Brian Myers (born April 20, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he is a member of The System. He is a four-time TNA World Tag Team Champion and is also a former one-time TNA Digital Media Champion. He is best known for his tenures in WWE from 2006 to 2014 and 2016 to 2020 under the ring name Curt Hawkins.
Myers signed with WWE in 2006 and was assigned to their developmental territories. In 2007, he was called up to the main roster and would eventually win the WWE Tag Team Championship with Zack Ryder as a part of La Familia. In 2014, he departed from WWE and returned to the independent circuit and worked there until 2016 when he re-signed with WWE. Shortly after his return, he amassed a WWE record 269-match losing streak which ended at WrestleMania 35 when he won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship with Zack Ryder, almost ten years after they last held any titles as a team.
Early life Myers was born on April 20, 1985, in Glen Cove, New York. He graduated from Glen Cove High School in 2003. After he decided to pursue a professional wrestling career, Myers began training under Mikey Whipwreck.
Professional wrestling career New York Wrestling Connection (2004–2006)
After being trained by Mikey Whipwreck, Myers made his debut in 2004, using his real name. He wrestled for the New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) promotion. He began regularly teaming with Brett Matthews and the duo of Myers and Matthews went on to defeat the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and Mason Raige by disqualification, for which titles do not change hands. At the next event on June 4 they won a rematch decisively to become Tag Team Champions. Later that month they were attacked by The Dead Presidents (Lo Lincoln and Boog Washington) to set up a feud where they eventually lost their titles against them in July. 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. After continuing to win matches they re-earned a match against Team Tremendous 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 and Mike Spinelli), who defeated them for the gold on March 26.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2006–2014) Developmental territories (2006–2007) On February 24, 2006, Brian Myers signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. He was given the ring name Brian Majors and teamed up with his former tag team partner Bret Matthews, who was renamed Brett Majors, to form the tag team the Majors Brothers. Together they won the Deep South Wrestling DSW Tag Team Championship on two occasions. They later won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship.
Major Brothers and La Familia (2007–2009)
The team was moved from the developmental territories to the main roster, changing their last names from "Majors" to "Major". The team worked on WWE's ECW brand. The team won their debut match against Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von of The New Breed on the May 1 episode of ECW, but failed to win any matches in either singles or tag team competition following their debut on the brand. They moved from ECW to SmackDown! as the eighth pick in the 2007 Supplemental Draft. They made their SmackDown! debut on July 6, defeating jobbers Jeremy Young and Mike Fox. On the November 9 episode of SmackDown!, they received a WWE Tag Team Championship match after winning a #1 contender's battle royal, but lost to WWE Tag Team Champions Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy in their title match.
At Armageddon, the duo dressed up as Edge and interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match also involving The Undertaker and Batista, replacing Edge during the match to help him win the title, turning heel for the first time in their WWE career. On the December 21 taping of SmackDown!, the Major Brothers were revealed as acquaintances to Edge and his lover, SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, with Brian Major becoming Curt Hawkins and Brett Major now named Zack Ryder. Their team name also became The Edgeheads, due to their resemblance to him.
On the January 4, 2008 episode of SmackDown!, Hawkins and Ryder competed against Batista in a 2-on-1 handicap match to a draw in a Beat The Clock Challenge when the time ran out. After assisting Edge in most of his matches for multiple months, Hawkins and Ryder captured the WWE Tag Team Championship from John Morrison and the Miz in a fatal-four-way tag team match, which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle at The Great American Bash in July, becoming the youngest tag team champions in WWE history up to that point. By SummerSlam in August, La Familia had begun to fracture and Hawkins and Ryder began appearing on their own.
On the September 26 airing of SmackDown, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles to Carlito and Primo Colón in their first televised title defense. On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team.
Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2010) Following the draft, Hawkins was on hiatus from television before voluntarily leaving the main roster and transferring to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) for more training. He made his debut losing to Dawson Alexander. In the following weeks, Hawkins won an 8-man battle royal to become the number one contender for Justin Angel's FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship, then lost the championship match. He joined a stable called "The Dude Busters" alongside Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta on November 1, 2009. In late November, Hawkins and Croft won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. While they were champions, Croft and Hawkins defended the title with Barreta via the Freebird Rule. On January 14, 2010, at an FCW television taping, The Dude Busters lost the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship to The Fortunate Sons (Brett DiBiase and Joe Hennig).
