Tyler Reks

Tyler Reks
Reks in November 2010
Ring name(s)	Tyler Reks Gabe Tuft Taj Milano
Billed height	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Billed weight	246 lb (112 kg)
Born	November 1, 1978(1978-11-01)(age 33) San Francisco, California
Resides	Cotati, CA
Billed from	Laguna Beach, California Parts Unknown
Trained by	Mike Bell Ultimate Pro Wrestling Florida Championship Wrestling
Debut	February 2007

Gabriel Allan Tuft (born November 1, 1978) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on its Raw brand under the ring name Tyler Reks. He also competes in WWE's developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, where he held the Florida Tag Team Championship once with Johnny Curtis and held the Florida Heavyweight Championship once.

Professional wrestling career

Training and independents (2007)

Tuft was trained by Mike Bell. He made his professional debut in February 2007 for Ultimate Pro Wrestling.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2008–2010)

Tuft was signed to a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in January 2008 and was assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling territory as Tyler Reks. He made his FCW debut on February 5th 2008 with Johnny Curtis in a losing effort against Eric Perez and Eddie Colon . A few days later on February 12th he made his singles FCW debut in a losing effort once again against "The South City Thriller" Hade Vansen. He participated in a FCW Florida Heavyweight Title Battle Royal which was won by Jack Hager. He also took part in FCW Florida Tag Team Title Tournament with Rycklon, during this tournament he had his first victory at FCW defeating Ted DiBiase, Jr. and Afa, Jr. in the first round, however the pair were to lose Eddie Colon and Eric Perez in the quarter finals.. Tuft then had two chances at FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship against the current champion Jack Hager first in a one on one match and then in a triple threat match along with Johnny Curtis. On the August 28th he participated in FCW Florida Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership Fatal Four Way along with Johnny Curtis Tyrone Evans and Sheamus O'Shaunessy, who went onto win the match. Tuft then went on to have another two FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship shots against Sheamus O'Shaunessy and lost both times. On December 11, 2008, Tuft and Johnny Curtis defeated The New Hart Foundation (DH Smith and TJ Wilson) to win the Florida Tag Team Championship in Tampa, Florida. After numerous defenses and 139 days of holding the titles they lost them to Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta. Tuft won FCW Florida Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership match and on June 11, 2009, he captured the Florida Heavyweight Championship by defeating Drew McIntyre. He later lost the title to Heath Slater at the FCW television tapings on August 13. He later lost to Slater again during his rematch for the title. He lost to Joe Hennig in a FCW Florida Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership match and lost a FCW Florida Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership battle royal. He and Leo Kruger had a FCW Florida Tag Team Title match against Epico and but lost.

ECW (2009–2010)

Reks in December 2009.

He made his main roster debut on ECW on Sci Fi on the June 30, 2009 episode, with a surfer in-ring persona, in a backstage promo with Zack Ryder. Reks had suffered a knee injury just prior to his debut, but was able to work through it and made his in-ring debut on the July 2, 2009 episode of WWE Superstars, losing to Ryder. On the July 21 episode of ECW, Reks gained his first win after defeating Paul Burchill, and then beat him again the following week. Reks participated in a 10-man battle royal on the September 15 edition of ECW for an ECW Championship opportunity against Christian, but the match would go on to be won by Zack Ryder. Tuft would begin a brief hiatus from television starting in November 2009 and began mainly working dark matches and house shows for both Smackdown and Raw and FCW matches. Reks was one of the participants in the 26 man pre-show battle royal at WrestleMania XXVI.

SmackDown (2010–2011)

In late April 2010, Reks joined the SmackDown roster following ECW's closure. After months of only working dark matches, Reks made his SmackDown television debut as a heel on the October 15 edition of the program while sporting a beard, chest hair and new attire in addition to never referencing to his time on ECW. After a promo, he challenged and successfully defeated Kaval in a match for the latter's spot in the SmackDown Bragging Rights team. On the Raw before Bragging right he participated in a SmackDown vs. RAW 30 Man Tag Team Battle Royal and Smackdown won, even after Reks was thrown out the ring. At Bragging Rights, Reks was able to eliminate Santino Marella before being eliminated by Sheamus. However, Team SmackDown was successful in winning the Bragging Rights Cup for the second consecutive time. After this, Reks was placed in Alberto Del Rio's Survivor Series team and at the event. On the Smackdown before Survivor Series 2010 he Ten Man Tag Team Battle Royal and lost. At Survivor Series 2010 he was eliminated by Kofi Kingston as Team Del Rio went on to lose the match to Team Mysterio. Reks was then moved into a feud with Chris Masters, defeating him once on SmackDown and twice on WWE Superstars. On January 30, 2011, Reks made his Royal Rumble debut as he entered the match as the sixteenth entrant, but was eliminated from the match in only 34 seconds by CM Punk and the New Nexus. Reks was involved in another dark battle royal at Wrestlemania 27. Reks participated in and lost a World Heavyweight Title #1 Contendership 20 Man Battle Royal. His last in ring television performance for five months would be beating JTG on Superstars.

