Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder

**Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder** made their WWE television debut on the May 1, 2007 episode of *ECW*, defeating Matt Striker and Marcus Cor Von in a tag team match under the names of Brett and Brian Major, **The Major Brothers**. They were depicted as an unknown team and their initial victory was the only win the team had in *ECW*. Following their debut match, they lost to the team of Elijah Burke and Marcus Cor Von, as well as both losing singles matches to Burke and Striker. The Majors were drafted from *ECW* to *SmackDown!* on June 17, 2007, as the eighth pick in the 2007 Supplemental Draft. Vignettes aired hyping their impending debut on the brand. In their July 6, 2007 *SmackDown!* debut, the Majors defeated Jeremy Young and Mike Foxx. The following week, the Majors were victorious again, defeating the team of Chavo Guerrero and Jamie Noble. After a loss to Deuce 'n' Domino on August 17, 2007, The Majors would not compete on the show again until October 12, 2007, when the debuting Drew McIntyre defeated Brett. The following week, McIntyre defeated Brian. On November 9, 2007, they received a WWE Tag Team Championship match after winning a number one contender's battle royal, but could not defeat the champions, Montel Vontavious Porter and Matt Hardy.

At Armageddon, the Major Brothers dressed as Edge and interfered in the World Heavyweight Championship match, taking bumps in Edge's place to help him win the title and thus turning heel for the first time in their WWE career. On December 21, 2007, the Major Brothers were revealed as an acquaintance to Edge and his lover, *SmackDown* General Manager Vickie Guerrero. The Major Brothers were repackaged and renamed, as Brett Major's name was changed to "Zack Ryder" and Brian Major to "Curt Hawkins". Occasionally teaming with their mentor Edge and/or their "La Familia" associate Chavo Guerrero on *SmackDown*, they even went on to be featured in the main event on multiple occasions. With this new gimmick, they were sometimes referred as "**The Rated-R Entourage**" by commentator Michael Cole. They also dropped the short trunks the team wore as the Major Brothers and started wearing long tights identical to Edge's tights. To differentiate between the two, Hawkins wore his hair in a ponytail. Later on, the team updated their attires, with Ryder debuting tights with new designs while Hawkins switched back to short trunks with new designs, and they began wearing sunglasses and a hoodie, respectively, to the ring.

At The Great American Bash on July 20, 2008, Hawkins and Ryder won the WWE Tag Team Championships from John Morrison and The Miz in a fatal four-way match which also featured Jesse and Festus and Finlay and Hornswoggle after Hawkins pinned Jesse. Their victory meant that they collectively became the youngest tag team champions in WWE history. At SummerSlam, La Familia seemed to have ended when a returning Undertaker sent Edge to Hell and then refused to forgive Vickie - prompting all the members to abandon Vickie, who would later align with Big Show. On the September 26, 2008 airing of *SmackDown*, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles to Carlito and Primo Colón in their first televised title defense. On the December 5, 2008 episode of *SmackDown*, they returned in a tag team gauntlet match against Jeff Hardy and Triple H, where they were the first and only team eliminated. They also participated in the battle royal for the last spot in the *SmackDown* Elimination Chamber match, but were eliminated by The Great Khali. On April 15, 2009, Ryder was drafted back to the *ECW* brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, separating the team.

Hawkins and Ryder had a brief reunion in 2011, when Hawkins helped Ryder defeat Vladimir Kozlov on the May 12 episode of *Superstars*. On the May 19 episode of *Superstars*, Hawkins teamed with Ryder in a losing effort against Kozlov and Santino Marella, but the tag team didn't reform beyond this.

They also had a brief reunion in 2016 alongside former La Familia leader Edge, where they are seen talking backstage using the lyrics of Edge's entrance music "Metalingus", before Edge himself showed up, after the 900th episode of *SmackDown Live* went off the air. In 2018, Hawkins and Ryder became co-hosts of the WWE Network series "Zack and Curt Figure It Out". On the November 14, 2018 edition of *WWE Main Event*, Hawkins and Ryder teamed up for the first time since 2011 in a loss to Apollo Crews and Tyler Breeze.

Prior to the team's reformation, both Hawkins and Ryder were struggling as singles competitors; by the end of 2018, Hawkins had lost over 200 consecutive matches and Ryder had not appeared on WWE television in 2018 until the final *Raw* episode of the year. On the January 21, 2019 episode of *Raw*, Hawkins was attacked by The Revival. Ryder came to Hawkins' aid, foreshadowing a reunion. On the January 28 episode of *Raw*, Hawkins and Ryder made their official reunion facing The Revival in a losing effort after Hawkins was pinned by Dash Wilder. On April 5, WWE announced that Hawkins and Ryder would face The Revival at WrestleMania 35 for the Raw Tag Team Championship. On the event's kickoff show, the duo won the Raw Tag Team Championships, subsequently breaking Hawkins' 269-match losing streak. The following night on *Raw*, they successfully defended their titles in a rematch against The Revival, thus breaking Ryder's "WrestleMania curse" of losing a championship after winning it the night before at WrestleMania. At The Shield's Final Chapter, Hawkins and Ryder once again successfully defended the belts against The Revival and Aleister Black and Ricochet in a triple threat match. Following that, the team was largely absent from television mainly appearing on live events. Even though they were the champions, they only made one appearance on WWE programming during the month of May, a loss to the Viking Raiders on May 6. The duo returned during the 51-man battle royal at the 2019 Super Showdown, but they were both eliminated during the match. On the following episode of *Raw*, Hawkins and Ryder lost the titles against The Revival in a triple threat match that also involved The Usos.

On April 15, 2020, Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder were released from their WWE contracts, thus ending the team once again.