.jpg) Taylor at16 Carat Gold in 2020 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Russell Gene Taylor (1987-01-26)January 26, 1987 (age 39)[3] Phelan, California, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Ryan Taylor Rust Taylor Russ Taylor[1] Taylor Rust Tyler Rust |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 215 lb (98 kg)[1] |
| Billed from | Phelan, California[2] |
| Trained by | Jesse Hernandez Rocky Romero T. J. Perkins Cincinnati Red Taka Michinoku[2] |
| Debut | March 27, 2004[3] |
Russell Gene Taylor[3] (born January 26, 1987),[3] is an Americanprofessional wrestler better known by the ring name ofTyler Rust inWWE. After WWE, he would adopt the ring name Taylor Rust inNJPW andROH, however prior to WWE, he was known in his independent career as Ryan Taylor and later Rust Taylor.
At 16 years old, he began training at the EWF's training school,Jesse Hernandez'sSchool of Hard Knocks and had his first 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 theEWF 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.[4] Ryan won back the EWF Cruiserweight Championship after only 22 days at EFW'sMeltdown. Taylor's second reign as the EWF Cruiserweight Champion lasted only 77 days until October 10, 2007 when Maximo defeated Ryan Taylor.[4] In November, Taylor competed in the EWF's Inland Title Series Tournament against J.T. Blackstar,Scorpio Sky andBrandon Gatson. He placed third with a final score of 1-2-0.[5] Taylor also won the 2007 Match of the Year Award for his match against Marcus Riot at the Covina Classic on June 9. In the early part of 2008, Taylor formed a stable known as the KOS alongside Mondo Vega and Hook Bomberry. On August 23, 2008 inSan Bernardino, California, Taylor defeated Vizzion in the main event atFlirting With Disaster for theEWF American Championship[6] and new female wrestler Aiden Riley joined the KOS. The KOS then feuded withT. J. 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 the Belt on a Pole match against Perkins in which Taylor would win theNWA Heritage Championship from Perkins and Taylor won the EWF Wrestler of the Year 2008. Taylor also wrestled the main event of the first ever So-cal supershow featuring the combined companies ofEWF and AWS against Perkins andScott 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 theEWF American Championship and theNWA Heritage Championship in the early parts of 2009 until losing the Heritage title to Oliver John in a fatal four-way match at the main event of the Cauliflower Alley Club Show after pinningChris Hero and he lost the American title to Rivera at the EWF's 14th Anniversary Show. On October 30, 2009, after returning from Japan, Taylor defeated Brandon Gatson to win theEWF 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. Taylor would win the EWF Wrestler of the Year for a second time in 2010. Taylor holds the record for the longest title reign in EWF history at 567 as EWF Heavyweight Champion. On May 20, 2011, Taylor lost the EWF Heavyweight Championship to Johnny Starr. On August 12, he would regain the championship, only to lose it 21 days later to Shaun Ricker. Taylor then participated in Inland Title Series Tournament for a second time in November 2012 and made it to the finals, wrestling 3 matches in 1 night but lost to Jeremy Jaeger. Taylor and Mondo Vega came together again but not as the KOS group, only the two and were collectively known as The Fallen Empire. In 2013, they would win the EWF Tag Team Championship in San Bernardino, that match would win the EWF MOTY for 2013. The two would have 2 championship runs as EWF Tag Champs until losing the belts to Tyshon Prince and Tommy Wilson in January 2015.[7]
On October 17, 2008, Taylor made his debut forWWE, on itsSmackDown brand, where he was defeated byBig Show in a I Quit Match.[8] He returned to WWE on the May 26, 2009, episode ofWWE ECW, where he teamed with Joey Munoz and was defeated byVladimir Kozlov. Taylor would be used by WWE for several commercials promotingSmackDown moving to SyFy Network, working withKofi Kingston. Taylor also appears in a Don't Try This At Home commercial from WWE, again with Kingston.
In 2012, Taylor was invited to a WWE three day tryout camp, along with other independent notables such asAdam Pearce,Timothy Thatcher andDavina Rose (now known as Bayley).[9]
Taylor would make another appearance in WWE on the June 17, 2019 episode ofRaw, teaming with Randy Taylor in a loss toThe Viking Raiders.
