| Major Players | |
|---|---|
 Ryder (left) and Hawkins (right) atWrestleMania Axxess in 2009 | |
| Tag team | |
| Members | Curt Hawkins / Brian Major(s) /Brian Myers Zack Ryder / Brett Major(s) / Brett Matthews /Matt Cardona |
| Name(s) | Brian Myers and Brett Matthews Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder La Familia Major Brothers Major Players Majors Brothers |
| Billed heights | Curt Hawkins: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[1] Zack Ryder: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[2] |
| Combined billed weight | 447 lb (203 kg)[3][4] |
| Billed from | Long Island,New York[4][3] |
| Former member | Chelsea Green |
| Debut | August 2004 |
| Years active | 2004–2009 2019–2020 2022–present |
| Trained by | Mikey Whipwreck[5] Deep South Wrestling |
TheMajor Players[6] are aprofessional wrestlingtag team consisting ofBrian Myers andMatt Cardona. They are best known for their time inWWE asCurt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, where they are former two-timeWWE Raw Tag Team Champions. Myers and Cardona also wrestled forImpact Wrestling, in which they are both formerImpact Digital Media Champion.
The duo made their professional wrestling debut in 2004 as a tag team in New York Wrestling Connection, wrestling asBrian Myers and Brett Matthews. After the team signed with WWE, they would become almost exclusively tag team wrestlers. They debuted in WWE's main roster in 2007 on theECW brand as Brian and Brett Major, collectively known asThe Major Brothers. Later that year, they were repackaged and renamed to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder as associates ofEdge and subsequently aligned themselves withLa Familia on theSmackDown brand. Nicknamed "The Rated-R Entourage" and "The Edgeheads", Hawkins and Ryder continued their alliance with Edge until the team split in April 2009, after Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the2009 WWE draft. After the team's split, Hawkins and Ryder sporadically teamed together in matches, but would not officially reunite until almost 10 years later in January 2019. They would go on to capture the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships atWrestleMania 35 in April 2019.
The two debuted as a team in New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) in 2004 with Matthew Cardona using the name Brett Matthews and Brian Myers using his real name. On May 21, 2005, they defeated the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and Mason Raige by disqualification.[7] At the next event on June 4, they won a rematch decisively to become Tag Team Champions.[8] 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,[7] on August 27.[8] 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.[7] 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.[8]
Matthews and Myers moved to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) inGeorgia tweaking their ring names to Brett and Brian Majors, appearing collectively as The Majors Brothers. They lost their debut match on June 1 toMontel Vontavious Porter andEric Pérez. They picked up their first wins on June 15 againstFrancisco Ciatso and Cru Jones but lost a Four Way title contendership match in July to Urban Assault (Peréz andSonny Siaki). They continued to feud with Ciatso who changed partners frequently but never defeated The Majors Brothers. After a six match winning streak[9] they were given a match againstThe Untouchables (Dice Domino andDeuce Shade) who were reigning asDSW Tag Team Champions. On 12 October, The Majors Brothers became the new champions[10] after the match was restarted following a double pin situation.[9]
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 whenThe 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.[9] The following week on November 30 The Majors Brothers lost their titles to Urban Assault.[10] Their rematch went to a no contest when Urban Assault's managerG-Rilla began fighting withThe Freakin' Deacon who was in The Majors' corner.[9] 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) andThe Blue Bloods (William Regal andDave Taylor) to become two-time champions. They held the championships briefly, losing them on 8 March to Team Elite (Derrick Neikirk andMike Knox).[10] The Majors stayed in DSW until April, exchanging victories with The Blue Bloods and teaming withKofi Nahaje Kingston to defeatThe Next Generation Hart Foundation (Harry Smith and TJ Wilson) andShawn Osborne.[11]
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 againstJay 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 reigningOVW Southern Tag Team Champions "The Hammer" Charles Evans and "The Ox"Justin LaRouche (futureLa Familia stablemate Bam Neely) twice in non-title matches, once by disqualification.[12] 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.[13]
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[12] and subsequent title match to The James Boys (K.C. James andKassidy James) on 29 June.[13] Their rematch ended in a double countout and after this The Major Brothers won only by disqualification, by which titles cannot change hands, but ultimately lost a decisive rematch on July 13. In October they shared a rivalry withPaul Burchill, initially winning against him andDrew McIntyre and then again against Burchill andStu 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.[12]
The Major Brothers made their WWE television debut on the May 1, 2007 episode ofECW on Sci Fi defeatingMatt StrikerandMarcus Cor Von in a tag team match.[14] They were depicted as anunknown team and their initial victory was the only win the team had in ECW. Following their debut match, they lost to the team ofElijah Burkeand Marcus Cor Von, as well as both losing singles matches to Burke and Striker.[15][16][17] The Majors were drafted from ECW toSmackDown! on June 17, 2007, as the eighth pick in the2007 Supplemental Draft.[18] Vignettes aired hyping their impending debut on the brand. On their July 6, 2007SmackDown! debut, the Majors defeated Jeremy Young and Mike Foxx.[19] The following week, the Majors were victorious again, defeating the team ofChavo Guerrero Jr. andJamie Noble.[20] 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 debutingDrew McIntyre defeated Brett.[21][22] The following week, McIntyre defeated Brian.[23] 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 andMatt Hardy.[24]
AtArmageddon, the Major Brothers dressed asEdge and interfered in theWorld Heavyweight Championship match, taking bumps in Edge's place to help him win the title and thusturningheel for the first time in their WWE career.[25] On December 21, 2007, the Major Brothers were revealed as an acquaintance to Edge and his lover,SmackDownGeneral ManagerVickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed, as Brett Major's name was changed to "Zack Ryder" and Brian Major to "Curt Hawkins".[26] Occasionally teaming with their mentor Edge and/or their "La Familia" associate Chavo Guerrero onSmackDown, they even went on to be featured in themain event on multiple occasions. With this new gimmick, they were sometimes referred as "The Rated-R Entourage" by commentatorMichael Cole. 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 ahoodie, respectively, to the ring.
