Ettore Ewen[2] was born in Tampa, Florida,[5] on March 1, 1986,[2][5] the son of Margaret and Ettore Ewen. He is of Jamaican and Montserratian descent.[6] He attended middle school starting in 7th grade and High School at Tampa Preparatory School in Tampa, where he won a number of athletic honors, including a state championship in wrestling.[7] After his junior year of high school he transferred to Wharton High School in order to play football and was named Hillsborough County's "Ironman of the Year".[8][5] Upon graduating, Ewen attended the University of Iowa, where he played American football as a defensive lineman for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He redshirted in 2004 and missed the 2005 season due to an injury sustained in preseason camp, playing a single season as a sophomore in 2006.[5] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[2] After college, Ewen turned his attention to the sport of powerlifting.
Ewen competed in his first USA Powerlifting (USAPL) meet on July 11 at the 2010 United States Open Championships at Nova Southeastern University in Davie, Florida. He became the top heavyweight lifter, breaking all four Florida state raw powerlifting records in the 275-pound class[11] and besting raw national records in the deadlift and total. His lifts included a 611-pound squat, a 490-pound bench press, and a 749-pound deadlift for a 1,850 pound raw total. Ewen also won the 2011 USAPL Raw Nationals in Scranton, Pennsylvania. This time, he competed in the super heavyweight division (275+lbs) and broke the raw American and national records in the deadlift (799 lbs) and total (2,039 lbs).[10][11] All of his national and American raw records have since been broken.[11][12][13]
Personal records
Set in official competition
Squat – 711 lbs (322.5 kg)[10]raw without knee wraps
Powerlifting total – 2,039 lbs[11] 925 kg[10] (322.5-240-362.5) raw without knee wraps
The American[14] and National Championship Records[15] in the deadlift are held at 410 kg (903.9 lbs) since 1995 by Mark Henry, who also became a professional wrestler in WWE. Big E has also bench pressed 575 lbs (260 kg) raw touch and go in the gym, but it was not a competition lift.[16]
Professional wrestling career
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2009-present)
Florida Championship Wrestling (2009–2012)
After injuries ended Ewen's dreams of being a professional footballer, he was introduced to professional wrestling by someone who knew Jim Ross. At the suggestion of said person, Ewen was given a tryout in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), a developmental territory of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). He became convinced that he could be good at it and do wrestling for a living, and WWE signed a developmental contract with him in 2009.[17][18]
According to Ewen, although he had been a wrestling fan as a child, he had "never thought this [was] something you could do for a living, and I would never have. ... Thankfully I was in the right place and the right time, and it's something that I have developed a passion for."[17]
When WWE rebranded FCW into NXT,[20] Langston made his NXT debut on August 1, 2012, defeating Adam Mercer.[21] This marked the start of a winning streak for Langston, who from September started repeatedly performing his finisher on his opponents and demanding that referees count to five (rather than the usual three) before awarding him pinfalls.[22][23] After Langston rejected Vickie Guerrero's managerial services,[24] Guerrero promised a $5,000 bounty to anyone who could put Langston "on the shelf"; but attempts to claim the bounty by Chad Baxter and Camacho were firmly squashed by Langston.[25][26] The bounty was ultimately declared void by NXT Commissioner Dusty Rhodes.[27] Langston then began to feud with The Shield, and on the January 9, 2013 episode of NXT,[28] Langston defeated The Shield member Seth Rollins in a No Disqualification match to win the NXT Championship.[29] After successful title defenses against Conor O'Brian, Corey Graves, Brad Maddox, and Damien Sandow,[30][31][32] Langston eventually lost the NXT Championship to Bo Dallas on the June 12 episode of NXT.[33]
On the December 17, 2012 episode of Raw, Langston made his main roster debut by attacking John Cena and aligning with AJ Lee, thus establishing himself as a heel.[34] Langston went on to act as an enforcer for AJ's boyfriend, Dolph Ziggler.[35][36] On April 7, 2013, at WrestleMania 29, Langston and Ziggler unsuccessfully challenged Team Hell No (Daniel Bryan and Kane) for the WWE Tag Team Championship.[37] Langston wrestled his first singles match on Raw the following night, defeating Daniel Bryan.[38] After Ziggler suffered a concussion in May, Langston competed in a best-of-five series against Ziggler's opponent for the World Heavyweight Championship, Alberto Del Rio, which Del Rio won 3–2.[39] On the June 10 episode of Raw, Langston was revealed as the secret admirer of Divas ChampionKaitlyn; this in turn was revealed to be a ploy by AJ Lee, the number one contender to Kaitlyn's title, to humiliate Kaitlyn.[40] Langston and AJ continued to mock Kaitlyn over the following weeks, with AJ ultimately winning the title at Payback on June 16.[41]
On the July 15 episode of Raw, Ziggler ended his relationship with AJ, which led to Langston attacking him later in the evening.[42] On the July 29 episode of Raw, Langston lost to Ziggler by disqualification after AJ interfered and attacked Ziggler.[43] In a rematch on the following week's Raw, Langston defeated Ziggler following a distraction by AJ.[44] On August 18 at SummerSlam, Langston and AJ were defeated by Ziggler and Kaitlyn in a mixed tag team match, effectively ending their feud.[45]
