Lionheart (Matt Thomas)

"Lionheart" Matt Thomas is a wrestler with Ultimate Elite Championship Wrestling (UECW.) After nearly a year away from Pro-Wrestling, Lionheart is making his return against Fallout Champion Vincent Palmer in a Non-Title match.

Before Wrestling
Born March 19, 1985, Lionheart was born as a result of his mother, Sarah Carter, being raped by Telfor nine months earlier. He was raised by Harold Thomas, who came from a long line of wrestlers. The Thomas family carried on the Lionheart legacy, a title passed down from father to son, when the son comes of age. Lionheart grew up in a wealthy environment due to the family saving over the years and lead a happy life. Sarah, happy that she did not have to raise Matt in the lifestyle of Telfor, had married Harold. Harold embraced Matt as his own son, swearing that he and Sarah would never reveal Matt's true parentage. For the most part, Matt lived a normal life until shortly after his thirteenth birthday.

Tragedy
Not long after his thirteenth birthday, Matt and Sarah went to watch Harold compete in a match against an opponent known as: The Demon. As the match went on, unknown to Matt, Harold, and Sarah; The Demon was actually Matt's real father: Telfor. Eventually, Telfor managed to cripple Harold from the neck down in the match, soon after the incident, Harold's lungs began to cease to function. While his father was being taken by the EMTs, Lionheart approached the man responsible for Harold's condition. Lionheart demanded to know how The Demon could do that. Telfor laughed and said Harold would be fine. Before walking away, Telfor lifted up the mask, revealing his face to Lionheart. After three months of fighting, Harold had passed away. Sarah, distraught over Harold's death soon followed a few months later, leaving Matt under the care of the family's Butler, Henry.

Lionheart Begins
A year after his mother's death, Lionheart began his wrestling career with UWF. Lionheart was able to balance high school and wrestling. He scored in the top 25% of his class while winning the United States, Cruiserweight, Rage, and Television titles in UWF. During this time, he made friends with Sanders and Spires, two of his closest friends in the business. It was during his senior year in high school in which he met his deceased wife, Nicole Danvers. In an interview a month before her death, Nicole retold the story publicly:

"I attended a wrestling event five years ago with my friend Alicia. She enjoyed wrestling. I really didn’t see the point of it, but I told her I would go with her. She said there was this really cute wrestler there that didn’t have the whole steroid look because she knew that I didn‘t like overly muscular men. The wrestler she was talking about was Matt. I have to admit, she was right he was cute, but I just shook all those feelings off and watched the show. Well during a segment where Matt and his future opponent were talking back and forth.

''The man comes into the audience and begins to walk over to where Alicia and I were. She was getting excited, but I felt nervous and scared. I was getting a bad vibe from the man. I had no idea what was going on and this guy grabbed me and placed an arm around me. Matt came running into the crowd after him, meanwhile Alicia was trying to hit the guy on the head to let me go, but at that moment, Matt arrived and fought the guy to the back saving me. Now, this was exciting and to have this really cute guy save me was awesome, but that awesome feeling soon turned to horror.''

''After the show, I waited Backstage to see if I could thank Matt for saving me, but that man was there instead. He began to say sexual things to me and I really didn’t want any of that. I could feel him undressing me with his eyes. I felt very uncomfortable, mind you I was underage at this time and it REALLY made me feel uncomfortable. I began to run out a nearby door. The sleaze followed after me. I began to run down a nearby alley screaming for help, but the pervert cornered me and slammed me against the wall. He began to say, and I will never forget the words he said to me:''

"Come on baby, let's have some fun. I seen that you liked it when I was a little rough with you during my match, using you as a hostage."

I begged him to let me go, but…

But he said:

"Sorry, hot stuff, but I am going to enjoy myself tonight."

''After he said that, he…he ripped open my shirt revealing my bra. I felt so dirty. The only thing going through my mind is: I am going to be raped. I am going to be raped and no one will come and stop this pervert. His lecherous eyes looked me up and down as he licked his lips, but it was at that moment that Matt yelled out for him to let me go.''

''The guy turned his head trying to see who it was. I too was trying to see the face of my savior. The guy called out to Matt and Matt came out from the dark and revealed a very angry look. One that I dare not see again. Matt called the man, but the man said that he was going to get some action and asked Matt to join in. My eyes grew in horror at the thought of Matt being a good guy earlier in the evening coming out here to join this man in raping me. Matt walked over to us and the man said that he always thought Matt had a dark side. The man smiled at Matt, Matt smiled back. Matt began to laugh as the man did as well, all the while, I was standing there with tears streaming down my face and shaking from fright. I continued to think, I was going to be raped. I looked up at Matt as his face turned serious. That’s when I began to think: He IS going to save me. The man looked at Matt through his laughter and saw a fist flying at his face. The man stopped laughing as the fist connected with his face. This caused the man to let me go. I slumped to the ground trying to cover myself as Matt grabbed a trash can and began to beat the man down with it. The man soon fell unconscious. I looked down at him feeling ever so grateful knowing that Matt took him out to save me. Matt walked over to me and went to help me up, but I flinched at first. I have to say the whole ordeal left me a bit jumpy. ''

''So, Matt tried to help me up, but I flinched away. He looked down at me and spoke: ''

"It's okay, he isn't going to be bugging you anytime soon."

