Justin Gabriel | |
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Lloyd at WrestleMania XXX Axxess in 2014
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Birth name | Paul Justin Lloyd Jr. |
Born |
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa |
3 March 1981
Residence | Pierre, South Dakota, United States |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | The Bunny Justin Angel Justin Gabriel Paul Lloyd Paul Lloyd Jr. PJ Black |
Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
Billed weight | 213 lb (97 kg) |
Billed from | Cape Town, South Africa |
Trained by | Paul Lloyd Sr. Alex Shane Mark Sloan |
Debut | 1997 |
Paul Justin Lloyd Jr. (born 3 March 1981) is a South African professional wrestler, best known for his six year stint in WWE, where he competed as Justin Gabriel. He has also competed in Lucha Underground, TNA and GFW under the name PJ 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 PJ Black.
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. 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. He joined The Corre in 2011. 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 also won the TNA King of the Mountain Championship during his brief GFW crossover appearances with TNA in 2015. He was recently appointed as South Africa's best wrestler for 2015, along with long time friend Ananzi, by the South African Professional Wrestling News magazine.