Spike Dudley

Matthew Jonathan Hyson (born August 13, 1970) is an American retired professional wrestler best known for his tenure in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Spike Dudley.

Prior to WWE, Hyson began performing as Spike Dudley in the 1990s with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW); the Spike Dudley character being a member of The Dudley Brothers.

As part of a storyline, fellow members Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley betrayed the faction to form a separate Dudley Boyz tag team; resulting in Hyson and members being involved in a subsequent feud with the duo.

In May 1993, Hyson entered All Pro Wrestling's "Boot Camp" in Hayward, California to train as a referee and manager.

He quickly began training to be a wrestler as well and spent the next three years wrestling for independent California promotions.

Hyson debuted in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) on September 14, 1996, at When Worlds Collide II.

He was introduced as a fan favorite under the ring name "Little" Spike Dudley, as a part of the Dudley family.

In his debut match, Spike teamed with his storyline brother Bubba Ray Dudley to defeat The Erotic Experience (GQ Gorgeous and Pat Day).

He made his televised debut in ECW on the October 1 episode of Hardcore TV.

His in-ring persona was that of the "runt" of the family.

His initials LSD and finishing move, the Acid Drop were both drug references and, at times, he would stare at his hands waving in front of him as if he were on a trip.

At Crossing the Line Again on February 1, 1997, Bubba turned on the Dudley family by aligning with D-Von Dudley and hitting a Dudley Death Drop on Spike and forming the tag team The Dudley Boyz.

This also resulted in Spike becoming the first recipient of the Dudley Death Drop or 3D.

As a result, Spike began a lengthy on-and-off scripted rivalry with them which continued for two years.

Spike would lose to Dudley Boyz' ally Axl Rotten on a few occasions at Winter Blowout and CyberSlam.

During the summer of 1997, Spike teamed with Mikey Whipwreck and got involved in a mini feud with PG-13, which resulted in Dudley and Whipwreck defeating PG-13 at Heat Wave.

Dudley's first high-profile feud began with Bam Bam Bigelow when Dudley defeated Bigelow to score an upset win at Born to be Wired.

He quickly gained the nickname "The Giant Killer", as he would be booked to score quick wins against larger and heavier opponents.

Dudley lost to Bigelow in a rematch in his pay-per-view debut at Hardcore Heaven.

At As Good as It Gets, Dudley lost to Bigelow in a match.

The match was notable for a very interesting moment in not only Hyson's career but in ECW history in general, in which Bigelow threw him from the ring over the top rope and into the crowd.

The fans caught him and proceeded to body surf him around the ECW Arena.

This incident was incorporated into the Hardcore TV introduction for years.

The Dudley Boyz would eventually leave ECW for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in 1999.

Meanwhile, Hyson remained in ECW, and during his time held two reigns as ECW World Tag Team Champion alongside Balls Mahoney.

Teaming with multiple people, including Tommy Dreamer, The Sandman, New Jack, and Nova, he defeated them to win the ECW World Tag Team Championship with his partner Balls Mahoney on two occasions in 1999.

He was also in the main event on some occasions, such as the 2000 Guilty as Charged pay-per-view, where he faced Mike Awesome for the ECW World Heavyweight Championship, in a losing effort.

During the match, however, he injured his knee, and after aggravating the injury in subsequent matches with Awesome and Lance Storm was forced to take several months off to recuperate.

He returned in June 2000 as the ECW Commissioner and returned to in-ring action at the November to Remember event of that year, relinquishing his role as commissioner.

The promotion fell into bankruptcy in 2001, which led Hyson to join the WWF, where he reconciled with Ray and D-Von.

Hyson would appear with his kayfabe brothers on-and-off, as well as capturing the WWF Tag Team Championship with Tazz.

Hyson stayed with ECW until it folded in 2001.

Dudley joined the WWF in 2001, aligning with his half-brothers, Bubba Ray and D-Von.

With his brothers in the middle of a three-way feud for the WWF Tag Team Championship with the Hardy Boyz and Edge & Christian, Dudley frequently battled with Lita and Rhyno to try and help their respective team win (Lita managed The Hardy Boyz while Rhyno managed Edge & Christian).

Hyson also held the European Championship once and Hardcore Championship eight times in 2002.

He would go on to team with Ray and D-Von following this, and would then have a singles career in the promotion from 2004 to 2005, notably holding the Cruiserweight Championship.

In 2005, Hyson was released from his WWE contract.

After a brief stint on the independent circuit and becoming a trainer at The Lock-Up Wrestling School, Hyson would join Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) changing his ring name to Brother Runt due to WWE retaining the Dudley trademark.

He once again teamed with Ray and Devon who had joined the promotion a few months prior to him; as well as feuding with Abyss.

Following his release from TNA in the summer of 2007, Hyson continued to work as a trainer, and would continue to compete on the independent circuit simply as Matt Hyson until 2010 where he stopped training and performing on a full-time basis, with his final match occurring in 2015.