''I could see the warmth of his smile as he held his hand out for me. I tired to smile back as I took his hand. His grip was firm but gentle. I felt safe with him. As soon as I stood up, I wrapped my arms around him. I thanked him as tears ran down my face. I told him I didn’t know what would happen if he didn’t get involved. He said he knows what would have happened and he would not wish that on anyone. Matt noticed that the man had ripped my shirt open. He took his coat off and handed it to me. I was caught off guard by this. I had forgotten that my shirt had been ripped and he was offering me his coat to cover myself. He didn’t make any lewd comments or ogle my breast. He was ever the gentleman. I took the coat from him and noticed he was in a suit, not quite a tuxedo, but the thought hit me that he was my tuxedo mask. He asked if I had a cell phone, silly me, all I could do was nod because I was captivated by him. Matt called the police and alerted them to the man and they were on their way. While we waited for the police, we began to talk. He said he recognized me from the show. I told him I was the one that the man took hostage in the segment or match. He made a joke to try and cheer me up, he said:''

"I am saving you all over the place tonight, aren’t I?"

''What he didn’t know was what it meant to me to have him save me. I said to him in response: "I guess you are my own personal hero."''

''He smiled at me and Held out his hand. He introduced himself and asked me for my name. I took his hand and replied. He then called me by my name and said that this just didn’t seem like my night, but in a sense it was. I was able to meet the man I have always dreamt of, which greatly outweighed everything that I went through. He insisted on walking me home even though I lived down the street a few blocks. The police arrived and we gave our statements. The police took the man away leaving Matt and I still in the alley. We began to walk to my house, but as we did Matt made mention of something that he wanted to ask me, but was thinking it may have been a bad time. I asked him what he wanted to ask. He was wondering if I wanted to get a cup of coffee with him before taking me home. He took my hand and looked me in the eyes. At that moment, we both felt a spark between the two of us. I of course said yes and went with him. We had been together ever since."''

Sabbatical from Wrestling
With that experience, Lionheart became weary with wrestling, feeling like he had to live up to Harold's legacy. Nicole convinced Lionheart to give college a try. So, for five years Lionheart and Nicole enrolled in their respective majors. Lionheart majored in Criminal Justice, while Nicole majored in Psychology. During their studies, Lionheart had proposed to Nicole, asking her to marry him. She accepted joyfully as they soon prepared to graduate. Upon graduating, Lionheart began to long for the ring, Nicole understood and Lionheart soon signed with UECW.

Return to Wrestling (UECW)
Lionheart signed with UECW at the end of May 2008, where he was poised to make his return to the world of Professional Wrestling and be reunited by his friends: Sanders and Spires.

June 2008
On his first night back inside of the ring, Lionheart managed to defeat Vessel with his Liontamer submission move, advancing to the semifinals to crown the UECW Champion. However, Lionheart fell to Kazan in the semifinals after being powerbombed through a table. The following week, Lionheart faced Kazan in a Last Man Standing match to determine who went on to the PPV to face newly crowned UECW Champion, Drake DeMarco. After a hard fought match, it was Kazan that walked away with the win. During the following week, Lionheart came face to face with the man that had crippled Harold, UECW's new Vice President: Telfor. A few days before Lionheart was set to face Alex Storm in a match to determine the first UECW No-Limits Champion, Lionheart confronted Telfor about that night. Showing Lionheart remorse over his actions, Telfor told Lionheart that it was him that suggested Lionheart to compete for the title. On the same week, Nicole was to compete in a match against Drake DeMarco's girlfriend: Katrina Sinclair, in a Briefcase on a Pole match, in which if Nicole won, then Lionheart would have a future World Title opportunity anytime he wanted. Lionheart helped Nicole in preparing for her match, while training for his upcoming title opportunity. While Nicole was outmatched by Katrina, Lionheart couldn't stand by and watch any further harm be met on her, so he ran from the back and Superkicked Katrina while the referee was knocked out. While out there, Lionheart climbed the pole, pulling the briefcase down and laying it next to Nicole, giving her the win and him a future title opportunity. Later on in the main event, Lionheart battled Alex Storm in a hellacious match for the No-Limits Championship. In the end, Lionheart connected with a Drop-Toe Hold onto a Steel Chair and pinned Storm to win the title. Leading up to his Steel Cage/Ladder Match for the No-Limits Championship, Lionheart had to deal with Nicole's sister: Alexandra Danvers. Lionheart and Nicole returned to their hotel from the show in Los Angeles to find Lexi waiting for them, going so far as to invite them to her movie premiere. Nicole soon became suspicious of her sister, accusing her of trying to steal Lionheart. It is revealed that she was in fact doing so, but after a heated conversation between the sisters, things were worked out. At his title defense, Lionheart learned of Telfor's true nature as he was poised to retain his title and Telfor instructed the special enforcer to knock the ladder over, causing Lionheart to bust his head on the cage. After the match, Telfor taunted the fallen Lionheart and Nicole before returning to the back.

