Matt Cross

Matt Cross
Information
Ring names	The 18th Amendment Matt Cross M-Dogg 20 Raptor Spartan 3000 Spartan 3000 B.C. Son of Havoc
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)
Weight	183 lbs (83 kg)
Born	December 31, 1980 (1980-12-31)
Birth Place	Cleveland, Ohio
Resides	Cleveland, Ohio
Billed from	Cleveland, Ohio
Trainer	J.T. Lightning Cleveland All Pro
Debut	April 25, 1999

Matthew Capiccioni (December 31, 1980) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring names M-Dogg 20, Matt Cross and Son of Havoc. In addition to performing on the independent circuit, Capiccioni has also worked for prominent promotions such as Ring of Honor, Chikara and the short-lived Wrestling Society X. His main character is that of an adherent of the "straight edge" lifestyle, a culture which he follows in real life. He was also a participant on WWE Tough Enough.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2005)

Capiccioni participated in competitive gymnastics for ten years. In 1999, he won gold medals in both the rings and the vault at the AAU Junior Olympic Games. That same year, he discovered Extreme Championship Wrestling's events and after watching them, decided to start training to become a professional wrestler. Cappicioni was involved in backyard wrestling before enrolling at the Cleveland Pro Wrestling training school under the tutelage of J.T. Lightning. Upon completing his training, he took on the ring name M-Dogg 20, and began competing on the independent circuit for promotions such as Xtreme Pro Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling.

Action Zone Wrestling (2006)

Capiccioni made his debut for the Hawaii-based Action Zone Wrestling on May 31, 2006, in a losing effort to Super Hentai. On June 1, he took part in AZW's "Anniversary Annihilation" event as he teamed up with Society's Rejects to defeat King Makoa and The Hotbodies in a six-man elimination match. He later returned to AZW on December 21, 2006 to team up with Super Hentai to defeat DDB and AkuA at "Battleclash II".

Ring of Honor (2006–2008)

Capiccioni, under his M-Dogg 20 ring name, made his debut in Ring of Honor on October 7, 2006 in Detroit as the replacement for Delirious, who fought earlier in the night against the debuting Zach Gowen. Capiccioni did not win the six man mayhem match, but he impressed the crowd and ROH officials enough to would return to ROH in the future. He returned October 27, 2006 in Dayton, Ohio, where he lost in a well-received match with Christopher Daniels. Now under the ring name "Matt Cross", he would later face Daniels in a rematch in Philadelphia on November 4, but Daniels pinned Capiccioni after hitting the Angel's Wings. On December 9, Cross substituted for the injured Matt Sydal and teamed with one half of the World Tag Team Champions Christopher Daniels, and went on to lose to Austin Aries and Roderick Strong in a non-title match.

Following the formation of the No Remorse Corps, Austin Aries asked Cross to be the new member of his new stable. Later that night, Cross teamed with Aries to beat NRC representatives Davey Richards and Roderick Strong. During the course of the match, Cross attempted a springboard moonsault, but landed on the guardrail and sustained a major cut running down his body. He returned to ROH in April 2007, suffering defeats on successive nights against Davey Richards and Shingo Takagi. Aside from that, Cross teamed up with Erick Stevens and Aries and the trio continued to fight against the NRC, including a Philly Street Fight at "Death Before Dishonor V Night 2", where the NRC won.

On October 6 at "Undeniable", Cross was defeated in a tag team match where he teamed with Erick Stevens to take on Davey Richards and Rocky Romero. The stipulation was that whoever was pinned was suspended from ROH for two months and because Cross was pinned, he would be suspended.

UWA Hardcore Wrestling (2006–2008)

At the time Capiccioni was wrestling for ROH, he was also wrestling for UWA Hardcore Wrestling as M-Dogg 20, where he was the reigning Canadian Champion after regaining the title from Puma at the "Return of the Dragon" show on July 28, 2007. Although he missed night one of UWA Hardcore's annual GP tournament, he made a surprise return on the second night of the tournament during the main event steel cage match. M-Dogg 20's return ultimately helped Osiris and Jerry Lynn win the match over the Prohibition Wrestling Alliance, a stable led by his former tag team partner Josh Prohibition. As a stipulation of the match, control of the company reverted from Prohibition back to Osiris, the original owner of the company.

One month later at UWA's "Return of the Phoenix" event, M-Dogg 20 lost the Canadian Championship to Prohibition in a gauntlet match also featuring Rip Impact.

