Matt Taven

Matt Taven

Taven at House of Hardcore 9 in July 2015
Birth name Matthew Marinelli
Born (1985-03-20) March 20, 1985[1]
Derry, New Hampshire, U.S.[1]
Residence Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Matt Taven[1][2]
The Romantic Touch[3]
Billed height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1]
Billed weight 219 lb (99 kg)[2]
Billed from Los Angeles, California[2]
Boston, Massachusetts
Trained by Spike Dudley
"Brutal" Bob Evans
Debut March 7, 2006[1]

Matthew Marinelli (born March 20, 1985),[1] or better known by his ring name Matt Taven, is an American professional wrestler currently signed by Ring of Honor.

Taven has competed in Ring of Honor since 2012, most recently as a member of The Kingdom, as well as performing across the Northeastern United States independent circuit. Taven was the winner of ROH's 2013 Top Prospect Tournament, is a former one-time World Television Champion,[4] and held the ROH World Tag Team Championships with Michael Bennett.[5] Taven has also worked for the Dragon Gate USA, Family Wrestling Entertainment, National Wrestling Alliance, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Top Rope Promotions, and World Wrestling Alliance.

Taven and Bennett operate a wrestling school in West Warwick, Rhode Island.[6]

Professional wrestling career

Matt Taven wrestles Vinny Marseglia at a 2015 outdoor event in Rhode Island

Ring of Honor (2010–present)

Taven competed in a few tag team matches over the course of 2010 and 2011, all losing efforts.[7] Taven would receive a Ring of Honor tryout at a TV taping in January 2012. Since that time, he has competed semi-regularly for the promotion. At ROH Boiling Point on August 11th, 2012, Taven was unsuccessful in a four way match, with the winner receiving an ROH contract.[8] In the 2013 Top Prospect Tournament, Taven would go on to win.

With assistance from heel manager Truth Martini, Taven beat TaDarius Thomas in the finals.[4] With that win, Taven was awarded an ROH World Television Championship match against Adam Cole at ROH's 11th Anniversary Show. Taven went on to defeat Cole to win the ROH World Television Championship at the 11th Anniversary Show, establishing himself as a heel after Truth Martini hit Cole in the back of the head with the Book of Truth, allowing Taven to apply the Climax and pick up the win.[9] On April 5 at Supercard of Honor VII, he successfully defended the title against Adam Cole and Matt Hardy.

On April 6th, he would successfully defend the title against ACH. At Border Wars 2013 he would successfully defend the title against Mark Briscoe. On June 22nd at Best in the World 2013, Taven successfully defended the ROH World Television Championship against Jimmy Jacobs and Jay Lethal in a three-way match. On June 23nd, he defeated Eddie Edwards to retain the title. On July 13th at Reclamation Night he defeated Kevin Steen.

On July 27th, he made another successful title defense against Brian Fury. On August 3 at All Star Extravaganza 5, he faced Roderick Strong in a losing effort in the first round of the tournament to determine the new a champion after the ROH World Championship was vacated.. On September 20th, 2013 at Death Before Dishonor XI he lost to Adrenaline Rush (ACH and TaDarius Thomas) and C&C Wrestle Factory (Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander) with Michael Bennett and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) as his partners. On September 21 he successfully defended the title against Jay Lethal. On September 28th at A New Dawn, he successfully defended the title in a three way match against Davey Richards and Roderick Strong. On October 5th at Charm City Challenge, he retained the title against Cedric Alexander. On October 26th at Glory by Honor XII, he teamed with reDRagon and Adam Cole in an Eight-man elimination tag team match where he was eliminated by Michael Elgin. On November 2nd at The Golden Dream, he successfully defended the title against Adam Page.

On November 15th at Pursuit Night, he retained the title against Zach Gowen. On December 14th at Final Battle 2013, Taven lost the ROH World Television Championship to Tommaso Ciampa. Matt Taven's reign as World Television Champion was the longest in the company's history to date at 287 days and he accrued the most title defenses in an individual reign at 12.[10] At ROH's wrestling's finest show Taven fired Truth Martini. Later that night he unsuccessfully challenged Tommaso Ciampa for the ROH World Television Championship in a three way match that also included Jay Lethal. At the 12th Anniversary Show, he defeated Silas Young. On March 7th Raising The Bar Day 1, he unsuccessfully challenged Adam Cole for the ROH World Championship.[11] On March 22nd at Flyin' High, he unsuccessfully challenged Tommaso Ciampa for the ROH World Television Championship.