July 2008
On the first Havoc after Revenge, Telfor announced that the following week, Nicole would face Katrina Sinclair in a rematch with Drake DeMarco as the referee. During Drake's match against Axle Vengeance to crown the Havoc Champion, Nicole tried to get involved, but wound up fighting Katrina. Nicole got the better of Katrina, only to fall victim to a kick by Drake. Lionheart had arrived at the arena too late to prevent the attack, but went with Nicole and Lexi to the hospital, where he spotted Telfor, who had been hit in the head with a steel chair. Lionheart entered Telfor's room, where he began to interrogate Telfor as to why he hates him and his family. Telfor began to tell the truth, but felt it was too soon to tell Lionheart. Lionheart learned that if Nicole lost her match against Katrina, then she would be forced to go on a date with Telfor, but if she won, then Lionheart would face Drake for the title. Lionheart faced Stony LaRue in a Semi-Final Match for the Television Title, walking away with the win after the Liontamer. However, Nicole wasn't as lucky at the end of the night. Katrina was able to defeat Nicole with a little distraction from Drake, meaning that she had to go on a date with Telfor at the ppv. At the PPV, Telfor took Nicole out on the date, while Lionheart and Lexi remained at the arena. Telfor and Nicole conversed back and forth in regards to Lionheart trusting her, but it came down to Telfor's coercion that forced Nicole to obey his words. Meanwhile, Lionheart and Lexi argued about what was happening onn the date, but they eventually apologized to one-another, but when Lexi tried to kiss Lionheart, he left the room. At the end of the night, Drake DeMarco had just defeated Takashi Inmetsu to retain his World Title in an insane Japanese Deathmatch, when Lionheart walked out, cashing in his title shot at that very moment. It came down to Drake stepping on a C4 mine on the mat that gave Lionheart the win and his first World Title. On the last Havoc of the month, Lionheart faced Iceman in a match to determine the Television Champion, however due to outside interference from a pair of masked men, the match ended in a No-Contest. After the Damage had been done, they unmasked themselves to be Sanders and Spires. Before all of this went down, Telfor and Drake began to plot revenge on Lionheart, planning how Drake would get his rematch.

August 2008
Lionheart should have felt like he was on top of the world after winning the World Title from Drake, but it was the beginning of the end of his relationship to Nicole after her "date" with Telfor. Lionheart was scheduled to face UECW United States Champion, X-Man in a non-title match. While preparing for the match, Nicole could see what Telfor was talking about in his manipulative words. Lionheart was close to victory in his match against X-Man, but Drake DeMarco ran down to the ring and nailed Lionheart with X-Man's title, costing Lionheart the match. Also on the same show, Nicole competed in a Swimsuit contest, in which she won. At the end of the night, in a Non-Title match with UECW Champion, Axle Vengeance; Drake DeMarco was about to seize victory after some unexpected interference from Joker, when Lionheart ran down to the ring with a Kendo Stick, nailing both Drake and Joker with the Kendo Stick. After Lionheart's attack, Telfor walked out making a match between Axle and Lionheart against Joker and Drake, next week. During the week, Lionheart was in the middle of a radio interview, when Telfor called into the program. Telfor taunted Lionheart with compromising photos of Nicole from the night of his "date" with Nicole. Lionheart returned to his and Nicole's place and confronted her about the pictures. She calimed that they were doctored, but Lionheart didn't realize that until it was too late. Nicole had left Lionheart to return home. Lionheart and Axle had defeated Joker and Drake after Drake nailed Lionheart in the head with his World Title belt. Now seperated, Lionheart and Nicole had to prepare for the PPV seperatley. Nicole was getting ready to compete in a match to crown the first UECW Women's Champion against Candy, Katrina Sinclair, and Daisy. Lionheart had to prepare to defend his championship against Axle Vengeance and the newly reformed Drake DeMarco in a Triple Threat Ladder Match for the Unified UECW Title. During this time Lionheart was able to befriend Shane Michaels and former Nemesis, Drake DeMarco. At the PPV, Nicole was able to pull an upset win by becoming the first UECW Women's Champion, however, Lionheart wasn't as lucky. In his match, Lionheart lost in an insane Ladder Match when Drake DeMarco ascended the ladder to become the unified UECW Champion.

