Matthew Marinelli (born March 20, 1985), better known by his ring name Matt Taven, is an American professional wrestler and trainer. He is signed to Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is one-half of The Kingdom with Michael Bennett.
Taven is best known for his work with ROH as an original member of The Kingdom, being the former leader of its 2016-19 revival incarnation. He is a former ROH World Champion, ROH World Television Champion, three-time ROH World Tag Team Champion with Mike Bennett, and a three-time ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion with T. K. O'Ryan and Vinny Marseglia. Taven has also worked for the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former IWGP Tag Team Champion, Impact Wrestling, where he is a former Impact World Tag Team Champion, and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where he is a former NWA World Historic Welterweight Champion and participated in the main event of the CMLL 85th Anniversary Show.
In addition to wrestling, Taven and Bennett operated a wrestling school in West Warwick, Rhode Island.
Professional wrestling career Early career (2008–2009)
Marinelli, using the ring name Matt Taven, made his professional wrestling debut on March 7, 2008. During his first year, Taven worked mainly for Top Rope Promotions (TRP) and Collision Pro Wrestling (CPW) in Massachusetts. While working for TRP, he challenged for the vacant TRP Interstate Championship in a six-way ladder match that also included Buck Nasty, Gregory Edwards, J. Freddie, Ryan Waters and Spike Dudley; Nasty won the title.
Ring of Honor (2009–2021) Debut; ROH Television Champion (2009–2014) Taven debuted for Ring of Honor (ROH) on May 8, 2009, losing a dark match to Jaleel Patel. He competed in tag team matches over the course of 2010 and 2011, but lost every outing. At Boiling Point on August 11, 2012, Taven faced Antonio Thomas, Q. T. Marshall and Vinny Marseglia in a four-way match where the winner would receive an ROH contract, but was pinned by Marshall. He won the Top Prospect Tournament the following year, with his storyline reward being a full-time ROH contract and ROH World Television Championship match against Adam Cole at the ROH 11th Anniversary Show.
At the event on March 2, 2013, Taven won the title after Truth Martini hit Cole in the back of the head with the Book of Truth, allowing Taven to apply his Climax finishing move, establishing himself as a heel. He successfully defended the title against Cole and Matt Hardy in a three-way match at Supercard of Honor VII on April 5, Mark Briscoe at Border Wars on May 4, and Jay Lethal and Jimmy Jacobs at Best in the World 2013 on June 22. At Death Before Dishonor XI on September 20, he, Michael Bennett and reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) lost to Adrenaline Rush (ACH and TaDarius Thomas) and C&C Wrestle Factory (Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander). At All Star Extravaganza 5 on August 3, he lost to Roderick Strong in the first round of a tournament for the vacant ROH World Championship. At Glory by Honor XII on October 26, Taven teamed with reDRagon and Cole in an eight-man elimination tag team match, where he was eliminated by Michael Elgin. He lost the title to Tommaso Ciampa at Final Battle 2013 on December 14, ending his reign at 287 days, the longest in the company's history to date; he accrued twelve defenses, the most in an individual reign.
On January 24, 2014, at Wrestling's Finest, Taven ended his alliance with Martini. Later that night, he unsuccessfully challenged Ciampa for the title in a three-way match also involving Lethal. He defeated Silas Young at the ROH 12th Anniversary Show on February 21. On Night 1 of Raising The Bar on March 7, he unsuccessfully challenged Cole for the ROH World Championship. Taven next feuded with Lethal over the ROH World Television Championship, which he failed to win in a four corner survival match also involving Ciampa and Young on May 10 at Global Wars, at Best in the World on June 22, and in a steel cage match on August 15 at Field of Honor after interference from Martini; per stipulation, he could not challenge for the title again as long as Lethal was champion. Four days later, Taven announced he would be leaving ROH after opting not to re-sign, an angle used to explain his departure.
The Kingdom / OGK (2014–2021)
Taven returned on October 9 and formed a tag team with Bennett, known as The Kingdom. They unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Championship at Glory By Honor XIII on November 15 and at Supercard of Honor IX on March 27, 2015, but won it on September 18 at All Star Extravaganza VII, defeating The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) in a three-way match. They retained the title against reDRagon on Night 1 of Survival of the Fittest on November 13, but lost it to War Machine (Hanson and Ray Rowe) on December 18 at Final Battle. Taven suffered a knee injury during the match, tearing an anterior cruciate ligament and medial meniscus and rupturing a lateral meniscus, forcing him to undergo a four-and-a-half-hour surgery on January 12, 2016; he was expected to be sidelined for nine months. Shortly after the event, Bennett left ROH, ending their partnership.
