Chad Lail (born June 6, 1982) is an American retired professional wrestler.
He is best known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Gunner and in WWE under the ring name Jaxson Ryker.
Chad Lail was born on June 6, 1982, in Hickory, North Carolina.
He served in the Iraq War with the United States Marine Corps as a machine Gunner, and reached the rank of a sergeant.
2001
Lail started his professional wrestling career in 2001, working as Phil Shatter on several independent promotions.
2005
Lail signed with NWA Anarchy in 2005, using the ring name of Phil Shatter, and he eventually received a championship match against NWA Anarchy Heavyweight Champion Ace Rocwell, which he won to become the new champion.
2009
Shatter later won the NWA National Heavyweight Championship from Crusher Hansen on January 17, 2009, and is the longest reigning champion in the title's history, and he would drop the championship to Chance Prophet on February 19, 2011, after signing a contract with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
2010
He would be signed by Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2010, where he changed his ring name to Gunner and was presented as a member of the villainous group Immortal.
During his time in the group, he won the TNA Television Championship once.
After leaving the group, he would work as a tag team and singles wrestler, most notably as tag team partner and rival of James Storm, winning the TNA World Tag Team Championship with him.
In October 2010, Shatter defeated Chase Stevens for the Showtime All-Star Wrestling (SAW) International Heavyweight Championship, but was forced to vacate the title in June 2011 due to being unable to defend it because of his TNA schedule.
Shatter appeared at Ring of Honor's The Big Bang! pay-per-view on April 3, 2010, defeating Zack Salvation in the opening match of the pay-per-view.
At the June 23, 2010, tapings of TNA's Impact! television show, Shatter made his TNA debut, along with Mikael Judas, as TNA's on-air security.
On the July 29, 2010 edition of TNA Impact! taping, Shatter, now using the name Gunner and Mikael Judas, using the name Murphy, came out after an altercation involving Jeff Hardy and Mr. Anderson with Matt Morgan, and attacked Hardy and Anderson, thus turning heel.
They then teamed with Morgan in a handicap match, where they were defeated by Hardy and Anderson.
After appearing with Morgan the following week, Gunner and Murphy's angle with him was discontinued and they went back to being regular security guards.
On the October 21 edition of Impact! Gunner and Murphy aligned themselves with Jeff Jarrett and helped him beat down Samoa Joe.
At the Turning Point pay-per-view Gunner and Murphy interfered in a match between Jarrett and Joe, helping Jarrett pick up the win.
On the following edition of Impact! Gunner and Murphy made their in–ring return, losing to Samoa Joe in a handicap match.
After Jarrett's feud with Samoa Joe ended, Gunner and Murphy became regular members of the Immortal stable and were less involved with Jarrett.
At the December 9 tapings of Xplosion Gunner and Murphy picked up their first win in TNA, defeating Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) in a tag team match.
2011
On February 13, 2011, at Against All Odds, Gunner and Murphy wrestled their first TNA PPV match, a six-man tag team match, where they teamed with their Immortal stablemate Rob Terry in a losing effort against James Storm, Robert Roode and Scott Steiner.
In February both Gunner and Murphy signed two–year contracts with TNA, which saw them moved from their roles as just security guards into the active roster.
On the February 24 edition of Impact!, Gunner and Murphy defeated Eric Young and Orlando Jordan to earn their first shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship, held by Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode).
They would receive their shot at the title on the following edition of Impact!, but were defeated by Beer Money, Inc.
On March 14 at the tapings of the March 17 edition of Impact!, Gunner defeated Murphy and Rob Terry in a three-way match to win the vacant TNA Television Championship.
He would lose the title to Eric Young on May 17 at the tapings of the May 26 edition of Impact Wrestling.
On the June 9 edition of Impact Wrestling, Gunner pinned World Heavyweight Champion Sting in a tag team main event, in which he teamed with Mr. Anderson against Sting with Eric Young.
The following week, Gunner asked new TNA World Heavyweight Champion Mr. Anderson for a shot at his title and eventually put him through a table, when he declined.
In the main event of the show, Gunner defeated Anderson in a non-title match.
From June to September, Gunner was one of the twelve participants in the Bound for Glory Series to determine the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.
When the group stage of the tournament concluded, Gunner finished in the top four and thus advanced to the finals at No Surrender along with James Storm, Robert Roode and his Immortal stablemate, Bully Ray.
On September 11 at No Surrender, Gunner was eliminated from the tournament, when he was defeated by Bobby Roode via submission.
Gunner then began feuding with Immortal's former referee, Garett Bischoff, losing to him via disqualification, following interference from Ric Flair, on the November 10 edition of Impact Wrestling.
2015
Lail left TNA in 2015 and two years later in 2017, he signed a contract with WWE.
He was assigned to the farm territory NXT, where he changed his ring name to Jaxson Ryker.
2018
In 2018, he formed The Forgotten Sons, alongside Wesley Blake and Steve Cutler.
2020
From April to June 2020, the stable made appearances on SmackDown.
Ryker would continue working with WWE until November 2021, when he was released.
