of backstage segments on bothRaw andSmackDown.[37] However, nothing would ultimately come of this and on June 13, 2011, it was announced that Tarver had been released from his contract.[38]
After his release, he started to wrestle in the independent circuit under his real name but eventually reverted to Michael Tarver. Evans debuted in Florida Underground Wrestling. On March 3, 2012, Tarver defeated Eddie Taurus to become the first FUW Bruiserweight Champion. During his reign as champion, he took on Kahagas for theNWA National Heavyweight Championship but lost. On February 2, 2013, Tarver won the vacant NWA FUW Heavyweight Championship and would lose his Bruiserweight Championship a month later to Bruce Santee. On May 25, 2013, Evans defended the title at FUW Throwdown 3 againstTNA wrestlerRobbie E.[39] Tarver would go on to lose the NWA Florida Underground heavyweight title in August 2013. On February 21, 2014, at The Silver Screen Showdown, Tarver defeated Matt Morgan to win the NWA FUW Heavyweight Championship.[40] However, Tarver lost the title two weeks later at Ides of March toWes Brisco.[41]
On January 6, 2014,New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced that Tarver would be making his debut for the promotion on February 9 atThe New Beginning in Hiroshima, representing theNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA).[42] In his debut match, Tarver defeatedHiroyoshi Tenzan.[43][44] Two days later atThe New Beginning in Osaka, Tarver teamed with fellow NWA representative Big Daddy Yum-Yum in anNWA World Tag Team Championship number one contender's match, where they were defeated byTencozy (Tenzan andSatoshi Kojima).[45][46]
Tarver made his first wrestling appearance after being released from WWE, where he began a five-year tenure at Florida Underground Wrestling. He won the FUW Bruiserweight Championship after defeating Eddie Taurus on March 20, 2012. He won the vacant NWA FUW Heavyweight Championship on February 1, 2013, against Deimos, before losing the title six months later on August 31 at NWA FUW Throwdown 6 in a Brass Brass Knuckles On A Pole match against The Grease. He defeated fellow WWE alumniWes Brisco during the December 12, 2013, edition of NWA FUW. Tarver won the FWA Heavyweight title again on February 21, 2014, defeating the defending champion and fellow WWE superstarMatt Morgan. On December 18, Tarver competed in a Four-Way match in Hard Knock Wrestling for the HKW Championship held by Josh Emanuel against fellow challengers Kombat Kidd and Patrick Hayes.[citation needed]
On September 5, 2014, atFull Impact Pro Fallout, Tarver alongMason Ryan and Shaun Ricker participated in a trios tournament. but were defeated by Full Impact Puerto Ricans (Lince Dorado, Jay Cruz and Jay Rios).[47] On January 9, 2015, at FIP Kickoff 2015 Tarver entered the ring with Martin Stone under the team name MSL Universe. they won their debut match, defeating team Generation Genesis (Jeff Boom &Mitch Mitchell). On April 8, 2016, at FIP Florida Rumble 2016, Tarver wrestled in a battle royal for the number one contender to theFIP World Heavyweight Championship but was defeated byFred Yehi.
The Nexus reunited forChikara 2018 King of Trios tournament as The Nexus Alliance, being represented by Fred Rosser (previously Darren Young), Michael Tarver, and PJ Black (previously Justin Gabriel). During 2018 Tarver made three appearances onRing Warriors television show airing onWGN America. He also wrestled forThe Great Khali's Continental Wrestling Entertainment promotion, winning the CWE National Title in a ladder match on November 11, 2018. He would go on to lose the title two days later on the same tour.[48]
Evans is also aChristian rapper under the name Monster Tarver. Tarver has been showcasing his lyrical talent on his instagram page and released his Control Freestyle called "Monster Control Verse.[49][50] On January 7, 2022, Tarver released his debut single on digital streaming platforms titled, "Black Roses".[51] On April 29, 2022,Bizzle &Datin announced Monster Tarver as the first artist to sign with God Over Money and Menace Movement as he makes his rap label debut on God Over Money's albumUs Against the World with a song called "GOM Menace".[52][53]
former WWE superstar, Monster Tarver (Formerly known as Michael Tarver)