Teaming with Curt Hawkins (2011–present)

See also: Curt Hawkins and Tyler Reks

On April 26, Reks was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2011 Supplemental Draft. After wrestling dark matches for a few months, Reks made his Raw debut in a backstage segment with Curt Hawkins, Wade Barrett and Alberto Del Rio. On the September 8 edition of Superstars, Reks made his in-ring return as he teamed with Hawkins to defeat Titus O'Neil and Percy Watson. On the September 27 episode of WWE NXT, after the Usos beat JTG and Darren Young, Reks and Hawkins attacked them from behind. Over the next two weeks on NXT, Reks and Hawkins faced the Usos in tag team matches, with Reks and Hawkins winning the first match and the Usos winning the second match. Reks made his singles return on October 16th losing to Yoshi Tatsu.

Reks participated in a World Heavyweight Championship number 1 contender 41 man battle royal and the "All I Want For Christmas Battle Royal" and was eliminated in both. Hawkins and Reks would lose to The Usos once again on December 6th. Reks and Hawkins would then lose a non-title match to the tag team champions Air Boom on the December 22 episode of Superstars. Hawkins and Reks would feud with the duo of Trent Barreta and Yoshi Tatsu from December 2011. Both teams would play pranks on each other, with Tatsu being locked in a closet and Reks' hands being superglued onto an Xbox controller. On January 18th Hawkins and Reks debuted matching red and black attire and beat Barreta and Tatsu. Reks appeared on the January 20th episode of Smackdown as one of the lumberjacks. On the 27th January Reks along with Hawkins and other Superstars came out from the back to restrain Randy Orton from attacking Wade Barrett, once Barrett escaped from Orton he gave Reks an RKO, followed up by Hawkins arguing with Orton and receiving an RKO himself, Orton woud go on the RKO the other Superstars that had restrained him. On January 30, edition of Raw SuperShow, Reks made his debut on Raw since been drafted to Raw in April 2011 and also his first televized singles match since March 24, 2011, lost to Brodus Clay . Reks and Hawkins would lose to The Usos and other tag teams on NXT and even appeared in backstage segments with Matt Striker complaining about not main eventing NXT, therefore on February 8, 2012 Reks and Hawkins took on The Usos once again in a main event match and won.

In other media

Much like Zack Ryder, Reks grew tired of not being on WWE Television and so he started a Youtube channel called TheRekkingCrew and created his first series called GET PWND which involved him recording himself playing Halo Reach and "pwning" people over Xbox Live, he also started a contest where viewers of his would have to work out a code in order to enter his chat room and play Halo Reach with him. His PWND series was not to last long, he stopped posting videos of Halo Reach and stopped posting on Youtube all together. He would later start uploading WWE matches of himself against Chris Masters and Kaval to name a few. After another hiatus from Youtube he created a new series. The show is animated and it is entitled "The Mid Card Mafia", and it stars Reks as himself, as well as Curt Hawkins as himself, Tyson Kidd as himself, and Reks and Hawkins both provide the voice for Drew McIntyre. The show is of comical dialect and has received over 50,000 hits in just 3 days. The show has featured more mid carders as guests, including JTG.

Reks also appeared in WWE Inbox, a Youtube series created by WWE where Superstars and Diva answer questions submitted by fans on Twitter.

Personal life

Reks is married to Priscilla Tuft and is good friends with fellow WWE wrestler Curt Hawkins.

When asked on Twitter why he chose the name 'Tyler Reks', Tuft's response was: "Tyler is my wife and my first choice for the name of our first son - when we have kids. Reks is just a sick last name! And If I win a World Championship, people can chant "Reks Wrecks" .

In a bizarre incident Reks apparently freaked out as a flight was minutes away from taking off at the airport in Green Bay, WI. Reks who was traveling home to Tampa from the Smackdown/ECW television taping complained to the flight crew that he observed strange movement on the flaps of the wings. He caused panic among other passengers by saying that the movement on the flap wasn't supposed to happen and that the plane was unsafe. He demanded to be deborded. Also Reks blurted out "If anyone else on the plane doesn't want to die then they should get off the plane too". The pilot decided that they didn't want to take any chances with him disrupting the flight or distressing the passengers so they returned to the terminal and escorted him off the plane. The flight was then delayed which annoyed many WWE employees .

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Big Kahuna (Springboard moonsault) – FCW
  • Burning Hammer (Argentine backbreaker rack dropped into a DDT)
  • Overhead gutwrench backbreaker rack flipped into a DDT

• Signature moves
  • Big boot
  • Clothesline
  • Diving crossbody
  • Dropkick, sometimes while springboarding
  • Elbow drop
  • Elevated gutbuster
  • Flapjack
  • Forearm club
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Belly to back
    • Front
    • Inverted
  • Powerslam
  • Reverse STO into the turnbuckles
  • Shoulder block
  • Stinger splash

• Nicknames
  • "The X-Factor"
  • "The Dreadlocked Demolition Man"
  • "T. Reks"

• Entrance themes
  • "Tyrannosaurus" by Jim Johnston (2011–present)

Championships and accomplishments

Tuft as the FCW Florida Heavyweight Champion.

• Florida Championship Wrestling
  • FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • FCW Florida Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Johnny Curtis

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #180 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2010

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • Slammy Award For Most Menacing Haircut (2010)

External links

• WWE profile
• Online World of Wrestling profile
• CageMatch profile (German)