Frederick Douglas Rosser III, born on November 2, 1983, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. He is currently signed with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performs on the Strong brand under the name Fred Rosser. He is also a trainer at the NJPW Academy and a former Strong Openweight Champion. Rosser is also known for his time in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) performing under the ring name Darren Young, where he is a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Born in Union City, New Jersey, Rosser became interested in professional wrestling during the mid-1980s and dreamed of becoming a wrestler as a teenager, even participating in several backyard wrestling federations. He researched various wrestling schools before choosing Camp IWF in West Paterson, New Jersey.
Rosser made his professional debut on September 11, 2002, and spent several years on the independent circuit. This included wrestling for the Independent Wrestling Federation and Chaotic Wrestling during his early career. He won his first major title on May 17, 2003, defeating the IWF Heavyweight Champion in Woodland Park, New Jersey. He held the title for over half a year until losing on January 17, 2004.
It was at a house show in Chaotic Wrestling that promoter Jim Kettner noticed him and invited him to compete for the East Coast Wrestling Association, where he debuted in the summer of 2004. Shortly after entering the promotion, Rosser began feuding with Prince Nana over the ECWA Mid Atlantic Championship and eventually defeated him for the title in Newark, Delaware on September 18, 2004.
WWE Career
In May 2009, Rosser signed a WWE developmental contract and was sent to WWE's developmental territory, Florida Championship Wrestling, under the name Darren Young. In FCW, Young was in a tag team called The South Beach Party Boys with Percy Watson.
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NXT and The Nexus
On February 23, 2010, Young debuted on WWE NXT with a character described as a "South Beach Party Boy", losing his debut match to David Otunga. His storyline involved mentor CM Punk showing apathy towards him, claiming he had no idea why he's in NXT and did not want to train Young unless he accepted his Straight-edge lifestyle. Despite this, Punk and his disciples, Luke Gallows and Serena, helped Young win his rematch against Otunga the following week. Young was ranked eighth in the first Pros' Poll.
After the pros' poll, Young decided to join Straight Edge Society in an attempt to improve, only to change his mind before getting his hair shaved off. CM Punk decided to forgive him for standing up to him when he defeated Luke Gallows with Young's own hair on the line. Because of this victory, CM Punk had then been interested in Young's potential, but in turn started feuding with a jealous Luke Gallows.
The week following the Season 1 finale, Young, along with the other season one NXT rookies turned heel and interfered in the main event match on Raw between John Cena and Young's former Pro, CM Punk, and attacked both wrestlers, the announce team and the ring announcer Justin Roberts, and dismantled the ring area and surrounding equipment. On the June 14, 2010, edition of Raw, the rookies attacked general manager Bret Hart, when he refused to give them contracts. The following week on Raw, Vince McMahon fired Hart and announced that a new general manager had been hired, one that had signed all seven season one NXT rookies to contracts. The following week, the group was named The Nexus.
On the July 5 episode of Raw, The Nexus tried to attack John Cena as he confronted Wade Barrett during their "truce" with one another. The segment ended with The Nexus leaving without Young, when other Raw wrestlers arrived to aid Cena, and Young was assaulted by Cena to end the show. Due to Cena's actions, the new general manager booked Cena in a 7 on 1 handicap match against The Nexus scheduled for the following week. Young did not participate due to injuries caused by Cena the previous week but The Nexus won the match. He returned at Money in the Bank with the rest of The Nexus, sporting a new haircut and costing Cena the WWE Championship against Sheamus. After the match, Cena attacked Young and fellow Nexus teammate, Michael Tarver.
The Nexus continued to feud with Cena and the Raw roster, resulting in a seven-on-seven elimination tag team match at SummerSlam. Young was the first person to be eliminated from the match, when he submitted to Daniel Bryan in under a minute, and The Nexus lost the match. On the next episode of Raw the members of The Nexus fought in individual matches against members of the victorious Team WWE with the stipulation that losing a match would have them exiled from the group. Young returned on the September 6 episode of Raw, distracting Barrett and costing him a match against Randy Orton thus turned Young face.
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Raw: Raw Superstars combat the NXT season one Rookies
On the October 4 episode of Raw, Young participated in a battle royal to determine the number one contender to the WWE Championship, but was eliminated by The Nexus. Young had his first singles match since leaving The Nexus on the October 7 episode of Superstars, losing to William Regal. Young had his first win in singles competition on the October 14 airing of Superstars defeating Primo. Young teamed up with Tatsu in a losing effort against The Usos in mid November on two occasions.
