 Mercury in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Adam Birch (1979-07-18)July 18, 1979 (age 46) Fairfax, Virginia, U.S. |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Joey Matthews[1] Joey Mercury[2] Joseph Mercury[3] Joey Wrestling |
| Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 218 lb (99 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Los Angeles,California[2] |
| Trained by | Jimmy Cicero[1][4] |
| Debut | April 12, 1996[1] |
Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by thering nameJoey Mercury, is an Americanprofessional wrestler and wrestling agent. He is best known for his tenures inWWE andRing of Honor.
Birch was trained by fellow wrestlerJimmy Cicero and made his wrestling debut in October 1996, using the name Joey Matthews as he wrestled in ECWExtreme Championship Wrestling. The following year, he began competing forMid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF), where he began competing intag team competition and captured theMEWF Tag Team Championship, alongsideChristian York. Throughout the late-1990s, Birch competed in various independent promotions, where he and York continued to work as a team. It was also during that time that he won various championships in singles and tag team competition.
While situated at OVW, he was placed in tag team competition, alongsideJohnny Nitro, in which they won theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. It was also during this time that he and Nitro, alongside theirmanagerMelina, were known as the stableMNM. The group were called up to theSmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Mercury and Nitro went on to win theWWE Tag Team Championship. After theirthird and final reign ended in May 2006, Nitro and Melinaturned on Mercury, thus ending their faction. However, in November 2006, the team reunited for a brief period, before Mercury was let go from his contract in March 2007.
Following his stint with WWE, Birch continued his wrestling career, appearing at several independent promotions, including competing atRing of Honor events. In March 2008, he returned to OVW, where he won theOVW Television Championship on one occasion. In October 2008, Birch announced his retirement from professional wrestling, following an injury, but later returned to wrestling in 2010, working for WWE as aproducer and making a brief in-ring return as part ofCM Punk'sStraight Edge Society. He returned to TV once again in 2014 alongsideJamie Noble, (known as J&J Security) as an on screen security guard for the WWE World Heavyweight ChampionSeth Rollins as part ofThe Authority faction.
After being trained by fellow professional wrestlerJimmy Cicero, Birch made his debut in October 1996 under the name Joey Matthews.[1] In 1997, approximately a year after his debut, Matthews began competing for theMid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF)promotion, where he won theMEWF Tag Team Championship withChristian York.[1] Matthews defeated York on May 8, 1998, to regain the Southern Championship Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Championship inWendell, North Carolina. Matthews and York, soon teamed up again, however, and won theSteel City Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 20, 1998.[1] Less than a month later, Matthews defeated York to win theIndependent Professional Wrestling AllianceLight Heavyweight Championship on January 9, 1999.[1]
He was also a member of theNorth Carolina–basedOrganization of Modern Extreme Grappling Arts (OMEGA) run byMatt andJeff Hardy, where he defeated York to win theOMEGA Light Heavyweight Championship on January 29, 1999.[5] He was signed to aWorld Championship Wrestling contract in 1999; Birch did not make any appearances for the promotion during the seven months he was signed to a contract.[4][6] A few months later, while competing in singles competition atMaryland Championship Wrestling (MCW), he once again defeated York to win theMCW Cruiserweight Championship on May 21.[1] Matthews and York soon began teaming again, and, sometimes using theBad Street Boys as a tag team name, they won numerous tag team championships, including the Atlantic Terror Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on January 15, 2000, and theMCW Tag Team Championship on May 17, 2000.[1][7]
In late 2000, Matthews and York joinedExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), and lost toDanny Doring and Roadkill atAnarchy Rulz.[8] They then began afeud withSimon and Swinger, whom they lost to atNovember to Remember, but defeated atMassacre on 34th Street.[9][10] They competed in ECW for approximately six months, until the promotion closed in January 2001 and were on the company's finalpay-per-viewGuilty as Charged, where they suffered a loss toJerry Lynn andCyrus.[11][12]
