 Jackson in 2012 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rycklon Edward Stephens (1978-04-22)April 22, 1978 (age 47)[4] Linden, Guyana |
| Alma mater | University at Buffalo |
Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | rycklon.com |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Big Ryck[1] Ezekiel Jackson[2] Rycklon[3] Rycklon Stephens[4] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 3 in (191 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 280 lb (127 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Harlem,New York Guyana, South America[2] South Central, Los Angeles,California |
| Trained by | Homicide[4] Tom Prichard[4] Steve Keirn[4] Rick Bassman[3] |
| Debut | January 27, 2007[3] |
Rycklon Edward Stephens (born April 22, 1978)[4] is a Guyanese-Americanprofessional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure inWWE from 2007 to 2014 where he performed under thering nameEzekiel Jackson, where he was the finalECW Champion under WWE'sECWbrand, as well as a formerWWE Intercontinental Champion.[5][6]
Stephens made his professional wrestling debut for the California-based promotionUltimate Pro Wrestling in 2007 under the ring name Big Ryck Hytz. He was then signed by WWE in 2007 and sent to their then-developmental territory,Florida Championship Wrestling, under the new ring name Rycklon, which was later changed to Ezekiel Jackson after his main-roster debut in 2008. During his time in WWE, Jackson was the final man to win the ECW Championship, his only professional wrestling world championship, making him the third African American to hold the ECW championship, the sixthblackworld champion (afterThe Rock,Booker T,Bobby Lashley,Ron Simmons, andMark Henry), and the first South American -born champion in WWE history. He later joinedThe Corre but was kicked out, thus starting a feud with the stable's leaderWade Barrett and he would go on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship once.
Jackson would leave WWE in 2014 and briefly wrestle forTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) later that year. He also competed in one season ofLucha Underground from 2014 to 2015 as Big Ryck. He retired from fulltime wrestling in 2015 and is the owner of theRedwood City, California-basedprofessional wrestling promotion andschool Bryckhouse Pro Wrestling.
Rycklon Edward Stephens was born on April 22, 1978 in Linden, Guyana. At a young age, he immigrated to the United States. He graduated fromJohn Dewey High School inBrooklyn, New York. Stephens attended theUniversity at Buffalo.[7]
Stephens signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in March 2007 and debuted inFlorida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in late June.[4] In his debut match on June 27, he teamed withKeith Walker to defeatKofi Kingston andEric Pérez.[4] He continued to compete in thepromotion in both tag team and singles matches. On February 8, 2008, he competed in a match with tag partnerBryan Kelly in a losing effort againstSteve Lewington andHeath Miller in a mini-tournament to face theWWE Tag Team ChampionsJohn Morrison and The Miz.[4] On May 6, 2008, Stephens wrestled his final match in FCW before being called up to WWE's main roster.[4]
After being trained in FCW, Stephens debuted on the July 18, 2008, episode ofSmackDown under the name Ezekiel, asThe Brian Kendrick'sbodyguard.[8] On the August 8, 2008, edition ofSmackDown, his ring name was tweaked to Ezekiel Jackson, and he was revealed as being Kendrick's "advisor". He then began interfering in Kendrick's matches againstJeff Hardy,Finlay, andWWE ChampionTriple H. On the October 17 episode ofSmackDown, Jackson made his official in-ring debut byquickly defeatingSuper Crazy, after replacing a supposedly sick Kendrick.[9] In late 2008, Jackson beganteaming with Kendrick and both beganfeuding with theWWE Tag Team ChampionsThe Colóns (Carlito andPrimo), although Kendrick and Jackson failed to win the championship.[10][11][12] He suffered his first defeat on the February 13, 2009, episode ofSmackDown, when he lost a singles match toR-Truth.[13] Jackson made his final appearance on the SmackDown brand in a losing effort againstJeff Hardy on the April 3, 2009, episode.[14]
On April 15, 2009, Jackson was drafted to theECW brand as part of the2009 Supplemental Draft, therefore breaking up the team of himself and Kendrick.[15] He made his ECW debut defeating Jack Meridol on the July 9, 2009, episode.[16] Jackson then began an angle withVladimir Kozlov in which, week after week, after one of them had squashed a local competitor, the other would come out and hit their finishing move on the fallen opponent in a game ofone-upmanship.[17][18][19][20] On the August 18 episode ofECW, Jackson formed analliance with Kozlov andWilliam Regal afterbetraying theECW Champion,Christian, during a tag team match to side with them, and attacking Christian at Regal's request.[21] Kozlov and Jackson aided Regal in his feud with Christian over the ECW Championship, but Regal was unable to capture the title.[22][23]
