Brodus Clay

During the finale of season three of *NXT*, Clay was named part of the fourth season, with Ted DiBiase and Maryse as his Pros. He made his in-ring debut on *NXT* on the December 14, 2010 episode, teaming with DiBiase to defeat Byron Saxton and

### NXT Debut

2014

his mentor Chris Masters. Clay won a four-way elimination match on the January 25 episode of *NXT*, earning the right to choose a new Pro. He picked Alberto Del Rio as his new Pro, and then attacked DiBiase. The following week, Clay defeated DiBiase in a singles match; Del Rio "temporarily" passed Pro responsibilities of Clay to his manager Ricardo Rodriguez, but never returned for the rest of the season. In the season finale on March 1, Clay ended the competition in second place, losing to Johnny Curtis.

Following his stint in *NXT*, on the March 7, 2011 episode of *Raw*, Clay debuted as Del Rio's new bodyguard and replaced him in his match against Christian in a losing effort. As Del Rio was feuding with Edge and Christian, Clay faced off with single matches against them and also teamed with Del Rio to face Edge and Christian. Clay accompanied Del Rio to the ring at WrestleMania XXVII for his match with Edge. On the April 25 episode of *Raw*, Del Rio was drafted to *Raw*, while Clay remained on *SmackDown*. Clay's final appearance with Del Rio occurred on May 1 at Extreme Rules, when he interfered on Del Rio's behalf as Del Rio faced Christian in a ladder match for the vacant World Heavyweight Championship. Despite this, Del Rio was unsuccessful in winning the match.

After a three-month absence, Clay reappeared on the August 4, 2011 episode of *Superstars*, where he defeated Pat Silva. Over the next few weeks, Clay continued to squash various jobbers on *Superstars*. WWE ran vignettes promoting his return to television on the November 7, 2011 episode of *Raw*. However, Clay's television return was continuously delayed by authority figure John Laurinaitis to be "next week", with this trend continuing all the way into January 2012. Clay made his television return on the January 9, 2012 episode of *Raw* as a face with a fun-loving, funk dancing gimmick, with the nickname "The Funkasaurus" and began using Ernest "The Cat" Miller's theme song "Somebody Call My Momma". Now accompanied by The Funkadactyls (Naomi and Cameron) and announced as hailing from "Planet Funk", Clay incorporated gyrations and dance moves into his various squash wins on both *Raw* and *SmackDown*.

At WrestleMania XXVIII, Clay made an on-stage appearance, calling and dancing with Momma Clay. The following night on *Raw*, Clay started a feud with Dolph Ziggler and Jack Swagger when he saved Santino Marella from them. Clay and Marella beat Ziggler and Swagger on the April 9 episode of *Raw*. On the April 20 episode of *SmackDown*, Clay began a brief association with Hornswoggle. At Extreme Rules, Clay defeated Ziggler. By May, Clay was on a 21-match winning streak since adopting the Funkasaurus gimmick.

On the May 28 episode of *Raw*, Big Show justified his recent villainous turn by blaming Clay. Hearing this, Clay then challenged Show to a match that night. Before the match could start, Show attacked Clay at ringside and brutally assaulted him. On the June 8 episode of *SmackDown*, Clay was banned by General Manager John Laurinaitis from appearing on *Raw* "to protect him from Big Show" so he was transferred to *SmackDown*. Big Show's attack also led Clay to vow to be more aggressive in the ring. At No Way Out, Clay defeated David Otunga in the pre-show match. Later, during the pay-per-view, Clay interfered in the main event steel cage match, costing Big Show the match to John Cena and as per the match stipulation, causing the firing of John Laurinaitis. Big Show then made an appearance on the June 22 episode of *SmackDown*, leading to Clay physically confronting him. With Laurinaitis fired, Clay was allowed to return to *Raw* from June 25, where he faced Big Show; Show defeated Clay to end Clay's 24-match winning streak. Clay then began a feud with Damien Sandow on the July 30 episode of *Raw*; Sandow attacked Clay when he laughed at a video of Sandow's beatdown at the hands of DX. Clay and Sandow finally faced off on the August 20 episode of *Raw*, where Sandow won, but he was attacked by Clay after the match. At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Clay took part in 10-man elimination tag team match alongside Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio and Sin Cara, but he was the first man out after being eliminated by Tensai.

In January 2013, Clay competed in the 2013 Royal Rumble match and was eliminated by five men. Tensai was embarrassed after a dance contest, but Clay encouraged him to dance and have fun because "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas". Tensai, with Clay's encouragement, began using several "silly dance moves". Two days later on *WWE Main Event*, Clay came out to support Tensai during his match with Titus O'Neil. Following this, Clay and Tensai formed a tag team and went on to defeat established teams such as Primo and Epico, Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB and Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow). On the March 22 episode of *SmackDown*, Tensai and Clay were defeated by Team Rhodes Scholars after an interference from The Bella Twins. Tensai and Clay announced their official tag-team name "Tons of Funk" on the March 27 episode of *Main Event*, where they accompanied The Funkadactyls to ring in a losing effort to The Bella Twins. The two teams were originally booked to face each other in an eight-person mixed tag team match on April 7 at WrestleMania 29, but their match was cut due to time constraints. The match instead took place the following night on *Raw*, where Tons of Funk and The Funkadactyls emerged victorious.

In November 2013, Clay started a storyline where he became angry and jealous of the debuting Xavier Woods, who "borrowed" Clay's music and The Funkadactyls for his entrance. Clay thus began to exhibit more villainous tendencies, such as repeatedly attacking Woods, after he had defeated Woods in a match. At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Clay faced Woods' partner, R-Truth and continually assaulted Truth instead of going for a win, so Tensai and the Funkadactyls left in protest and Clay lost the match.

On the next *Raw*, Clay completed his heel turn by abandoning Tensai to lose their tag match and attacking Tensai after the match. Clay found no immediate success, as he went on to lose to Tensai, Woods and Truth in singles matches. At WrestleMania XXX, Clay competed in the first Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, but was unsuccessful. On the April 17 episode *NXT*, Clay would lose by countout against Adrian Neville in a non-title match. On June 12, 2014, Clay was released by WWE.