Joey Mercury | |
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Mercury in April 2015
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Birth name | Adam Birch |
Born |
Fairfax, Virginia, United States |
July 18, 1979
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Joey Matthews Joey Mercury Joseph Mercury |
Billed height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) |
Billed weight | 191 lb (87 kg) |
Billed from | Los Angeles, California |
Trained by | Jimmy Cicero |
Debut | October 12, 1996 |
Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979) is an American professional wrestler, also known by the ring names Joey Mercury and Joey Matthews.
Birch was trained by fellow wrestler Jimmy Cicero and made his wrestling debut in October 1996, using the name Joey Matthews. The following year, he began competing for Mid-Eastern Wrestling Federation (MEWF), where he began competing in tag team competition and captured the MEWF Tag Team Championship, alongside Christian York. Throughout the late-1990s, Birch competed in various independent promotions, where he and York continued to work as a team. It was also during that time that he won various championships in singles and tag team competition.
In 2004, Birch signed with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) in Louisville, Kentucky under the name Joey Mercury. While situated at OVW, he was placed in tag team competition, alongside Johnny Nitro, in which they won the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship on one occasion. It was also during this time that he and Nitro, alongside their manager Melina, were known as the stable MNM. The group were called up to the SmackDown! roster and on their debut in April 2005, Mercury and Nitro went on to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. After their third and final reign ended in May 2006, Nitro and Melina turned on Mercury, thus ending their faction. However, in November 2006, the team reunited for a brief period, before Mercury was let go from his contract in March 2007.