On the November 24 episode ofECW, Jackson attacked both Regal and Kozlov after Kozlov accused Jackson of costing Regal a match.[24] The following week, Jackson once again betrayed Kozlov and Regal by walking out on Kozlov during a tag team match against Christian andShelton Benjamin.[25] Jackson, however, realigned himself with Regal, when he was aided by Regal in defeating Kozlov on an episode ofECW. On the January 12, 2010, episode ofECW, Jackson won the ECW Homecoming battle royal to earn a match for the ECW Championship.[26] He faced Christian for the ECW championship at theRoyal Rumble pay-per-view but was unsuccessful.[27] On the final episode ofECW on February 16, Jackson defeated Christian to win the ECW Championship in anExtreme Rules match.[5][28] Upon winning the title, WWE credits Jackson as the final ECW Champion.[5]
On the February 19 episode ofSmackDown, a video package aired, promoting Jackson's return to the brand.[29][30] He made his return on the March 5 episode ofSmackDown without Regal, who instead joinedRaw, and defeatedJimmy Wang Yang.[31] On April 10, 2010, at a house show in Glasgow, Scotland, Jackson suffered a tear in his rightquadriceps muscle during a match againstKane, and was expected to be inactive for approximately six months.[32] During his injury, Jackson was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the2010 WWE Supplemental Draft.[33]
Jackson made his return to the ring on September 14, 2010, defeatingZack Ryder in adark match prior to theRaw tapings.[34] He returned to television on the October 18 episode ofRaw, where he was revealed as a member of Team Raw for theBragging Rights pay-per-view.[35] At Bragging Rights, Jackson was one of the final two remaining members of Team Raw, but they lost to Team SmackDown.[36] On the November 22 episode ofRaw, Jackson qualified for the2010 edition of theKing of the Ring tournament by defeatingAlex Riley, who replaced Jackson's original opponentThe Miz.[37] He facedDrew McIntyre in the quarter-finals, but the match ended in a double countout, so neither advanced.[38]
In December 2010, Jackson was traded back to the SmackDown brand.[2][39] On the January 11, 2011, taping of the January 14 edition ofSmackDown, Jackson joinedWade Barrett,Justin Gabriel andHeath Slater in assaulting TheBig Show, appearing to form an alliance with the three.[40][41] The following week the group was namedThe Corre.[42] On the May 6 episode ofSmackDown, Jackson defeated Big Show in a singles match, but refused to celebrate with the other members of The Corre afterward. Backstage, the other members of The Corre attacked him in retaliation, turning Jackson face.[43]Jackson went on to face Barrett for theIntercontinental Championship atOver the Limit, and won by disqualification, which meant that Barrett retained the championship.[44] Jackson continued to feud with the other members of The Corre, winning against Barrett by disqualification and countout respectively.[45][46]
On June 19, at theCapitol Punishment pay-per-view, Jackson defeated Barrett to win the Intercontinental Championship for the first time.[6] Jackson successfully retained the championship in a rematch against Barrett on the following episode ofSmackDown and also successfully defended it againstTed DiBiase on the July 15 episode.[47][48] On August 12 episode ofSmackDown, Jackson lost the Intercontinental Championship toCody Rhodes, ending his Intercontinental Championship reign at 51 days.[49] He went on to feud with both Rhodes and DiBiase. On the August 19 episode ofSmackDown, he lost a rematch for the championship to Rhodes.[50] Jackson was part of a ten-man battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship, but was eliminated by Rhodes.[51]
On January 29, 2012, at theRoyal Rumble pay-per-view, Jackson entered the Royal Rumble match as the thirteenth entrant, but he was eliminated by the returningGreat Khali.[52] Jackson started a losing streak losing to the likes ofJinder Mahal,Drew McIntyre, andDavid Otunga. Jackson finally ended his losing streak by teaming with The Great Khali to defeat the team of Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks on the May 16 episode ofNXT. However, he lost to the Big Show on the May 26 episode and May 27 episode of Smackdown.