Taven then entered a feud with Jay Lethal, unsuccessfully challenging him for the ROH World Television Championship on 3 different occasions. The first was at Global Wars in a Four corner survival match that also included Tommaso Ciampa and Silas Young. At War of the Worlds he teamed with ACH and Tommaso Ciampa to defeat Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) and Takaaki Watanabe.

The second was at Best in the World in a singles match.[12] The last was at Field of Honor on August 15th, where he was defeated by Lethal in a Steel Cage match after interference by Truth Martini. On August 19th, 2014, Taven announced he had decided not to re-sign with ROH and would be leaving the promotion.[13] This was actually just an angle used to write Taven off of television. He would make his return at September 27th tapings where he would align himself with The Kingdom and help them attack The Briscoe Brothers, thus cementing his heel status.

On October 11th at Champions vs All Stars, he defeated The Romantic Touch. At Survival of the Fittest- Day 1 on November 7th, Taven teamed with Michael Bennett to defeat the Briscoe Brothers. The next day at Survival of the Fittest- Day 2 he was defeated by ACH.[14] On November 15th at Glory By Honor XIII, he teamed with Michael Bennett where they unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[15]

On September 18th, 2015, at All Star Extravaganza VII, Taven and Bennett won the ROH World Tag Team Championship by defeating The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) in a three-way match.[5] They lost the title to War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) on December 18th at Final Battle.[16] During the match Taven suffered a knee injury, tearing an anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus and rupturing a lateral meniscus, which forced him to undergo a four and a half hour surgery on January 12th, 2016. He was expected to be sidelined for nine months.[17] On September 18th, 2016 Taven returned to announce that him and his Kingdom would be entering the ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament but wouldn't announce his partners. On a match taped on October 1st, 2016 for the October 23rd, 2016 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, Matt Taven recruited TK O'Ryan and Vinny Marseglia to join The Kingdom and defeated Bullet Club to advance to the semi-finals of the ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship Tournament. On the November 19th episode of ROH TV The Kingdom defeated Team CMLL (Hechicero, Okumura and Ultimo Guerrero) to advance to the finals at the Final Battle 2016 PPV. On December 2, The Kingdom defeated Jay White, Kushida and Lio Rush in the finals to become the inaugural ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions.[18]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2014–2015)

Taven (left) and Michael Bennett (center) with Maria Kanellis (right) as the IWGP Tag Team Champions in July 2015

Through ROH's relationship with NJPW, from November 23 to December 5, 2014, Taven and Michael Bennett took part in New Japan Pro Wrestling's 2014 World Tag League.[19] The team finished their round-robin block with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals.[20] Taven and Bennett returned to NJPW on April 5, 2015, at Invasion Attack 2015, where they defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[21][22] On July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Kingdom lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Bullet Club in their first defense.[23] Taven and Bennett returned to NJPW in November to take part in the 2015 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of two wins and four losses, failing to advance from their block.[24]

Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2016)

Through ROH's working relationship with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Taven made his debut for the Mexican promotion on September 9, 2016, which also marked his return from his knee injury. On September 13, Taven was defeated by Rush in Arena México.

In wrestling

Taven performing a missile dropkick on Sebastian Suave
Taven (left) and Michael Bennett performing Hail Mary on Sebastian Suave

