George Murdoch (born February 21, 1973), is an American actor, political commentator, and professional wrestler best known for his time in Impact Wrestling under the ring name Tyrus. He also worked for WWE as Brodus Clay, where he was the runner-up on the fourth season of NXT which ran from late 2010 to 2011.
Murdoch is a Fox News contributor, appearing regularly as a political commentator on The Greg Gutfeld Show and other select programs under his Tyrus ring name.
Video Tyrus (wrestler)
Early life
In 1990, Murdoch attended Quartz Hill High School in Los Angeles County, California, and then in 1992 Antelope Valley College. By 1995, he was attending the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where he studied to become a teacher. He played college football during his school days. Before becoming a professional wrestler, he worked as a bodyguard for Snoop Dogg for four years.
Maps Tyrus (wrestler)
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment
Deep South Wrestling (2006-2007)
After signing a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), Murdoch was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a WWE developmental territory. He debuted in September 2006, and began using the ring name G-Rilla along with adopting the gimmick of a street thug. In his first match for the promotion, he defeated Big Bully Douglas in a dark match on September 7. The following month, G-Rilla became the enforcer for Urban Assault, a tag team composed of Eric Pérez and Sonny Siaki. However, he got in an enmity with The Bag Lady, which cost Urban Assault a match for the DSW Tag Team Championship against The Major Brothers (Brian and Brett) on October 26. The group eventually won the championships from them on November 30, but the situation repeated on December 21, when G-Rilla started fighting with Bag Lady's ally Freakin' Deacon at ringside and it caused Urban Assault to lose to the Major Brothers. The same night, Deacon defeated G-Rilla in a singles match, after which Perez, Siaki, and new member Afa Jr. attacked G-Rilla, throwing him out of the group. The same month, Murdoch wrestled in two dark matches against Scotty 2 Hotty at SmackDown! house shows while using his real name, winning the first but losing the second.
In early January 2007, G-Rilla feuded with Urban Assault, attacking the members during matches. He then formed a tag team with former enemy Freakin' Deacon, with the pair defeating Urban Assault in their first match together. They went on to defeat teams including Frankie Coverdale and Bob Hoskins, the Samoan Fight Club of Siaki and Afa Jr., Shawn Osborne and Jon Bolen, and Robert Anthony and Johnny Curtis. In March, they faced and defeated the DSW Tag Team Champions, Team Elite (Mike Knox and Derrick Neikirk) in two successive non-title matches. However, in March 2007 Deacon was beaten up with steel chairs by Neikirk and Knox, needing to be carried to the hospital by G-Rilla. There G-Rilla sat accidentally over Deacon's pet spider, killing it and sending its owner to a mental breakdown. The team dissolved shortly after.
Florida Championship Wrestling (2007-2008)
In June 2007, Murdoch made his debut at FCW's inaugural show on June 26, using the name G-Rilla and defeating Shawn Osborne. Three months later, on September 15, G-Rilla won a battle royal to become the number one contender to the FCW Southern Heavyweight Championship by last eliminating Teddy Hart. He challenged Harry Smith for the championship on September 25, but lost via disqualification which meant that Smith retained the championship. The following month, G-Rilla continued to feud with Smith and Hart, who had formed The Hart Dynasty with TJ Wilson and Ted DiBiase, Jr., allying himself with Osborne, Jake Hager and Afa, Jr. G-Rilla briefly formed a tag team with Robert Anthony in December 2007, but on February 4, 2008, Murdoch was released from his contract with WWE.
Return to WWE
Return to FCW (2010-2011)
In January 2010, Murdoch re-signed with WWE and was assigned to FCW. In March, Murdoch, once again using the name G-Rilla, formed an alliance with The Uso Brothers, Tamina, and Donny Marlow. He went on to defeat both Jacob Novak and Rudy Parker, before changing his ring name to Brodus Clay, a play on Snoop Dogg's real name (Calvin Cordozar Broadus), in May 2010. On June 16, Clay and Marlow challenged Los Aviadores (Hunico and Epico) for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, but were unsuccessful. That same month, Clay and Marlow began referring to themselves as the Colossal Connection. The Colossal Connection challenged Los Aviadores for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship again on July 1, and won by disqualification when the Usos interfered, allowing Los Aviadores to retain the championship. Later that same night, the Colossal Connection defeated the Usos by disqualification to become the number one contenders to the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship after Los Aviadores interfered. On August 6, the Colossal Connection competed in a four-way elimination match for the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, but Los Aviadores won to retain their title. At the television tapings on August 12, Johnny Curtis and Derrick Bateman won a three-way tag team match over the Colossal Connection and Los Aviadores to win the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship. Clay and Marlow unsuccessfully challenged Curtis and Bateman for the championship throughout August and September. In October, Clay appeared at a WWE house show, where he lost to JTG.