On the October 18 episode of SmackDown, Langston took offense to Paul Heyman, after Heyman downplaying CM Punk's victory over Langston and calling Langston "a rookie", Langston then aided Punk in fending off Curtis Axel and Ryback, turning face in the process.[46] Three days later, on the October 21 episode of Raw, Langston teamed up with Punk to defeat Axel and Ryback, with Langston pinning Axel.[47] He was set to receive an Intercontinental Championship match against Axel at Hell in a Cell on October 27, but Axel was pulled from the match shortly before the pay-per-view due to a legitimate hip injury.[48] Langston instead challenged for the United States Championship against Dean Ambrose, winning by countout.[49] The following night on Raw, he was granted a rematch for the title, winning the match by disqualification after Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins interfered.[50]
On the November 18 episode of Raw, Langston received his postponed championship match with Axel and won the Intercontinental Championship, his first singles championship on the main roster.[51] At Survivor Series on November 24, Langston successfully retained his title against Axel.[52] Langston then successfully retained his championship against Damien Sandow on December 15 at TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs.[53] On January 26, 2014, at the Royal Rumble, Langston participated in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Sheamus.[54] At Elimination Chamber on February 23, with his ring name now shortened to Big E, he successfully defended the title against Jack Swagger.[55] At WrestleMania XXX on April 6, Big E competed in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, which was won by Cesaro.[56] On May 4, at Extreme Rules, Big E lost the title to Bad News Barrett, and failed to regain it the following night on Raw, ending his reign at 167 days.[57] Big E later became involved in a feud with Rusev, which led to consecutive bouts at Payback on June 1 and Money in the Bank on June 29, both of which Big E lost.[58][59] At Battleground on July 20, Big E competed in a battle royal for the Intercontinental Championship, which was won by The Miz.[60]
During the summer of 2014, Big E was put in a team with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods, usually as a manager.[61] In November, WWE began airing vignettes for Big E, Kingston and Woods, with the stable now being billed as The New Day.[62][63] The New Day made their in-ring debut on the November 28 episode of SmackDown in a winning effort against Curtis Axel, Heath Slater and Titus O'Neil.[64] They started a brief feud with Gold and Stardust, which Big E and Kingston defeated Gold and Stardust at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 14.[65] On January 25, 2015, at the Royal Rumble, The New Day lost to Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, ending their winning streak.[66] Later that night, Big E participated in the Royal Rumble match, but was eliminated by Rusev.[67][68] At WrestleMania 31 on March 29, they failed to win the WWE Tag Team Championship in a fatal four-way match, as well as being eliminated by Big Show in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.[69]
On July 19 at the 2016 WWE draft, Big E, along with his fellow New Day teammates, was drafted to the Rawbrand. Three days later, on July 22, The New Day became the longest-reigning WWE Tag Team Champions, breaking the record of 331 days previously set by Paul London and Brian Kendrick. After SmackDown established the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships due to the brand split, the titles held by the New Day were renamed the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships. On the August 1 episode of Raw, Big E suffered a storyline contusion to the groin area after an attack by Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.[86] At SummerSlam on August 21, Big E returned from injury by attacking Gallows and Anderson during their match against Kingston and Woods, resulting in Gallows and Anderson winning by disqualification. At Clash of Champions on September 25, The New Day retained the titles against Gallows and Anderson. On October 30, at Hell in a Cell, The New Day lost to the team of Cesaro and Sheamus by disqualification but retained the titles. The next night on Raw, The New Day revealed that they were made captain of Team Raw for the 10–on–10 Survivor Series Tag Team Elimination match at Survivor Series on November 20, 2016, which Team Raw won after defeating Team SmackDown.[87] The New Day had two successful title defenses on the November 21 and 28 editions of Raw against Cesaro and Sheamus and Gallows and Anderson, respectively. On the December 12 episode of Raw, The New Day retained the titles in two triple threat tag team matches, first involving Gallows and Anderson and Cesaro and Sheamus and the second involving Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens and the team of Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins. At Roadblock: End of the Line on December 18, The New Day lost the Raw Tag Team Championship to CesaroandSheamus, ending their record-breaking championship reign at 483 days. On January 29, all members were in the Royal Rumble match but were eliminated by Sheamus and Cesaro. On February 20, 2017, they were announced as the hosts of WrestleMania 33.
