| The Mighty Don't Kneel | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Left to right:Kosei Fujita,Mikey Nicholls,Zack Sabre Jr.,Shane Haste,Robbie Eagles andRyohei Oiwa in October 2024. | |
| Statistics | |
| Members | Mikey Nicholls/Nick Miller Shane Haste/Shane Thorne[1] Bad Dude Tito Zack Sabre Jr. Kosei Fujita Robbie Eagles Ryohei Oiwa |
| Name(s) | The Mighty Don't Kneel TMDK TM-61[2] The Mighty[3] |
| Billed heights | Nicholls: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Haste: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) Tito: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Sabre Jr.: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Fujita: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Eagles: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) Oiwa: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) |
| Combined billed weight | 1,758 lb (797 kg) |
| Billed from | Perth,Australia(Nicholls/Haste) |
| Former member(s) | JONAH/Jonah Rock Elliot Sexton Marcius Pitt[4] Slex[5][6] |
| Debut | 16 May 2008 |
| Years active | 2008–2018 2022–present |
The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) are aprofessional wrestlingstable performing inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The stable consists ofMikey Nicholls,Shane Haste,Bad Dude Tito,Zack Sabre Jr.,Robbie Eagles,Kosei Fujita,Hartley Jackson, andRyohei Oiwa; Sabre Jr. is a formerIWGP World Heavyweight Champion and was a former two-time and inauguralNJPW World Television Champion, Nicholls and Haste are former two timeIWGP Tag Team Champions andStrong Openweight Tag Team Champions, and Fujita and Eagles are the reigningIWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions in their first reign. The stable was primarily known as a tag team inPro Wrestling Noah, with Nicholls and Haste being two-timeGHC Tag Team Champions. They also worked forRing of Honor (ROH),Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) andWWE (where they were namedTM-61 andThe Mighty inNXT).
Though best known as a tag team, TMDK has also been a stable, which included, in addition to Nicholls and Haste, fellowAustraliansJonah (formerly Jonah Rock),Elliot Sexton, Marcuis Pitt and Slex. TMDK has also been said to stand for "Torture, Murder, Destroy, Kill".[7]
Nicholls and Veryzer signed withWWE and were assigned to itsdevelopmental territory NXT, Nicholls and Veryzer were renamed Nick Miller and Shane Thorne, while their tag team was renamed TM-61 and later, The Mighty. However, the team would disband in 2018 following Nicholls' release.[8]
In the autumn of 2010, Australian wrestlersMikey Nicholls andShane Haste passed a tryout held byPro Wrestling Noah andWorld League Wrestling (WLW) in theUnited States, which allowed them to begin training at Noah's dojo.[9][10] They made their debut for the Japanese promotion on 23 February 2011, and began working together under the team name "TMDK".[9][10] The Mighty Don't Kneel originated in the Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW)promotion where it was astable also includingJonah Rock andElliot Sexton, who had been teaming together as SexRock.[11] Rock and Slex have also represented TMDK in Noah.[12][13] Nicholls and Haste then began working regularly for Noah in the promotion'sjunior heavyweighttag team division, though it was questioned whether the two actually were under the 100 kg (220 lb) weight limit.[14]
On 15 December 2011, Nicholls and Haste received their first shot at theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by the defending champions,Atsushi Aoki andKotaro Suzuki.[15] Shortly afterwards, Nicholls and Haste left the junior heavyweight division.
