John Silver (wrestler)


John Silver is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling. He is best known for his work with Combat Zone Wrestling, where he was a one-time CZW World Heavyweight Champion, and for his partnership with Alex Reynolds, as the Beaver Boys, where they were one-time CZW World Tag Team Champions and one-time PWG World Tag Team Champions.

Professional wrestling career

Silver was trained by Mikey Whipwreck and made his debut in 2007, primarily appearing for the New York Wrestling Connection.
Silver has worked as enhancement talent for WWE on three occasions. On June 17, 2012, at No Way Out, Silver, under the ring name Rob Grymes, and alongside Dan Delaney, wrestled in a two-on-one handicap match with Ryback. On the March 28, 2018 episode of NXT, Silver was defeated by Lars Sullivan. On the September 10, 2019 episode of SmackDown, Silver, under the modified ring name Johnny Silver, teamed with Alex Reynolds, in a match at Madison Square Garden with Heavy Machinery, where he took the pin.

Combat Zone Wrestling (2011, 2013–present)

On May 1, 2011, at a CZW Wired television taping, Silver made his debut for Combat Zone Wrestling, in a defeat to Dalton Castle. He would not appear for the promotion again until two years later.

Initial presence within the tag division (2013)

On May 11, 2013, at Proving Grounds, Silver returned to CZW, alongside his tag team partner in New York Wrestling Connection, Alex Reynolds. The two men, known as the Beaver Boys, faced CZW World Tag Team Champions BLK-OUT in a losing effort. On July 13, at New Heights, the Beaver Boys got their first win in CZW by defeating 4Loco. However, 4Loco got their win back a month later, at Tangled Web. On December 14, at Cage of Death XV, the Beaver Boys defeated The Colony in a #1 contendership match for the World Tag Team Championship.

CZW World Tag Team Champions (2014)

On January 11, 2014, at Answering the Challenge, the Beaver Boys won the World Tag Team Championship, defeating BLK-OUT. Their first title defence was against Murderer's Row on February 8, at CZW's 15th Anniversary Show. Their second title defence was against The Front on March 3, at High Stakes. On April 27, at CZW to Infinity, the Beaver Boys were defeated by Juicy Product, ending their reign at 106 days. Following this, the Beaver Boys began feuding with Juicy Product, and lost their rematch to them a month later, at Proving Grounds. They had two other chances to regain the titles in four-way and three-way matches involving OI4K and Team Tremendous, but were unsuccessful. It was not until Cage of Death XVI, that they would win a tag team match, when they defeated Team Tremendous.

Feud with Team Tremendous (2015)

On January 11, 2014, at To Live Is To Die, Team Tremendous defeated the Beaver Boys, by disqualification. The next month, at CZW Sixteen: An Ultraviolent Anniversary, Silver teamed with Rex Lawless-Silver and Chuck Taylor-Silver, in a six-man tag team tables elimination match against Team Tremendous and Dick Justice. The Silver Boys won the match, when Silver got the pin on Dan Barry by hitting a diving knee from a ladder on him through a table. On March 14, at Deja Vu, Silver challenged Joe Gacy in a singles match for his Wired Championship, but was unsuccessful in doing so. On May 9, at Proving Grounds, the Beaver Boys returned in a successful effort over Bill Carr and his new tag team partner, Buxx Belmar. On July 11, at New Heights, the Beaver Boys were involved in a four-way matches with champions OI4K, the Young Bucks and a reunited Team Tremendous, with the latter winning the match. On October 10, at Tangled Web, the feud was ended in a rematch for the titles, in which the Beaver Boys lost.

Championship pursuits (2016–2017)

In 2016, Silver began a singles career, but only featured for the promotion twice, firstly, in a defeat to Tim Donst at Prelude to Violence, and secondly, in a defeat to Lio Rush, in a Wired Championship title match at The Boss is Back. He returned to the promotion almost a year later, on August 5, 2017, at Once in a Lifetime, in a defeat to Maxwell Jacob Friedman, once again for the Wired Championship. On September 9, at Down With The Sickness, Silver won his first singles match in three years, defeating David Starr. On October 14, at The Wolf of Wrestling, Silver was involved in a four-way match, with Space Monkey, Trey Miguel and eventual winner JT Dunn.

Feud with Alex Reynolds (2017–2018)

