Welcome back to the Indy Spotlight! This week we take a look at a 6 year pro with multiple accomplishments and even more personal goals still to reach in his young career. Another graduate Mr. Hughes at the WWA4 Wrestling School in Atlanta, GA. From his wrestling influences to some of his greatest battles this week the spotlight shines on…….
Hometown: “I am originally from Las Vegas, NV.”
Height: 5’10”
Weight: 198lbs
Years Pro: 6
Wrestling Influences: “Macho Man” Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Christian, William Regal, Edge. “I could go on and on. In some way shape or form, these men and many others all helped me become the wrestler I am today. At least, I’d like to think so anyway.”
Favorite Opponent(s): “My absolute favorite opponent to date is a gentleman by the name of Joey O’Riley. I’ve had more matches with him than any other opponent. He’s the Ricky Steamboat to my Ric Flair, the Rock to my Stone Cold, the Hogan to my Randy Savage. My favorite matches have been against him and some of the best stories I’ve told in and out of the ring have involved him. Outside of Joey, I love doing battle with Alex Castle and Christian Rose. I also must mention Brandon Espinosa and Ace Hawkins who have given me a run for my money all year long in 2012.”
Favorite Matches: “My favorite match I’ve wrestled was against Joey O’Riley at IWA Unlimited’s “Deep Impact” event in December 2011. I believe we ended up doing better as it pertains to our actual quality of work, but on that night, in my opinion, we hit about as close to a perfect match as I can imagine and I am my own worst critic and blast my own work on the regular. But on that night, it clicked. I love it.”
“I’ve also been afforded the opportunity to wrestle in a 60 minute tag team Iron Man match at IWA Unlimited’s “WAR 2011” event in February 2011. Myself and Alex Castle as the Kentucky Buffet vs. The Top Guns of Christian Rose and Danny Cannon. A little secret being that those are three of my best friends I’ve ever had and to share that with them was amazing. Everyone in the company thought we were going to fail, people elsewhere thought we would fail and nobody gave us a snowball’s chance in hell to succeed. But we did. The crowd was with us the entire 60 minutes and at the end of the match, I knew we had proved everyone wrong. I hate referencing “my haters” or using that phrase, but to prove them wrong and having a stellar match was one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve ever had in my life.”
Favorite Matches(Not involved in): “The match that made me a fan was Ric Flair vs. Randy Savage at WrestleMania VIII. It’s SO sound. Were both men in matches that technically were better? Absolutely. But I could tell you, move for move, the entire match that these two had here. It’s so excellent. Beyond that match, my actual “favorites” are interchangable. It honestly depends on what day of the week it is. There’s SO many unbelievable matches that have impacted and affected me in a positive light that it’d take all day to name them.”
Promotions Worked: “That is a LENGHTY list, but rather than list the hundreds upon hundreds of promotions I’ve worked for, I’ll reference the ones I’m primarilty working with at the moment. All American Pro Wrestling, DREAMWAVE, Scott County Wrestling, United Wrestling Coalition, Insanity Pro Wrestling, Chaos Pro Wrestling.”
Titles Held: DynastyPRO Heavyweight Champion, GAW Heavyweight Champion, GAW Central States Champion (3 times),IWAU Tag Team Champions [with Alex Castle] (3 times),WPPF Heavyweight Champion (2 times),WPPF New Wave Champion (2 times), PWP Tag Team Champions [with Christian Rose], Current UWC Tag Team Champions [with Alex Castle], IWAU Heavyweight Champion , AAPW Tag Team Champions [with Christian Rose], IWAU Club Champion
Trained By: “I received my initial training with Curtis Hughes and Elix Skipper at the WWA4 Wrestling School in Atlanta, GA (WWA4.com). Following the completion of the initial training, I have continued with additional training alongside( Now, watch your feet, because I’m dropping some names here) Davey Richards, Bryan Danielson, Tony Kozina, Kyle O’Reilly, Tracy Smothers, Dingo, Chris Hero, Akira Tozawa & Naruki Doi. I believe that your training never technically concludes. I fancy myself a student of the game and always want to learn. I’ll do a 4 hour seminar even if I only learn one new thing. Many others should have the same mindset, in my eyes.”
How did you get started in Wrestling? “I’m originally from Las Vegas, so I drove across the country to Atlanta, GA and enrolled into the WWA4 school to train with Mr. Hughes and Elix Skipper. It was rough. Atlanta is no joke. It can be extremely hard to find quality employment down there, but my main goal was to learn wrestling and be as good as I could be. Honestly, I sucked. But I worked my ass off to get better and take as much knowledge as I could. Many may question WWA4, but I would vouch for it 100%. Besides myself, so many successful students have come from there. Jonathan Gresham who is a standout in Zero One in Japan and has wrestled extensively for CHIKARA and CZW, AR Fox who is a current Dragon Gate USA standout and Tag Team Champion, Uhaa Nation who exploded to superstardom in DGUSA and many others. Hell, even Heath Slater started with Mr. Hughes’s education.”
Year In Review: Matt began this year capturing the vacant Zero One USA Tag Team Titles as part of “The Kentucky Buffet’ in January for Zero One USA Supreme and has now held the belts for nearly one year. Cage added to his tag championships, winning the AAPW Tag Team Titles with Christian Rose defeating Heath Hatton in a Handicap Match. Cage & Rose held the belts until October 20th before losing them to Brandon Espinosa and Ace Hawkins in a Ladder Match at the 6th Anniversary Show. Those two teams had a heated rivalry for the duration of the year at AAPW. In March, Cage added the IWAU Club Title in and held it until June, losing it to Cash Bordin. Matt the moved on to Chaos Pro Wrestling and had a great feud with Zakk Sawyers in Metropolis, IL that will wrap up in a Maximum Chaos match where Sawyers meets Cage. 2012 has seen Matt Cage face many rising stars and talented athletes such as ACH in June at IWAU’s 1UP tournament, DGUSA mainstay Ricochet at CPW in October and a series of ladder matches with Joey O’ Riley. Cage will appear in the upcoming Wrestling Road Diaries 2 taking on Colt Cabana, Cliff Compton, and Luke Gallows. In July, Cage left IWAU after almost three years due to personal and professional reasons. After leaving IWAU Cage appeared for Resistance PRO to take on the legendary Rock & Roll Express. Continuing to add to his resume he debuted for DREAMWAVE wrestling as a singles competitor in October.
Mission Statement: “Having had a taste of DGUSA in 2011, a personal goal for 2013 is to make it back there on a more permanent basis and also wrestle for AAW in Berywn. I’m hungry and ready to make my name known on a broader scale.”
Interact with Matt via twitter or Facebook at the links below and if you’re interested in bringing him to your promotion you can find his booking contacts below as well:
Twitter – @proudcaucasian
Facebook – facebook.com/themattcage
For Bookings: Email mattcagewrestling@yahoo.com
Do you have anything to add about Matt Cage? Is this your first time learning about this talented young indy athlete? Leave a comment or find me on twitter @the1andonlyJer. Also if you are an Indy talent and are interested in being featured at PWPonderings get in touch with me!