On April 11, 2017, Big E and The New Day were moved to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up.[88] At Battleground on July 23, Kingston and Woods, representing The New Day, defeated The Usos to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championships for the first time. Though Big E did not wrestle himself, due to The New Day defending the titles under the Freebird Rule, Big E is also recognized as a champion. The New Day lost the tag titles back to The Usos at SummerSlam on August 20. The Usos held the titles for about a month before The New Day won them back on SmackDown Live that September. At Hell in a Cell on October 8, Big E and Woods took on The Usos in the namesake match but lost the championships. On the October 23 edition of Raw, The New Day along with other talents of SmackDown ambushed the Raw wrestlers. They again appeared on the November 6 episode of Raw in the crowd, which led to the distraction of Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose and costing them the tag titles. On the November 14 edition of SmackDown, The Shield led an attack with Raw Superstars and invaded SmackDown similar to the one led by SmackDown and attacked everyone including New Day. At Survivor Series on November 19, The New Day lost to The Shield. The New Day failed to regain the titles from The Usos at Clash of Champions on December 17 in a fatal four-way tag team match also involving the team of Rusev and Aiden English, and Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin. On January 28, Big E entered the 2018 Royal Rumble match as the ninth entrant but failed to win the match after being eliminated by Jinder Mahal.
At Fastlane on March 11, The New Day faced The Usos for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship, but the match went to a no-contest after interference from The Bludgeon Brothers.[89] On April 8, at WrestleMania 34, The New Day faced the Usos and the Bludgeon Brothers in a triple threat tag team match for the titles, which were won by The Bludgeon Brothers. On July 15, The New Day were defeated by SAnitY in a six-man tables match at the Extreme Rules pre-show. The New Day then competed in a tag team title tournament, defeating SAnitY in the first round, while Cesaro and Sheamus defeated the Usos. The New Day then defeated Cesaro and Sheamus the following week on SmackDown to earn the right to face The Bludgeon Brothers at SummerSlam on August 19, where they won the match by disqualification, meaning the Bludgeon Brothers retained their titles. Two days later on SmackDown, however, The New Day defeated The Bludgeon Brothers in a No Disqualification match to capture the titles for the third time.[90] Big E and Woods then represented the New Day when they unsuccessfully defended their tag titles against The Bar on SmackDown 1000.[91]
Big E at a house show in August 2019
On January 27, Big E entered the 2019 Royal Rumble, but was eliminated by Samoa Joe.[92] In the lead-up to WrestleMania 35, Big E's New Day teammate Kofi Kingston was attempting to earn a shot at the WWE Championship and after many attempts, WWE Chairman Vince McMahon granted him the title shot after Big E and Xavier Woods defeated Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev, The Bar, The Usos, and Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in a tag team gauntlet match.[93] Shortly after WrestleMania, Big E suffered a legitimate knee injury which sidelined him for weeks.[94] He later returned and earned another SmackDown tag team title opportunity at Extreme Rules on July 14, where Big E and Xavier Woods defeated Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan, and Heavy Machinery to win the titles (during this reign, Kingston was not recognized as champion as he was the reigning WWE Champion).[95] On September 15, they lost the titles to The Revival at Clash of Champions,[96] but regained it on the November 8 episode of SmackDown, becoming record five-time champions as a team, and a record fifth reign for Big E individually (Woods is not recognized for this reign due to an injury).[97] At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs on December 15, Big E and Kingston successfully defended the titles against The Revival in a ladder match.[98] On January 26, 2020, at the Royal Rumble, Big E participated in the Royal Rumble match but was eliminated by Brock Lesnar.[99]
At Super ShowDown on February 27, Big E and Kingston lost the championships against John Morrison and the Miz[100] and failed to regain the titles at Elimination Chamber on March 8.[101] On the April 17 episode of SmackDown, Big E, who represented The New Day, won the titles back from Miz, who represented himself and Morrison, in a triple threat match, also involving Jey Uso, who represented The Usos, making The New Day six-time SmackDown Tag Team Champions.[102] At The Horror Show at Extreme Rules on July 19, The New Day would lose the championships to Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura in a Tables match after Cesaro and Nakamura put Kingston through two tables.