In 2009, Taylor was heavily involved inKaientai Dojo. His debut was at 1st Ring in Shinkiba where he was successful in a tag match teaming with Quiet Storm. His first match with KDojo he teamed with Boso Boy Raito and Yuu Yamagata and they were defeated by Omega (Saburo Inematsu,Shiori Asahi andYuji Hino). He joined Omega that week and wrestled as a part of the top team in Kaientai Dojo. Taylor wrestled in one of HUSTLE's last shows at the Tokyo Dome Hotel.[10] On 3 July 2009, Taylor was defeated by Quiet Storm in a match for the UIWA Light Heavyweight Championship.[11] Taylor made his final appearance for the promotion in his first tour on September 13, 2009, as he teamed with Saburo Inematsu and they were defeated by Monster Plant (KAZMA andKengo Mashimo).[12]
On November 20, 2009, Taylor made hisPro Wrestling Guerrilla debut at the first night of the2009 Battle of Los Angeles, where he teamed with Malachi Jackson in a losing effort against the Cutler Brothers (Brandon and Dustin Cutler).[13] Taylor continued to perform on every PWG show from 2010 to 2013. Taylor teamed withRoderick Strong at theDDT4 tournament in May 2010, where they were eliminated in the first round by the Cutler Brothers.[14][15] On September 4, 2010 Taylor entered the2010 Battle of Los Angeles, but was eliminated in the first round by Brandon Gatson.[16] The following day Taylor formed a new alliance withChuck Taylor andBrian Cage (who would adopt the ring name Brian Cage-Taylor), called the Fightin' Taylor Boys.[17][18] From the end of 2010 until summer of 2012, The Fightin' Taylor Boys would do numerous tag team matches and compete in PWG's2012 DDT4, losing to the RockNes Monsters in the first round. Their final match as a group was Chuck Taylor and Ryan Taylor in mid late 2012. Ryan Taylor's last match for PWG was in 2013 at the 10yr Anniversary show.
In June, Taylor took part in secret TV tapings at NJPW's Los Angeles Dojo for a new show namedLion's Break Collision. On June 13, Taylor made hisNew Japan Pro-Wrestling debut asRust Taylor, teaming withRocky Romero in a losing effort againstTJP and Clark Connors. At the same tapings, Taylor got his first win in New Japan by defeating The DKC.
In November, Taylor returned to NJPW aligning with J. R. Kratos,Tom Lawlor, andDanny Limelight to form the newTeam Filthy. The duo of Taylor and Kratos made their tag team debut defeating Rocky Romero andJeff Cobb. On November 20, Taylor defeated Rocky Romero in his first singles match back in Japan. One week later atNJPW Strong #17, Taylor competed in his last match in New Japan teaming with Kratos, Lawlor, and Limelight in a winning effort against Cobb, Romero,Fred Rosser andP. J. Black.
On October 2, 2020, Taylor made hisRing of Honor debut asRust Taylor, competing in theROH Pure Tournament. In his debut match he lost in the first round to the eventual runner-upTracy Williams, in a match that was considered one of the best of the whole tournament. Rusts last match with ROH before going toWWE would be a tag match teaming withDalton Castle vsRocky Romero andKenny King.
On December 2, 2020,WWE announced Taylor as a recruit to theWWE Performance Center.[19] That same day, he made his debut on NXT as aheel, in a Thatch-as-Thatch Can segment withTimothy Thatcher as Thatcher's student under the ring nameTyler Rust. Later on in the night, he was seen backstage talking toMalcolm Bivens.[20][21] After debuting in ring VsTommaso Ciampa, Rust and Bivens formed their partnership and Bivens began referring to his new nickname, Diamond in the Rust, as he would gain his first win in WWE on the Christmas Eve episode of NXT vsAriya Daivari. Rust would work on the NXT weekly show during the first half of 2021 with Bivens,[22][23][24] until June 22, when Rust and Bivens were revealed to be a part of theDiamond Mine stable along withHachiman andRoderick Strong, thus cementing Rust's status as a heel.[25][26] However, he was released on August 6.[27]
Taylor returned to Ring of Honor on September 12, 2021 atDeath Before Dishonor XVIII, where he defeatedJake Atlas. Rust would continue to be a part of ROH throughout the rest of 2021 having notable matches againstChris Dickinson,Tracy Williams and the Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark). ROH held its final show (before being bought out by Tony Khan) in December of 2021 where Rust competed with Team Honor vs Violence Unlimited at Final Battle 2021. Rust would return toNJPW in December 2021 at NJPW Strong: Detonation to surprise his former teammateTom Lawlor after the main event. Rust however turned on Lawlor, becoming a Face in NJPW and challenging Lawlor for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship. Lawlor vs Rust for the NJPW Strong Openweight Championship would take place in January of 2022 in Seattle, Wa at NJPW Strong: New Beginning. Rust would lose to Lawlor and continue to wrestle for NJPW throughout the rest of 2022, with his last match being an 8 man tag, teaming with his former WWE foeKushida, along withRocky Romero andTrent Baretta vsBullet Club.
| 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 Dynamite. |