On November 11, 2017, at Night of Infamy, the Beaver Boys faced The REP in a tag team match, and their first since December 2015. Towards the end, McCall took a flurry of enziguiris, and then a brainbuster by Silver. The REP's manager Maven Bentley entered the ring, but Reynolds prevented Silver from attacking him, before being hit with a pop-up flatliner, as The REP won the match. Afterwards, Silver and Reynolds exchanged words with each other, before leaving the ring seemingly on good terms. Silver appeared in the next match involving CZW World Heavyweight Champion Shane Strickland and his challenger Joe Gacy, making the save on Strickland while dealing with Gacy's henchmen. He unmasked one of them, which happened to be Reynolds, effectively breaking up the Beaver Boys. On December 9, at Cage of Death 19, Silver attacked Reynolds and Dan Barry, during their four-way tag team match for the CZW World Tag Team Championship. The distraction was enough for The REP to hit Barry with a pop-up flatliner to win the match.
Silver began 2018 by continuing his feud with Reynolds. On February 10, 2018 at CZW Nineteen, Silver took part in a qualifying scramble match for Best of the Best 17, which included Reynolds, Barry, Ace Austin, Alexander James and Tyler Murphy. During the match, Silver immediately went for Reynolds, but was prevented from attacking him further by Barry. Silver then attempted a topé to Barry, but was dropkicked by Reynolds. Towards the end, Silver performed a brainbuster on Murphy and then a running knee to Austin, but was held in the ropes by Reynolds, allowing Barry to steal the pin on Austin. At the same event, Silver was involved in the CZW World Heavyweight Title #1 contendership 30-man rumble match, eventually won by Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Once again, Silver went for Reynolds, and was able to also eliminate James and Frankie Pickard, before Reynolds threw him over the top rope. On February 23, at Greetings from Asbury Park, Silver faced Reynolds in a singles match. He lost the match after a distraction by Gacy, Barry and Eddy Blackwater, which led to Reynolds hitting his finisher on him, a dominator into a codebreaker. On May 12, at Prelude to Violence, Silver was involved in a four-way match for the vacant CZW Wired Championship, which was won by Zachary Wentz. However, he was the first man to be eliminated, thanks in part to Blackwater who struck him in the back with a kendo stick, when he was pinning Reynolds. The distraction was enough for him to be double pinned by Wentz and Wheeler Yuta. On July 28, at New Heights, Silver was about to face a mystery opponent, when Reynolds came to the ring in his street clothes, and announced that Matt Riddle would be the one to take on Silver. Towards the end, Silver had Riddle in a submission hold, and it looked like Riddle was about to tap out, but he had enough strength for a rope break. Silver then performed a running knee to his head, and pinned Riddle to win the match. Afterwards, the two men shook hands, until Reynolds ambushed Silver, before he was quickly laid out by Riddle. On August 11, at Business as Usual, Reynolds chose Myron Reed as Silver's opponent in the Pick Your Poison match; Silver defeated Reed at the event. Later, Silver used the same stipulation on Reynolds and chose Trent Barreta as his opponent, which Reynolds ended up winning. The feud culminated on September 8, at Down with the Sickness, where Silver defeated Reynolds in a ladder match.

CZW World Heavyweight Champion (2019)

On April 13, 2019 at Best of the Best 18, Silver defeated Fred Yehi, Gary Jay and Kris Statlander in a four-way quarter-final match, by forcing Jay to tap out. In the semi-final, he faced Jordan Oliver, defeating him with a inverted backbreaker. In the final, Silver faced the previous year's winner, David Starr. He won the tournament as well as the CZW World Heavyweight Championship, when he performed a running knee to Starr's head and then immediately pinned him. Fans in attendance gave the two men a standing ovation. Following the match, Silver and owner DJ Hyde were laid out, and the Best of the Best trophy was destroyed by Anthony Gangone and other wrestlers from House of Glory. His first defense of the title came on May 11 at Tangled Web 10, against former champion Matt Tremont. During the match, Gangone interfered by performing a spinout TKO to Silver, allowing Tremont to steal the victory, but Tremont refused. DJ Hyde came to the ring to deal with Gangone, but struck Tremont instead, and Gangone laid out Hyde, before being superkicked by Silver. Silver then performed a punt kick to Tremont to win the match. On July 12, at the Lyle C. Williams Memorial Show, Silver defeated Alexander James, who had been a last-minute replacement for Jonathan Gresham. On August 10, at CZW vs. wXw, Silver defeated former champion Anthony Greene, who briefly held the title at Best of the Best 18. After the match, he was confronted firstly by Conor Claxton, and then a returning Joe Gacy, who clotheslined Silver and told the crowd that he was coming for the World Heavyweight Championship, despite the fact that he did not want it. On September 13, at Down with the Sickness, Silver was defeated by Gacy, in a three-way match also involving Claxton, which ended his reign at 153 days. From October to December, he was involved in a series of matches with Claxton. The two men traded wins over each other at To Hell and Back and Cage of Death XXI.

Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2015)

On February 27, 2015 at From Out Of Nowhere, the Beaver Boys made their debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, as heels, in a defeat to Best Friends. On April 3, at Don't Sweat The Technique, they were defeated by then-PWG World Tag Team Champions, World's Cutest Tag Team in a non-title match. On May 22, they took part in PWG's ninth, and final, edition of the Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. In the first round, they defeated Team Tremendous, and in the semi-final, they won the World Tag Team Championship by defeating Monster Mafia, who had beaten World's Cutest Tag Team earlier that night. Their first and only defence of the title was in the final, where they were defeated by Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee. On June 26 at Mystery Vortex III: Rock And Shock The Nation, Silver's only singles match for the company came in a defeat to Brian Cage.

All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)

Silver and Alex Reynolds made their debut for All Elite Wrestling, on the October 16, 2019 episode of Dynamite, where they were squashed by Santana and Ortiz. On the October 30 episode of Dynamite, they and QT Marshall were defeated by Best Friends and Orange Cassidy. On the December 10 episode of Dark, Silver and Reynolds were defeated by the Jurassic Express. The following night on Dynamite, after Reynolds was squashed by Jon Moxley, Silver attempted to get a shot in on him, but was hit with a Paradigm Shift. Later in the episode, they were shown in a vignette where the Dark Order spokesman communicated to Reynolds through the hotel television. Silver entered the room and asked Reynolds who he was talking to, but he could not say. On the December 18 episode of Dynamite, Silver and Reynolds aligned themselves with the Dark Order.

Championships and accomplishments