Return to singles career (2020–2021)
On the July 24 episode of SmackDown, Kingston revealed that he would be out of action for six weeks and gave Big E the blessing to go on a solo run.[103][104] Big E would then embark on his singles run as he entered a feud with Sheamus, whom he defeated on August 3 at Payback[105][106] and on the October 9 episode of SmackDown in a Falls Count Anywhere match.[107] As part of the 2020 Draft in October, Kingston and Woods were drafted to the Rawbrand while Big E remained on the SmackDown brand,[108][109] starting a singles career which included a new theme by Wale and titantron separate from The New Day.[110]
On the December 25 episode of SmackDown (taped on December 22), Big E defeated Sami Zayn in a lumberjack match to win the Intercontinental Championship for the second time.[111][112][113] On the January 8, 2021 episode of SmackDown, Big E defended the Intercontinental Championship against Apollo Crews, and the match ended in a double-pinfall draw, but after a match restart, Big E scored the victory.[114] On the January 22 episode of SmackDown, his match with Crews ended in a no contest after Zayn interfered and attacked both of them. At the Royal Rumble on January 31, 2021, Big E entered the Royal Rumble match and eliminated Zayn, Mustafa Ali, The Hurricane, and Bobby Lashley, before being eliminated by Omos (who was not a part of the match).[115]
On the February 5 episode on SmackDown, Big E retained his title against Crews and Zayn in a triple threat match. Following this, Crews would begin to target Big E to the point where Crews injured Big E, taking him out of action for several weeks. Big E returned on the March 12 episode of SmackDown, accepting Crews' offer for a rematch at Fastlane on March 21, where Big E would once again retain the championship but would be attacked by Crews after the match. On the March 26 episode of SmackDown, Big E was pinned by Crews in a six-man tag match, which gave Crews another opportunity for the championship at WrestleMania 37. At Night 2 of WrestleMania on April 11, Big E lost the Intercontinental Championship to Crews in a Nigerian Drum Fight due to interference from Commander Azeez.[116] He challenged Crews for the Intercontinental Championship on the May 21 episode of SmackDown in a fatal four-way which included Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn, but was unsuccessful when Aleister Black attacked him.[117] He was set to feud with Black, but it was cancelled when Black was released from WWE.
