Matthew Hannan (born March 23, 1988) is an American

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

, Matthew Justice. Justice performs primarily on the

independent circuit In professional wrestling, the independent circuit or indie circuit is the collective noun, collective name of independent professional wrestling promotions which are smaller than major televised promotions. It is roughly analogous to a minor lea ...

in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

and

Eastern United States The Eastern United States, commonly referred to as the American East, Eastern America, or simply the East, is the region of the United States to the east of the Mississippi River. In some cases the term may refer to a smaller area or the East C ...

Early life

Hannan grew up in

Streetsboro, Ohio Streetsboro is a city in Portage County, Ohio, United States. It is formed from the former township of Streetsboro, which was formed from the Connecticut Western Reserve. It is nearly co-extant with the former Streetsboro Township; the village of ...

. As a child, he enjoyed watching professional wrestling. His father, Tom Hannan, was the coach for the football team at Crestwood High School, but Justice was not interested in sports. He would play in local bands, but was looking for a different calling.

Professional wrestling career

During his junior and senior years of high school, Hannan began professional wrestling when he found out about a training school in Cleveland run by a local veteran of the ring, J.T. Lightning. The school was about 25 miles from where Hannan lived so he started going there a few days a week. His ring name, Matthew Justice, originated from his first name and "Justice" from Hannan's love for the heavy metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

's album '' ...And Justice for All''. The nickname "One Man Militia" came from Hannan's friend and lifting partner. He would perform in shows throughout Northeast Ohio. He would later graduate from

Streetsboro High School Streetsboro High School is a public high school in Streetsboro, Ohio, United States. It is the only high school in the Streetsboro City School District and had an enrollment of 577 students in the 2015–16 school year. The school was first estab ...

in 2007. He notes wrestler

Rob Van Dam Robert Alexander Szatkowski (born December 18, 1970) is an American professional wrestler and actor better known by his ring name Rob Van Dam (frequently abbreviated to RVD). He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling ...

as an idol and the main reason that he became a wrestler.

Pro Wrestling Ohio / Prime Wrestling (2007–present)

Hannan debuted in Pro Wrestling Ohio in an interview segment. He soon teamed with Charles "White Socks" Johnson under the team name "Socks of Justice." The two defeated the team of Brian Bender and Ernie Ballz (The Clash). Later, Johnson was assaulted backstage by Bender and Ballz having Justice duel against both competitors unsuccessfully in a 2-on-1

handicap match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. Johnson returned a week later as Socks of Justice defeated The Clash in a

tag team match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

. Socks of Justice disbanded for Justice defeated Jimmy DeMarco on his own. Eventually, Justice formed another tag team with Morty Rackem, calling themselves "Pirate Justice." The team defeated The Clash and V-Squared (Virus and Virus Grande) on multiple occasions. At the first annual Wrestlelution, Pirate Justice unsuccessfully became the first ever PWO Tag Team Champions against Jake Crist and Vincent Nothing and V-Squared. A few weeks later, Justice defeated Benjamin Boone and unsuccessfully faced against Michael Montecarlo. Going into 2009, Justice was defeated by Bill Collier, Super Hentai, and Benjamin Boone. Pirate Justice later lost to the team of

Greg Valentine Jonathan Anthony Wisniski (born September 20, 1951) is a retired American professional wrestler, better known as Greg "The Hammer" Valentine. He is the son of wrestler Johnny Valentine. Over five decades, Valentine held more than 40 championship ...

and

Jim Neidhart James Henry Neidhart (February 8, 1955 – August 13, 2018) was an American professional wrestler known for his appearances in the 1980s and 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation as Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart, where he was a two-time WWF Tag T ...

