MidCard Mafia The MidCard Mafia was a WWE tag team that consisted of Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks . It has also been called Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks . Tyler Reks & Curt Hawkins or simply Hawkins & Reks or Reks & Hawkins . The title Rekking Crew could also refer to them . The team first started wrestling together on episodes of " WWE Superstars " , one of WWE ' s primary programs , in early 2011 albeit sporadically . In September 2011 however , following months of televised inactivity for both individuals , Hawkins and Reks returned in a backstage segment on Raw . Since then , the team have been competing together regularly on " WWE NXT " . Etymology . The team is named after their YouTube webshow called " MidCard Mafia " . For further background see MidCard Mafia / skinny . History . Early storylines ( 2011 ) . Hawkins and Reks both first teamed together on the February 3 , 2011 episode of " WWE Superstars " in a tag team match against JTG and Trent Barreta . In the months before , Hawkins had been feuding with Barreta , while Reks had beaten both JTG and Barreta in singles matches . Hawkins and Reks won but as Hawkins was celebrating after the match , Reks hit him with his finisher , the Burning Hammer , leaving him the only person standing tall after the match . This act contributed even more to Reks ' character of a mysterious monster . The following week on " Superstars " , Reks and Hawkins were put into a match against each other in which Reks picked up the win . NXT ( 2011 - 2012 ) . After a period of absence from WWE programming , Reks and Hawkins reappeared on the September 5 episode of " WWE Raw " , apparently having patched up their relationship , discussing with Wade Barrett on how the duo were " starting something " . They both made their in - ring return in a match against Percy Watson and Titus O ' Neil in a winning effort on the September 8 episode of " Superstars " . On the September 27 episode of " WWE NXT " , after the Usos beat JTG and Darren Young , Reks and Hawkins attacked them from behind . Over the next two weeks on " NXT " , Reks and Hawkins faced the Usos in tag team matches , with Reks and Hawkins winning the first match and the Usos winning the second match . Reks and Hawkins were in a 41 - man battle royal on the October 14th episode of " WWE SmackDown " , but both were eliminated by Mason Ryan . They would then lose non - title matches to the tag team champions Air Boom ( Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston ) on the December 22 and 29 episodes of " Superstars " . Meanwhile , on " NXT " , Hawkins and Reks would feud with the duo of Trent Barreta and Yoshi Tatsu from December 2011 . Both teams would play pranks on each other , with Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks ' hands being superglued onto an Xbox controller . On January 18 Hawkins and Reks debuted matching red and black attire and beat Barreta and Tatsu . Reks and Hawkins appeared on the January 20th episode on Smackdown as two of the lumberjacks . On the 27th January Reks and Hawkins and other Superstars came out from the back to restrain Randy Orton from attacking Wade Barrett , once Barrett escaped from Orton he gave Reks an RKO , followed up by Hawkins arguing with Orton and receiving an RKO himself , Orton woud go on the RKO the other Superstars that had restrained him . Reks and Hawkins would lose to The Usos and other tag teams on NXT and even appeared in backstage segments with Matt Striker complaining about not main eventing NXT , therefore on February 8 , 2012 Reks and Hawkins took on The Usos once again in a main event match and won . After many weeks of voicing their disgust with NXT general manager Matt Striker , Reks and Hawkins laid him out after a controversial win . After that incident Reks and Hawkins had been promoting " change " like Barack Obama presidential campaign . On February 2 , Reks and Hawkins interrupted Matt Striker ' s announcement by proclaiming change had come and brought chairs , popcorn and other items to watch his announcement and also poke fun of him because of his lacklustre career . After William Regal was announced as the match maker of NXT the pair were visibly angry . Feb 8 : defeated Usos . Mar 14 : defeated Alex & Percy . Regal was disappointed with their complaining and had them work as janitors for a while . They were also involved in helping Johnny Curtis and Maxine chloroform and kidnap Matt Striker , who pursued revenge after he nearly missed Wrestlemania 2012 as a result . Regal eventually offered them an ultimatum , where they had to fight one another and the loser would be fired , in an attempt to split up the duo and make them step up their game . Initially hesitant to do so , Hawkins struck first by surprise , though Reks ended up winning the match . Regal ended up also firing Reks too though , quickly reuniting the pair in their antipathy towards him , and encouraging them to seek out new allies . Raw and Smackdown ( 2012 ) . The pair caught the attention of John Laurinaitis who promoted them to security guards for NXT , and also brought them to work on raw , where they teamed up with the Prime Time Players to attack John Cena . While the two teams had briefly butted heads on NXT , they now appear to be unified in their appreciation for what Johnny Ace has done for them . The teams even sport matching pairs of neon green tights . They also feuded with Ryback at one point . On the August 17 Smackdown , Hawkins and Reks debuted a new stripper - dancing gimmick . They were then present at Summer Slam 2012 Axxess where they signed autographs from 4 - 6PM the day before , and had a modeling photo session for their new looks from 1 - 3PM before the PPV . After this , Reks asked for a release to spend time with family , and got it August 21 , disbanding the team by his absence . In October , Hawkins tweeted that he had gotten shoulder surgery . YouTube . MCM . Reks and Hawkins created an animated YouTube series called The MidCard Mafia : It was hosted on Reks ' YouTube channel " TheRekkingCrew " . The show is of comical dialect and has received over 50 , 000 hits in just 3 days . The show has featured other lower card wrestlers including Tyson Kidd and Drew McIntyre . The show has since been cancelled and previous episodes deleted from YouTube ; it is believed that the pair had received much scorn backstage from WWE officials , especially in light of less - than - flattering commentary on " NXT " in regards to the show at times . This has a section on TheRekkingCrew ' s blog . This web series was referenced in the Dec 14 NXT by Trent Baretta . His insulting the success of the show led to he and his tag partner Yoshi Tatsu being assaulted by Reks and Hawkins . After Reks left the WWE in late August 2012 , Reks uploaded 2 teasier videos to his YouTube channel regarding the group . September 3 he added the 32 second BringBackMCM Trailer 1 where he tried to get # BringBackMCM trending . He said this was made after the show was cancelled in case they ever brought it back , but claimed they never did and never would . Two days later on September 5 , Reks added the 1 minute 21 second video Midcard Mafia Trailer 2 . He claimed in the summary that Hawkins ( still with the WWE ) had no idea he created these trailers . Inbox . The pair also starred in a WWE YouTube series called WWE Inbox , where Superstars and Divas from WWE answer questions submitted by fans on Twitter .