The Gatecrashers (2010–2011) Hawkins returned to the SmackDown roster on May 4, 2010, forming a tag team with Vance Archer, defeating Chasyn Rance and JT Talent in a dark match. They made their television debut as a team on the May 13 episode of WWE Superstars, defeating two local competitors. After the match, Hawkins stated that he and Archer had been given a 30-day contract to "make an impact". The team made its SmackDown debut on the May 21 episode, winning another squash match. In an attempt to make an impact, the duo attacked Montel Vontavious Porter and Christian on consecutive episodes of SmackDown on June 4 and 11, which they followed up on by defeating both in a tag team match on June 18.
The next week the duo was officially named "The Gatecrashers". The pair also competed in a battle royal, on the June 4, 2010 episode of SmackDown, to replace The Undertaker in the World Heavyweight Championship fatal four-way match at Fatal 4-Way. Hawkins was one of the four final participants in the match, but was eliminated by the eventual winner, Rey Mysterio. After their 30-day contract expired, they were signed to new long-term contracts in storyline. The team came to an end on the October 7 airing of Superstars after a match between Archer and Chris Masters. Archer accidentally struck Hawkins outside the ring after which the two argued and a distracted Archer lost the match. Afterwards, Hawkins assaulted Archer. Hawkins moved to singles competition the following week, defeating Trent Barreta. A rivalry then began between the two shortly after, with Barreta getting the win on the November 18 episode of Superstars. In a rematch the next week, Hawkins defeated Barreta, claiming Barreta's win the week before was a fluke. The feud ended with Barreta coming out on top when Barreta beat Hawkins on the December 9 episode of Superstars.
Teaming with Tyler Reks (2011–2012)
On April 26, Hawkins was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft. Hawkins and Ryder had a brief reunion on the May 19 episode of Superstars, where they teamed together in a losing effort against Kozlov and Santino Marella. After Hawkins beat JTG on the May 26 episode of Superstars, Hawkins returned on the September 8 episode of Superstars, teaming with Tyler Reks to defeat Percy Watson and Titus O'Neil. Hawkins and Reks then began appearing on the fifth season of NXT, by attacking The Usos from behind on the September 27 episode of NXT. Over the next two weeks on NXT, Hawkins and Reks faced the Usos in tag team matches, with Hawkins and Reks winning the first match and the Usos winning the second match.
From October 2011, Hawkins, claiming a broken ankle, began to carry around a metal walking cane. However, when Hawkins' injury had healed sufficiently for him to wrestle, he still brought the cane with him to the ring. Hawkins and Reks then lost a non-title match to Air Boom on the December 22 episode of Superstars. Hawkins debuted on Raw on January 9, 2012, and was quickly defeated by a returning Brodus Clay. Hawkins and Reks feuded with Trent Barreta and Yoshi Tatsu from December 2011. Both teams regularly played pranks on each other, Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks' hands being superglued onto an Xbox 360 controller. The feud ended when Hawkins and Reks defeated Barreta and Tatsu on the January 18 episode of NXT.
Hawkins and Reks then became NXT's troublemakers, tormenting NXT host Matt Striker on his lacklustre career and how they should be main-eventing NXT, even once going to the extent of assaulting him after a match. This forced Striker to appoint William Regal as NXT's prime authority figure on the February 29 episode of NXT. Regal often employed harsh measures to keep Hawkins and Reks in line, including threatening suspensions for bad behaviour and condemning them to janitorial duty, this caused them much frustration. On the March 21, 2012 episode of NXT Redemption, a storyline began in which Striker was knocked out with chloroform by Johnny Curtis and Maxine, and then Striker was kidnapped by unknown persons, later revealed to be Hawkins and Reks, who intended to blackmail Maxine into using her charms to get Regal to leave them alone. Unfortunately for Hawkins and Reks, Striker was rescued by Derrick Bateman and Kaitlyn. On the April 18 episode of NXT, the freed Striker confronted Hawkins and Reks about the kidnapping, and Hawkins admitted the crime. As punishment, Regal put Hawkins and Reks in a match against each other, with Striker as referee. The loser would be fired. Even though Reks won to supposedly save her job at the expense of Hawkins', Regal decided to fire Reks as well, sending the two troublemakers away from NXT.
However, Regal could not keep the duo away from NXT for long, as they managed to convince villainous higher authority figure John Laurinaitis to rehire them as NXT's security team on the May 9 episode of NXT. Hawkins and Reks continued to act as Laurinaitis' lackeys, confiscating anti-Laurinaitis signs at Over the Limit and attacking John Cena on the May 21 episode of Raw. Hawkins and Reks' association with Laurinaitis ended after Laurinaitis lost his job at No Way Out. On the final episode of the fifth season of NXT on June 13, Hawkins and Reks defeated Percy Watson and Derrick Bateman.