New York Wrestling Connection (2004–2006) The two debuted as a team in New York Wrestling Connection (NYWC) in 2004 with Matthew Cardona using the name Brett Matthews and Brian Myers using his real name. On May 21, 2005, they defeated the NYWC Tag Team Champions Dickie Rodz and Mason Raige by disqualification. At the next event on June 4, they won a rematch decisively to become Tag Team Champions. they were given a match against
The Untouchables (
Dice Domino and
Deuce Shade) who were reigning as
DSW Tag Team Champions. On 12 October, The Majors Brothers became the new champions Brian Majors pre-empted the tag team's first appearance in Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) on April 25's TV tapings in a 15-minute time limit draw against
Jay Bradley. As a team they debuted on May 9 to pick up a win against Los Locos (Ramon and Paul) with a slightly tweaked name of The Major Brothers. After defeating Gothic Mayhem (Johnny Punch and Pat Buck) in successive matches they went on to defeat the reigning
OVW Southern Tag Team Champions "The Hammer" Charles Evans and "The Ox"
Justin LaRouche (future
La Familia stablemate Bam Neely) twice in non-title matches, once by disqualification. These series of victories led to them facing Evans and LaRouche, joined by Dr. Thomas in a three-on-two handicap tag match on June 15 and winning the OVW Tag Team Championship. The former champions defeated them in a Four-Way Elimination Tag Team match the following week but a title match between the two of them on June 22 saw The Major Brothers retain. This was short lived though as they lost a non-title 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. On 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 Jr. 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 tag title 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 Championship 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 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.
Sporadic reunions (2011, 2016, 2018) 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 did not 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 shows 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.
Reformation (2019–2020) 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. At 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 two appearances on WWE programming during the month of May: a loss to
The Viking Raiders (
Erik and
Ivar) on the May 6 episode of
Raw and a win against
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson on the May 27 episode of
Main Event. 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 as part of budget cuts due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
Independent circuit (2022–present) At
Game Changer Wrestling's Welcome to Heartbreak event in
Los Angeles, Myers and Cardona reunited alongside
Chelsea Green as "The Major Players," losing to
X-Pac and
Joey Janela in the main event.
Impact Wrestling (2022–2023) On April 15, 2022 episode of
Impact Wrestling, Myers, Cardona and Green attacked
W. Morrissey during an in-ring promo, with Morrissey going through a table. Later in the show, Green gave
Mickie James a cheap shot and then knocked her down with Myers and Cardona’s help. == Other media ==