NXT Redemption and Return to SmackDown
In March 2011, Young was selected as one of six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, Young was mentored by Chavo Guerrero Jr. In the season premiere, Young defeated Jacob Novak and won the first challenge to earn himself "redemption points".
On the April 12 episode of NXT, Young attacked Titus O'Neil after their match and tried to attack O'Neil's pro Hornswoggle, but was stopped by Guerrero. He turned heel, when he attacked Hornswoggle, and later he and Guerrero faced O'Neil and different tag team partners on several occasions. On the April 19 edition of Redemption, Young faced Hornswoggle in single match. During their match, Chavo Guerrero gave Young a blindfold but in the end Hornswoggle won after a Tadpole splash.
On the May 3 edition of Redemption, Young lost to his Pro, Chavo Guerrero, with Hornswoggle as a special guest referee. On the May 10 edition of Redemption, Hornswoggle didn't appear on NXT and accused by Hornswoggle Rookie's Titus O'Neil. The following week, it was revealed Chavo Guerrero kidnapped Hornswoggle and hid Hornswoggle in the box. Then, Guerrero and Young was attack Hornswoggle in the ring until O'Neil made a save.
The feud was settled when Titus O'Neil and Darren Young faced each other in a No Disqualitication Match on the May 24 episode of NXT Redemption. The match ended with Titus O'Neil a victor after Hornswoggle interfered in a match which O'Neil attack Guerrero and Young. Guerrero was later released from WWE, leaving Young on his own. In August he formed an alliance with Derrick Bateman and the duo teamed up against O'Neil and NXT host Matt Striker, but were defeated. Young then moved into a feud with Striker, defeating him on two consecutive occasions.
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After Young attacked Striker following a handshake, William Regal intervened, saving Striker. Two weeks later, Young was defeated by Regal in a singles match. Young then formed an alliance with JTG and defeated Striker and O'Neil. O'Neil then turned heel and formed an alliance with Young. On the April 18 episode of NXT, Young and O'Neil were signed by John Laurinaitis to the SmackDown brand.
The Prime Time Players
The team made their debut for the brand on the April 20 episode of SmackDown with a victory over the Usos. The team suffered their first team loss against the WWE Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and R-Truth on the May 18 edition of Smackdown. At the No Way Out pay-per-view in June, minutes before Young and O'Neil teamed up to defeat Justin Gabriel and Tyson Kidd, Primo & Epico and the Usos in a four-way #1 tag team match to earn a future shot at the WWE Tag Team Championship, after A.W. turned on his clients, Epico and Primo.
On the July 16 episode of Raw, Young and O'Neil unsuccessfully challenged Kofi Kingston and R-Truth for the WWE Tag Team Championship. On the August 10 episode of SmackDown, they defeated Primo and Epico in a #1 contenders match via disqualification when A.W. provoked Kingston and R-Truth, who were on commentary, into interfering in the match. That same day, A. W. Prime Time Players received their title shots at SummerSlam, but were again defeated by Kingston and R-Truth.
On the September 7 edition of Smackdown, Prime Time Players defeated Primo and Epico and The Usos in a triple threat tag team match to earn another shot at the title. But on Raw three days later, Prime Time Players lost their title shot to the team of Daniel Bryan and Kane (soon to be known as Team Hell No). At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Young took part in a 10 man elimination tag team match, but was eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Young also competed in the 2013 Royal Rumble entering at entrant 15, but was quickly eliminated by Kofi Kingston.
On the August 19, 2013, edition of Raw, the Prime Time Players turned face in a winning effort against the Real Americans (Jack Swagger and Antonio Cesaro). The face turn had been speculated about for some months, especially after Young's real-life coming out the previous week which received mainstream media coverage. The team gained a push, challenging for the WWE Tag Team Championship, but lost a match to the Shield. The duo also sided with other face wrestlers from the active roster, only to get punished by COO Triple H for preventing Daniel Bryan from being critically injured by Randy Orton.
On the January 31, 2014, episode of SmackDown after Young was pinned in a tag team match against RybAxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel), O'Neil attacked him and disbanded the team. On SmackDown the following week, Young attacked O'Neil backstage after his interview. They fought at the Elimination Chamber, with the victor being O'Neil. However, Young defeated O'Neil in a rematch on Main Event. At WrestleMania XXX, Young was in the André the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, where he was eliminated by 3MB.
