Wifebeater (wrestler)

Last updated

Wifebeater
Wifebeater.jpg
Wifebeater in August 2002
Birth nameMatthew Prince
Born (1973-07-13) July 13, 1973 (age 51)
Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Matt Martini
Wifebeater
Billed height6 ft 4 in (193 cm) [1]
Billed weight244 lb (111 kg) [1]
Billed from Trailer Trash, Texas
Trained by The Pitbulls
Debut1998
Retired2006

Matthew Prince (born July 13, 1973) is an American former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Wifebeater. He is best known for his tenure in Combat Zone Wrestling from 1999 to 2004. He is known for his ring attire (a wifebeater and jeans) and a weed whacker that he brought to the ring with him, and sometimes used on his opponents.

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Wifebeater debuted in Combat Zone Wrestling on August 21, 1999, at "Pyramid of Hell" on the losing end of a match against Trent Acid. On September 18, 1999, Wifebeater defeated Nick Gage to win his first World Heavyweight Championship. Wifebeater held the title until November 20, 1999, when he lost it to John Zandig. Wifebeater went on to win the CZW Heavyweight Championship two more times and the Iron Man Championship four times. He also teamed up with Justice Pain to form the H8 Club and win the World Tag Team Championship. Wifebeater and Justice Pain lost the titles to Nick Gage and Nate Hatred, who later also referred to themselves as the H8 Club. After their title loss and failure to regain the titles in a rematch, Wifebeater and Justice Pain broke up and began feuding. This feud ended at Cage of Death III inside the Cage of Death for the CZW World Heavyweight Championship where Pain defeated Wifebeater. During one period in 2001, Wifebeater was a member of the stable "Big Dealz" along with John Zandig, Nick Mondo, Jun Kasai, Z-Barr, and Trent Acid. [2]

In 2002, Wifebeater won the first-ever CZW Tournament of Death after defeating Nick Mondo in the finals. He wrestled a retirement match in November 2002, but made a return a year later in the same month to join Zandig's team for Cage of Death V . In 2004, he won the third Tournament of Death after defeating Necro Butcher in the finals. Later in the year, Justice Pain returned and rejoined Wifebeater to reform the H8 Club. They targeted the H8 Club of Gage and Hatred and defeated the pair at Cage Of Death 6 on December 11, though after their victory Justice Pain turned on Wifebeater. Prince subsequently made infrequent appearances in CZW, including a run in on the ROH wrestlers during a big brawl between CZW and ROH at ROH's "Arena Warfare" in early 2006. His final match to date was at CZW's event Trapped on August 12, 2006, filling in for a vacant J.C. Bailey, where Wifebeater defeated Danny Havoc in a barbed wire cage.

Championships and accomplishments

Related Research Articles

Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded in 1999 by John Zandig. Commonly associated with the 2000s hardcore wrestling genre, early CZW shows showcased a brand of wrestling dubbed by the promotion as "ultraviolence". Early CZW matches featured items such as ladders, tables, steel folding chairs, thumbtacks, barbed wire-covered baseball bats, weed whackers, light tubes, and panes of glass. The promotion filled a niche for hardcore wrestling fans that had been left open by the folding of Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in 2001.

The Backseat Boyz were a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Trent Acid and Johnny Kashmere who competed in Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Unplugged, Combat Zone Wrestling, Assault Championship Wrestling, the Premier Wrestling Federation, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, and Japan together. They were the first team in history to hold both the ROH Tag Team Championship and the CZW Tag Team Championship.

John Corson, better known by the ring name John Zandig, is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is the founder and former owner of the promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masada (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler

Brigham Paul Doane, better known by his ring name Masada, is an American professional wrestler currently competing in Xtreme Pro Wrestling, where he is a former XPW World Heavyweight Champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CZW Iron Man Championship</span> Professional wrestling championship

The CZW Iron Man Championship was a professional wrestling championship owned by the Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) promotion. The championship was created and debuted on February 13, 1999, at CZW's Opening Night event. The title is currently inactive, having been deactivated on July 11, 2009. Prior to its retirement, Sami Callihan renamed the title the CZW New Horror Championship, which CZW recognized. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won via a scripted ending to a match or awarded to a wrestler because of a storyline.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruckus (wrestler)</span> American professional wrestler

Claude Marrow Jr. is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Ruckus. He performs in Combat Zone Wrestling, Ring of Honor, Maryland Championship Wrestling, Chikara and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. While often appearing at a number of other independent promotions, Ruckus is a member of the Blackout/BLKOUT stable with Eddie Kingston, Sabian, Joker, James Ellsworth, and Robbie Mireno.