Back in Noah, Nicholls and Haste also began breaking out in singles action, taking part in the2012 Global League, where Nicholls wrestledKENTA to a draw and defeatedGo Shiozaki, while Haste was victorious overAkitoshi Saito andNaomichi Marufuji.[16] In April 2013, Nicholls and Haste took part in their firstGlobal Tag League. Though failing to advance to the finals, they picked up a win over the reigningGHC Tag Team Champions,New Japan Pro-Wrestling representativesTakashi Iizuka andToru Yano.[17][18] This led to a title match between the two teams on 12 May, where Iizuka and Yano retained their title.[18][19] Earlier that day, Noah had announced that Nicholls and Haste had signed contracts to become officially affiliated with the promotion.[20] A rubber match between Nicholls and Haste and Iizuka and Yano took place on 7 July and saw TMDK emerge victorious and become the new GHC Tag Team Champions.[21][22][23] In September, Nicholls and Haste both began chasing theGHC Heavyweight Championship, but were defeated in back-to-back title matches by the defending champion, KENTA.[24][25][26][27] On 10 December, theTokyo Sports magazine named Nicholls and Haste the 2013 tag team of the year, with the two becoming the firstgaijin team to win the "Best Tag Team Award" sinceStan Hansen andVader in 1998.[28][29] On 25 January 2014, Nicholls and Haste lost the GHC Tag Team Championship toMaybach Taniguchi and GHC Heavyweight ChampionTakeshi Morishima.[13][30][31]
On 10 January 2015, Nicholls and Haste defeated Dangan Yankies (Masato Tanaka andTakashi Sugiura) to win the GHC Tag Team Championship for the second time.[32] They lost the title toK.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) on 11 February.[33] On 28 December 2015, Noah announced that Nicholls and Haste would leave the promotion following their contracts expiring at the end of the year.[34] On 11 February 2016, Noah announced that Haste and Nicholls would return to the promotion the following month to take part in a five-show-long farewell tour, entitled "Departure to the World".[35] Their final Noah match took place on 10 March and saw them defeat Naomichi Marufuji andMitsuhiro Kitamiya.[36][37] In February 2016, it was reported that Nicholls and Haste would joinWWE'sNXT brand following their Noah farewell tour the following month.[38] WWE confirmed the signings on 25 March 2016.[39]
In early 2012, Nicholls and Haste traveled to the United States, where they worked for several promotions, includingOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW),[40]Ring of Honor (ROH),[41] andTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).[42] In ROH, they won a one-night tournament to earn a match against theBriscoe Brothers at theShowdown in the Sunpay-per-view.[41][43]
On 20 December 2014, Haste and Nicholls made their debut forNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), when they, along with Naomichi Marufuji, were revealed as Toru Yano's tag team partners atWrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on 4 January 2015.[44] They would go on to win the match, defeatingSuzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr.,Lance Archer,Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka).[45]
In June 2015, Nicholls and Haste took part in aWWE tryout camp.[46] In February 2016, it was reported that Nicholls and Haste were scheduled to join WWE'sNXT brand following their NOAH farewell tour.[38]
On 25 March 2016, WWE confirmed the signings of both Nicholls and Haste. They began training at theWWE Performance Center in April, while working for the promotion's developmental branch NXT.[1] During the 19 MayNXT tapings, Haste and Nicholls were renamed Shane Thorne and Nick Miller, respectively, while TMDK was renamed TM-61, where TM is derived from their respective last names (Thorne and Miller) while 61 is from Australia'sdialing code (+61).[2] They debuted on the 25 May episode, losing toJohnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.[47]
On the 7 October episode of NXT, Thorne and Miller were announced as participants in theDusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. On 12 October, they defeated the team ofRiddick Moss andTino Sabbatelli to advance from the first round of the tournament. Thorne next defeatedRoderick Strong in a singles match (due to Strong's partnerAustin Aries being unable to wrestle through injury), to proceed his team to the semi-finals, where they went on to defeatSAnitY, thus setting the final against theAuthors of Pain. On 19 November atNXT TakeOver: Toronto, TM-61 lost in the final. On the 18 January episode ofNXT, Thorne suffered a serious knee injury due to an attack byThe Revival (Scott Dawson andDash Wilder) after TM-61 had defeated them. He had surgery on 25 January, which was expected to put him out of action for seven to nine months. He returned from the injury on 14 September.[48]
On the 3 January episode ofNXT, the return of TM-61 was announced. During the following weeks, vignettes of TM-61 were shown. They made their in ring return on 31 January episode ofNXT, defeating The Ealy Brothers.[49] TM-61 then entered the2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, being eliminated by the Authors of Pain in the first round. On the 2 May edition ofNXT, TM-61 defeatedStreet Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) with a dirty pin, thus turning the duoheel in the process. The following week, they defeated the team ofHeavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic andTucker Knight) with the same tactics. The team was officially renamed "The Mighty", on the 6 June 2018 episode ofNXT. On the 20 July episode ofNXT, they were defeated byWar Raiders. In July, they started a feud with Street Profits with both teams losing matches to each other. On the 19 September episode ofNXT, The Mighty defeated Street Profits.
