On January 18 Del Rio's NXT rookie Conor O'Brian became the second contestant eliminated from the competition.[44] The following week the rookies competed in a fatal four way match in which the winner would be able to change their pro. Brodus Clay won the match and chose Del Rio as his new pro.[45] After the conclusion of NXT, Clay was hired as the bodyguard of Del Rio.[46] On January 30, 2011, Del Rio defeated 39 other participants to win the 2011 Royal Rumble and earn the right to compete for either the World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championshipat WrestleMania XXVII by last eliminating Santino Marella.[47] The following night on Raw, Del Rio chose to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship, which, at the time of his choosing, was held by Edge.[48] At Elimination Chamber, Del Rio attacked Edge, after he had successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship and solidified his spot as Del Rio's opponent at WrestleMania. However, Edge managed to come out the exchange victorious
Nemeth returned to OVW on January 17, 2007, at the television tapings, again using his Nick Nemeth ring name, along with Mike Mondo, formerly Mikey in the Spirit Squad, as the "Frat Pack". The pair teamed with Mike Kruel in a match against Seth Skyfire, Shawn Spears, and Cody Runnels.[32] The team disbanded in the early parts of 2007.[33] Nemeth then competed in several dark matches before the OVW television tapings, competing against wrestler including Chris Cage, Bradley Jay and Jake Hager, before he began teaming with Mondo again in August.
Miz was drafted from SmackDown! to ECW on June 17, 2007 as part of the 2007 Supplemental Draft.[52] He was absent from the first few weeks of ECW, though he was the subject of backstage mentions between matches and had several short Miz TV Crashes ECW video segments.[53][54] He made his debut on the July 10 episode of ECW in a match against Nunzio, which he won.[55]
Following this match, Extreme Exposé began expressing admiration in him and gave him a lap-dance, starting a new gimmick for him of a self-proclaimed "chick magnet".[56] Extreme Exposé then became managers for The Miz.[57] He then began a feud with Balls Mahoney, after Kelly Kelly began to fall in love with Mahoney on screen.[58][59][60] On the October 2 episode of ECW, it was revealed that Miz owned the contracts of Kelly Kelly, Layla, and Brooke Adams, and used this excuse to stop Kelly from going out with Mahoney.[61] He was voted atCyber Sunday to face CM Punk, for the ECW Championship but lost the match.
Punk's first venture into wrestling was a stint in a backyard wrestling federation called the Lunatic Wrestling Federation with his friends and brother Mike Brooks in the mid-late 1990s. He first started using the ring name CM Punk when he was put into a tag team named the Chick Magnets with CM Venom after another performer skipped out on the card.[4][11][12] Unlike his friends, Punk genuinely wanted to be a wrestler and saw it as more than simple fun.[4] When the promotion started taking off, doing spot shows out of a warehouse in Mokena, Illinois, Punk found out that his brother Mike had embezzled thousands of dollars from the small company, causing them to become estranged. They have not spoken since
On January 18 Del Rio's NXT rookie Conor O'Brian became the second contestant eliminated from the competition.[44] The following week the rookies competed in a fatal four way match in which the winner would be able to change their pro. Brodus Clay won the match and chose Del Rio as his new pro.[45] After the conclusion of NXT, Clay was hired as the bodyguard of Del Rio.[46] On January 30, 2011, Del Rio defeated 39 other participants to win the 2011 Royal Rumble and earn the right to compete for either the World Heavyweight Championship or the WWE Championshipat WrestleMania XXVII by last eliminating Santino Marella.[47] The following night on Raw, Del Rio chose to compete for the World Heavyweight Championship, which, at the time of his choosing, was held by Edge.[48] At Elimination Chamber, Del Rio attacked Edge, after he had successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship and solidified his spot as Del Rio's opponent at WrestleMania. However, Edge managed to come out the exchange victorious
