Justin Gabriel – Biography, Career, Height, Net Worth, 7 Unknown Facts

Justin Gabriel is a pacesetting professional South African wrestler – though he is also now a United States citizen, who was the first wrestler from his country to sign with the WWE. He is now known simply as PJ Black and plies his trade currently with the Ring of Honor.

Having come from a line of amateur wrestlers – both his father and grandfather were, he learnt the basics of the sport from his father and is currently making his living from the sport, having wrestled across several wrestling franchises over the past 2 decades.

Biography of Justin Gabriel

Phillip Paul Lloyd, otherwise known by his popular ring name – Justin Gabriel, was born in Capetown, South Africa on March 3, 1981.

He attended the Marais Viljoen High School in Johannesburg, South Africa where his favourite sport was Rugby, and he played alongside junior rugby stars such as Hendrik Van Nieuwenhuizen. He thereafter moved to the United Kingdom where he obtained a degree in Sports Science from one of the Universities before he began training as a Wrestler with 2 of the best coaches of the sport in the United Kingdom.

He Started His Professional Career in 2003

Having been taught the rudiments of wrestling by his father- who was an ex-wrestler and promoter himself, he made his professional wrestling debut at 16 in the South African wrestling circuit, using the name PJ Black. After witnessing the gruesome murder of his father, he moved over to the United Kingdom a year later and signed with Frontier Wrestling Alliance, trained by Mark Sloan and Alex Shane, and made his debut in 2003.

He relocated back to South Africa and joined the South African Promotion Wrestling Professionals (WWP) making his debut the same year. He thereafter signed a 3 -year development deal with the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Inc (becoming the first South African to do so) and was assigned to the Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) franchise under the name of Paul Lloyd, but he changed this later to Justin Gabriel. He would move through the ranks of the WWE franchise till he left in 2015.

He thereafter joined the Independent Wrestling Circuit, first signed with the Pro-Wrestling Syndicate (PWS) in 2015 as “The Darewolf” PJ Black, then he signed with the Global Force Wrestling (GFW) a few months later and he is presently with the Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2018 till date.

Justin Gabriel Has A Good Height

He is a very impressive athletic specimen to look at and stands at an impressive height of 6 feet and 1 inch (about 1.85 meters) while also weighing 213 lbs (about 97 Kg).

A Look At The Net Worth of Justin Gabriel

Wrestlers sometimes live a glamorous life with the attendant oomph and pageantry, and also the signing of very lucrative contracts and endorsement deals, and Justin Gabriel is not an exception as he is currently reported to be worth about $3 million, and since he is still active in the ring, this value might definitely increase in the future.

Facts You Didn’t Know About The Wrestler

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So much is known about his professional life in the ring but there is also so much about his life and personality that is not readily known to the public and we are presenting 7 of these unknown facts about him to you:

1. He was trained by his father

One could easily say that his father, Paul Lloyd Sr, was his most important influence in picking wrestling as a sport over Rugby which he initially enjoyed playing as a teenager. His father was his very first wrestling coach while he was still based in South Africa, and the one that taught him the rudiments of the sport.

When he moved to the United Kingdom, he was trained by more professional trainers such as Mark Sloan and Alex Shane.

2. He had many aliases and ring names

When he turned professional, he was originally started his amateur wrestling career with the name PJ Black, he has since them taken on several names in the course of his career. He was at some time known by names such as Justin Angel, then Justin Gabriel, Paul Lloyd, Paul Pidoras and a few other names.

3. Gabriel also had a modelling career

One possible advantage of being athletic is that you possess a good physique and would be in great shape, just as Justin Gabriel is, and he took advantage of this to venture into fitness modelling. He came 1st in the FAME, South Africa’s Male Fitness Model search. He also took part in the Mr & Ms Body Beautiful, Mr Classic Body competition finishing 6th overall. In 2008, he also participated in the Mr Physique category of the Men’s Model Search, finishing amongst the Top 5 finishers.

4. Television appearances

He made his first television appearance in August 2013 on the Shark After Dark program on the Discovery Channel. A month later he made an appearance on the Total Divas appearing on just one episode as a love interest for Jojo.

5. He made a video game debut in 2011

As a professional wrestler, it was only a matter of time before he made his debut on the WWE video game – appearing first time on WWE SmackDown Vs Raw 2011 game. He made subsequent appearances on both the 2012 through 2015 versions of the game.

See Also: Shawn Michaels Wife- The Wrestler Got Married Twice- See All About The Wives

6.  Adrenaline junkie

He loves and lives an adventurous life and BASE jumping is one of the very many adrenaline-pumping things he loves to do, but it did come at a cost to him in 2017 when he lost part of a finger during one of these jumps, and fortunately for him the finger was re-attached successfully.

7. Major Professional Accomplishments

He was voted as the Most Hated Wrestler of the Year in 2010 as well as the Animal of the Year award (as The Bunny) at the 2014 Slammy Award. He was also the WWE Tag Team thrice, alongside his tag team partner, Heat Slater.

Complete profile of Justin Gabriel