Major Players

Major Players
Ryder (left) and Hawkins (right) at WrestleMania Axxess in 2009
Tag team
MembersCurt 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 heightsCurt 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 fromLong Island, New York[4][3]
Former
member(s)
Chelsea Green
DebutAugust 2004
Years active2004–2009
2019–2020
2022–present
TrainerMikey Whipwreck[5]
Deep South Wrestling

The Major Players[6] are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Brian Myers and Matt Cardona. They are best known for their time in WWE as Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder, where they are former two-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. Myers and Cardona also wrestled for Impact Wrestling, in which they are both former Impact Digital Media Champion.

The duo made their professional wrestling debut in 2004 as a tag team in New York Wrestling Connection, wrestling as Brian 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 the ECW brand as Brian and Brett Major, collectively known as The Major Brothers. Later that year, they were repackaged and renamed to Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder as associates of Edge and subsequently aligned themselves with La Familia on the SmackDown 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 the 2009 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 at WrestleMania 35 in April 2019.

  1. ^ "Curt Hawkins at Online World of Wrestling". Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  2. ^ "Zack Ryder at Online World of Wrestling". Archived from the original on 2012-08-02. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  3. ^ a b "Curt Hawkins's WWE Profile". Retrieved 2008-01-05.
  4. ^ a b "Zack Ryder's WWE Profile". Retrieved 2010-03-01.
  5. ^ WWE Magazine Special - 25 Years of Interviews, September/October 2008, page 49, 2008
  6. ^ IMPACT! on AXS TV Results: April 14, 2022 - Impact Wrestling.com