Ezekiel Jackson

Rycklon Edward Stephens (born December 14, 1978) is a Guyanese-American retired professional wrestler and bodybuilder.

He is best known for his tenure in WWE from 2007 to 2014, under the ring name Ezekiel Jackson, where he was the final ECW Champion under WWE's ECW brand, as well as a former WWE Intercontinental Champion.

Stephens made his professional wrestling debut for the California-based promotion Ultimate Pro Wrestling in 2007 under the ring name Big Ryck Hytz.

He was then signed by WWE in 2007 and sent to their then-developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, under the new ring name Rycklon, which was later changed to Ezekiel Jackson after his main-roster debut in 2008.

During his time in WWE, Jackson was the final man to win the ECW Championship, his only professional wrestling world championship, making him the third African American to hold the championship, the sixth black world champion (after The Rock, Booker T, Bobby Lashley, Ron Simmons, and Mark Henry), and the only South American-born world champion in WWE history.

He later joined The Corre but was kicked out, thus starting a feud with the stable's leader Wade Barrett and he would go on to win the WWE Intercontinental Championship once.

Stephens signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment in March 2007 and debuted in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) in late June.

In his debut match on June 27, he teamed with Keith Walker to defeat Kofi Kingston and Eric Pérez.

He continued to compete in the promotion in both tag team and singles matches.

On February 8, 2008, he competed in a match with tag partner Bryan Kelly in a losing effort against Steve Lewington and Heath Miller in a mini-tournament to face the WWE Tag Team Champions John Morrison and The Miz.

On May 6, 2008, Stephens wrestled his final match in FCW before being called up to WWE's main roster.

After being trained in FCW, Stephens debuted on the July 18, 2008, episode of SmackDown under the name Ezekiel, as The Brian Kendrick's bodyguard.

On the August 8, 2008, edition of SmackDown, his ring name was tweaked to Ezekiel Jackson, and he was revealed as being Kendrick's "advisor".

He then began interfering in Kendrick's matches against Jeff Hardy, Finlay, and WWE Champion Triple H.

On the October 17 episode of SmackDown, Jackson made his official in-ring debut by quickly defeating Super Crazy, after replacing a supposedly sick Kendrick.

In late 2008, Jackson began teaming with Kendrick and both began feuding with the WWE Tag Team Champions The Colóns (Carlito and Primo), although Kendrick and Jackson failed to win the championship.

He suffered his first defeat on the February 13, 2009, episode of SmackDown, when he lost a singles match to R-Truth.

Jackson made his final appearance on the SmackDown brand in a losing effort against Jeff Hardy on the April 3, 2009, episode.

On April 15, 2009, Jackson was drafted to the ECW brand as part of the 2009 Supplemental Draft, therefore breaking up the team of himself and Kendrick.

He made his ECW debut defeating Jack Meridol on the July 9, 2009, episode.

Jackson then began an angle with Vladimir Kozlov in which, week after week, after one of them had squashed a local competitor, the other would come out and hit their finishing move on the fallen opponent in a game of one-upmanship.

On the August 18 episode of ECW, Jackson formed an alliance with Kozlov and William Regal after betraying the ECW Champion, Christian, during a tag team match to side with them, and attacking Christian at Regal's request.

Kozlov and Jackson aided Regal in his feud with Christian over the ECW Championship, but Regal was unable to capture the title.

On the November 24 episode of ECW, Jackson attacked both Regal and Kozlov after Kozlov accused Jackson of costing Regal a match.

The following week, Jackson once again betrayed Kozlov and Regal by walking out on Kozlov during a tag team match against Christian and Shelton Benjamin.

Jackson, however, realigned himself with Regal, when he was aided by Regal in defeating Kozlov on an episode of ECW.

On the January 12, 2010, episode of ECW, Jackson won the ECW Homecoming battle royal to earn a match for the ECW Championship.

He faced Christian for the ECW championship at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view but was unsuccessful.

On the final episode of ECW on February 16, Jackson defeated Christian to win the ECW Championship in an Extreme Rules match.

Upon winning the title, WWE credits Jackson as the final ECW Champion.

On the February 19 episode of SmackDown, a video package aired, promoting Jackson's return to the brand.

He made his return on the March 5 episode of SmackDown without Regal, who instead joined Raw, and defeated Jimmy Wang Yang.

On April 10, 2010, at a house show in Glasgow, Scotland, Jackson suffered a tear in his right quadriceps muscle during a match against Kane, and was expected to be inactive for approximately six months.

During his injury, Jackson was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2010 WWE Supplemental Draft.

Jackson made his return to the ring on September 13, 2010, defeating Zack Ryder in a dark match prior to the Raw tapings.

Jackson would leave WWE in 2014 and briefly wrestle for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) later that year.

He also competed in one season of Lucha Underground from 2014 to 2015 as Big Ryck.

He retired after wrestling his last match in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) in October 2015.

He is the owner of the Redwood City, California-based professional wrestling promotion and school Bryckhouse Pro Wrestling.

Stephens attended the University at Buffalo.