BWWE Wiki
Advertisement
Mojo Rawley

Rawley made his television debut on the May 29, 2013 episode of NXT, competing in a battle royal that was won by Bo Dallas.

On the October 9 episode of NXT, Rawley adopted a high-energy character based on the concept of "staying hyped"; Rawley explained that if getting hyped allowed superhuman achievements, he would take it one level higher by staying hyped. Rawley defeated CJ Parker at NXT Arrival and then went on an unbeaten streak, defeating CJ Parker, Sylvester Lefort and Oliver Grey, among others. He also took part in a battle royal to determine the new number one contender where he made it to the final seven before being eliminated by Jason Jordan.

On May 29, 2014 at NXT TakeOver event, Rusev beat down Rawley. Rawley then formed a team with Bull Dempsey, but they lost in the 1st round of the number one contenders tournament for the tag titles, causing Dempsey to turn on Rawley. The two faced off at NXT TakeOver: Fatal 4-Way with Rawley losing, he also lost a rematch a few weeks later. In October, Rawley suffered an shoulder injury that would take him out of action for four to six months.

In June 2015, Zack Ryder debuted in NXT, and a returning Rawley formed an alliance with him, dubbing themselves as The Hype Bros. On the June 10 episode of NXT, The Hype Bros went on to defeat Elias Samson and Mike Rallis. On August 22 at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn, The Hype Bros teamed up with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady to defeat Jason Jordan, Chad Gable and The Mechanics (Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson) in an 8-man tag team match. On the October 16 episode of NXT, The Hype Bros competed in a match for the NXT Tag Team Championship in a losing effort. On the October 22 episode of NXT, Rawley competed in a 26-man battle royal to determine the number one contender for the NXT Championship, he was unsuccessful, although he was among the last few competitors in the match. On the November 11 episode of NXT, The Hype Bros teamed up with Bayley during an intergender tag team match against Blake and Murphy and Alexa Bliss, where they emerged victorious. On the February 10, 2016, episode of NXT, The Hype Bros defeated Corey Hollis and John Skyler in a tag team match.

On July 19, Rawley was called up to the main roster as a supplemental pick in the 2016 WWE draft, being selected in the 11th round by SmackDown, the brand in which his partner Zack Ryder wrestled. He made his main roster debut at Battleground, helping Ryder against being assaulted post-match by Rusev. On the SummerSlam pre-show, The Hype Bros teamed with American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) and The Usos (Jimmy and Jey Uso) to face The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch), Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango), and The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor) in a 12-man tag team match, where The Hype Bros' team was victorious. On the August 30 episode of SmackDown, they defeated The Vaudevillains to advance in the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship Tournament. The Hype Bros were later eliminated by Heath Slater and Rhyno in semifinals. The Hype Bros would later get a second chance to face Heath Slater and Rhyno in the final at Backlash after American Alpha were injured by The Usos, in a losing effort. On the October 25 episode of SmackDown, The Hype Bros defeated The Ascension to qualify as part of Team SmackDown for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series. On the December 13 episode of SmackDown, The Hype Bros won a multi-team battle royal for a chance to take on The Wyatt Family for the titles, but Ryder sustained a knee injury, cancelling their #1 contender status.

After Ryder's injury was determined, the following week on SmackDown, Rawley defeated Curt Hawkins. On the January 24, 2017 episode of SmackDown, Rawley won a battle royal to earn a spot in the 2017 Royal Rumble match. At the event, Rawley entered at number four and was eliminated by Braun Strowman. He defeated Hawkins on the Elimination Chamber pre-show. On the March 7 episode of SmackDown, Rawley announced his participation in the André the Giant Battle Royal. On the March 14 episode of SmackDown, Rawley faced Dolph Ziggler, which he won by countout. On the WrestleMania 33 kickoff show, with the help of his friend, Rob Gronkowski, Rawley won the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal with the last elimination of Jinder Mahal.