After the closure of ECW, they returned to theindependent circuit, where, on February 3, 2001, the Bad Street Boys defeatedRick Michaels andDavid Young to become theNWA World Tag Team Champions, a championship that they held for two weeks.[1] They won the MCW Tag Team Championship for the second time on November 3 by defeating Earl the Pearl and Rich Myers, and later won the Virginia Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championship on December 1, 2001.[1][7]
In 2002, Matthews and York competed inRing of Honor (ROH), and teamed together on several occasions, before Matthews joined a faction called Special K, of which he was a member until 2004.[1][7] He also worked for various independent organizations such asXtreme Pro Wrestling, Maryland Championship Wrestling (MCW) andPhoenix Championship Wrestling.[1] On January 29, 2003, Matthews defeatedRomeo Valentino to win theMCW Rage Television Championship, but lost it four months later to Doug Delicious on May 15.[13][14][15]
On April 14, 2003, prior toWorld Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'sflagship television program,Raw, Matthews and York defeated Phil Brown and Pat Cusick in adark match.[16] He continued wrestling dark matches and onsupplementary programsHeat andVelocity, facing the likes ofLance Storm,Crowbar, Matt Hardy,Último Dragón andA-Train.[1][17][18] On July 19, 2003, at ROH'sDeath Before Dishonor, he teamed withKrazy K in a loss to Jeff Hardy in ahandicap match.[19] In August 2003, Matthews lost toChris Sabin on an episode ofTNA Xplosion.[7]
After spending some time at theOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) training center in 2003, Matthews made several appearances inPro-Pain Pro Wrestling (3PW), defeatingA.J. Styles, before defeating Jerry Lynn andSabu to become the number one contender to the3PW Heavyweight Championship.[20][21] On April 17, 2004, he defeatedRaven to win the championship, a title he retained until August 21 of that year, when he lost it toChristopher Daniels in afour-way elimination match, also involving A.J. Styles and Chris Sabin.[1][22][23]
Meanwhile, Matthews was still active in WWE, and lost toRhino andMaven onSunday Night Heat.[24][25] He was also still competing in TNA'sX Division, and in August, he took part in a 20-Man Gauntlet match, in whichPetey Williams won theX Division title.[26] Afterwards, Matthews competed forPuerto Rico'sWorld Wrestling Council (WWC), losing toEddie Colón in September, and exchanging victories with Alex Montalvo in November.[1][7]
He moved toLouisville, Kentucky to the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW)farm territory.[1][27][28] There he formed a faction withJohnny Nitro; along withmanagerMelina, they were known as "MNM".[1] MNM wrestled in OVW for around a year, winning theOVW Southern Tag Team Championship once, before being called up to the mainSmackDown! roster, where Matthews was renamed Joey Mercury.[29]
In their first match for theSmackDown! brand, in April 2005, they won theWWE Tag Team Championship fromRey Mysterio andEddie Guerrero.[30][31] They held the titles for three months, having successful titles defenses against the teams of Mysterio and Guerrero andHardcore Holly andCharlie Haas atJudgment Day, beforedropping them to thenew Legion of Doom (LOD) atThe Great American Bash in July 2005.[32] They recaptured the titles on the October 28 episode ofSmackDown! in afour-way match defeating theMexicools,William Regal andPaul Burchill, and LOD,[33] but lost them to Mysterio andBatista two days before theArmageddon pay-per-view in December. Due to help fromMark Henry, they defeated Mysterio and Batista in a rematch on the December 30 episode ofSmackDown! to win the WWE Tag Team Championship for the third time.[34] They began a rivalry with the team ofPaul London and Brian Kendrick that lasted over three months,[35] until theJudgment Day pay-per-view on May 21, 2006, where MNM lost the WWE Tag Team Championship to London and Kendrick. Nitro and Melina suddenlyturned on Mercury, attacking him and breaking up the group. Later that night Nitro and Melina were fired from the SmackDown! brand in storyline, to facilitate their move toRaw, where they reappeared the following week.[36][37] Thelegitimate reason for the team's sudden split was later revealed to be Mercury failing aWWE Wellness Policy drug test and being forced to serve a 30-day suspension.
