"All That" Matt Murphy (born 1979) 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 ...

. During his career, he wrestled for numerous promotions, in briefs, including

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

in Japan, and held the

World League Wrestling Harley Race's Wrestling Academy is a professional wrestling school located in Troy, Missouri. It was established in 1999 by former NWA World Heavyweight Champion, Harley Race. Students of the school are incorporated into the professional wres ...

Tag Team Titles on three occasions. His career was cut short due to injuries sustained in a car accident, but after he left the wrestling business, Murphy authored the Amazon Kindle autobiography "The Somebody Obsession: A Nobody's Desperate Journey to Stardom". He returned to the ring in 2011 for Kansas City's

Metro Pro Wrestling Metro Pro Wrestling (MPW) was an independent wrestling organization operating out of Kansas City, Kansas. The company began with its first television taping event on June 5, 2010, and has since put on monthly events which are all taped and aired o ...

. He then became an employee at a sports card shop in Florida.

Career

Murphy was the first graduate of the

Harley Race Harley Leland Race (April 11, 1943 – August 1, 2019) was an American professional wrestler, promoter, and trainer. Race wrestled in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the American Wrestling Association (AWA), the World Wrestling Federatio ...

Wrestling Academy in 1999. In addition to being trained by Race, Murphy served as lead instructor for the academy from 2000 to 2002. During his first seven months in World League Wrestling, "The Missile" was on a winning streak that saw him defeat many of WLW's top stars. Murphy also teamed during this time in WLW with Trevor Rhodes. On one occasion, while he was out with a knee injury, Murphy returned to the ring and attacked his tag team partner, thus becoming a heel. This began a feud between the newly christened "All That" Matt Murphy and Rhodes that lasted for several months. Murphy then teamed with Steve Fender and

Ace Steel Christopher Guy (born January 25, 1973) is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ace Steel. He is perhaps best known for his time with Ring of Honor and occasional appearances for World Wrestling Entertainment, as well ...

and the trio was managed by Johnny Gold as a tag team called "The Gold Exchange". As a part of this team, Murphy was involved in multiple Tag Team Title reigns, the first a win over former WCW World Tag Team Champions The

Harris Brothers Donald Harris and Ronald Harris (born October 23, 1960) are American twin brothers best known for their professional wrestling careers with promotions including Extreme Championship Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, and the World Wrestlin ...

in a match refereed by

Mick Foley Michael Francis Foley (born June 7, 1965) is an American actor, author, retired professional wrestler, and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE under the company's Legends program, acting as a company ambassador. Foley worked for m ...

. During his career, Murphy also competed against stars

CM Punk Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by the ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler, sports commentator, actor, and retired mixed martial artist currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). Best known for ...

Bobby Eaton Bobby Lee Eaton (August 14, 1958 – August 4, 2021) was an American professional wrestler best known as "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton. He was most famous for his work in tag teams, especially as one-half of The Midnight Express. Under the managemen ...

Mark Jindrak Mark Robert Jindrak (born June 26, 1977) is an American businessman, former professional wrestler, and actor. He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as Mark Jindrak and ...

Chris Hero Chris Spradlin (born December 24, 1979), better known by his ring name Chris Hero, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. He is currently signed to Ring of Honor as a producer. Hero has worked for a number of independent wrestling pr ...

Juventud Guerrera Eduardo Aníbal González Hernández (born November 23, 1974) is a Mexican professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Juventud "Juvi" Guerrera. Guerrera is best known for his appearances with the Mexican professional wrestling promot ...

, Big Boss Man,

Butch Reed Bruce Franklin Reed (July 11, 1954 – February 5, 2021) was an American professional wrestler and football player, better known by the ring name Butch Reed. He played college football at the University of Central Missouri, was a star in Mid-So ...

Disco Inferno "Disco Inferno" is a song by American disco band the Trammps from their 1976 fourth studio album of the same name. With two other cuts by the group, it reached No. 1 on the US '' Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart in early 1977, but had li ...

