Phillip Paul Lloyd (born March 3, 1981), better known as Justin Gabriel, is a South African professional wrestler best known for his time in WWE between 2010 and 2015. He's best known as a member of The Nexus and The Corre. He started wrestling at 16 under the name PJ Black, a name he has resumed using since his WWE release. Nicknamed "The Darewolf", his recent runs include being a member of the World Wide Underground on Lucha Underground and as a regular competitor in Ring of Honor.
He's been a three-time WWE Tag Team Champion
with Heath Slater, the first ever GFW NEX*GEN Champion, and a TNA King of the Mountain Championnote .
"The Cape Trope Werewolf":
- Animal Motif: Called himself the "Darewolf". Accordingly, he sported a more werewolf-like hairstyle in Season 4 of Lucha Underground.
- Bash Brothers: In Lucha Underground, it didn't take him long to buddy up with first Jack Evans then Johnny Mundo.
- Camp Straight: Particularly before joining Nexus. Being part of a uniformed invading force kinda has a downplaying effect. Then he started growing his beard, which downplayed it even more.
- Cast from Hit Points: His finisher wipes him out too. True of all high-flying finishers to an extent, yes, but in WWE it was played up to the point he would stay on the turnbuckle for several moments hesitating or preparing himself before hitting it and afterwards would noticeably strain himself to recover after the fact. This made the move look even more dangerous than it was, and WWE knew they could get away with it since the 450 splash isn't a move they normally let guys do.
- The Dandy: The teased hair, earrings, and delicate features make him look like a scene kid.
- Darker and Edgier: His look progressively became this, and he put more emphasis on the "daring" element of his character. This only accelerated following his release.PJ Black: I don't save my best shit for WrestleMania.
- A Day in the Limelight: The beginning of his face turn he saw significantly more TV time and as well as a push. He was then dropped back down to jobber status.
- The Dragon: To Wade Barrett in the Nexus.
- Defeat Means Friendship:
- After he beat Tyson Kidd on WWE Superstars, the two started teaming.
- Combined with Enemy Mine in Lucha Underground. PJ blamed Drago rather than Jack Evans for the loss he received against Jack thanks to Drago's interference (and to be completely honest, you couldn't say he was wrong) and sided with Evans to get revenge on Drago.
- Defector from Decadence: Twice with Slater. First by refusing to be initiated into CM Punk's New Nexus, and later disbanding the Corre when Barrett tried to make it all about him again.
- Demoted to Extra: After The Nexus and Corre ended, his screen time was severely reduced.
- Finishing Move: The second of only three wrestlers in the last fifteen years to use the 450 splash in WWE* . WWE's usually enforced a promotion-wide embargo on it due to various botches, but Gabriel was still allowed the use of it because he's that good at it. He also does a Springboard variation of the 450 called the Placebo Effect.
- Fingore: Apparently had to have a finger reattatched after a real life base jumping accident.
- Forgot Flanders Could Do That: Like the rest of the members of the Worldwide Underground, PJ had been subject to considerable
Badass Decay as he was reduced to a slimy cheating coward who mainly participated in beatdowns of wrestlers the WWU members couldn't beat fairly. Then he had his hard-fought Cueto Cup match against Prince Puma, followed by his 1-on-1 match against Rey Mysterio, and reminded the Believers of just how good he really is. - Fragile Speedster: A very fast wrestler, that's also very bad for him if he screws up.
- Glass Cannon: Has a very lethal finisher, that's also very bad for him if he screws up. This was actually played up extra in WWE (see Cast from Hit Points) due to the aforementioned rarity of the 450 splash in that company.
- Groin Attack: Like his partners in the Worldwide Underground, he quickly took to kicking opponents in the junk while the referee's distracted. While the WWU largely ditched this after a while, he revived it to good effect in late Season 4.
- Heel–Face Turn: Let's see, good looks? Check. Likable personality? Check. High Flier? Check. Even WWE knew they couldn't keep him heel once the Corre and Nexus were done and turned him as soon as possible.
- He-Man Woman Hater: Displayed an uncomfortable amount of misogyny towards Sexy Star during a match in Lucha Underground, to the point where Vampiro wanted to hit him with a chair for it.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Lucha Underground, Matt Striker invoked this by name for him after he set up a table during Johnny Mundo's rematch with The Mack, only to eat a Stunner and break it himself by falling off the apron and through it.
- Jobber: Became this towards the end of his WWE run.
- Keet
- Manly Tears: In Lucha Underground, he shed these after Taya accepted Johnny Mundo's marriage proposal in "A Match Made in Heaven".
- Mr. Fanservice: He competed in male modeling contests in South Africa in 2007 and 2008.
- Mythology Gag: His last name comes from the Archangel Gabriel, a Call-Back to his FCW name, Justin Angel.
- Real Men Wear Pink
- Red Baron: Cape Town Werewolf, the last word of which he eventually changed to Darewolf.
- Spectacular Spinning: Or flipping, as it were. His Finishing Move is the 450° Splash.
- Underwear of Power
- We Used to Be Friends: With Slater. Until he thought Gabriel just held him down, thus their friendship ended.
- Wrestling Family: His father, Paul Lloyd Sr., was a trainer, promoter and wrestler under the name "The Pink Panther."
- Yes-Man: In Lucha Underground, he quickly took to tagging along behind Johnny Mundo, sycophantically repeating everything amusing he says and laughing at it as if it's top-class stand-up comedy.