Mercury stayed off WWE television for six months. Mercury made a surprise return on the November 27, 2006 episode ofRaw, temporarily reforming MNM with Nitro and Melina to take up the also recently reunitedHardys (Matt and Jeff) "open challenge" forDecember to Dismember.[38] The Hardys went on to win the match at December to Dismember,[39][40] but the feud continued across all three brands (Raw,ECW, and SmackDown!),[41][42][43] and in a fatal-four wayladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship at December'sArmageddon event, also involving London and Kendrick, andDave Taylor and William Regal. During the ladder match, Mercury suffered a legitimate injury when he was struck in the face with a ladder, breaking his nose and orbital bone. He immediately left the match and was rushed to anemergency room where he received more than thirty stitches.[12][39][44] As a result, Nitro continued the match on his own.
After missing a few weeks, Mercury returned wearing a protective face mask and his injury was worked into theangle, with both he and Nitro attempting to injure the Hardys in various ways for revenge. MNM lost to The Hardys at theRoyal Rumble, and again in a six-man tag team match in which they teamed withMontel Vontavious Porter (Chris Benoit teamed with The Hardys) at theNo Way Out pay-per-view in February which concluded the feud.[45][46] He also wrestled in singles competition onSmackDown! until he was released from his WWE contract on March 26, 2007.[47][48]
Birch's first appearance after his WWE release was on April 21 for Northeast Wrestling as Joey Matthews, when he andRomeo Roselli defeated The NOW.[7] He went on to make appearances for MCW,Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, and the New York Wrestling Connection, competing against wrestlers includingAlex Shelley,Tyler Black, andBrother Runt.[49][50][51] Matthew's wrestled inAll American Wrestling (AAW) in July 2007, where he lost to Eric Priest in a match for the AAW Heritage Championship.[52] He made another appearance on September 29, reuniting with Christian York, in a losing effort against the AAW Tag Team Champions,The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley).[53]
In September 2007, Matthews began working for OVW as a trainer for the intermediate class.[7] He also competed in dark matches at the OVW television tapings.[54][55] At TNA'sBound for Glory pay-per-view in October 2007, he competed in a dark match, where he teamed withJohnny Swinger in a losing effort to The Motor City Machineguns.[56] For the remainder of 2007, Matthews worked for independent promotions, including Pro Wrestling Unplugged and the United Wrestling Federation.[7][57]
On March 12, 2008, at an OVW television taping, he defeatedJamin Olivencia to win theOVW Television Championship.[58] After successful defenses against Olivencia, he dropped the title to Tommy McNailer a month later on April 16.[7][59] In October 2008, Birch announced his retirement from professional wrestling due to injury.[7]
On January 25, 2008, Matthews returned to ROH as the newest member ofAge of the Fall (AotF), where he partnered with Jimmy Jacobs in a losing effort againstRoderick Strong andRocky Romero of theNo Remorse Corps.[60] The following night, Matthews lost toMark Briscoe.[61] Matthews was mainly utilized in a tag team role as a member of the AotF, teaming with fellow faction membersTyler Black andNecro Butcher.[62][63] He continued to wrestle for ROH until Battle For Supremacy in June 2008, when he and Jimmy Jacobs lost toKevin Steen and El Generico, in what was his last ROH wrestling match.[64]
In 2010, Birch came out of retirement and returned to WWE at theSmackDown tapings on April 20, where he lost toShelton Benjamin in a dark match.[65] On April 25 atExtreme Rules, he reappeared on television as a masked member of theCM Punk'sStraight Edge Society stable and interfered in Punk's match withRey Mysterio, helping him pick up the win.[66] Birch continued to interfere in Punk's matches during the following months, before being unmasked byBig Show on the July 23 episode ofSmackDown.[67] This led to a handicap match atSummerSlam where Big Show defeated the entire Society.[68] In early September it was reported that Mercury had undergone surgery on a tornpectoral muscle.[69]
