Cedric Alexander

Cedric Alexander Johnson[6] (born August 16, 1989) is an American professional wrestler better known as Cedric Alexander. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.

Cedric Alexander
Alexander as WWE Cruiserweight Champion in April 2018
Birth nameCedric Alexander Johnson[1]
Born (1989-08-16) August 16, 1989[2]
ResidenceOrlando, Florida[1]
Spouse(s)
Aerial Monroe (m. 2018)
Children1
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Cedric Alexander[3]
Gary Garbutt[4][5]
Billed height5 ft 10 in (178 cm)[3]
Billed weight205 lb (93 kg)[3]
Billed fromCharlotte, North Carolina[3]
Trained byGeorge South Pro Wrestling School[1]
DebutJuly 17, 2009

Alexander worked for Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2010 until 2016. He started as part of C&C Factory, a tag team with Caprice Coleman. They worked together until 2014, then he worked as a singles wrestler, usually managed by Veda Scott. He left ROH in 2016, when he was invited to the WWE tournament Cruiserweight Classic. During the tournament, he was eliminated in the second round by Kota Ibushi, but received high praise, with the fans in attendance chanting "Please Sign Cedric". After that, Alexander would sign a contract with WWE, working in their new cruiserweight division as part of the 205 Live brand. At WrestleMania 34, Alexander won a tournament to win the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, retaining the title for 181 days. In 2019 he was promoted to the Raw brand, starting to appear on Monday Night Raw since the April 22, 2019 episode.

Professional wrestling career

Ring of Honor

C&C Wrestle Factory (2010–2013)

Over the course of 2010, Alexander mostly wrestled dark matches for Ring of Honor (ROH). In 2011 he started performing for ROH on a regular basis after he formed the tag team called the C&C Wrestle Factory with Caprice Coleman.

Alexander (right) with Caprice Coleman as the C&C Wrestle Factory in 2011

On December 23 at Final Battle 2011, C&C Wrestle Factory competed in a Tag team gauntlet match for a future ROH World Tag Team Championship title shot where they eliminated the Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lancelot).[7] On March 30 at Showdown in the Sun Chapter 1, they were defeated by Wrestling's Greatest Tag Team (Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). The next day at Showdown in the Sun Chapter 2, Alexander was defeated by Tommaso Ciampa. On September 15 at Death Before Dishonor X: State of Emergency, they were defeated by S.C.U.M. (Jimmy Jacobs and Steve Corino).[8] At Glory By Honor XI: The Unbreakable Hope on October 13, they once again defeated the Bravado Brothers. On December 16 at Final Battle 2012: Doomsday, they unsuccessfully challenged S.C.U.M. for the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match that also included the Briscoe Brothers who won the match. On March 3 at the 11th Anniversary Show, he and Coleman were defeated by S.C.U.M. On April 5 at Supercard of Honor VII, C&C Wrestle Factory teamed with B.J. Whitmer, Mark Briscoe and Mike Mondo in a losing effort against S.C.U.M. (Cliff Compton, Jimmy Jacobs, Jimmy Rave, Rhett Titus and Rhino). On May 4 at Border Wars 2013, they defeated ACH and TaDarius Thomas. On May 18 at Relentless, they teamed with Jay Lethal to defeat Matt Taven and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly). On July 8 at Live And Let Die, Alexander was defeated by Davey Richards.[9] On June 22 at Best in the World 2013, they unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match that also included S.C.U.M. (Rhett Titus and Cliff Compton). On August 3 at All Star Extravaganza V, they were defeated by Adrenaline Rush (ACH and TaDarius Thomas) in a three-way match that also included The Young Bucks.[10]

Singles competition (2014–2016)

