Gary Matthews

Early Life (1976-2001)
Gary David Matthews was born May 29, 1976 in Pittsburgh, PA, to wealthy parents. His father was a corporate CEO and his mother a lawyer. During Gary's third year of life, his father suddenly died of a massive heart attack, leaving him and his mother alone. While they were financially set for life, his mom turned to alcohol and no longer had any interest in her toddler son. When Gary was old enough for school, his mother sent him away to boarding school. Gary was in and out of various boarding schools between kindergarten and high school due to frequent fights with other students. It took him an extra year to complete high school due to the many expulsions, and at age 19, Gary graduated high school and found himself homeless since his mother refused to allow him back in her house.

Gary worked odd jobs and, eventually, enrolled to the University of Pittsburgh. Gary decided to join Pitt's wrestling squad, and was a natural. In fact, he was the top wrestler on Pitt's team, and in his junior year, they made the semi-finals. Although he was their best wrestler, Pitt had a lot of problems with Gary because he was known for cheating when he felt it would benefit him, and he was also known for becoming aggressive when a match did not go his way. Since the team was so successful, they mainly looked the other way. Until the semi-finals, that is. At the semi-final matches, the referee made what Gary considered a very bad call, costing him the match, and Pitt the semi-finals. Gary flew into a rage, and attacked both the referee and his opponent in the match. The incident made national news, and under pressure by the NCAA, Pitt had no alternative but to kick Gary off the squad.

A year later, Gary became an instant millionaire when his estranged mother died of cancer. It was at his mother's funeral that he reunited with his uncle, retired wrestler, Jack "The Hammer" Smith, who offered to train Gary in pro wrestling after Gary graduated college. Two years later, in 1999, Gary started training under his Uncle Jack.

===Indy Wrestling (2001-2008)===