P. J. Black

Phillip Paul Lloyd (born 3 March 1981) is a South African-American professional wrestler.

He is best known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Justin Gabriel.

He is currently wrestling under the ring name P. J. Black.

A second-generation wrestler, Lloyd was initially trained by his father.

Debuting in 1997 at the age of 16, where he competed in the United Kingdom and South Africa and was the inaugural winner of the WWP World Cruiserweight Championship in World Wrestling Professionals as P. J. Black.

In 2003 he made his FWA debut.

He also made an appearance in International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom.

He debuted for the South African promotion World Wrestling Professionals (WWP) in 2005.

In 2006, he returned to South Africa full-time, and returned to WWP.

His most notable feuds during his tenure in WWP were against Tornado, Dameon Duke, Mikey Whiplash, and Joe E. Legend.

On 1 November 2007, Black became the promotion's inaugural World Cruiserweight Champion, by defeating The Playa in a match to determine the inaugural champion.

After holding the championship for 13 days, he lost it to Lizzard on 14 November.

He then declared his intentions to compete in WWP's heavyweight division.

In 2008, Lloyd signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment, and was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, where he won the FCW Florida Tag Team Championship, with Kris Logan, and the FCW Florida Heavyweight Championship.

His final match in South Africa took place on 8 November 2008 at WWP's bi-annual Carnival City Casino show, where he was defeated by Terri Middoux in front of a record attendance.

In 2008, Lloyd signed a three-year developmental deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), becoming the first South African person to do so.

He was assigned to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), WWE's developmental territory, where he made his debut under the name Paul Lloyd on 5 February, in a loss to Kawal.

His first win in FCW came the following week, when he teamed with Caylen Croft and Trent Barreta to defeat Tyler Reks, Johnny Curtis, and DJ Gabriel in a six-man tag team match.

The following month, he changed his ring name to 'Justin Angel'.

He went on to wrestle against DH Smith, Barreta, Yoshitatsu, and Lance Hoyt over the next few months.

In June, he formed a tag team with Kris Logan, with the pair defeating DJ Gabriel and Vic Adams in their debut match as a team.

They quickly began to feud with The Dude Busters of Barreta and Croft, losing to them in several championship matches over the next month.

Lloyd challenged unsuccessfully for the WWP World Heavyweight Championship against Joe E. Legend on a WWP Thunderstrike episode that aired on 10 January 2009.

During the match he suffered minor burns to the face after a fireball spot did not go as originally planned, and he had to be treated in hospital.

At the 23 July 2009 tapings of FCW's television show, Angel and Logan defeated Barreta and Croft to become the Florida Tag Team Champions.

They lost the championship on the same night to The Rotundos (Bo and Duke).

Following the loss of the championship, Angel and Logan dissolved as a tag team, with Angel returning to singles competition.

He went on a winning streak throughout August, defeating Alex Riley, Vance Archer, and Sheamus.

In February 2010, he competed in the first season of NXT, finishing third, before being called to the main roster in June 2010 joining The Nexus.

Teaming regularly with Heath Slater, the duo won the WWE Tag Team Championship three times in 2010 and 2011, which was the apex of Gabriel's success with WWE.

He joined the Corre in 2011.

He also won the TNA King of the Mountain Championship during his brief GFW crossover appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2015.

Lloyd was originally trained by his father, a promoter and wrestler in South Africa, who was also known by his ring name The Pink Panther.

His grandfather was a professional boxer and amateur wrestler.

Lloyd grew up watching his father wrestle and in the early part of his training he used to practice in the backyard of his home, in which two rings were positioned.

He made his professional wrestling debut at the age of 16.

Using the ring name "P. J. Black", he formed a regular tag team with Ray Leppan called Pure Juice.

His father was shot and killed in front of him during Lloyd's final year in high school, and a year later he moved to the United Kingdom for five years.

Lloyd spent five years in the United Kingdom, where he trained with Frontier Wrestling Alliance.

He was trained by Alex Shane and Mark Sloan.