In order to rehabilitate his injury, he began training atFlorida Championship Wrestling, WWE's developmental territory.[70] He later began working there as a trainer.[71] Following this, he moved into a producer role for the main roster.[4]
On the September 29, 2014 episode ofRaw, Mercury and fellow producerJamie Noble aligned themselves withThe Authority. Dubbed "J&J Security", Mercury and Noble began acting as bodyguards to Authority memberSeth Rollins.[72] On the November 24 episode ofRaw, J&J Security wrestled the first televised matches for each man in several years, partnering with Rollins in athree-on-two handicap match againstJohn Cena andDolph Ziggler, which they lost. On the March 16, 2015 episode ofRaw, both Mercury and Noble seemingly left The Authority due to Rollins not listening them. Later that night, it was revealed to be a ruse, with all The Authority members coming out to help Rollins take outRandy Orton, but they were stopped bySting, who made a surprise appearance and helped Orton fight off The Authority. On the June 22 episode ofRaw, J&J Security reconciled with Rollins when the three of them andKane attackedBrock Lesnar. On the July 6 episode ofRaw, Mercury was viciously beaten by Lesnar, who after destroying his and fellow J&J Security member Jamie Noble's prized Cadillac car, which had been gifted to them by Seth Rollins the week before, picked him up and tossed him onto the then unbroken windshield of it. On July 7, it was reported that Mercury suffered mild contusions as a result of the attack and both members of J&J Security would be out of action indefinitely.[citation needed]
Mercury appeared on the March 14, 2016 episode ofRaw breaking up the brawl betweenTriple H andRoman Reigns. In January 2017, it was reported that Birch had been released from WWE.[73]
Birch, performing once again as Joey Matthews, announced his return as an active independent wrestler. Matthews won theMCWShane Shamrock Memorial Cup.[74] On September 30, 2017, he won the MCW Heavyweight Championship.[75] In July 2018 he made four appearances onHouse of Hardcore's Australian tour. He would lose to the likes ofTommy Dreamer,Al Snow andSwoggle on the shows.[76] He also appeared in Lucha Underground in August 2018 as "Joey Wrestling", as part of former tag team partner Johnny Mundo's (previously Johnny Nitro) stable Worldwide Underground.[77] The following week, he lost his only Lucha Underground match to Matanza Cueto, after which he was "sacrificed to the gods," killing off his character in the show.[citation needed] That is the last match he has competed in to date.[76]
On May 19, 2018, he became one of the trainers at ROH's Baltimore Dojo a training school for the Ring of Honor promotion.[78] Later on February 2, 2019, it was revealed that he would now be working as a producer, trainer and a member of the creative team for Ring of Honor going forward.[79] In October 2019, he departed from Ring of Honor as a producer.
During an interview in late 2007, Birch revealed that he had been using drugs since he was 15 and had mixed cocaine, crack, and heroin with alcohol: "I've been a drug addict andalcoholic since I was 15 years old, right before I started in wrestling – so that's the better part of 15 years."[80] As a result of this, Birch has overdosed three times and wrecked ten cars.[80] He entered rehab in 2006 and missed six months of work.[80] Due to the facial injury he suffered atArmageddon in December 2006, Birch then became addicted to painkillers.[80] After a direct intervention byVince McMahon, Birch was released from the WWE and he credits this with helping him to address his addictions.[80] After his release,CM Punk helped pay for his house, which was on the verge of foreclosure after losing his job.[81]
Birch had a three-and-a-half-year relationship withMickie James, and they lived together inVirginia before breaking up.[6] He also briefly datedChristy Hemme.[6]
I have four fractures on the inside of my nose; I have 5 stitches on the inside of my nose and my cheek and 15 stitches on the outside of my nose and cheek. My left eye is swollen shut and I have continual internal bleeding from my nose and my eye.
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