Championships and accomplishments

Taven with Michael Bennett and Maria Kanellis, with the ROH World Tag Team Championship
Taven as ROH Television Champion.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CageMatch". CageMatch. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Matt Taven and Kasey Ray". Chaotic Wrestling. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  3. ↑ "Show results - 6/7 ROH in Collinsville, Ill.: Cole defends ROH Title, Tag Title main event, final show pre-BITW PPV". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2014-06-08. Retrieved 2014-06-08.
  4. 1 2 "ROH TV RESULTS: 2/23/13". ROHwrestling.com. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Caldwell, James (2015-09-18). "Caldwell's ROH ASE PPV report 9/18: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of All-Star Extravaganza - Jay Lethal defends two titles, ANX, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  6. ↑ "New ROH PPV bout, Omega-ROH update and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Taven's ROH history". www.profightdb.com. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  8. ↑ "ROH's "Boiling Point" Results...". ROHwrestling.com. Retrieved 1 March 2013.
  9. ↑ Carapola, Stuart (2 March 2013). "Complete ROH 11th Anniversary Show iPPV coverage: two title changes hands, SCUM doubles in size, and a ton of great wrestling as ROH presents their best overall event in years". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2 March 2013.
  10. ↑ "ROH World Television Championship".
  11. ↑ "Complete coverage of ROH Raising The Bar: Cole defeats Hero". ROH Wrestling.
  12. ↑ Carapola, Stuart (14 December 2013). "Complete coverage of ROH Final Battle 2014: Eddie Edwards' mystery partner ends with a shocking twist, a new champion is crowned, a familiar face returns, and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
  13. ↑ Namako, Jason (19 August 2014). "Matt Taven announces his departure from ROH". Wrestleview. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  14. ↑ "Complete coverage of ROH Survival of the Fittest 2014: Adam Cole wins Survival of the Fittest". ROH Wrestling.
  15. ↑ "Complete coverage of ROH Glory By Honor XIII: Jay Briscoe defeats ACH". ROH Wrestling.
  16. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (December 18, 2015). "ROH Final Battle 2015 live results: Jay Lethal vs. AJ Styles, Roderick Strong vs. Bobby Fish". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved December 19, 2015.
  17. ↑ "ROH star out nine months after surgery & more Ring of Honor news". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved January 12, 2016.
  18. 1 2 Powell, Jason (December 2, 2016). "12/2 Powell's ROH Final Battle 2016 live review: Adam Cole vs. Kyle O'Reilly for the ROH Title, Cody Rhodes vs. Jay Lethal, Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay vs. Bobby Fish vs. Dragon Lee for the ROH TV Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
  19. ↑ "『World Tag League 2014』出場チーム＆公式戦が決定！ 棚橋はヨシタツとタッグ結成！ 桜庭、AJ、柴田、ROH、NWAも参戦!". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). November 11, 2014. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  20. ↑ "World Tag League 2014". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "Invasion Attack 2015". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  22. ↑ "Show results - 4/5 NJPW "Invasion Attack" in Tokyo, Japan: A.J. Styles defends IWGP World Title in main event, ROH tag teams win both Tag Titles, Bullet Club in action, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. April 5, 2015. Retrieved April 5, 2015.
  23. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (July 4, 2015). "New Japan Dominion live coverage from Osaka Jo Hall - Styles vs. Okada for IWGP title, Nakamura vs. Goto for IC title and notes on biggest event since the Tokyo Dome, plus all G-1 main events". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved July 5, 2015.
  24. ↑ "NJPW World Tag League Results & Standings". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on December 9, 2015. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  25. ↑ "ROH TELEVISION REPORT: CIAMPA IN ACTION; CORINO WANTS ANSWERS; BRISCOES VERSUS WOLVES; AND MORE By Richard Trionfo".
  26. 1 2 "RING OF HONOR TELEVISION REPORT: IS STEEN DONE WITH SCUM?; TELEVISION TITLE MATCH; BENNETT/STRONG; THE ANTE HAS BEEN UPPED FOR BORDER WARS By Richard Trionfo".
  27. ↑ "KEVIN STEEN'S RING OF HONOR FAREWELL: 7/19 ROH IN DEARBORN, MI REPORT By Jason Harper".
  28. ↑ "YOUNG BUCKS VS. HARDYS: 8/2 NORTHEAST WRESTLING IN FISHKILL, NY RESULTS By Walter Price".
  29. ↑ "World Tag League 2014". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved November 28, 2014.
  30. ↑ "SPOILERS FROM NEW JAPAN INVASION ATTACK By Richard Trionfo".
  31. ↑ "I HEART WRESTLING 2: LOOKING AT RING OF HONOR By Jilly J.".
  32. 1 2 3 4 "Titles". CageMatch. Retrieved 2012-09-11.
  33. ↑ "Title Histories". Chaotic Wrestling. Retrieved 2012-09-07.
  34. ↑ "Chaotic Wrestling Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 2014-05-28.
  35. ↑ Johnson, Mike (2013-10-18). "Hell Freezes Over: complete ICW coverage from NYC". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved 2013-10-19.
  36. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2013". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2013-08-22.

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