Tyrone Evans Tyrone Evans ( March 8 , 1977 ) is an American professional wrestler . He is best known for his time in WWE , where he performed on the Raw brand under the name Michael Tarver as a member of The Nexus . He also participated in the first season of " WWE NXT " in early 2010 . Professional wrestling career . Early career ( 2005 – 2008 ) . Evans defeated Brandon X in a match at an NWA East event on February 19 , 2005 . Evans defeated Daron Smythe for the Pro Wrestling Express ( PWX ) Brass Knuckles Championship on April 2 , 2005 . On June 11 , Venom defeated Evans for the Brass Knuckles Championship . After the title loss , Evans challenged Brandon K for the territory ' s Heavyweight Championship on September 8 , 2006 , and was unsuccessful . Later that year , he wrestled for Dan Severn ' s Price of Glory Wrestling , where he participated in an elimination match won by N8 Mattson . Evans also wrestled for several Cleveland , Ohio - based promotions . In March 2006 , Evans debuted for the Main Event Wrestling League in Ohio , teaming with Kato to defeated Chris Kole in a handicap match . In December , Evans challenged Robby Starr for the MEWL Championship , but lost the match by disqualification . A rematch in March 2007 , saw Starr defeat Evans again . At MEWL ' s " Honky Tonk Saturday Night " show the following month , however , Evans defeated Starr and won the MEWL Heavyweight Championship . In July 2006 , Evans beat Savage at an Absolute Intense Wrestling ( AIW ) show . He returned to AIW in May 2007 , losing to Thrillbilly , and in September 2007 , where he defeated Eddie Kingston by submission in the third round of their ' Strong Style ' Challenge match . In April 2007 , Evans challenged Jason Bane for the Cleveland All - Pro Wrestling ( CAPW ) Television Championship , but was unsuccessful . On May 6 , at " May Meltdown " , The B . E . T . ( Evans and Josh Emmanuel ) defeated Jeff Brooks and Kid Hybrid in a tag team match , and the following month at " A Hot Summer ' s Night " The B . E . T . defeated The Clash of Ernie Ballz and Brian Bender . Evans also wrestled for Pro Wrestling Unplugged , making his debut on October 27 , 2007 at " Dark Night " , where he introduced himself as " The Panther " Tyrone Evans before losing to The Sandman by disqualification . In December , Evans lost once again to The Sandman , before he changed his nickname to " Black Panther " in February 2008 at " Last Chance : Do or Die " . World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE . Florida Championship Wrestling . In 2008 , Evans signed a WWE contract and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling ( FCW ) , a WWE developmental territory . In FCW , he began wrestling under the ring name Tyrone Jones . In May , he feuded with Atlas DaBone . Throughout June and July , he faced wrestlers including Kevin Kiley , Jr . and TJ Wilson , and on July 21 , he lost a dark match to Jamie Noble on July 21 prior to " Raw " . In September he gained Byron Saxton as a manager , and changed his ring name to Tyson Tarver . He became part of The Saxton Conglomerate , a faction composed of Tarver , Black Pain , Stu Sanders and led by Byron Saxton . Tarver had his first match with the Conglomerate on October 30 , where he , Pain and Sanders lost to Johnny Prime , Kafu and Sinn Bowdee . Prime soon began feuding with the Conglomerate , and on November 20 , Tarver lost to him in a singles match . On December 18 , Tarver and Sanders lost to Prime and Kaleb O ' Neal . In 2009 , Evans changed his ring name to ' Michael Tarver ' . He continued competing in FCW throughout the remainder of 2009 , facing wrestlers including Wes Brisco and Skip Sheffield , with whom he feuded in November 2009 . In December , Tarver became associated with Heath Slater , interfering in Slater ' s matches and accompanying him to the ring . The following month , Tarver began a feud with Titus O ' Neil . After twice interrupting O ' Neil , Tarver defeated him in a singles match on February 18 . " NXT " and The Nexus ( 2010 ) . On February 16 , 2010 , it was announced that Tarver was one of the eight FCW wrestlers that would be competing on the first season of the " WWE NXT " show , with Carlito as his storyline mentor . On the inaugural episode of " NXT " on February 23 , Tarver and Carlito were defeated by Christian and Heath Slater in a tag team match . After six more losses and being ranked second to last in the first Pro ' s Poll , Tarver picked up his first victory on the May 4 episode of " NXT " by defeating Daniel Bryan . Tarver also neglected to perform any of the rookie challenges in " NXT " stating that he was not there to perform menial tasks . On May 11 , Tarver was eliminated during the first elimination round of " NXT " alongside Daniel Bryan as they lacked the confidence to continue in the competition . The week after the " NXT " season finale , Tarver and the rest of the season one " NXT " rookies interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk on " Raw " , attacking Cena , Punk , the announce team , and the ring announcer Justin Roberts , before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment . On the June 14 edition of " Raw " the rookies ( excluding Daniel Bryan ) attacked General Manager Bret Hart , when he refused to give them contracts . The following week on " Raw " , Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced the hiring of a new General Manager , who had signed the seven season one " NXT " rookies to contracts . The following week the group was named The Nexus . On the July 12 episode of " Raw " , The Nexus competed in their first match together , without Darren Young , defeating John Cena in a six – on – one handicap match . The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster , resulting in a seven - on - seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam which saw the return of former Nexus member Daniel Bryan , who aligned himself with team WWE . Tarver was the second person eliminated from the match when he was pinned by John Morrison , and The Nexus went on to lose the match . On the October 4 episode of " Raw " , Tarver was attacked by Cena , with Barrett later stating that he would have thrown Tarver out of The Nexus anyway . This storyline was put in place due to Tarver sustaining a groin injury . Return to FCW ( 2010 – 2011 ) . At the December 9 FCW television tapings , Tarver returned from his injury and defeated Donny Marlow . In early 2011 , Tarver would make appearances on both " Raw " and " SmackDown " in backstage segments either talking or texting someone on a mobile phone . On June 13 , 2011 , it was announced that Tarver had been released from his contract .