Matt Sydal
Matthew Joseph Korklan, better known by the ring name Matt Sydal, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling. He is also known for his tenure with WWE from 2008 to 2014 under the ring name Evan Bourne.
Prior to signing with AEW, Sydal wrestled in WWE as Evan Bourne, and was a one-time WWE Tag Team Champion, with Kofi Kingston. Sydal is known for his time in Impact Wrestling where he is a former Impact Grand Champion and Impact X Division Champion, and in Ring of Honor, where he is a former ROH World Tag Team Champion. He has also wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and a one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion.
Korklan has also wrestled on the independent circuit, for promotions including NWA Midwest, IWA-Mid South, winning both singles and tag team championships. He also wrestled for the short-lived Wrestling Society X. Beginning in 2005, he wrestled for Dragon Gate in Japan, and won the Open the Brave Gate Championship in early 2007.
Korklan is known for his dynamic technical cruiserweight hybrid style of lucha libre and puroresu styles of wrestling and was named the Wrestling Observer Newsletters Best Flying Wrestler in 2008.
Professional wrestling career
Training and independent circuit (2000–2007)
Korklan was on his high school wrestling team, he did Taekwondo when he was younger as well. While a senior in high school, Korklan began training with the St. Louis, Missouri-based Gateway Championship Wrestling promotion. After three months of training, Korklan began wrestling for GCW in October 2000, becoming the first person under the age of 18 to receive a wrestler's license in Missouri. Prior to this, Korklan had briefly wrestled as Lance Sydal in the backyard wrestling promotion, Saint Peters Wrestling Organization.In 2003, Korklan formed a stable in GCW, known as Operation: Shamrock. In addition, Korklan and fellow stable member Billy McNeil formed a tag team. Operation: Shamrock maintained a feud with the villainous Ministry of Hate faction, led by Nikki Strychnine.
Korklan debuted in Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South in November 2003, combining two of his old ring names into a new one, Matt Sydal. He won his first championship, the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship, on January 17, 2004, by defeating J.C. Bailey. Sydal lost the title to Delirious on June 26, 2004. Sydal joined NWA Midwest that same year. On July 30, he defeated Justin Kage for the NWA Midwest X Division Championship, which he lost to Delirious after holding it for nearly a year. Sydal teamed with Daizee Haze in an intergender tag team match against Delirious and MsChif, of which the male wrestler on the winning team would become champion. Haze pinned MsChif to win the title for Sydal. Sydal lost the title to Jaysin Strife roughly four months later before leaving the promotion.
Sydal wrestled several top independent stars during his time as a regular in IWA. He lost three matches to A.J. Styles during a short-lived feud. He also faced CM Punk, Chris Sabin and Nate Webb. On September 24, 2005, Sydal won the fifth Ted Petty Invitational tournament, defeating El Generico, Tyler Black, and Sabin to reach the final match, where he defeated Kevin Steen and Arik Cannon.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003–2005)
Sydal wrestled on Total Nonstop Action Wrestling 's first monthly pay-per-view event, Victory Road. He participated in a twenty-man X Division Gauntlet for the Gold match. Sydal was a candidate in an online poll to determine who would meet Christopher Daniels for the TNA X Division Championship at Sacrifice, but was not chosen.Ring of Honor (2004–2007)
Sydal debuted in Ring of Honor at Reborn: Stage One on April 23, 2004, defeating his nemesis, Delirious. Following a brief feud with Trent Acid, Sydal teamed with Fast Eddie Vegas as The Air Devils, a name chosen by ROH fans. They only teamed once, on February 25, 2005, at 3rd Anniversary: Part 2, defeating The Ring Crew Express. After the match, Vegas turned on Sydal and joined the heel stable, The Embassy. On August 12, Sydal and Haze joined Austin Aries, Roderick Strong and Jack Evans in Generation Next, a stable in the midst of a feud with The Embassy. In late 2005, Haze turned on Sydal, leaving him and Generation Next and joining The Embassy. Generation Next fought The Embassy in several multi-man tag matches, culminating in a Steel Cage Warfare match on December 3, which Generation Next won.After wrestling A.J. Styles at Hell Freezes Over, the two teamed to unsuccessfully challenge Sydal's Generation Next stablemates, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Sydal also teamed with Samoa Joe and Jack Evans to chase the title. Sydal went to the finals of the 2006 Survival of the Fittest tournament, before losing to Delirious. Sydal and Delirious renewed their rivalry in ROH, wrestling several matches in mid-2006.
After several matches against each other in 2006, Sydal teamed with Christopher Daniels in another attempt to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship. They feuded with the champions, The Kings of Wrestling, before winning the championship at Dethroned. Sydal and Daniels successfully defended the title against CIMA and Shingo, and former champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong, before losing it to The Briscoe Brothers at the Fifth Year Festival: Chicago. During their title reign, Sydal developed a cocky, heelish attitude. After unsuccessful attempts to regain the title, Sydal joined Larry Sweeney's heel stable Sweet n' Sour Inc.. At Man Up, Sydal wrestled his final match for ROH, losing to long-time rival Delirious.
