Ezekiel Jackson

Oct 3, 2009 - by Jamie Cruickshank

Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

Photo credit: World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.

Real name: Ryklon Stephens
Height: 6’2″
Weight: 270 lbs.
Date of birth: April 22, 1978
Hometown: New York, NY
Pro debut: 2007
Trained by: Homicide, Tom Prichard, & Steve Keirn
Finishing move: Torture Rack

Biography

– On January 27, 2007, Stephens made his in-ring debut, competing as ‘Big Ryck Hytz’ in UPW
– In March 2007, Stephens signed a WWE development deal, competing in FCW as ‘Rycklon’
– On June 26, 2007, Rycklon & Keith Walker defeated Eric Perez & Kofi Kingston (Stephens’ FCW debut)
– On July 18, 2008, Stephens debuted on Smackdown as ‘Ezekiel’, the bodyguard of The Brian Kendrick. Soon after, his ring name was adjusted to ‘Ezekiel Jackson’
– On October 14, 2008, Jackson defeated Super Crazy in his WWE in-ring debut
– On April 15, 2009, Jackson was drafted to ECW
– On August 18, 2009, Jackson formed an alliance with William Regal and Vladimir Kozlov, but the stable split in November, only to consistently break up and reform over the course of ECW’s run
– On February 16, 2010, on the final broadcast of ECW on Syfy, Jackson defeated Christian to win the ECW Title, becoming the recognized final ECW Champion
– On March 5, 2010, Jackson returned to the Smackdown brand, defeating Jimmy Wang Yang
– Jackson would not make a further TV appearance before suffering a quadriceps tear, which would keep him out for 6 months
– On April 27, 2010, whilst still out injured, Jackson was drafted to Raw
– On October 18, 2010, Jackson returned to Raw and was announced as part of Team Raw for the upcoming Bragging Rights PPV
– On November 22, 2010, Jackson defeated Alex Riley to qualify for the King of the Ring Tournament
– One week later, Jackson’s first round match against Drew McIntyre ended in a double countout, so neither man advanced
– On January 12, 2011, Jackson returned to Smackdown, forming an alliance with Wade Barrett, Heath Slater and Justin Gabriel, which would later be named ‘The Corre’
– On May 6, 2011, Jackson defeated The Big Show, but was kicked out of The Corre after the match for refusing to celebrate with them
– At Over The Limit 2011, Jackson defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett by DQ
– On May 31, 2011, Jackson defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Wade Barrett by countout
– At Capitol Punishment 2011, Jackson defeated Wade Barrett to win the WWE Intercontinental Title
– On July 12, 2011, Jackson defeated Ted DiBiase to retain the WWE Intercontinental Title
– In April 2014, having wrestled only one match in the previous 18 months, Jackson announced his departure from WWE
– On June 26, 2014, Stephens (as Rycklon) made a surprise appearance on Impact, teaming with EC3, Rhino & Snitsky in a loss to Team 3D, Al Snow and Tommy Dreamer
– In September 2014, Stephens joined Lucha Underground, competing as Big Ryck
– On July 4, 2015, Big Ryck defeated SWE Champion Drake Destroyer by countout
– In October 2015, it was reported that Stephens had announced his retirement from pro wrestling. He began working as a personal trainer in the following January

Comments are closed.