Major Players facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Major Players |
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Ryder (left) and Hawkins (right) at WrestleMania Axxess in 2009
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| 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) Zack Ryder: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
| Combined billed weight |
447 lb (203 kg) |
| Billed from | Long Island, New York |
| Former member(s) |
Chelsea Green |
| Debut | August 2004 |
| Years active | 2004–2009 2019–2020 2022–present |
| Trainer | Mikey Whipwreck Deep South Wrestling |
The Major Players are a professional wrestling tag team made up of Brian Myers and Matt Cardona. They are most famous for their time in WWE. There, they were known as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. They won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship two times.
Myers and Cardona also wrestled for Impact Wrestling. In Impact, they both won the Impact Digital Media Championship. The team started wrestling in 2004 in New York Wrestling Connection. They were called Brian Myers and Brett Matthews then. When they joined WWE, they mostly wrestled as a tag team.
In 2007, they joined WWE's main roster on the ECW show. They were known as Brian and Brett Major, or The Major Brothers. Later that year, they changed their names to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder. They joined a group called La Familia with Edge on the SmackDown show. They were sometimes called "The Edgeheads". Hawkins and Ryder stayed with Edge until April 2009. They split up when Ryder moved to the ECW brand.
After their split, Hawkins and Ryder wrestled together sometimes. But they did not officially reunite until almost 10 years later in January 2019. They won the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 35 in April 2019.
History
Early Wrestling Days (2004–2006)
Brian Myers and Matthew Cardona started wrestling as a team in 2004. They wrestled in a company called New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC). Matthew Cardona used the name Brett Matthews, and Brian Myers used his real name.
On May 21, 2005, they wrestled the NYWC Tag Team Champions. They won by disqualification. At the next show on June 4, they won a rematch and became the Tag Team Champions. They defended their titles in July. But on August 27, they lost the titles in a three-way match.
They kept winning matches and earned another title shot. They won the NYWC Tag Team Championship for a second time on January 25, 2006. They held the titles until March 26. Then, The B.S. Xpress defeated them for the championships.
Joining WWE (2006–2007)
Training in Developmental Leagues
Brett Matthews and Brian Myers moved to Deep South Wrestling (DSW) in Georgia. This was a training league for WWE. They changed their names to Brett and Brian Majors and were called The Majors Brothers. They lost their first match on June 1.
They got their first wins on June 15. On October 12, The Majors Brothers became the DSW Tag Team Champions. They won after the match was restarted. As champions, other teams wanted to beat them. They lost their titles on November 30.
The DSW Tag Team Championship became empty later. The Majors won the titles for a second time on January 19, 2007. They held the championships for a short time. They lost them on March 8. The Majors stayed in DSW until April.
Brian Majors also wrestled in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), another training league. The Major Brothers debuted as a team in OVW on May 9. They won their first match. They kept winning and faced the OVW Southern Tag Team Champions.
On June 15, they won the OVW Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles on June 29. Their rematch ended in a tie. They tried to win the titles back in a tournament but lost in the final round.
Main Roster Debut and La Familia (2007–2009)
The Major Brothers first appeared on WWE television on May 1, 2007. This was on the ECW on Sci Fi show. They won their first match. But this was their only win in ECW. They lost other matches.
On June 17, 2007, The Majors moved to the SmackDown! show. Videos were shown to get fans excited for their debut. On July 6, 2007, they won their first match on SmackDown!. They won again the next week.
On November 9, 2007, they got a chance to win the tag team titles. But they could not defeat the champions.
At a big event called Armageddon, the Major Brothers helped Edge win the World Heavyweight Championship. They dressed like Edge and took hits for him. This made them "bad guys" for the first time in WWE.
On December 21, 2007, it was revealed that the Major Brothers were friends with Edge. They were also friends with SmackDown General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers changed their names. Brett Major became "Zack Ryder" and Brian Major became "Curt Hawkins". They were part of Edge's group called "La Familia". They often wrestled with Edge or Chavo Guerrero Jr.. They were sometimes called "The Rated-R Entourage". They also started wearing long wrestling tights like Edge.
At The Great American Bash on July 20, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Championship. They won in a four-way match. They became the youngest tag team champions in WWE history.
At SummerSlam, the La Familia group seemed to end. On September 26, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder lost their titles. They lost to Carlito and Primo Colón. On April 15, 2009, Ryder moved back to the ECW brand. This split up the team.
Coming Back Together (2011, 2016, 2018)
Hawkins and Ryder wrestled together briefly in 2011. Hawkins helped Ryder win a match on May 12. On May 19, they teamed up but lost. They did not officially reunite then.
They also had a short reunion in 2016. They were seen talking backstage with their old leader Edge. In 2018, Hawkins and Ryder started hosting a WWE Network show. It was called "Zack and Curt Figure It Out". On November 14, 2018, Hawkins and Ryder teamed up for the first time since 2011. They lost the match.
Official Reunion (2019–2020)
Before they officially reunited, both Hawkins and Ryder were not winning many matches. By the end of 2018, Hawkins had lost over 200 matches in a row. Ryder had not been on WWE television much in 2018.
On January 21, 2019, Hawkins was attacked. Ryder came to help him. This hinted that they would team up again. On January 28, Hawkins and Ryder officially reunited. They wrestled as a team but lost.
On April 5, WWE announced that Hawkins and Ryder would wrestle for the Raw Tag Team Championship at WrestleMania 35. At the event, they won the Raw Tag Team Championships! This ended Hawkins' long losing streak.
The next night, they successfully defended their titles in a rematch. This also broke Ryder's "WrestleMania curse". He used to lose championships after winning them at WrestleMania. They defended the belts again in another match.
After this, the team was not on TV much. They mostly wrestled at live events. Even as champions, they only appeared on WWE shows twice in May. On June 10, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles. They lost to The Revival in a three-way match.
On April 15, 2020, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder were released from their WWE contracts. This was due to budget cuts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Independent Wrestling (2022–present)
In 2022, Myers and Cardona reunited with Chelsea Green. They formed "The Major Players" at a Game Changer Wrestling event. They lost their match.
Impact Wrestling (2022–2023)
On April 15, 2022, on Impact Wrestling, Myers, Cardona, and Green attacked W. Morrissey. Later, Green attacked Mickie James with help from Myers and Cardona.
Other Media
| The Major Pod Network | |
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| YouTube information | |
| Pseudonym | The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast |
| Years active | 2018–present |
| Genre | Action figures |
| Subscribers | 111 thousand |
| Total views | 18.7 million |
| Subscriber and view counts updated as of October 24, 2024. | |
On August 23, 2018, Cardona and Myers started The Major Wrestling Figure Podcast. In their podcast, they talk about collecting wrestling action figures. They also discuss other topics about wrestling and action figures.
Championships and Accomplishments
- Absolute Intense Wrestling
- AIW Absolute Championship (1 time) – Cardona
- AIW Intense Championship (1 time) – Cardona
- All Star Wrestling
- ASW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current) – Cardona
- Deep South Wrestling
- DSW Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- Impact Wrestling
- Impact Digital Media Championship (2 times) – Cardona (1), Myers (1)
- Impact Knockouts World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Green with Deonna Purrazzo
- National Wrestling Alliance
- NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Cardona
- New York Wrestling Connection
- NYWC Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Cardona
- NYWC Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- Ohio Valley Wrestling
- OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Premier Wrestling Federation - New Jersey
- PWF New Jersey Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
- WWE (Raw) Tag Team Championship (2 times)
- Other titles
- Internet Championship (2 times, current) - Cardona
- Women’s Internet Champion (1 time, current) - De Lander
See also
In Spanish: Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder para niños