On 14 December 2018, Miller was removed from the "WWE NXT" section of WWE.com, confirming his release and disbanding the team.[8]
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On the 6 March 2022, episode ofNJPW Strong, Shane Haste interfered in the tag team match betweenFinJuice (David Finlay andJuice Robinson) and the pairing ofJonah (formerly Jonah Rock) andBad Dude Tito. He attacked Robinson while the referee was distracted, allowing Tito to hit a frog splash on Robinson for the win.[50] This saw the reformation of TMDK, with Haste and Jonah tagging together. On the 3 April episode ofNJPW Strong, Haste caused a disqualification loss to FinJuice after he struck Robinson with a steel chair. Robinson challenged TMDK and Tito to a Chicago Street Fight atWindy City Riot, alongside a mystery partner.[51] At the event, TMDK and Tito were defeated by FinJuice and their partner, revealed to beBrody King.[52] On 14 May, atCapital Collision, Mikey Nicholls was reunited with Haste, leaving CHAOS in the process. TMDK and Bad Dude Tito defeated theUnited Empire, with Nicholls pinningKyle Fletcher for the win. After the match, Tito, who had been tagging with Jonah since the start of the year, officially joined TMDK.[53] Haste and Nicholls then entered a tournament to become the inauguralStrong Openweight Tag Team Champions, but were defeated in the semi-final to the pairing ofChristopher Daniels andYuya Uemura.[54]
On 20 June, Jonah was announced as being part ofG1 Climax 32.[55] He would be accompanied by Tito, with both wrestlers being used in undercard tag team matches throughout the tournament.[56]
Following Jonah's exit from the group due to his return to WWE,Zack Sabre Jr. would officially join the stable after his victory to becomeNJPW World Television Champion atWrestle Kingdom 17.[57] During the followingNew Year Dash!! show on 5 January, NJPW confirmed on social media thatKosei Fujita would also join the stable.[58] On 21 March, at the New Japan Cup 2023 Finals,Robbie Eagles announced that he will challengeHiromu Takahashi for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship atSakura Genesis on 8 April 2023. During the same night he would also be announced as the newest member of TMDK, thus leaving Chaos in the process.[59] At the event, Eagles lost to Takahashi.[60]
On 18 August 2024, Sabre won theG1 Climax 34.[61] On September 29, atDestruction in Kobe,Ryohei Oiwa joined TMDK.[62][63] On November 4, atPower Struggle, Eagles and Fujita won theSuper Junior Tag League.[64]
Miller and Thorne made their video game debut inWWE 2K18 and later appear inWWE 2K19.[65][66]
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| I-II | Leader(s) |
|---|---|
| * | Founding member(s) |
| Members | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Mikey Nicholls/Nick Miller* | May 16, 2008 - December 14, 2018, May 14, 2022 - present |
| Shane Haste/Shane Thorne* | May 16, 2008 - December 14, 2018, March 6, 2022 - present |
| Bad Dude Tito | May 14, 2022 - present |
| Zack Sabre Jr. (II) | January 4, 2023 - present |
| Kosei Fujita | January 5, 2023 - present |
| Robbie Eagles | March 23, 2023 - present |
| Ryohei Oiwa | September 29, 2024 - present |
| Members | Joined | Left |
|---|---|---|
| Jonah Rock/Jonah (I) | March 8, 2013 March 20, 2022 | March 25, 2016 December 19, 2022 |
| Elliott Sexton | February 18, 2018[citation needed] | February 18, 2018[citation needed] |
| Slex | June 8, 2013 May 14, 2016[citation needed] | July 26, 2013 May 10, 2019[citation needed] |
| Marcius Pitt | November 2, 2013 | March 25, 2016 |
| Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ichiban Sweet Boys | Robbie Eagles Kosei Fujita | 2023–present | Tag team |
TMDK member, Marcius Pitt
Rock and Pitt now join fellow TMDK stablemates Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste, currently the NOAH GHC Tag Team Champions with gold, the faction now holding championships in two continents.