Background and career
Phillip Paul Lloyd (born 3 March 1981) is a South African professional wrestler. He is best known for his time in WWE, under the ring name Justin Gabriel. He also wrestled in the independent circuit 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 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 Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in 2015.