Around mid–2012, Jackson suffered an upper body injury and was inactive for many months. After almost a year of inactivity due to his injury, Jackson returned at a live event forWrestleMania Axxess on April 4, 2013, by teaming up withYoshi Tatsu to defeat the team ofHunico andCamacho.[53] On January 4, 2014, Jackson announced he was undergoing another surgery.[54] As a result of this, on April 6, 2014, Jackson reported that he had officially parted ways with the WWE.[55][56]
He made his debut, along withGene Snitsky, inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) on the June 25 taping ofImpact Wrestling (which aired on July 24) using the ringnameRycklon as aheel; attackingTommy Dreamer,Bully Ray andDevon, and aligning himself withDixie Carter. It also marked the very first time that the final champion of the original and the new ECW were in the ring at exactly the same time (Rhino and Rycklon)[57][58][59] Rycklon and Snitsky were fired by Dixie Carter on the August 7 edition ofImpact Wrestling. Earlier on the show they had competed in an Eight-Man Hardcore War between Team EC3 (EC3,Rhino, Rycklon and Snitsky) in a losing effort against Team Bully (Bully Ray, Devon,Tommy Dreamer andAl Snow).[60][61]
In September 2014, Stephens worked atLucha Underground under the ring name Big Ryck, where he was forming a heel trio named The Crenshaw Crew with Cisco,Bael andCortez Castro.[1][62] Ryck feuded with Johnny Mundo and Prince Puma. Their feud concluded in a three-way ladder match, which was won by Mundo. On the October 5, 2014, taping, Ryck participated in an Aztec Warfare Battle Royal to crown the first Lucha Underground Champion but was eliminated. On January 21, 2015, Cisco, Castro and Bael attacked Ryck and burned his eye with a cigar, turning face in the process. Ryck returned to action on February 25, 2015, distracting The Crew in a match against Sexy Star, Mascarita Sagrada, and Pimpinela Escarlata. On March 4, 2015, Ryck defeated Star to earn a match against The Crew. Ryck defeated The Crew in a one-on-three handicap match. On February 8, 2015, Ryck, along withKillshot andWillie Mack participated in a tournament for the Lucha Underground Trios Championship, but they were defeated in the finals by the eventual winners Angélico, Son of Havoc and Ivelisse.[63] After their loss, Ryck left Mack and Killshot and was hired byDelAvar Daivari, attacking Texano on May 20, 2015, turning heel in the process. At Ultima Lucha, Daivari ran out and distracted Ryck by firing him, hinting at a face turn. However, nothing came of this due to Stephens departing Lucha Underground in 2015 due to traveling conflicts.[citation needed] It was revealed that Big Ryck was one of five missing people on the April 20 episode of Lucha Underground. In the four-issue miniseries following that, it explaining what had happened after Ultima Lucha and before season two. It was revealed that Ryck was "killed" by The Disciples of Death, officially writing his character off the show.
On October 17, 2015, Stephens, as Big Ryck, made his debut for the GermanWestside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) promotion, unsuccessfully challengingKarsten Beck for thewXw Unified World Wrestling Championship.[64] After this, he retired from wrestling full-time to become a personal trainer.[3][65][66] He maintained that he was not officially retired from wrestling and has not wrestled his last match.[67][68]
Stephens would make his in-ring return in March 2025, nearly 10 years after his last match.[69][70] He competed in a triple threat match at FWE Full Throttle against Psycho Boy Fodder andSylvain for the FWE Heavyweight Championship, and was unsuccessful in winning the championship.[71]
Stephens has been married to his wife Jenn Stephens since 2004, and the couple had two children.[72] Stephens is a devoutChristian.[73] His son, R.J. Stephens, plays as a defensive lineman forUC Berkeley.[74]
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 | Video game debut |
| 2010 | WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 | |
| 2011 | WWE '12 |
the last ECW Champion
,Cagematch,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database