| Spike Dudley | |
|---|---|
 Dudley in 2005 | |
| Birth name | Matthew Jonathan Hyson |
| Born | August 13, 1970 Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.[1] |
| Spouse(s) |
Vikki Hyson (m. 1992) |
| Children | 2 |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Spike Dudley Matt Hyson Brother Runt |
| Billed height | 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[2] |
| Billed weight | 150 lb (68 kg)[2] |
| Billed from | Dudleyville New York City |
| Trained by | Ric Thompson Taz |
| Debut | 1994[1] |
Matthew Jonathan Hyson (born August 13, 1970) is an American semi-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.[3]
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. 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 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.[4]
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.
- ^ a b "Spike Dudley Profile". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved April 13, 2008.
- ^ a b Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. DK. p. 282. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- ^ "Spike Dudley". canoe.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
- ^ "Spike Dudley". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved June 10, 2019.