, Haku, The Barbarian,

Naomichi Marufuji (born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), R ...

Kenta Kenta (written: , , , or in katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese film director *, Japanese kickboxer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japanese profession ...

, and

Takeshi Morishima (born October 15, 1978) is a Japanese former professional wrestler. Morishima is best known for his work with Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has also performed for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the Uni ...

. Murphy wrestled on tour for

on three occasions, selected by

Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside ...

to compete in the inaugural GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Tournament, and appeared on WWE programming twice, teaming with Steve Fender in a loss to

Kai En Tai Kai En Tai (also spelled Kaientai) was a professional wrestling stable made up of Japanese wrestlers Shiryu, Dick Togo and Men’s Teioh, later joined by Sho Funaki and Taka Michinoku. The group was managed by Yamaguchi-San when they were in t ...

and losing to

Justin Credible Peter Joseph "PJ" Polaco (born October 16, 1973) is a retired American professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) under the ring name Justin Credible. He ...

in Credible's WWE television debut. His war of words with former

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

star

Tony Twist Anthony Rory Twist (born May 9, 1968) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He played left wing in the NHL for the St. Louis Blues and Quebec Nordiques, and was a feared enforcer. Twist penned a foreword to the Ross Bernstein boo ...

led to Twist making his professional wrestling debut against Murphy in a 2002 tag team match. He competed in the

IWA Mid South Independent Wrestling Association (IWA) Mid-South (also known as IWA Mid-South, IWA-MS, and IWA Mid South Wrestling) is an American independent professional wrestling promotion based in New Albany, Indiana. It was formed by Ian Rotten in 1996 ...

Ted Petty Invitational The Ted Petty Invitational tournament (the TPI) is an independent wrestling tournament in North America, run and promoted by Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South. Created as the Sweet Science Sixteen in 2000 by Ian Rotten, the tournament wa ...

Tournament in 2002, losing to eventual winner

B. J. Whitmer Benjamin Whitmer (born January 25, 1978), better known by the ring name B. J. Whitmer, is an American professional wrestler, producer, trainer, and color commentator. He is currently signed with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a producer. He is bes ...

in the first round. He has been listed in Pro Wrestling Illustrated's Top 500 on two occasions and was named one of the top thirty prospects in professional wrestling by ''Wrestle America'' magazine in 2002. In December 2002, Murphy was in a car accident that ended his wrestling career. He was the producer and announcer for the World League Wrestling T.V. show from 2007 to 2008. In 2008, Murphy released "The Professional Wrestler in the World of Sports-Entertainment.". In 2011, Murphy's memoir "The Somebody Obsession: A Nobody's Desperate Journey to Stardom" reached #1 in the wrestling category on the Amazon Kindle bestseller list. Murphy joined Metro Pro Wrestling in the spring of 2011 as the commissioner. In August 2011, Murphy attacked fan favorite Michael Strider and announced his return to the ring, igniting a feud with Strider. In November 2011, he defeated "The Golden Boy" Greg Anthony to win the Traditional Championship Wrestling Junior Heavyweight Title in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, then lost it to Anthony during their rematch two weeks later. In June 2012 "All That" Matt Murphy wrestled for 3XW Wrestling in Boone, Iowa against "The Rockstar" Jimmy Rockwell. Murphy initially won the match by hitting Rockwell with a pair of brassknuckles, but the match was restarted after

Ted DiBiase Theodore Marvin DiBiase Sr. (born January 18, 1954) is an American retired professional wrestler, manager, ordained minister and color commentator. He is currently signed to WWE working in their Legends program. DiBiase achieved championship ...

came to the ring and pointed out the weapon to the referee. He left the business later that year to relocate for a job promotion. After working in security and property management, Murphy launched Cardboard Treasures, an online sports card company, in 2017.https://www.cardboardtreasures.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Matt American male professional wrestlers 1979 births Living people Professional wrestlers from Iowa People from Iowa City, Iowa People from Kahoka, Missouri People from Eldon, Missouri