Former WWE wrestler Michael Tarver is bringing his in-ring career to an end, with Extreme Fight World advertising him for his final professional wrestling match on Saturday, May 23 against Kno.
Tarver suffered a stroke in 2025 and has been managing his health in the time since. He has not competed in a regular wrestling capacity since 2021 and has been largely inactive since 2019.
Tarver is best known for his WWE run as a founding member of the Nexus, the faction that famously invaded WWE Raw in June 2010 after the inaugural season of NXT and attacked John Cena, CM Punk, and the Raw set. Tarver came to the Nexus from the NXT rookie class alongside Wade Barrett, David Otunga, Justin Gabriel, Heath Slater, Skip Sheffield, and Daniel Bryan. He was released by WWE in June 2011.
Following his WWE departure, Tarver worked for the NWA across multiple territory promotions, including the NWA Florida Underground Wrestling and Championship Wrestling Entertainment circuits. He is a two-time NWA FUW Heavyweight Champion and a two-time CWE Heavyweight Champion. He has worked indie dates across the southeast US and select cross-promotional bookings since the WWE release.
Tarver has been transitioning to a music career in recent years and is promoting a new song titled STOMP, which premieres on May 29.
