Ryan Taylor Russell Gene Taylor ( January 26 , 1987 ) is an American professional wrestler best known by the ring - names of Ryan Taylor and Russ Taylor . He is primarily working for several independent wrestling promotions on the west coast of the United States and continues to travel outside the country to Mexico City and Japan . He also does much work with the WWE while never being under contract . Career . Empire Wrestling Federation . Debut ; Cruiserweight Champion ( 2004 - 2007 ) . At 16 years old he began training at the EWF ' s training school , Jesse Hernandez ' s School of Hard Knocks and had his match for the EWF on March 27 , 2004 . Taylor wrestled to gain experience and won the 2004 Rookie of the year award in the company . In the spring of 2006 Taylor had his first feud with Joey Harder and after a series of hard matches , Taylor won the EWF Cruiserweight Championship on June 9 , 2006 . Taylor also won the 2006 Most Improved Award , becoming the first recipient of it . Taylor ' s reign as the Cruiserweight Champion lasted for 399 days until ending on July 13 , 2007 when Markus Riot defeated Taylor in a Best of 3 Falls match to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship . Ryan won back the EWF Cruiserweight Championship by ending Markous Riot ' s reign after only 22 days . At " EFW ' s Meltdown " , Taylor forced Riot to submit to win back the title . Taylor ' s second reign as the EWF Cruiserweight Champion only 77 days until October 10 , 2007 when Maximo defeated Ryan Taylor to win the EWF Cruiserweight Championship . In November , Ryan Taylor competed in the EWF ' s Inland Title Series Tournament against J . T . Blackstar , Scorpio Sky , and Brandon Gatson . He placed third with a final score of 1 - 2 - 0 . Taylor also won the 2007 Match of the Year Award for his match against Marcus Riot at the Covina Classic on June 9 . The KOS ( 2008 - 2009 ) . In the early part of 2008 Taylor formed a stable known as the KOS alongside Mondo Vega and Hook Bomberry . On August 23 , 2008 in San Bernardino , California , Taylor defeated Vizzion in the main event at " Flirting With Disaster " for the EWF American Championship and had new female wrestler Aiden Riley join the KOS as well . The KOS then feuded with TJ Perkins and Liger Rivera until the end of the year in a very intense feud that not only won the Feud of the Year 2008 Award but Taylor would win the Match of the Year 2008 Award for his Belt on a Pole match against Perkins in which Taylor would win the NWA Heritage Championship from Perkins . Taylor also wrestled the main event of the first ever So - cal supershow featuring the combined companies of EWF and AWS against TJ Perkins and Scott Lost in a triple threat match for the AWS Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight Championships and Taylor ' s NWA Heritage Championship , in which Taylor retained his title . Taylor held and defended both the EWF American Championship and the NWA Heritage Championship in the early parts of 2009 until losing the Heritage title to Oliver John in a Fatal 4 - way match at the main event of the Cauliflower Ally Club Show after pinning Chris Hero and he lost the American title to Liger Rivera at the EWF ' s 14th Anniversary Show . EWF Heavyweight Championship ( 2009 - 2011 ) . On October 30 , 2009 , after returning from Japan and being set on climbing the EWF to the top , Taylor defeated Brandon Gatson to win the EWF Heavyweight Championship . Taylor began to feud with his former stable the KOS in late 2009 and the early parts of 2010 , ultimately ending with a Street Fight between Taylor and Mondo Vega , that ended the KOS as Taylor prevailed . During his 567 reign as EWF Heavyweight Champion , he would successfully defended his title 25 times against some of the independents top talent including Human Tornado and Scorpio Sky as well as EWF talent such as Extreme Loco , HJ Starr , Liger Rivera , Mike Mountain , Roger Ruiz , Shaun Ricker , SoCal Crazy and Terex . On May 20 , 2011 Taylor lost the EWF Heavyweight Championship to Johnny Starr . However , several weeks later on August 12 , he would regain the championship , only to lose it 21 days later to Shaun Ricker . Taylor participated in Inland Title Series Tournament in November and made it to the finals but lost to Jeremy Jaeger . Championship Wrestling from Hollywood ( 2008 - present ) . Taylor made his debut for NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood on December 21 , 2008 , defeating Jay Streets . During the early years of the promotion , Taylor was used sporadically but that would change in 2011 when he would become a regular competitor . Taylor began feuding with Peter Avalon in April and would continue throughout the year and into 2012 . Avalon initially had the upper hand winning two out of two matches , however , Taylor ' s fortunes would change on July 10 when he defeated Avalon in a six man tag team hair vs . hair match where Avalon and Taylor ' s hair were on the line . Avalon would bounce back by defeating Taylor in a number one contendership match and an " anything goes " match . The feud culminated on February 12 , 2012 , when Taylor defeated Avalon once and for all in a steel cage match . With this win , Taylor would go on to challenge Scorpio Sky for the NWA Hollywood Television Championship in April but lost . He would move onto the Percy Pringle III Cup where on the way to the finals , he defeated Peter Avalon once again . The finals took place on July 22 , where Taylor would win the tournament by defeating Shaun Ricker and guaranteeing a shot at the CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship . After winning the tournament , Championship Wrestling from Hollywood split from NWA and would subsequently change the name of their championships so the CWFH Heritage Heavyweight Championship became the Hollywood Heritage Championship . In the beginning of 2013 , Taylor defeated Tyler Cintron in a qualifying match for the Red Carpet Rumble . This match took place on May 5 , where Shaun Ricker would win the match and the Hollywood Heritage Championship . Straight after the match however , Taylor cashed in his Percy Pringle III Cup title shot and lost . Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ( 2009 - 2012 ) . On November 20 , 2009 , Taylor made his Pro Wrestling Guerrilla ( PWG ) debut at the first night of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles , where he teamed with Malachi Jackson in a losing effort against the Cutler Brothers ( Brandon and Dustin Cutler ) . Taylor continued to perform on every PWG show since , including having a standout and stellar match against Brandon Gatson at Titannica and teaming with Roderick Strong at the DDT4 tournament in May 2010 , where they were eliminated in the first round by the Cutler Brothers . On September 4 Taylor entered the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles , but was eliminated in the first round by Brandon Gatson . The following day Taylor formed a new alliance with Chuck Taylor and Brian Cage ( who would adopt the ring name Brian Cage - Taylor ) , called the Fightin ' Taylor Boys . In the early portion of 2011 , Fightin ' Taylor Boys lost a number one conders corners match and partook in the Joey Ryan invatational and lost . The Fightin ' Taylor Boys lost to the RockNES Monsters in the first round of the 2012 DDT4 .