for the PWO Tag Team Titles. At Wrestlelution 2, Justice defeated Rackem in a Pirate Rules match. Later in 2011, prior to his departure, Justice would be defeated by Bobby Beverly for the PWO Television Title. Justice returned to PWO on December 13, 2011. The following week, Justice defeated Benjamin Boone. Justice would seek revenge on The Dead Wrestling Society, leading up to him being defeated by Kirst at Wrestlelution 5. On the February 10, 2013 edition of Prime Wrestling, Hannan returned once again being announced as the third man in a six-man tag team match at the upcoming Internet pay-per-view, Pressure Rising. At Pressure Rising, Justice turned

heel The heel is the prominence at the posterior end of the foot. It is based on the projection of one bone, the calcaneus or heel bone, behind the articulation of the bones of the lower Human leg, leg. Structure To distribute the compressive for ...

on Prime Wrestling Commissioner, Justin LaBar, Matt Cross, and

Gregory Iron Gregory Allen Smith (born October 12, 1986), better known by his ring name Gregory Iron, or "GAS" as a play on his real initials, is an American professional wrestler, who performs regularly in Pro Wrestling Ohio, AAW, Chikara, Smash And Alpha ...

as he pretended to suffer a knee injury during the match, making it a 3-on-1 handicap match, only to later come out and assault Cross with LaBar's stolen laptop to allow Vic Travagliante to become the new permanent Commissioner. On the April 21, 2013 edition of Prime Wrestling, Justice defeated Facade for the Prime Television Championship due to an interference by Justice's girlfriend,

Marti Belle Martibel Payano (born August 7, 1988) is an Dominican-American professional wrestler who is currently signed with National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) and is a former NWA World Women's Tag Team Champion. She is best known for working for Total Nons ...

. The two had a celebratory kiss afterward.http://www.primewrestling.com/index2.php At Wrestlelution 6 on October 20, Justice lost the Prime Television Title to Matt Cross.

World Wrestling Entertainment / WWE (2010–2011)

On the May 10, 2010 edition of

Raw Raw is an adjective usually describing: * Raw materials, basic materials from which products are manufactured or made * Raw food, uncooked food Raw or RAW may also refer to: Computing and electronics * .RAW, a proprietary mass spectrometry dat ...

at the

Mellon Arena The Civic Arena, formerly the Civic Auditorium and later Mellon Arena, was an arena located in Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Civic Arena primarily served as the home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the city's National Hockey League (NHL) ...

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

, Hannan lost in a dark match against Dos Caras, Jr. Hannan made his

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

television debut as a jobber on the June 13, 2010 episode of ''

WWE Superstars ''WWE Superstars'', or simply ''Superstars'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by WWE that originally aired on WGN America in the United States and later broadcast on the WWE Network. It debuted on and ...

'' where he faced the team of

Vance Archer Lance Hoyt (born February 28, 1977) is an American professional wrestler, currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) under the ring name Lance Archer. He also makes sporadic appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is also known for ...

and

Curt Hawkins Brian Myers (born April 20, 1985) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to Impact Wrestling, where he is a former Impact Digital Media Champion. He is best known for his tenures in WWE from 2006–2014 and 2016–2020 unde ...

under the ring name Matthew Busch. Hannan once again appeared on the January 28, 2011 edition of ''

WWE Smackdown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'', again facing off against Alberto Del Rio in an exhibition

Royal Rumble The Royal Rumble is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and livestreaming event, produced annually since 1988 by WWE, the world's largest professional wrestling promotion. It is named after the Royal Rumble match, a modified battle roya ...

match under the ring name Mike Stevens. On March 18, 2011, Hannan signed a WWE developmental contract, and was assigned to their developmental territory

Florida Championship Wrestling Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW) was a professional wrestling promotion based on the former National Wrestling Alliance member promotion, Championship Wrestling from Florida, which operated from 1961 until 1987. From October 2007 to August ...

(FCW) located in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

under the ring name Mack Hetfield. After spending six months in Florida, he was released in September 2011.

Other media

Hannan has also appeared as an extra in three feature films: '' Abduction'', starring

Taylor Lautner Taylor Daniel Lautner (; born February 11, 1992) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Therianthropy, shapeshifter Jacob Black in ''The Twilight Saga (film series), The Twilight Saga'' film series. Lautner began his acting caree ...

and

Sigourney Weaver Susan Alexandra "Sigourney" Weaver (; born October 8, 1949) is an American actress. A figure in science fiction and popular culture, she has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Gram ...

