Michael Tarver

Tyrone Evans (born March 8, 1977) is an American professional wrestler and rapper known as Michael Tarver.

He is best known for his time with WWE where he appeared on the first season of WWE NXT and later debuted as a member of the faction The Nexus.

Evans defeated Brandon X in a match at an NWA East / Pro Wrestling eXpress event on February 19, 2005.

Evans defeated Daron Smythe for the Pro Wrestling Express (PWX) Brass Knuckles Championship on April 2, 2005.

On June 11, Venom defeated Evans for the Brass Knuckles Championship.

After the title loss, Evans challenged Brandon K for the territory's Heavyweight Championship on September 8, 2006, and was unsuccessful.

Later that year, he wrestled for Coldwater Michigan-based promotion Price of Glory Wrestling, where he participated in an elimination match won by N8 Mattson.

Evans also wrestled for several Cleveland, Ohio-based promotions.

In March 2006, Evans debuted for the Main Event Wrestling League in Ohio, teaming with Kato to defeat Chris Kole in a handicap match.

In December, Evans challenged Robby Starr for the MEWL Championship, but lost the match by disqualification.

In July 2006, Evans beat Savage at an Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) show.

A rematch in March 2007, saw Starr defeat Evans again.

At MEWL's Honky Tonk Saturday Night show the following month, however, Evans defeated Starr and won the MEWL Heavyweight Championship.

He returned to AIW in May 2007, losing to Thrillbilly, and in September 2007, where he defeated Eddie Kingston by submission in the third round of their 'Strong Style' Challenge match.

In April 2007, Evans challenged Jason Bane for the Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling (CAPW) Television Championship, but was unsuccessful.

On May 6, at May Meltdown, The B.E.T. (Evans and Josh Emmanuel) defeated Jeff Brooks and Kid Hybrid in a tag team match, and the following month at A Hot Summer's Night The B.E.T. defeated The Clash of Ernie Ballz and Brian Bender.

Evans also wrestled for Pro Wrestling Unplugged, making his debut on October 27, 2007, at Dark Night, where he introduced himself as "The Panther" Tyrone Evans before losing to The Sandman by disqualification.

In December, Evans lost once again to The Sandman, before he changed his nickname to "Black Panther" in February 2008 at Last Chance: Do or Die.

In 2008, Evans signed a WWE contract and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a WWE developmental territory.

At WrestleMania XXIV, he appeared as one of the bodyguards for Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Mayweather's match against Big Show.

In FCW, he began wrestling under the ring name Tyrone Jones.

In May, he feuded with Atlas DaBone.

Throughout June and July, he faced wrestlers including Kevin Kiley and TJ Wilson, and on July 21, he lost a dark match to Jamie Noble on July 21 prior to Raw.

In September he gained Byron Saxton as a manager, and changed his ring name to Tyson Tarver.

He became part of The Saxton Conglomerate, a faction composed of Tarver, Black Pain, Stu Sanders and led by Byron Saxton.

Tarver had his first match with the Conglomerate on October 30, where he, Pain and Sanders lost to Johnny Prime, Kafu and Sinn Bowdee.

Prime soon began feuding with the Conglomerate, and on November 20, Tarver lost to him in a singles match.

On December 18, Tarver and Sanders lost to Prime and Kaleb O'Neal.

In 2009, Evans changed his ring name to 'Michael Tarver'.

He continued competing in FCW throughout the remainder of 2009, facing wrestlers including Wes Brisco and Skip Sheffield, with whom he feuded in November 2009.

In December, Tarver became associated with Heath Slater, interfering in Slater's matches and accompanying him to the ring.

The following month, Tarver began a feud with Titus O'Neil.

After twice interrupting O'Neil, Tarver defeated him in a singles match on February 18.

On February 16, 2010, it was announced that Tarver was one of the eight FCW wrestlers that would be competing on the first season of the NXT show, with Carlito as his storyline mentor.

On the inaugural episode of NXT on February 23, Tarver and Carlito were defeated by Christian and Heath Slater in a tag team match.

After six more losses and being ranked second to last in the first Pro's Poll, Tarver picked up his first victory on the May 4 episode of NXT by defeating Daniel Bryan.

Tarver also neglected to perform any of the rookie challenges in NXT stating that he was not there to perform menial tasks.

On May 11, Tarver was eliminated during the first elimination round of NXT alongside Daniel Bryan as they lacked the confidence to continue in the competition.

The week after the NXT season finale, Tarver and the rest of the season one NXT rookies interfered in the main event match between John Cena and CM Punk on Raw, attacking Cena, Punk, the announce team and ring announcer Justin Roberts, before dismantling the ring area and surrounding equipment, turning heel in the process.

After he left WWE in 2011, he wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance and made a few appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Chikara.