NXT and alliance with Alberto Del Rio (2010-2011)
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 his mentor Chris Masters. He suffered his first loss the following week, when he, DiBiase, and Maryse were defeated by Saxton, Masters, and Natalya in a six-person mixed tag team match. 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 had "temporarily" passed Pro responsibilities of Clay to Ricardo Rodriguez but never returned for the rest of the season. On the February 8 episode of NXT, Clay won both a match and a challenge to earn three immunity points, his first of the season. Both he and Johnny Curtis were tied on immunity points at the end of the show, and an audience vote determined that Curtis was immune from elimination. Clay survived when Byron Saxton was eliminated. In the season finale on March 1, Clay ended the competition in second place, losing out to Curtis.
On the March 7 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. 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. Clay was seen bleeding on pay-per-view due to suffering a deep cut in his head following a ladder shot from Christian, and he required staples put in his head to close the wound.
The Funkasaurus (2012-2013)
After a three-month absence due to the filming of No One Lives, 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 (heroic character) with a fun-loving, funk dancing gimmick, with the nickname "The Funkasaurus" and began using Ernest 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 the Royal Rumble event, Clay squashed Drew McIntyre.
Clay then was absent from WWE programming for nearly two months before his reappearance on the March 12 episode of Raw. 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. At Over the Limit, Clay defeated The Miz in a singles match. At this point, 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 for dancing in the ring instead of sympathizing with Show shortly after Show was forced to beg for his job and was yet fired; 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 when Otunga let himself be counted out. 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, but Clay once again fell victim to an Otunga sneak attack and then a beatdown from Big Show. 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 ended his feud with Otunga on the July 2 episode of Raw by preventing Otunga from fleeing an eight-man tag match, leading to Santino Marella pinning Otunga; Clay also splashed Otunga after the match. 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 after a roll-up 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. On the January 28 episode of Raw in Las Vegas, Clay was to face Tensai in a lingerie pillow fight (determined via the Raw Roulette wheel) but this was changed instead to a dance off. Tensai however still showed up in lingerie because (kayfabe) Clay forgot to inform him of the change. Tensai was embarrassed, 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 and Tensai danced with Clay after the match. Following this, Clay and Tensai formed a tag team and went on to defeat established teams such as Primo & Epico, Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal of 3MB and Team Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damien Sandow), with the latter match taking place during the pre-show of Elimination Chamber on February 17. On the March 22 episode of SmackDown, Tensai and Clay were defeated by Team Rhodes Scholars in a tag team match after an interference from their associates 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 with Team Rhodes Scholars in their corner when Nikki pinned Naomi after an interference by Cody Rhodes. 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.
Final storylines (2013-2014)
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, signalling the end of Tons of Funk, as the Funkadactyls also allied themselves with Woods and R-Truth. Despite this, Clay found no immediate success, as he went on to lose to Tensai, Woods and Truth in singles matches. Clay would compete in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania XXX, but failed to win as he was eliminated by The Great Khali.
Clay returned to NXT on April 3, 2014, where he defeated Xavier Woods. After the match, Clay announced that he would challenge Adrian Neville for the NXT Championship. On the April 17 episode NXT, Clay would lose by countout against Neville in a non-title match. On the May 1 episode of NXT, Clay would challenge Neville for the NXT Championship in a no disqualification match, but failed to win the title. The following week, Clay was a participant in a battle royal to determine a new number one contender to the NXT Championship, but failed to win the match.
