Matt Bentley
Matthew James "Matt" Bentley (born December 10, 1979) is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) by the ring name Michael Shane, later changed to "Maverick" Matt Bentley. He was trained by his cousin, former World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) wrestler Shawn Michaels, and he took the name Michael Shane as a play on his cousin's name. Additionally, Bentley utilizes Michaels' signature superkick maneuver as his own finisher.
Career
After being trained at Shawn Michaels' Texas Wrestling Academy, Bentley competed in Japan for the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling promotion. He also briefly worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) from October 2000 to the final show of the promotion on January 13, 2001. After ECW closed Bentley returned to Japan, where he wrestled under a mask as Omega Verfian. During this time he also made appearances for both World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling in dark matches. He also worked as a jobber on WWE's programs Velocity and Sunday Night Heat. He is also a former Ring of Honor (ROH) wrestler, with his breakout match occurring against Paul London at the Unscripted event in September 2002, that concluded with London hitting the shooting star press off a ladder. ROH later described the match as a "match of the year candidate". He was also a member of The Group faction in ROH, with Samoa Joe and C.W. Anderson, but they were forced to disband after losing to The Prophecy at Night of Grudges on June 14, 2003. He later wrestled for Major League Wrestling, where he was managed by Francine, and returned to Japan to compete for Zero-One Wrestling.
