Buddy Murphy

Australian wrestler Matthew Adams has had several ring names during his career. The one that wrestling fans know best is arguably Murphy, the name he used whilst competing in WWE between 2013 and 2021. In his eight years with the world’s most powerful wrestling franchise, he became famous for his tag team with Blake, winning the NXT Tag Team Championship with him in 2015. He also became the first Australian men’s singles belt winner in WWE history when he defeated Cedric Alexander to become Cruiserweight Champion in 2018. During his last two years with WWE, he paired up with the legendary Seth Rollins to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship. In October 2021, he revealed that he had moved to New Japan Pro Wrestling, that country’s oldest and most popular promotion.

Adams was born in Melbourne in 1988. In 2007, aged 19, he made his pro wrestling debut for the Professional Championship Wrestling promotion under the name Matt Silva. He eventually won their State Championship belt and also became Heavyweight Champion of Melbourne Championship Wrestling before packing his bags for America.

In March 2013, Adams arrived in the States and signed a developmental contract with WWE’s NXT brand. Six months later, now rechristened Murphy, he made his debut and the following year, he paired up with Blake to form the Blake & Murphy tag team. After five years, he lost weight and began competing for WWE’s 205 Live brand, winning the Cruiserweight title in the process. In 2019, he was assigned to SmackDown, one of WWE’s biggest brand names. Now in Japan, he will be hoping to win a title on a third continent.