AtThe Great American Bash on July 20, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder won theWWE Tag Team Championship fromJohn Morrison and the Miz in afatal four-way match which also featuredJesse and Festus andFinlay andHornswoggle after Hawkins pinned Jesse.[27][28] Their victory meant that they collectively became the youngest tag team champions in WWE history.[29] AtSummerSlam, 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 ofSmackDown, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles toCarlito andPrimo Colón in their first televised title defense.[30] On December 5, 2008, episode ofSmackDown, they returned in atag team gauntlet match againstJeff Hardy andTriple 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 byThe Great Khali.[31] On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team.[32]
Hawkins and Ryder had a brief reunion in 2011, when Hawkins helped Ryder defeatVladimir Kozlov on the May 12 episode ofSuperstars. On the May 19 episode ofSuperstars, Hawkins teamed with Ryder in a losing effort against Kozlov andSantino Marella, but the tag team did not reform beyond this.
They also had a brief reunion in 2016 alongside former La Familia leader Edge, where they are seen talking backstage using the lyrics of Edge's entrance music "Metalingus", before Edge himself shows up, after the 900th episode ofSmackDown Live went off the air.[33] In 2018, Hawkins and Ryder became co-hosts of the WWE Network series "Zack and Curt Figure It Out". On the November 14, 2018 edition ofWWE Main Event, Hawkins and Ryder teamed up for the first time since 2011 in a loss toApollo Crews andTyler Breeze.[34]
Prior to the team's reformation, both Hawkins and Ryder were struggling as singles competitors; by the end of 2018, Hawkins had lost over 200 consecutive matches and Ryder had not appeared on WWE television in 2018 until the finalRaw episode of the year.[35] On the January 21, 2019 episode ofRaw, Hawkins was attacked byThe Revival. Ryder came to Hawkins' aid, foreshadowing a reunion.[36] On the January 28 episode ofRaw, Hawkins and Ryder made their official reunion facing The Revival in a losing effort after Hawkins was pinned byDash Wilder.[37] On April 5, WWE announced that Hawkins and Ryder would face The Revival atWrestleMania 35 for theRaw Tag Team Championship.[38][39] At the event's Kickoff Show, the duo won the Raw Tag Team Championships, subsequently breaking Hawkins' 269-match losing streak. The following night onRaw, they successfully defended their titles in a rematch against The Revival, thus breaking Ryder's "WrestleMania curse" of losing a championship after winning it the night before at WrestleMania.[40] At The Shield's Final Chapter, Hawkins and Ryder once again successfully defended the belts against The Revival and Aleister Black and Ricochet in a triple threat match.[41] Following that, the team was largely absent from television mainly appearing on live events. Even though they were the champions, they only made two appearances on WWE programming during the month of May: a loss toThe Viking Raiders (Erik andIvar) on the May 6 episode ofRaw and a win againstLuke Gallows and Karl Anderson on the May 27 episode ofMain Event.[42] The duo returned during the 51-Man Battle Royal at the2019 Super Showdown, but they were both eliminated during the match.[43] On the following episode ofRaw, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles against The Revival in a triple threat match that also involvedThe Usos.[44]
On April 15, 2020, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder were released from their WWE contracts as part of budget cuts due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[45]
AtGame Changer Wrestling's Welcome to Heartbreak event inLos Angeles, Myers and Cardona reunited alongsideChelsea Green as "The Major Players," losing toX-Pac andJoey Janela in the main event.[46]
On April 15, 2022 episode ofImpact Wrestling, Myers, Cardona and Green attackedW. Morrissey during an in-ring promo, with Morrissey going through a table. Later in the show, Green gaveMickie James a cheap shot and then knocked her down with Myers and Cardona’s help.
The Major Pod Network | |
|---|---|
 Major Wrestling Figure Podcast Logo | |
| Other names | The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast |
| YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Genre | Action figures |
| Subscribers | 111 thousand |
| Views | 18.7 million |
| Last updated: October 24, 2024[needs update] | |
| Website | majorwfpod |
On August 23, 2018, Cardona and Myers startedThe Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. In the podcast, they talk about one of their favorite hobbies, collecting wrestling figures, and other topics relating to professional wrestling and action figures.[47]