WWE Champion (2021–2022)
On the June 25 episode of SmackDown, Big E defeated Crews to qualify for the men's Money in the Bank ladder match. At Money in the Bank on July 18, he won the men's ladder match, becoming the first African-American competitor to hold the contract.[118] On the August 13 episode of SmackDown, Baron Corbin stole his briefcase during a backstage interview.[119] At the SummerSlam pre-show on August 21, Big E defeated Corbin to regain the briefcase.[120]
On September 13, Big E declared on Twitter that he would be cashing in his Money in the Bank contract for a WWE Championship match on that night's Raw, which already had a WWE Championship match scheduled between champion Bobby Lashley and challenger Randy Orton.[121] After Lashley won, Big E cashed in for an immediate title match and pinned Lashley, winning the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, and celebrating with the rest of the New Day.[122] On the September 27 episode of Raw, Big E defended the WWE Championship against Lashley, which ended in a disqualification after a brawl between the New Day and Cedric Alexander and Shelton Benjamin. The match was rescheduled as a cage match later that night, where Big E defeated Lashley to retain the title.[123] As part of the 2021 WWE Draft, Big E was officially drafted to Raw, while Kingston and Woods were drafted to SmackDown.[124] On October 21, Big E successfully defended the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre at Crown Jewel.[125] At Survivor Series on November 21, Big E suffered a clean loss to WWE Universal ChampionRoman Reigns in a non-title match.[126] On the November 22 episode of Raw, Big E had a successful title defense against Austin Theory.[127]
Big E was originally scheduled to defend his WWE Championship at the WWE Day 1 event against Seth Rollins. On the November 29 episode of Raw, Big E lost to Kevin Owens in a non-title match via disqualification after Rollins interfered, so Owens was added to Big E's Day 1 title match.[128] On the December 13 episode of Raw, Big E was pinned by Bobby Lashley in a non-title no disqualification match after Rollins, Owens and MVP interfered, so Lashley was added to the title match.[129] Hours before Day 1, due to WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns contracting COVID-19, Reigns' scheduled opponent Brock Lesnar was also added to Big E's title match.[130] In the fatal five-way match on January 1, 2022, Big E lost his title when he was cleanly pinned by Lesnar, ending Big E's reign at 110 days.[131][132] On the January 3 episode of Raw, Big E wrestled Lashley, Owens, and Rollins for a WWE Championship shot against Lesnar, but Lashley won.[133] On the following episode of Raw, Big E challenged Rollins to an immediate match and suffered a clean loss.[134]
In an interview published in March 2022, Ewen gave his views on his WWE Championship reign, stating that if it were up to him, he would choose a "longer" reign so that he could "do some more dynamic things". Ewen further stated that it was "difficult [for people] to really latch onto a new champion" when "within their first month, [the champion has] multiple losses on TV".[135][136] Ewen then compared his world title reign and how it ended to Kofi Kingston's, suggesting that both of them had a "falling off of a cliff feeling at the hands of one Brock Lesnar and then suddenly, it feels like you woke up a year prior and you're back to doing what you were doing before."[136]
Cervical spine injury and non wrestling roles (2022–present)
In late January 2022, Big E was officially moved back to SmackDown, reuniting with Kofi Kingston as part of The New Day.[137][138] On the March 11 episode of SmackDown, during a match against Ridge Holland and Sheamus, Holland delivered an overhead belly-to-belly suplex to Big E at ringside, resulting in Big E accidentally landing on the top of his head;[139][140] suffering a broken neck, with fractures to his C1 and C6 vertebrae, but no ligament or spinal cord injury and that he would not require surgery.[140] He had an onscreen reunion with Kingston and Woods on May 20, but stated in an interview one month later that it is unclear if he will ever be able to wrestle again.[141] Following his recovery, Big E mostly serves as a host, guest or panelist on various WWE shows.
In August 2023, he revealed that he had been advised by doctors never to wrestle again despite having no nerve damage or strength issues.[142] He said, "They said like, 'Hey, I would not wrestle again if I were you.' So, for me, at 37, these are things that I think about. ... I started this job at 23 years old, and probably had a bit of a death wish and was okay dying in the ring ... I now, at 37, would like to not die in the ring; I would like to do other things with my life." Two years after the incident, he revealed on X that his neck had healed fibrously but failed to build new bone structure, and concluded that due to this he was not medically cleared and unlikely to ever be cleared.[143]
Ring Gear of the Year (2020) – with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods
Notes
^Big E, Kingston, and Woods defended the title under the Freebird Rule. On September 5, 2016, during the New Day's second reign, the titles were renamed the Raw Tag Team Championship after SmackDown established the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
^Big E defended the title with Kingston and Woods under the Freebird Rule during his first three reigns. He defended the title with Woods in the fourth reign and with Kingston in the fifth.
^James, Justin. "JAMES'S WWE NXT REPORT 10/3". PWTorch. Retrieved June 19, 2013. Langston gets angry because the ref only counts to three before calling for the bell, so the ref gives another two counts. The crowd is chanting "one more time!" Post-match, Langston hit his finisher again and gives himself a five count, to the delight of the crowd.
.jpg)
.jpg)