After returning from injury in September, Taven began leading a new version of The Kingdom with T. K. O'Ryan and Marseglia. They defeated Jay White, Kushida and Lio Rush in a tournament final to become the first ROH 6-Man Tag Team Champions at Final Battle on December 2. At Manhattan Mayhem on March 4, 2017, Taven won a battle royal to become the number one contender for the ROH World Championship. The Kingdom successfully defended the title against Dalton Castle and The Boys at the ROH 15th Anniversary Show on March 10, but lost it the next night to Bully Ray and The Briscoes. On Night 2 of ROH/NJPW War Of The Worlds on May 10, Taven lost his ROH World Championship match to Daniels. After defeating Will Ospreay at Final Battle on December 15, Taven began feuding with Cody in January 2018, attacking him after a loss and stealing his "Ring Of Honor". He lost to Cody at the ROH 16th Anniversary Show on March 9, but defeated him in a first blood match on April 15 at Masters of the Craft. The Kingdom regained the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship on Night 1 of ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds on May 9, defeating SoCal Uncensored (Daniels, Kazarian and Scorpio Sky). At Best in the World on June 29, they successfully defended the title against Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil and Sanada).
Taven was part of a four corner survival match for the ROH World Championship on July 22, which was won by Lethal. On August 26, The Kingdom lost the title to Bullet Club, later known as The Elite (Cody and the Young Bucks). At Death Before Dishonor XVI on September 28, after The Kingdom attacked Ospreay and Lethal, Taven pulled out of a bag a purple copy of the Ring Of Honor World Championship, proclaiming himself as the true Ring Of Honor World Champion. At Survival of the Fittest on November 4, The Kingdom defeated The Elite for their third ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. At Final Battle on December 14, Taven defeated Castle. In the main event of the ROH 17th Anniversary Show on March 15, 2019, Taven and Lethal's ROH World Championship match ended in a 60-minute time-limit draw. Shortly after, The Kingdom lost the title to Villain Enterprises (Brody King, Marty Scurll and PCO). On April 6, at G1 Supercard, Taven defeated Lethal and Scurll in a ladder match to win the ROH World Championship, becoming the second ROH Grand Slam winner. His title win over the more popular Scurll has been criticized, with Larry Csonka of 411Mania calling him a "critical and financial flop". During a 411Mania podcast, Jerome Cusson said his title win "actively hurt ROH" since it was not "a draw" and Taven "wasn't over". At Masters of the Craft on April 14, The Kingdom failed to regain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship from Villain Enterprises in a Street Fight after PCO pinned Taven. Over the following months, Taven successfully defended the ROH World Championship against PCO on Night 2 of ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds on May 9, Jeff Cobb at Best in the World on June 28, Alex Shelley at Summer Supercard on August 9, and Volador Jr. on Night 2 of Global Wars Espectacular on September 7. At Death Before Dishonor on September 27, he lost the title to Rush, ending his reign at 174 days. Following the event, Marseglia (later renamed Vincent) turned on Taven. At Final Battle on December 13, he lost to Vincent who, after the match, smashed Taven's ankle with a steel chair, an angle used to write off Taven, who underwent knee surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taven returned to television in October 2020, continuing his feud with Vincent and reuniting with Bennett as the OG Kingdom (OGK). At Final Battle on December 18, they defeated Vincent and Bateman. On March 26, 2021, an unsanctioned match between Taven and Vincent at the ROH 19th Anniversary Show ended in a no contest. On Night 2 of Glory By Honor XVIII on August 21, Taven lost to Vincent in a steel cage match, ending their feud. At Honor for All on November 14, Taven and Bennett defeated La Facción Ingobernable (Dragon Lee and Kenny King) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for a second time, but lost it to the Briscoes at Final Battle on December 11.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2014–2015, 2019, 2024) Through ROH's relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), from November 23 to December 5, 2014, Taven and Michael Bennett took part in the 2014 World Tag League. The team finished their round-robin block with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals. Taven and Bennett returned to NJPW on April 5, 2015, at Invasion Attack 2015, where they defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. At Wrestling Dontaku 2015 on May 3, they teamed with Maria Kanellis to defeat Gallows, Anderson and Amber Gallows in a six-person intergender tag team match. On July 5, at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Kingdom lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Bullet Club in their first defense. In November, Taven and Bennett took part in the 2015 World Tag League, finishing with a record of two wins and four losses, thus failing to advance from their block.
On February 22 and 23, 2019, Taven returned to Japan as part of the ROH/NJPW co-promoted "Honor Rising" tour. On the first night, he, T. K. O'Ryan and Vinny Marseglia lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Jay Lethal and Kazuchika Okada. The next night, he and Marseglia lost to Los Ingobernables de Japón (Shingo Takagi and Tetsuya Naito). Taven and Bennett, as the Undisputed Kingdom, made their return to NJPW at Fighting Spirit Unleashed on November 8, 2024, where they were defeated by Los Ingobernables de Japón's Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji.
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (2016–2019, 2022) Through ROH's working relationship with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Taven made his debut for the Mexican promotion on September 9, 2016, which also marked his return from a nine-month absence due to a knee injury; he teamed with Mr. Niebla and Shocker to defeat Máscara Dorada, Máximo Sexy and Volador Jr. On September 23, Taven lost to Rush in the last CMLL match of the 2016 tour. He returned to CMLL on March 17, 2017, at Homenaje a Dos Leyendas ("Homage to Two Legends"), unsuccessfully challenging Último Guerrero for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship. In September, Taven took part in the International Gran Prix as part of "Team International", eliminating Mephisto before being eliminated by Guerrero near the end of the tournament.