On the January 5, 2015, episode of Raw, Young appeared with the rest of the WWE roster in the opening segment. His official return came on the February 16 episode of Raw, where Young and an unnamed independent wrestler, Kevin Kross, were scheduled to face The Ascension, but were attacked by them before the match, leading to Young's former tag team partner Titus O'Neil making the save. This turned O'Neil face again and the Prime Time Players reunited.
On the February 23 edition of Raw, The Prime Time Players defeated The Ascension to hand them their first loss as part of the main roster, only to then being attacked by the two. At Elimination Chamber, The Prime Time Players participated in the first ever tag team Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Tag Team Championship, where they were the last team to be eliminated by The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods). At Money in the Bank, the Prime Time Players defeated The New Day to win the title.
At Battleground, The Prime Time Players retained the title against The New Day but dropped the title back to The New Day on August 23 at SummerSlam in a fatalâfour-way match, also involving The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores. Towards the end of 2015, O'Neil and Young began focusing on singles careers.
Young teamed with Damien Sandow on the Royal Rumble 2016 Kickoff Show in a Fatal 4-Way tag team match in a losing effort. On the February 2, 2016, taping of Main Event, the duo returned to team with The Usos to defeat the Ascension, Stardust and Tyler Breeze. They have since quietly disbanded when O'Neil received a 60-day suspension after the February 8 episode of Raw after an alleged physical altercation with Vince McMahon.
On the May 5 episode of SmackDown, Bob Backlund agreed to be Young's life coach, in a campaign to "Make Darren Young Great Again", a parody of Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign slogan. Throughout the next couple of months on Raw and SmackDown, various vignettes featuring Young and Backlund aired, with Backlund assuming the role of Young's life coach. In a "life lesson" segment on the July 4 episode of Raw, Backlund approved of Young adopting his famous Crossface chickenwing.
The week after on Raw, Young won an 18-man battle royal (after Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin eliminated themselves) to become the #1 contender for The Miz's Intercontinental Championship at Battleground. The following week on Raw, Young defeated Alberto Del Rio, despite interference from The Miz. On July 19, Young with Backlund was drafted to the Raw brand as a result of the 2016 WWE draft.
Young began a feud with his former tag team partner Titus O'Neil on the August 1 episode of Raw. O'Neil questioned Young's motives on being "great again". Later that night, he defeated Young when he pinned him while grabbing Young's tights. Afterwards, he got into a backstage altercation with Backlund before Young came to the defense of Backlund by attacking O'Neil.
The week after on Raw, Young defeated O'Neil by pinning him while grabbing O'Neil's tights, mimicking the way O'Neil defeated him. On the August 15 episode of Raw, Young and O'Neil seemingly reconciled and were placed in a match against The Shining Stars. During the match, O'Neil attacked Young with a Clash of the Titus, allowing The Shining Stars to win the match. Young would once again defeat O'Neil on the August 29 episode of Raw.
Championships and Accomplishments
Throughout his career, Darren Young/Fred Rosser has achieved the following accolades:
- WWE:
- WWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Titus O'Neil
- ECWA (East Coast Wrestling Association):
- Mid Atlantic title defeating Prince Nana (September 18, 2004)
- Heavyweight title defeating Scotty Charisma and ???? in a 3 way (November 5, 2005)
- Heavyweight title defeating Glen Osbourne (July 26, 2008)
- NSW (National Wrestling Superstars):
- Tag Team titles w/Bulldog Collare defeating TNT & Saddam Insane (July 29, 2006)
- Chaotic Wrestling:
- New England title defeating Psycho (September 8, 2006)
- Tag Team titles w/Rick Fuller defeating The Blowout Boys (Danny E.
Life Outside the Ring
Rosser attended Union High School in New Jersey, where he played American football, both offensively and defensively. He later attended Fairleigh Dickinson University where he played football for a year, before deciding to focus on his academic studies and professional wrestling. He has cited Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat as his favorite wrestlers.
On August 15, 2013, he publicly discussed being gay, making him the first wrestler ever to come out while still signed to a major promotion.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2018-Present)
After leaving WWE, Rosser began working on the independent circuit. On March 23, 2021, Rosser made his National Wrestling Alliance debut, defeating Marshe Rockett and Matt Cross to become the Number One Contender for the NWA World Television Championship.
Frederick Douglas Rosser III is an American professional wrestler signed with NJPW. He is best known for his work with WWE as Darren Young. He is a former WWE Tag Team Champion.