On June 12, 2014, Clay was released by WWE.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling (2014-2017, 2018)
On September 16, 2014, Murdoch debuted for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) under the ring name Tyrus at TNA's television tapings, aligning himself with Ethan Carter III (EC3). Moments after EC3 introduced him, he had his first wrestling match on the October 15 episode of Impact Wrestling against Shark Boy, which he won. Together they entered the TNA World Tag Team Championship number one contenders tournament, defeating Eric Young and Rockstar Spud in the quarterfinals, only to lose to The Hardy Boyz on the October 29 episode of Impact Wrestling in the semifinals, when Tyrus was pinned by Matt Hardy. At Lockdown, Tyrus defeated Spud and Mark Andrews in a 2-on-1 Six Sides of Steel match. On May 15, 2015 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tyrus faced Mr. Anderson in a losing effort. At Slammiversary, Carter and Tyrus defeated Lashley and Mr. Anderson in the co-main event. On October 4, 2015, at Bound For Glory, Tyrus won a gauntlet for the gold match to become the number one contender for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
On January 19, 2016 episode of Impact Wrestling, Tyrus turned on EC3 and joined Matt Hardy, costing Carter the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. On March 19, 2016, Tyrus faced TNA World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway in a losing effort. On the April 19 episode of Impact Wrestling, the match between Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy eventually ended up in a no contest after Matt were injured. Their alliance ended quietly.
On a June 28, 2016 taping of Impact Wrestling, Tyrus returned as a "fixer" for hire, siding with Grado and Mahabali Shera in a match against The Tribunal and Al Snow. Since then, TNA began airing vignettes for the "fixer" gimmick on Impact Wrestling on weekly basis. At One Night Only: September 2016, Tyrus defeated Crazzy Steve. This was his first singles victory since Bound for Glory 2015. Tyrus returned to Impact Wrestling and began aligning himself with Eli Drake. On January 6, 2017, Tyrus and Eli Drake unsuccessfully challenged The Broken Hardys (Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy) for the TNA World Tag Team Championships at TNA One Night Only: Live!. On August 18, 2017, GFW announced that Tyrus was granted his release from his GFW contract.
At Impact's January 2018 tapings, he returned to defeat his former boss Ethan Carter III after turning on him. However, his return was short-lived when, on April 18, 2018, Tyrus left Impact once again, confirming his release and departure from the company.
Filmography
Murdoch made his motion picture debut as Ethan in the WWE Studios horror film No One Lives.
Film
Television
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- As Brodus Clay
- Ah Funk It! / Fall of Humanity / What the Funk? (Running crossbody)
- Splat (Running jumping splash, sometimes from the second rope)
- Tongan death grip transitioned into either a chokeslam or an STO
- As G-Rilla
- G-Grip (Tongan death grip transitioned into a chokeslam)
- ICU (Diving splash)
- As Tyrus
- Tongan death grip transitioned into a chokeslam
- As Brodus Clay
- Signature moves
- Battering ram, as a counter to an oncoming opponent
- Body avalanche
- Corner hip attack
- Elbow drop
- Forearm club
- Knee lift
- Multiple suplex variations
- Cradle
- Exploder (Independent circuit/TNA) Shee-Plex (WWE)
- Overhead/Side belly-to-belly
- Snap
- Nerve hold
- Running powerslam
- With Tensai
- Double team finishing moves
- Double running splash
- Double team signature moves
- Aided snap swinging neckbreaker
- Double throat thrusts
- Simultaneous sidewalk slam (Clay) and running elbow drop (Tensai) combination
- Double team finishing moves
- Managers
- Alberto Del Rio
- The Million Dollar Couple (Ted DiBiase and Maryse)
- Ricardo Rodriguez
- Wrestlers managed
- Donny Marlow
- Nicknames
- As Brodus Clay
- "The Funkasaurus"
- "The Main Event Playa"
- As G-Rilla
- "The Mastodon of Mayhem"
- "The World's Biggest Suplex Machine"
- As Tyrus
- "The Fixer"
- "The Man Dinosaur"
- As Brodus Clay
- Entrance themes
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- "Rip It Up" by Josh Powell and Marc Williams
- "Somebody Call My Momma" by Jim Johnston
- "Ain't No Party" by Jim Johnston
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling / Impact Wrestling
- "Under Attack" by Dale Oliver
- World Wrestling Entertainment
Championships and accomplishments
- Pennsylvania Premiere Wrestling
- PPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #74 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2012 and 2013
- Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
- Bound for Gold (2015)
- WWE
- Slammy Award (1 time) - Best Dancer of the Year (2012)
References
External links
- Tyrus on WWE.com
- Tyrus on YouTube
- Tyrus on Facebook
- Tyrus on Twitter
- Tyrus on IMDb
Source of article : Wikipedia
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