; ''

Warrior A warrior is a person specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracies, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

'', starring Tom Hardy and

Nick Nolte Nicholas King Nolte (born February 8, 1941) is an American actor. He won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 1991 film ''The Prince of Tides''. He received ...

; and ''

Jack Reacher Jack Reacher is the protagonist of a series of crime thriller novels by British author Lee Child. In the stories, Jack Reacher was a major in the US Army's military police. Having left the Army at age 36, Reacher roams the United States, t ...

'' starring

Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962), known professionally as Tom Cruise, is an American actor and producer. One of the world's highest-paid actors, he has received various accolades, including an Honorary Palme d'Or and three Gol ...

. Hannan is also featured in the

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

based

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With r ...

band

Mushroomhead Mushroomhead is an American heavy metal band from Cleveland, Ohio. Formed in 1993 in the Cleveland Warehouse District, the band is known for their avant-garde sound and horror film-inspired imagery which features masks and costumes as well as ...

's music video for their single "Come On" from the album '' Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children''. The video aired on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

Headbangers Ball ''Headbangers Ball'' is a music television program that consisted of heavy metal music videos airing on MTV and its global affiliates. The show began on MTV on April 18, 1987, playing heavy metal music videos from both well-known and more obs ...

. Before moving back home, Hannan lived in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

for a year. In January 2013, Hannan and his family opened up a gym, Boro Barbell, in his hometown of

. Before opening the gym, he had called his dad to tell him about the idea. He received help from his dad with financing and help from his twin brothers, Jon and Pete, with the construction and painting.

Championships and accomplishments

*Absolute Intense Wrestling **AIW Absolute Championship (1 time) **AIW Intense Championship (2 time) **AIW Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with John Thorne **JT Lightning Invitational Tournament (2019) * AAW Wrestling **

AAW Tag Team Championship The AAW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship which is created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion All American Wrestling (AAW). There have been a total of 42 reigns shared betwee ...

(1 time) – with 1 Called Manders *Blackcraft Wrestling **Blackcraft Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *Championship Wrestling Experience **CWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with

*Firestorm Pro Wrestling **Firestorm Pro Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Nickie Valentino *

Game Changer Wrestling Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), formerly known as Jersey Championship Wrestling (JCW), is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in New Jersey. The promotion was originally founded by Ricky Otazu in 1999, it was rebranded un ...

GCW Tag Team Championship The GCW Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion Game Changer Wrestling. Established on April 1, 1999 as JCW Tag Team Championship, the inaugural champions were ...

(1 time) - with

Mance Warner Mance Warner is an American professional wrestler currently performing for Major League Wrestling. He has previously competed in Combat Zone Wrestling where he is a former CZW World Heavyweight Championship, CZW World Heavyweight Champion and ...

*Horror Slam Wrestling **Horror Slam Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) - with Mance Warner *International Wrestling Cartel **IWC Super Indy Championship (2 time) * NWA East / Pro Wrestling eXpress **NWA East/PWX Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Gregory Iron *New York Wrestling Connection **NYWC Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Jesse Vane *Paradigm Pro Wrestling **PPW Tag Team Championships (1 time) - with Bobby Beverly * ''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' **Ranked No. 352 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

'' in 2021 *Pro Wrestling Ohio / Prime Wrestling **Prime Television Championship (1 time)http://www.primewrestling.com/title-tv.php **PWO Tag Team Championships (1 time) - with Mitty Rackem *Pro Wrestling eXpress **PWX Television Championship (1 time) **PWX Three Rivers Championship (1 time) *Vicious Outcast Wrestling **Natural Cup Tournament (2014)

References

External links

Matt_Hannan's_Facebook
_profile.html" ;"title="Facebook">Matt Hannan's Facebook
profile">Facebook">Matt Hannan's Facebook
profilebr>Matthew Justice
{{DEFAULTSORT:Justice, Matthew American male professional wrestlers Living people People from Geauga County, Ohio 1988 births People from Portage County, Ohio Professional wrestlers from Ohio 21st-century professional wrestlers AAW Tag Team Champions