Dragon Gate and Wrestling Society X (2006–2007)
Sydal began touring Japan with Dragon Gate in May 2006. There, he aligned with CIMA, Don Fuji, and Jack Evans to form the stable New Blood Generation International. He also became a part of CIMA's Typhoon stable. At Wrestlejam, Sydal teamed with Generation Next stablemate Roderick Strong to win the $10,000 Tag Team Challenge.On February 12, 2007, Sydal won the Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship from Masato Yoshino, becoming the first gaijin to hold the championship. He held it for just over a month, successfully defending it against Yoshino in Hyogo and against Austin Aries at Ring of Honor's Fifth Year Festival: Dayton. He dropped the title to Genki Horiguchi on March 25.
Sydal was a part of the short-lived MTV promotion, Wrestling Society X, where he competed as a heel against Jack Evans, Scorpio Sky and the Human Tornado. He began a feud with Syxx-Pac over Sydal's valet and on-screen girlfriend Lizzy Valentine, but WSX folded before they ever had a match.
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE (2007-2014)
Developmental territories (2007–2008)
Following the expiration of his WSX contract and the close of the promotion, Korklan signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment. Sydal debuted in Ohio Valley Wrestling at its October 10, 2007 TV taping, defeating Jamin Olivencia. In December, Sydal defeated Mike Kruel to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship. On February 7, 2008, WWE announced it had ended its affiliation with OVW. As a result, Sydal lost the OVW Heavyweight Championship to Jay Bradley.Sydal joined WWE's new developmental territory Florida Championship Wrestling, debuting on March 22, 2008, and defeating TJ Wilson. He was then called up to WWE's main roster.
Singles competition (2008–2011)
Sydal made his debut for the ECW brand on June 3, 2008, as a face character. He lost a match by countout to Shelton Benjamin, after he was thrown at guest commentator Kofi Kingston. The following week on ECW, he was renamed as Evan Bourne, and teamed with Kofi Kingston to defeat Benjamin and Mike Knox. In the following weeks, Bourne defeated Matt Striker, Nunzio, and Chavo Guerrero Jr., using the shooting star press as his finishing maneuver.At Cyber Sunday in October, WWE fans chose Bourne to face Matt Hardy for the ECW Championship. He was pinned after Hardy performed a Twist of Fate on him. Two days later, during a six-man tag match on ECW, Bourne landed a dive from the ring on his right ankle, dislocating it and tearing his deltoid ligament. Surgery was not necessary, but Bourne was not medically cleared to return to the ring until March 17. On December 8, he won the "Best Finishing Maneuver" Slammy award for his shooting star press.
On June 29, Bourne was traded to the Raw brand, and made his debut that night as the first of three wrestlers in a Gauntlet match against WWE Champion Randy Orton. On the November 2 episode of Raw, Bourne lost a United States Championship match to The Miz. On the December 29 episode of ECW, he defeated Mike Knox in an "ECW Homecoming" match to qualify for the "Homecoming Battle Royal", which would decide the opponent for ECW Champion Christian at the Royal Rumble.
Bourne lost a non-title match to WWE Champion Sheamus on the January 4, 2010, episode of Raw. The following week on ECW, he competed in the "Homecoming Battle Royal" but was the first man eliminated. On the March 8 episode of Raw, he defeated William Regal to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania XXVI, which was won by Jack Swagger.
The May 31, 2010 episode of Raw opened with Bourne being assaulted by Edge, after Bourne proposed Edge put his spot in the WWE Championship match at Fatal 4-Way on the line in a match. Later in the show, John Cena chose Bourne to replace his scheduled tag team partner, Randy Orton, in a match against Edge and Sheamus. Bourne pinned Sheamus to earn the victory for his team. Two weeks later, Bourne defeated Chris Jericho by disqualification. Jericho had threatened the referee and attacked Bourne while he was in the ropes. At Fatal 4-Way, he pinned Jericho in a rematch. The following night on Raw, Jericho challenged Bourne to a third match, stating he would leave WWE if he lost; Jericho pinned Bourne to win the match and stay with the company. On the July 5 Raw, Bourne teamed with Randy Orton to defeat Jericho and Edge. Bourne competed in the Money in the Bank ladder match at Money in the Bank on July 18, but lost.
On September 19, at Night of Champions, Bourne teamed with Mark Henry in the Tag Team Turmoil match for the WWE Tag Team Championship. They were the final team eliminated, by Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes. On the October 11 Raw, he lost a match to CM Punk, and was subsequently assaulted. This assault was the storyline reason to remove Bourne from television. In reality, he had shoulder surgery.
Bourne returned on the February 28, 2011 episode of Raw, defeating Sheamus after Sheamus was attacked by Triple H before the match. On May 23, he began feuding with Jack Swagger, with the two trading victories on several episodes of Raw. Bourne then defeated Swagger at WWE Capitol Punishment to end the feud.