Luchasaurus | |
---|---|
Birth name | Austin Matelson |
Born | Woodland Hills, California, U.S. | March 10, 1985
Alma mater | California State University, Northridge (BA, MA) |
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Austin Draven [1] Austin Morrison Judas Draven Judas Devlin Just Judas Killswitch Luchasaurus [2] Vibora |
Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) [1] |
Billed weight | 275 lb (125 kg) [1] |
Billed from | The Tar Pits |
Trained by | Ballard Brothers [2] Bill DeMott Billy Gunn Ric Drasin [2] |
Debut | 2009 |
Austin Matelson (born March 10, 1985), [3] better known by the ring name Luchasaurus, is an American professional wrestler and television personality. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Killswitch, and is a member of The Patriarchy stable. In AEW, he is a former one-time AEW World Tag Team Champion (with Jungle Boy as Jurassic Express) and a former one-time AEW TNT Champion.
Matelson began his professional wrestling career in 2009. He then signed a developmental contract with WWE in 2012 and was sent to train at the former Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) under the ring name Judas Devlin; FCW was then rebranded as NXT that same year where Matelson remained until he was released in 2014. After a two-year hiatus, he signed with Lucha Underground as Vibora and worked there from 2016 to 2018. He also began working on the independent circuit in 2016 under the Luchasaurus gimmick until he signed with AEW in 2019 and took on the ring name Killswitch in 2023. [4]
During his two-year wrestling hiatus from 2014 to 2016, Matelson appeared on Access Hollywood and was a house-guest on the reality competition, Big Brother 17 , in which he placed 5th. He also appeared on The Price Is Right . He later returned for Big Brother 19 in 2017.
In 2012, Matelson signed a developmental contract with WWE and was sent for training at Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) where he was given the ring name Judas Devlin. On August 1, 2012, he made his FCW debut teaming with Corey Graves defeating Briley Pierce and CJ Parker. [5] In 2012, FCW was rebranded as NXT and Devlin transferred to the new development brand, performing mainly at house shows. Austin was released in 2014 after a severe hip injury. [6]
Matelson made his return to professional wrestling in 2016, having not competed since his release from WWE in 2014. On June 17, 2016, in a match for Millenium Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name Austin Draven, he defeated Ryan J. Morales. [7] On September 30, 2016, under the ring name Just Judas he defeated Danny Divine to become MPW Heavyweight Champion. [8]
On November 9, 2017, Matelson teamed with fellow Big Brother contestant Jessie Godderz under the team name Team Big Brother, they defeated HATE (Peter Avalon and Ray Rosas) in a match for Bar Wrestling. [9]
After Matelson used the Víbora character in Lucha Underground, he started to use the character in the independent circuit. He changed the name to Luchasaurus after fans chanted that during his Lucha Underground debut. [10] On November 17 and 18, Matelson wrestled for House of Hardcore under the new gimmick and ring name Luchasaurus, defeating Alex Reynolds on the first night and winning on the second night in a three-way by defeating Matt Riddle and Willie Mack. [11] [12]
In May 2016, Matelson under a mask and the ring name Vibora made his Lucha Underground debut as a part of the Reptile Tribe stable. On May 7, 2016, Vibora along with Pindar and Drago won the Lucha Underground Trios Championship. [13] Reptile Tribe lost the Lucha Underground Trios Championship against Dante Fox, Killshot and The Mack.
On the July 18, 2018, episode of Lucha Underground Vibora defeated Johnny Mundo. [14]
On the August 1, 2018, episode of Lucha Underground, the character Vibora was "killed off" via decapitation by a sword-wielding Taya Valkyrie. [15]
On May 25, 2019, Matelson debuted for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) at Double or Nothing as a part of the pre-show Casino Battle Royale. He lasted until the final three, before being eliminated by Adam Page. [16] Three days later it was revealed that he had signed with the company full-time as Luchasaurus. [17] He would then go on to form a tag team with Jungle Boy as he managed him at Fyter Fest and teamed up with him at Fight for the Fallen in a Triple Threat tag team match involving The Dark Order and Angelico and Jack Evans in a losing effort. At All Out, Luchasaurus alongside Jungle Boy and Marko Stunt would debut as the stable "Jurassic Express". Luchasaurus also sporadically competed as a singles competitor, most notably participating in the Casino Ladder match at Double or Nothing on May 23, 2020.
