Ryan Parmeter (born February 6, 1980) is an American professional wrestler. He is signed by WWE and competes in its developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) as Conor O’Brian. He was part of the fourth season of NXT, and earned third place on the show’s fifth season, NXT Redemption.

After spending four years wrestling on the independent circuit as Ryan Payne O’Reilly, Parmeter signed a WWE contract in 2005, and was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a developmental territory, where he wrestled as Rough House O’Reilly. He won the DSW Heavyweight Championship twice, before briefly appearing in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW). He also appeared in several dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown, and at several ECW house shows. In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend, Krissy Vaine, requested to be released from their WWE contracts for personal reasons.

Following his release, Parmeter took time off from wrestling, before debuting for NWA Charlotte in February 2009. In July 2010, he was re-signed by WWE, and returned to FCW where he began wrestling as Conor O’Brian. In November 2010, he was announced as a participant in the fourth season of NXT.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2005)

Parmeter initially trained at the School of Hard Knocks in southern Florida under Rusty Brooks, and made his professional wrestling debut in 2001. He went on to compete in Brooks’ promotion, Four Star Championship Wrestling (FSCW) as Ryan Payne O’Reilly, and formed a tag team with Jeff “J-Dawg” Brooks, known as the “Irish Thug Connection”. Together, the Irish Thug Connection won the FSCW Tag Team Championship. He also won the FSCW Heavyweight Championship, and spent mid-2004 feuding with Norman Smiley over it. O’Reilly also competed for Florida’s Coastal Championship Wrestling (CCW) promotion, and won the CCW Heavyweight Championship. He appeared for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the promotion’s early shows.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2005–2008)

After four years on the independent circuit, O’Reilly signed a contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2005. He was assigned to Deep South Wrestling (DSW), a WWE developmental territory as Rough House O’Reilly, and made his DSW debut at the inaugural DSW show on September 1, in a loss to Jack Bull. Over the next several months, he faced wrestlers including “Big Time” Nick Mitchell, Mike Mizanin, Shawn Schultz, Derrick Neikirk, Eric Perez and Freakin Deacon. In December, he appeared in a dark match prior to the SmackDown! tapings.

In early 2006, O’Reilly took a leave of absence. Upon his return, he and Danny Germundo entered a tournament for the DSW Tag Team Championship but were eliminated by Team Elite (Mike Knox and Neikirk) on May 11. On June 22, O’Reilly defeated Neikirk to win the DSW Heavyweight Championship. He successfully defended the championship against Knox, Neikirk, and Montel Vontavious Porter. On September 7, O’Reilly lost the championship to Bradley Jay. During mid-2006, O’Reilly made several appearances at ECW house shows, teaming with Neikirk to faceThe FBI (Little Guido and Tony Mamaluke). O’Reilly was scheduled to become part of the regular ECW roster in September, but violated the WWE Wellness Program, and was suspended for 30 days.

When he returned, he became the personal assistant of DSW General Manager Krissy Vaine. In December, O’Reilly appeared on an episode of ECW on Sci Fi as one of Paul Heyman’s personal enforcers alongside Doug Basham. In March 2007, O’Reilly won the DSW Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He lost the championship back to Bradley Jay a week later. O’Reilly and Eric Perez were originally scheduled to face The Samoans (Afa, Jr. and Sonny Siaki) in the main event of DSW’s final event, but he and Perez were replaced by The Major Brothers. During mid-2007, O’Reilly would appear in dark matches prior to Raw and SmackDown against Sylvan Grenier, Chuck Palumbo, Super Crazy, Cody Rhodes and D’Lo Brown. He briefly appeared in Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), another WWE developmental territory, where both Lacey Von Erich and Maryse acted as his valets.

In October 2007, both Parmeter and his girlfriend Krissy Vaine requested and were granted their release from WWE. They cited health problems suffered by members of both of their families as the reason.

Time off and independent circuit (2007–2009)

In October 2007, Parmeter stated that he was taking time off from wrestling. He returned to wrestling in February 2009, working for NWA Charlotte. He wrestled against Truitt Fields for the territory’s Heavyweight Championship, but was unable to win the title. After the loss, O’Reilly formed an alliance with Mikael Judas and Phill Shatter called III, which lasted until the territory’s closure.

Return to World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE

Florida Championship Wrestling (2010–present)

Parmeter was re-signed by the WWE on July 14, 2010, and was reassigned to the FCW developmental territory. At the September 24 tapings of the FCW television show, he began working under the ring name Conor O’Brian. O’Brian is a Member of The Ascension with Ricardo Rodriguez, Tito Colon, Kenneth Cameron, and Raquel Diaz.

On August 28, 2011, Ricardo Rodriguez announced the formation of a stable called The Ascension, with members including O’Brian, Kenneth Cameron, Tito Colon, and Raquel Diaz. The first match to include all members in some capacity came on September 1, 2011, and saw Cameron, Colon and O’Brian, accompanied by Diaz, defeating CJ Parker, Donny Marlow and Johnny Curtis. On September 30, Cameron and Colon had a shot at the FCW Tag Team Championship but lost to the current champions of CJ Parker and Donny Marlow. By October, however, the Ascension was no longer associated with Rodriguez, as video packages promoting the Ascension only featured the other four Ascension members without Rodriguez. By the end of November the Ascension had all but disbanded because O’Brian was injured, Colon had been called up to WWE to team with his cousin Primo, and Diaz became Queen of FCW and distanced herself from the group. This left Cameron as the sole survivor of the Ascension and he continued to use the Ascension gimmick during his appearances. On March 15, 2012 Cameron was accompanied to the ring by the returning Conor O’Brian in his match against Byron Saxton, the match ended in disqualification when O’Brian interfered. Cameron and O’Brian began wrestling as a tag team using the name The Ascension, and their first tag team match together came on March 23 when the two defeated Jason Jordan and Xavier Woods. The Ascension suffered their first loss when the pair lost to the FCW Tag Team Champions, Corey Graves and Jake Carter, in a title bout.

NXT (2010–present)

On November 30, 2010, during the season finale of season three of NXT, it was announced that Parmeter, under the name Conor O’Brian, would be appearing on season four, with Alberto Del Rio as his mentor. He made his in-ring debut on NXT the following week, teaming with Del Rio to defeat rookie Derrick Bateman and Bateman’s mentor Daniel Bryan. O’Brian won his first challenge on the January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, when he won the ‘Battle of the Mic Challenge’ to earn four immunity points. Two weeks later, on January 18, O’Brian was the second contestant eliminated from NXT. Earlier that night, O’Brian competed in a match against Ricardo Rodriguez in a losing effort.

In March 2011, O’Brian was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, O’Brian was mentored by Vladimir Kozlov. He was later eliminated from competition on the June 28, 2011 episode of NXT, and would later be joined, and eventually replaced, by a returning Derrick Bateman and Daniel Bryan.

In June 2012, Cameron and O’Brian (wrestling as the Ascension) debuted on the first episode of the sixth season of WWE NXT taped at Full Sail University, where they defeated Mike Dalton and CJ Parker.