September 2008
Being emotionaly and physically drained, Lionheart and Nicole took a month away from the ring to regain their bearings.

October 2008
The month started off with Nicole losing her championship to Katrina Sinclair, having nothing left in UECW, Nicole left the company. The following week, Lionheart and Telfor came to terms to have a Hell in a Cell Match in which, if Telfor lost, he would be fired. The week before the PPV, Lionheart wrestled John Tolly in a match that Lionheart was about to win, but Telfor abused his power, stopping the match, and costing Lionheart the win. At Cursed, Lionheart and Telfor met inside the Cell. With the help of Juelz and UECW owner, Mike Nelson, Lionheart was able to force Telfor to submit to the Liontamer after a hellacious match that took both men to the edge and back. As per the stipulation, Mike and Juelz fired Telfor, while a group of Superstars surrounded Lionheart, offering conratulations and help. Lionheart appreciated the congrats and help, but he wanted to head backstage on his own power. As he walked down the aisle, Lionheart was stopped by seeing Nicole standing in the aisle with a smile on her face. Lionheart soon began to collapse, only to be caught by Nicole. After the match with Telfor, Lionheart and Nicole decided to get away from Wrestling to work on mending their relationship.

Sabbatical from Wrestling
Lionheart and Nicole escaped the public eye by fleeng the country to Okinawa Japan. The couple spent three months re-dedicating themselves to each other. In the end, the decided to continue their engagement, marrying right before Valentine's day. With their relationship stronger than ever, Lionheart and Nicole returned to the United States to re-enter UECW.

January 2009
Lionheart and Nicole made their return to UECW at the company's Xtreme Rumble PPV in which Lionheart was entered in the rumble match. They didn't return to UECW alone, Telfor managed to return to the company by purchasing some stock interest. Leading up to the rumble match, Lionheart and Nicole re-connected with old friends and met new one's, but the biggest bombshell came when Telfor revealed that he was really Lionheart's father, which through DNA testing had proven true. It was a hard pill to swallow, but Lionheart pushed on for his plans to be in the Rumble. Telfor tried to convince his son that he had turned over a new leaf, but Lionheart wasn;t buying it, opting to shut his father out of his life. In the Rumble match, it came down to Axle Vengeance and Lionheart in the end, but on this night, Axle proved too much for Lionheart, as Axle went on to claim the UECW Title shot.

Week 1: Fleeting Happiness
In the week leading up to Havoc on February 2nd, Lionheart and Nicole were busy finalizing last minute wedding preperations. Nicole had a lunch with her bridal party that consisted of: Candy as her Maid of Honor, Daisy, Tristain Moore, and Lola Heart as Bridesmaids. Around the same time, Lionheart was busy focusing on the wedding as well as wrestling on the same night for the United States Title. The night before the wedding, Candy thew Nicole a Bachelorette party, while Drake, as Lionheart's Best man, threw Lionheart a Bachelor party. While, everyone was enjoying the upcoming nuptials, Telfor was once more plotting to gain a strangle hold on UECW with the help of Dante Von Angelo. On February 2nd, Lionheart conducted his first segment of The Lion's Den with UECW President Juelz as his first guest. Shortly after the segment, Lionheart walked away from his match against Sphinx and United States Champion, Gavin Saint, with the title an hour out from his wedding. At the end of Havoc, Lionheart and Nicole were wedded in a lovely ceremony without interruption. The couple, family, friends, and employees headed to the reception, where tragedy struck.

Week 2: Tragedy
At Lionheart and Nciole's Reception, The newlyweds were reunited With Sanders and Spires, burying the hatchet, the four were friends again...however, disaster struck, when Nicole excused herself to use the bathroom, she didn't return. She was kidnapped by, now incarcerated, Mac Jones. During the week leading up to the February 9th edition of Havoc, Lionheart tried desperatley to search for Nicole. Lionheart wasn't alone in his search, He had the help of: Shane Michaels, Drake DeMarco, Sanders, Spires, Tristain Moore, and his father. However, unable to find any leads between the reception and Havoc, Lionheart pushed on and conducted an interview tih Drake DeMarco in The Lion's Den. Barely being able to ge through the interview, Lionheart was soon confronted from a familiar voice from his past, the voice of Mac Jones. Mac informed Lionheart that he was giving Lionheart a chance to save Nicole by leaving a set of instructions backstage. Lionheart took off to his locker room with Drake not far behind. During this time, Telfor and Tristain began to grow close, causing Drake to dislike Telfor even more. Lionheart had to focus on his match this week against Alex Storm and Flex Johnson with Mickey Showery as his partner. Lionheart was able to focus enough on the match, winning the match with Mickey. By weeks end, desperation began to set in for Lionheart as his search for Nicole grew more and more desperate.