Matthew Timothy Burns, better known by his ring name "Sick" Nick Mondo, is an American retired professional wrestler. Since his in-ring retirement in 2003, he has become a filmmaker, actor and stuntman and, at one point, worked with All Elite Wrestling as director.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trent Acid</span> American professional wrestler (1980–2010)

Michael Verdi, best known by his ring name Trent Acid, was an American professional wrestler.

Blackout is a professional wrestling stable appearing in Combat Zone Wrestling, Adrenaline Championship Wrestling, and other independent companies. Though the current members are Ruckus, James Ellsworth, BLK Jeez, Robby Mireno, the team also competes in companies with other members, such as Joker and Eddie Kingston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nick Gage</span> American professional wrestler

Nicholas William Wilson, better known by his ring name Nick Gage, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), where he is a former 3-time GCW World Champion. He also wrestles for various other promotions on the independent circuit. He is the only man to win the "big three" of American deathmatch tournaments: the CZW Tournament of Death, the IWA Mid-South King of the Deathmatch, and the GCW Tournament of Survival.

Joseph Eubanks is an American retired professional wrestler best known by the ring name Lobo. He wrestled primarily in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), where he won every major championship and was the first inductee into the CZW Hall of Fame in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Justice Pain</span> American professional wrestler (1978–2020)

Christopher Wilson was an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name, Justice Pain. Pain was best known for his time in Combat Zone Wrestling, as well as Xtreme Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Unplugged. He held numerous titles in his CZW stint and was the real life brother of CZW wrestler and one-time tag team partner Nick Gage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jun Kasai</span> Japanese professional wrestler

Jun Kasai is a Japanese professional wrestler, primarily competing for Pro Wrestling Freedoms. Dubbed the Crazy Monkey for his violent and often self-harmful style of hardcore wrestling, Kasai is considered a breakthrough talent in Japanese wrestling, able to work both hardcore and technical styles. Outside Freedoms, Kasai has worked for the original Pro Wrestling Zero-One, Hustle, Ice Ribbon, Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danny Havoc</span> American professional wrestler (1986–2020)

Grant Amos Berkland, better known by his ring name Danny Havoc, was an American professional wrestler. He was best known for his work in Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW), and was noted for mixing his technical style with hardcore wrestling.

The Tournament of Death is an annual professional wrestling tournament organized by Combat Zone Wrestling since 2002, during which a number of wrestlers compete in various deathmatches in what are mostly single-elimination tournaments similar to World Wrestling Entertainment's King of the Ring tournament. These tournaments include the typical hardcore weapons used in deathmatch wrestling such as barbed wire, nails, thumbtacks, fire, tables, ladders, and light tubes, and are known for all their large amounts of blood loss.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. C. Bailey</span> American professional wrestler

Joseph Carl Bailey Jr. was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name J. C. Bailey. He wrestled for numerous American-based professional wrestling promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, IWA Mid-South, and IWA East Coast.

The Cage of Death is Combat Zone Wrestling's biggest show since 1999. It always features the Cage of Death match, a steel cage with various weapons littered in the cage. Electrified cage walls, cacti, tables, light tubes, glass, thumbtacks, baseball bats, barbed wire, fire and numerous other weapons and objects have been used in it. The first two were simple either pin and/or submit to win cage matches with weapons littered in and around the cage. The Cage of Death also has different formats and stipulations: singles, tag team, or gauntlet. Each Cage of Death features two or more wrestlers in the cage. For Cage of Death 5, 6, and 7, WarGames stipulations were used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ryuji Yamakawa</span> Japanese retired professional wrestler (born 1970)

Seiji Yamakawa is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ryuji Yamakawa. He is best known for his time with Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), where he spent the majority of his career between 1995 and 2012 as a deathmatch wrestler. He was one of the top wrestlers and an over main eventer of the company, winning the Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship two times and the Tag Team Championship seven times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BJW Ante Up</span> 2001 Big Japan Pro Wrestling event

Ante Up was a professional wrestling supercard event produced by Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). The event took place on December 2, 2001, at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan. The event was themed around BJW's interpromotional rivalry with American promotion Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW).

References

  1. 1 2 "Wifebeater Cagematch profile". CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  2. WrestlingZone.ru : Wifebeater (in Russian)
  3. "B.J.W. Tag Team Title". Puroresu Dojo. 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2007.
  4. "B.J.W. Death Match Heavyweight Title". Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved May 7, 2007.