Wrestling Society X (2007)

In 2007, when MTV launched its new wrestling program Wrestling Society X, Capiccioni was signed to the project under his Matt Cross ring name, and he formed a tag team with Teddy Hart called The Filth and the Fury. While the team was featured in the main event of the show's seventh episode, WSX folded after only nine episodes.

Foreign excursion (2007–present)

In May 2007, Capiccioni was booked by the Queens of Chaos promotion in France and he wrestled in front of 72,000 people, which is the 2007 record for a wrestling show. A documentary will be released in 2008 from the event. In 2008, Capiccioni began and continues to wrestle for Pro Wrestling Noah under a masked gimmick known as "The Raptor". Around the same time, he also began competing for the Italy-based Nu-Wrestling Evolution as "Spartan 3000 b.C.", a Spartan warrior inspired by the popular movie 300.

Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin (2009)

On November 21, 2009, Capiccioni took part in Hulk Hogan's "Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin" tour in Australia under his Spartan 3000 b.C. character. In his first match on tour, he defeated Shannon Moore. On November 24, Moore defeated him in a rematch. At the Sydney leg of the tour, he won the final match between them, a ladder match, and claimed a $25,000 prize.

Chikara (2010)

On April 24, 2010, Capiccioni, under his Matt Cross ring name, made his debut for Philadelphia-based Chikara. In his first match, a four-way elimination match in the Rey de Voladores (King of the Fliers) tournament, Cross defeated Flip Kendrick, Malachi Jackson and Amasis to advance to the finals. The following day Cross was defeated in the finals by Ophidian.

World Wrestling Entertainment (2010–2011)

On July 15, 2010, Capiccioni, under his Matt Cross ring name, had a try out match teaming with Jamen Canseco against The Gate Crashers (Vance Archer and Curt Hawkins) on an edition of WWE Superstars. Cross and Jamen Canseco lost when Archer pinned Cross.

In 2011 Matt Capiccioni joined the cast for the Re-debut of WWE Tough Enough, which premiered on April 4. That same day Capiccioni, along with the rest of the cast, appeared on WWE Raw in a segment with Tough Enough host Stone Cold Steve Austin. He was eliminated from the competition in the second week for not "showing enough" of his in ring skills. This decision was regarded as extremely controversial among fans of Capiccioni, given his phenomenal ability and in-ring experience.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Death From Above (Corkscrew 450° splash)
  • Shooting star press

• Signature moves
  • Cartwheel into an over the top rope corkscrew suicide senton or a suicide plancha
  • Corkscrew shooting star elbow drop
  • Death Star DDT (Shooting star DDT)
  • Urbanizer (Fireman's carry neckbreaker)
  • Japanese arm drag
  • Moonsault
  • Senton
  • Shooting star leg drop
  • Slingshot swinging DDT
  • Split-legged corkscrew moonsault
  • Sunset flip transitioned into a rope hung Boston crab
  • Open Road Cutter (rope bounce cutter)

• Nicknames
  • "The 18th Amendment"
  • "Iron"
  • "M-Dogg"

• Entrance themes
  • "Slam" by ppOnyx (ROH)
  • "Just Another Day In The FLA" by Casey Jones (ROH)
  • "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana by Carl Orff (NWE)

Championships and accomplishments

• Absolute Intense Wrestling
  • AIW Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Josh Prohibition

• Cleveland All-Pro Wrestling
  • CAPW Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • CAPW North American Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Josh Prohibition

• Extreme Ring Action
  • E.R.A Heavyweight Champion (1 time) (Current)

• Far North Wrestling
  • FNW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)

• Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
  • IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• International Wrestling Cartel
  • IWC Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Josh Prohibition

• Lucha Underground
  • Lucha Underground Trios Championship (2 times) – with Angélico and Ivelisse
  • Lucha Underground Trios Championship Tournament 2015 – with Angélico and Ivelisse

• Mid-Ohio Wrestling
  • MOW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)

• NWA Upstate
  • NWA Upstate Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Josh Prohibition

• New Era Pro Wrestling
  • NEPW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
  • NEPW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Josh Prohibition

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #177 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2009

• Pro Wrestling Ohio
  • PWO Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• Union of Independent Professional Wrestlers
  • UNION Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

• UWA Hardcore Wrestling
  • UWA Canadian Championship (2 times)

• Xtreme Pro Wrestling
  • XPW World Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Josh Prohibition

• German Wrestling Federation
  • GWF Berlin Championship (1 time)

External links

• Profile