After six months of inactivity, Ryder returned on the June 13 episode of SmackDown, reuniting with Rawley. On June 18, at the Money in the Bank pre-show, The Hype Bros faced The Colóns (Primo and Epico Colón) in a winning effort. Two days later on SmackDown, Shane McMahon announced that The Hype Bros would have an opportunity to become number one contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team championship at the June 27 episode of SmackDown in a match against tag team champions The Usos, in which they were defeated.

After several weeks of losing matches causing dissension between the team, both Rawley and Ryder began to claim that a change was needed. On the November 28 episode of SmackDown Live, after losing to The Bludgeon Brothers (Harper and Rowan), Rawley attacked Ryder, turning heel in the process for the first time in his career. Rawley appeared on the December 5 episode of SmackDown Live, claiming Ryder was dead weight. Rawley and Ryder had a match scheduled at the Clash of Champions pre-show which Rawley won. A rematch was scheduled between the two in the first round of United States Championship tournament which was again won by Rawley. On the January 16, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live, Rawley lost to Bobby Roode in the semi-finals of the tournament. At Royal Rumble, Rawley answered Bobby Roode's open challenge for the United States Championship, but was unsuccessful in winning the title.

On April 16, Rawley was drafted to Raw as part of the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up. He entered the Greatest Royal Rumble, where he eliminated both members of Breezango but was unable to win the match. On the May 7 episode of Raw, Rawley answered Seth Rollins' open challenge for the Intercontinental Championship, but lost the match. On the June 18 episode of Raw, he defeated No Way Jose. After the match, Rawley claimed that he was no longer hyped and simply focused. Over the following weeks on Raw, Rawley defeated No Way Jose and Tyler Breeze several times. Following a brief feud with Bobby Roode, Rawley found himself off Raw for an extended amount of time.

On the January 28, 2019 edition of Raw, Rawley was featured in a backstage segment talking to an off-screen person, blaming them for his lack of success and saying "They'll find out who I really am," before being revealed that he was talking to a mirror. On the February 4, 2019 edition of Raw, he was shown saying to the same mirror that he wouldn't be a "team player" anymore. On the March 28, 2019 Raw, he was again seen talking to the mirror, saying that he needed to "figure it out." On April 8, 2019, on the Raw after WrestleMania 35, the mirror was shown to be shattered, and Rawley wore a matching shattered glass face paint design, stating that he had finally "found himself." On the May 13 episode of RAW, he debuted his new look and defeated Apollo Crews in a squash match.

On the December 9 edition of Raw, he, alongside Sami Zayn, confronted Kevin Owens after Owens slapped him backstage. Owens then attacked him with a steel pipe. On the December 23 Raw, Rawley lost a no disqualification match to Owens. He briefly won the WWE 24/7 Championship on Fox’s New Year’s Eve special; however, Mojo would lose it moments later to R-Truth. Rawley won the title again on the January 13, 2020 episode of Raw, pinning R-Truth on the entrance ramp as Truth was being helped to the back following an attack by WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. During three house shows from January 17 to January 19, Rawley lost the title to Truth, but quickly regained it moments later, becoming a five-time champion. On the January 28 episode of Raw, Rawley lost the title to Truth, moments after successfully defending it against No Way Jose; he would quickly regain it back by pinning Truth, who was distracted by Rawley's new "offensive lineman", Riddick Moss. Two weeks later, on the February 10 episode of Raw, after Rawley and Moss lost to the Street Profits, Rawley lost the championship after he was betrayed and pinned by Moss.

On the March 13 episode of SmackDown, as a face with his old "Hype" gimmick, Rawley was moved to the SmackDown brand and announced that Rob Gronkowski would be appearing on SmackDown the next week. At WrestleMania 36, with no crowd in attendance, Mojo won the 24/7 championship from R-Truth, marking his seventh title win. The next night, on night two of WrestleMania 36, Rawley lost it to Gronkowski. On the June 19 episode of SmackDown, Rawley was defeated by Shorty G in what would be his final WWE match, since he was released on April 15, 2021, after nearly one year without appearing on television.

Advertisement