 Bentley atTNA Lockdown in 2007 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Matthew James Bentley (1979-12-10)December 10, 1979 (age 46)[2][4] |
| Family | Shawn Michaels (cousin) |
| Website | OfficialMattBentley.com |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Martyr[1] Matt Bentley[1] Maverick Matt[1] Michael Shane[2] Omega Griffon[3] Omega Verifan[2] |
| Billed height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2] |
| Billed weight | 221 lb (100 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | San Antonio,Texas[3] |
| Trained by | Texas Wrestling Academy[3] (Rudy Boy González)[3] Shawn Michaels[3] |
| Debut | 1999[3] |
| Retired | 2015 |
Matthew James Bentley[4] (born December 10, 1979),[2] is an American retiredprofessional wrestler best known for his work inTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by thering nameMichael Shane, later changed to"Maverick" Matt Bentley. He was trained by his cousin,Shawn Michaels, and he took the name Michael Shane, a play on his cousin's name, originating from Michaels' guest appearance inPacific Blue. Additionally, Bentley utilizes Michaels' signaturesuperkick maneuver as his own finisher.
After being trained at Shawn Michaels'Texas Wrestling Academy, Bentley competed in Japan for theFrontier Martial-Arts Wrestling promotion.[2] He also briefly worked forExtreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from October 2000 to the final show of the promotion on January 13, 2001.[2] After ECW closed Bentley returned to Japan, where he wrestled under a mask as Omega Verfian.[2] During this time he also made appearances for bothWorld Wrestling Entertainment andWorld Championship Wrestling indark matches. He also worked as ajobber on WWE's programsVelocity andSunday Night Heat.[2] He is also a formerRing of Honor (ROH) wrestler, with his breakout match occurring againstPaul London at theUnscripted event in September 2002, that concluded with London hitting theshooting star press off a ladder.[5] ROH later described the match as a "match of the year candidate".[5] He was also a member of The Group faction in ROH, withSamoa Joe andC. W. Anderson, but they were forced to disband after losing to The Prophecy atNight of Grudges on June 14, 2003.[2][6] He later wrestled forMajor League Wrestling, where he was managed byFrancine, and returned to Japan to compete forZero-One Wrestling.[2]
Bentley joined TNA in 2003. He competed in the X Division, quickly winning theX Division Championship in the first everUltimate X match.[2][7] Later in 2003, Bentley formed astable withShane Douglas andTraci known as "The New Franchise".[2] In January 2004 he lost the title to Chris Sabin in Ultimate X2.[2] The New Franchise disbanded in April 2004 when Bentley turned on Douglas. Traci ended up staying with Bentley as a valet.[2] In June, A.J. Styles returned to the X Division and won the championship fromKazarian. In an effort to eliminate Styles from the X Division, Bentley and Traci formed atag team with Kazarian (informally known by theportmanteau of their last names,Shazarian). On July 28, 2004, Bentley and Kazarian defeated Styles in an Ultimate X match when they both pulled down the championship.[8] Surprisingly, the duo was declared co-champions, a first for the X-Division Championship.[8] They lost the title in aGauntlet for the Gold match two weeks later.[9] Shazarian split up in early 2005 when Kazarian left TNA and signed withWWE.
Traci quietly left Bentley in 2005 to become an assistant for TNADirector of AuthorityDusty Rhodes, and later joined withChris Sabin. In turn,Trinity became Bentley's valet. AtHard Justice, however, in a match between Bentley and Trinity and Sabin and Traci, Bentley and Traci turned on their partners and reunited.[10] In July 2005, Bentley was forced to refrain from using the "Michael Shane" alias, which he had used for his entire career, following threats of legal action fromWorld Wrestling Entertainment, the employers ofMike Shane, who hadtrademarked his name, something which Bentley had neglected to do.[2] After going simply by the name Michael, Bentley decided to go by his real name.[2] All TNA DVD releases featuring matches with Bentley as "Michael Shane" have had the on-screen graphics altered and commentary completely replaced to reflect the name change. One such DVD is the pay-per-viewLockdown, included in the "TNA Anthology: The Epic Set" box set, in which you can still see the name "Michael Shane" on the entrance video playing in the background when he makes his entrance.
After a disappearance from television due to contract renegotiations and a few matches in the X Division, Bentley and Traci turned intofan favorites, largely because of the crowd, which was doing the "Bentley Bounce" at the time. On a February 2006 edition ofXplosion, Bentley and his partnerLance Hoyt had some miscommunication during their tag team againstThe Diamonds in the Rough. After the match, Bentley snapped and attacked Hoyt, thus turning him into a villain.[2] The next week onImpact! in an interview Bentley announced he was a "Maverick", and thus became "Maverick Matt". He continued feuding with Hoyt, and lost to him atDestination X.[11] He would then wrestle a few more matches, most being 6-man tag team matches, losing every time. Bentley did not appear on TNA television for the next four months. He returned on the July 20 edition ofImpact!, teaming with former partnerFrankie Kazarian, who had returned earlier in the week, in a loss againstThe Naturals.[12] Traci did not return with Bentley, instead becoming Ms. Brooks,Robert Roode's new valet.[12]
On the October 26 edition ofImpact!, Bentley appeared in the "Raven's Perch" section of the Impact Zone bleachers, debuting agoth look. Weeks later, Bentley and Kazarian, along withJohnny Devine, formed thestableSerotonin, withRaven as their leader.[13] As part of the new group Bentley's name was changed to Martyr, who along with Kaz and Havok (Devine) portrayed a strange rocker type look and would not win a lot of matches - as a matter of fact, even if they won, Raven would come out, make them get on their knees and beat them with a Kendo stick (as part of a system dubbed "torture breeds success"). In August 2007, Bentley's TNA contract expired and was not renewed.
On April 4, 2008, Bentley made an appearance onFriday Night SmackDown in a squash match, losing to the debutingVladimir Kozlov.[14] Following his WWE appearance, Bentley temporarily left wrestling in order to create a band named "Lost in Chaos" with his friends. They are currently located in Orlando and participating in numerous gigs. The band was nominated for Florida's Best Band on a local rock station website in 2009.[15]
On June 27, 2011, Bentley made a one night return to TNA at the tapings of the June 30 edition ofImpact Wrestling, losing an opportunity at earning a TNA contract whenLow Ki pinnedJimmy Yang in a three–way first round match of an X-Division tournament, where the winner of the tournament would receive a TNA contract.[16][17] On January 12, 2013, Bentley took part in the taping of TNA's One Night Only:X-Travaganza special (aired on April 5, 2013), competing in a seven-manXscape match, which was won byChristian York.[18]
On September 5, 2015, Bentley made hisGlobal Force Wrestling debut defeatingKevin Matthews andMark Sterling in a three-Way match as part of the GFW Grand Slam Tour.[19]
1Shane andFrankie Kazarian were declared co-champions after defeatingAJ Styles in an Ultimate X match at the weekly pay-per-view #104 by grabbing the belt at the same time. This co-reign was the second time that both men had won the championship.
,Wrestlingdata,Internet Wrestling Database