Joey Matthews

Joey Matthews

Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews, is an American professional wrestler who is best known for his two tenures in WWE. Birch was most recently signed to Ring of Honor, where he worked as a producer, trainer, and member of the creative team. Birch was trained by fellow wrestler Jimmy Cicero and made his wrestling debut in October 1996, using the name Joey Matthews as he wrestled in ECW Extreme Championship Wrestling. The following year, he began competing for Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF), where he began competing in tag team competition and captured the MEWF Tag Team Championship, alongside Christian 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. In 2004, Birch signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky under the name Joey Mercury. While situated at OVW, he was placed in tag team competition, alongside Johnny Nitro, in which they won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. It was also during this time that he and Nitro, alongside their manager Melina, were known as the stable MNM. The group were called up to the SmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Mercury and Nitro went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. After their third and final reign ended in May 2006, Nitro and Melina turned 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 at Ring of Honor events. In March 2008, he returned to OVW, where he won the OVW 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 a producer and making a brief in-ring return as part of CM Punk's Straight Edge Society. He returned to TV once again in 2014 alongside Jamie Noble, (known as J&J Security) as an on screen security guard for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins as part of The Authority faction.

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