On January 25 at Wrestling's Finest, he defeated Andrew Everett. On February 8 at State Of The Art, he was defeated by Jimmy Jacobs. On February 21 at the 12th Anniversary Show he teamed with Mark Briscoe and Adam Page in a losing effort against The Decade (Roderick Strong, B.J. Whitmer and Jimmy Jacobs).[11] On March 7 at Raising The Bar – Day 1, he teamed with Adam Page in a tag team match against The Decade where they lost. The next day at Raising The Bar – Day 2 he was defeated by Kevin Steen. On March 22 at Flyin' High he was defeated by Michael Elgin. On April 4 at Supercard of Honor VIII, he lost a match against Roderick Strong. On April 19 at Second To None, he teamed with Andrew Everett in a losing effort against reDRagon. At Global Wars on May 10, he defeated Roderick Strong. After the match he was attacked by Roderick Strong and the rest of The Decade and was put through chairs and his shoulder was separated. Alexander made an appearance at War of the Worlds attacking The Decade from behind. This led to a submission match against Roderick Strong at Best in the World, in which he came out victorious. On August 9, during the Summer Heat Tour, he unsuccessfully challenged Michael Elgin for the ROH World Championship.[12] On September 6 at All Star Extravaganza VI he was scheduled to face Silas Young, but when Young broke his leg and ACH did not show up for the event he challenged Jay Lethal for the ROH World Television Championship where he was defeated. On October 11 at Champions vs. All Stars, he was defeated by Christopher Daniels.[13] On November 7 at Survival Of The Fittest- Day 1, he was defeated by Adam Page in a 2014 Survival of the Fittest qualifying match. The next day at Survival Of The Fittest- Day 2, he was defeated by Jay Lethal.[14] On November 22 at Tag Wars, he was defeated by Tommaso Ciampa in No Disqualification Grudge Match.[15] On December 7 at Final Battle 2014, he teamed with The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian), but ultimately lost to The Young Bucks and ACH following a Meltzer Driver and an ACH 450 splash.[16]

On May 16, 2015, at Global Wars '15, Alexander ended Moose's undefeated streak after hitting him with a wrench.[17] On June 19 at Best in the World 2015, Alexander reunited with Caprice Coleman, but ultimately broke off the partnership for good, when Coleman refused to allow Alexander to use the wrench again in a match against War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe). Later that same event, Alexander attacked Moose, aligning himself with Moose's former manager Veda Scott.[18]

On May 14, 2016, Alexander announced his departure from ROH.[19]

WWE

Cruiserweight Classic and debut (2016–2017)

On June 13, 2016, Alexander was announced as a participant in WWE's Cruiserweight Classic tournament.[20] The tournament began on June 23 with Alexander defeating Clement Petiot in his first round match.[21] On July 14, Alexander was eliminated from the tournament by Kota Ibushi.[22] The match received high praise, with the fans in attendance chanting "please sign Cedric" and earned a 4 1/2 star rating from Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.[23][24]

On the August 29 episode of Raw, Alexander was announced as part of upcoming cruiserweight division.[25] Alexander made his debut on the September 19 episode of Raw, submitting to Brian Kendrick in a fatal four-may match that included Gran Metalik and Rich Swann to determine the number one contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.[26] On the September 26 episode of Raw, he along with Rich Swann, defeated Lince Dorado and Drew Gulak.[27] On the December 6 episode of 205 Live, it was revealed that Alexander was dating Alicia Fox in storyline, and later faced Noam Dar in a losing effort. After the match, Dar dedicated his victory to Fox, igniting a feud between the two.[28] On the December 19 episode of Raw, Alexander defeated Dar. Alexander later decided to break-up with Fox, after she cost him a match.[29][30] In late February, it was announced that Alexander would be out of action for 3–5 months with a knee injury.[31] He returned from injury on the May 23 on 205 Live.[32][33] On the July 11 episode of 205 Live, Alexander defeated Dar in an "I Quit" match to end their feud.[34]

Cruiserweight Champion (2017–2019)