Jurassic Express received title shots for the AEW World Tag Team Championship against Adam Page and Kenny Omega on the August 12 episode of Dynamite , and The Young Bucks on the August 18, 2021 episode of Dynamite, but failed to win the title on both occasions. Following that, Jurassic Express participated in a tournament to determine the #1 contenders for the World Tag Team Championship, defeating Private Party in the opening round before losing to Lucha Brothers in the final. On the January 5, 2022 episode of Dynamite, the Jurassic Express defeated the Lucha Brothers to win their first World Tag Team Championship. [18]
At the Revolution event on March 6, Jurassic Express successfully defended the championship against The Young Bucks and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) in a three-way tag team match. [19] At Double or Nothing on May 29, they retained the championship in a three-way tag match against Team Taz (Ricky Starks and Powerhouse Hobbs) and Swerve In Our Glory (Keith Lee and Swerve Strickland). [20] After Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus lost the titles to The Young Bucks in a ladder match at Road Rager, Cage turned on Jungle Boy, with Luchasaurus also turning heel when he joined Cage. [21] At the start of his alliance with Cage, Luchasaurus was presented as a “monster heel” and started squashing multiple opponents within minutes, all at Cage’s direction.
At Fyter Fest week two, Luchasaurus turned on Christian Cage to realign with Jungle Boy, however, this was also a short-lived reunion. At the All Out event, Luchasaurus cemented himself as a heel by attacking Jungle Boy once again and solidifying his alliance with Cage. As a result, Luchasaurus began feuding with "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry, defeating him in a match on the October 12 episode of Dynamite. However, Luchasaurus lost to Perry in a steel cage match at Full Gear to end the rivalry. Following the loss, Luchasaurus went on a hiatus. He returned to AEW in April and reunited with Cage.
On the June 17, 2023 premiere episode of Collision , Luchasaurus defeated Wardlow to win the TNT Championship. [22] Luchasaurus held the title for three months, retaining against Shawn Spears at Battle of the Belts VII, Brock Anderson on the August 12 episode of Collision and Darby Allin at All Out. Luchasaurus would later lose the title to Cage in a three-way match that also involved Allin on the September 23 episode of Collision. [23] At WrestleDream, Cage defeated Allin in a two out of three falls match to retain the championship. After the match, Cage, Luchasaurus, and Nick Wayne (who turned against Allin) assaulted Allin and Sting; they were interrupted by the debuting Adam Copeland, who ran out to confront Cage and save Allin. [24] Cage's faction was later called The Patriarchy. [25] At Full Gear, The Patriarchy lost to Copeland, Sting, and Allin in a six-man tag team match with Luchasaurus taking the pin. [26] On the November 22 episode of Dynamite, Cage renamed Luchasaurus as Killswitch (named after Cage's finishing move) and dubbed Killswitch as his "finisher". [27] At Worlds End, Killswitch won a 20-man battle royale for a future TNT Championship title match. Later that night, Cage lost the TNT Championship to Copeland in a no disqualification match. As Killswitch was about to sign off his title match contract on Copeland, Cage demanded Killswitch to hand over the contract and Killswitch relented. Cage then defeated Copeland to regain the TNT Championship. [28] [29]
In the summer of 2015, Matelson appeared as a contestant in the 17th season of Big Brother . [30] He was evicted during the twelfth week and placed fifth. He returned during the 19th season for the "BB Comics" competition with other former contestants, including Dan Gheesling and fellow wrestler Jessie Godderz.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2015 | Access Hollywood | Himself | |
2015 | Big Brother 17 | Himself | |
2016 | The Price Is Right | Himself | |
2017 | Big Brother 19 | Himself |
Before beginning studies at California State University, Northridge, Matelson had been entirely homeschooled. He earned two history degrees at CSUN—a B.A. in 2008 and a M.A. in 2010, with his master's concentration and thesis in medieval literature. [31] [32] While in the Big Brother house, Matelson began a relationship with Liz Nolan. The two continued to date for five months before breaking up in February 2016. [33]
In late February and March 2015, several former NXT trainees previously working within the WWE developmental system alleged misconduct by head trainer Bill DeMott, with Devlin and Brandon Traven publicizing complaints which they claimed they had submitted to WWE management about DeMott back in March 2013, when they were still employed with WWE. [34] [35] Meanwhile, other ex-trainees like Briley Pierce and Derrick Bateman also made allegations in 2015, [34] [35] [36] [37] while previous allegations made in 2013 by Chad Baxter and Chase Donovan were also noted. [38] They accused DeMott of making trainees perform dangerous drills, [34] physically assaulting and bullying trainees, [34] [35] using homophobic and racial slurs amongst other derogatory terms, [35] [38] and condoning sexual harassment. [36] WWE released statements regarding some of the claims that came to light in 2013 and 2015, saying that investigations were done and no wrongdoing was found. [34] [38] On March 6, 2015, DeMott denied the allegations, but resigned from WWE "to avoid any embarrassment or damage" to the company. [36]
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