Alexander after winning the WWE Cruiserweight Championship at WrestleMania 34

On the December 11 episode of Raw, Alexander won a fatal four-way match, earning a match against Drew Gulak for the number one contendership to the Cruiserweight Championship.[35] Alexander defeated Gulak on December 18, and faced Enzo Amore for the title on January 9, 2018, which Amore lost by countout, therefore retaining.[36] Alexander was scheduled to face Amore for the Cruiserweight Championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view, but the match was cancelled and the title was vacated when Amore was released from WWE.[37] A tournament to determine a new champion was arranged, in which Alexander defeated Gran Metalik in the first round, TJP in the quarterfinals, and Roderick Strong in the semi-finals to advance to the final. At WrestleMania 34 kickoff, Alexander defeated Mustafa Ali to win the Cruiserweight Championship. On the following episode of 205 Live, Alexander was attacked by Buddy Murphy during his championship celebration. On April 27, Alexander made his first successful title defense against Kalisto at the Greatest Royal Rumble. On the May 29 episode of 205 Live, he defeated Buddy Murphy to retain the Cruiserweight Championship. On the July 10 episode of 205 Live, he defeated Hideo Itami to retain the Cruiserweight Championship. [38] At the SummerSlam, Alexander successfully defended his title against Drew Gulak.[39] On the September 19 episode of 205 Live, Alexander defeated Gulak in a SummerSlam rematch to retain the Cruiserweight Championship. At Super Show-Down, Alexander lost the Cruiserweight Championship against Buddy Murphy,[40] ending his reign at 181 days, also marking his first televised loss in 2018.

On the following episode of 205 Live, Alexander lost to Murphy's ally, Tony Nese. The following week on 205 Live, Alexander was pinned by Nese again in a fatal five-way match also involving Gran Metalik, Lio Rush, and TJP.[40] On the November 14 episode of 205 Live, Alexander defeated Rush to give Rush his first televised loss on 205 Live. Two weeks later on the November 28 episode of 205 Live, Alexander teamed with Mustafa Ali to defeat Murphy and Nese after Alexander pinned Murphy.[41] Alexander received his title rematch against Buddy Murphy at TLC but failed to regain the title. In early 2019, Alexander competed in a tournament for a match for the title at WrestleMania 35. Alexander lasted until the finals of the tournament where he lost to Tony Nese.[40] Alexander later started a feud with Oney Lorcan. On the March 26 episode of 205 Live, he lost the match to Ariya Daivari when Lorcan cost his match.[42]

Promotion to Raw (2019–present)

During the 2019 WWE Superstar Shake-up, Alexander was drafted to Raw. Alexander lost his final match on the April 17 episode of 205 Live against Oney Lorcan. After the match, the two shook hands as a sign of respect, thus ending their feud.[43] On the April 22 edition of Raw, Alexander would lose his debut match against Cesaro.[44] Following that, he rarely appeared on Raw over the next two months, instead wrestling on WWE Main Event.[45] On the June 24 edition of Raw, Alexander briefly won the 24/7 Championship from R-Truth before immediately losing it against EC3 during a flurry of title changes.[46] A week later on RAW, Alexander, disguised as Gary Garbutt (originally played by the former AAF's Memphis Express president Kosha Irby), teamed with Roman Reigns in a losing effort against Drew McIntyre and Shane McMahon. A week later, Alexander scored an upset victory over McIntyre in a singles match starting a brief feud between the two. On the Aug 12 episode of Raw, McIntyre defeated Alexander. Alexander entered the King of the Ring tournament where he defeated Sami Zayn in the first round but lost to Baron Corbin in the quarter finals after he was attacked by The O.C. prior to the match. The following week, he would pin AJ Styles in a 10 man tag team match earning himself a United States Championship title shot at Clash of Champions, where he was defeated by Styles on the Kickoff show. The following week on Raw, he would attack AJ Styles who was ringside during the match between The Viking Raiders and The O.C. chasing him out of the arena. On the September 30 episode of Raw, Alexander would once again challenge Styles for the United States Championship in a losing effort. After being off of television and primarily wrestling on Main Event for several months, Alexander would form a tag team with Ricochet on the April 6, 2020 episode of Raw as they defeated Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. The following week on Raw, they faced The Viking Raiders in a losing effort.

Other media

Alexander made his video game debut in WWE 2K18[47] and subsequently appears in WWE 2K19.[48]

Personal life

In June 2018, Alexander married fellow professional wrestler Aerial Monroe, who currently competes in All Elite Wrestling under the nickname of "Big Swole." They have one daughter.[49]

Championships and accomplishments

References

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