Buddy Murphy


Matthew Adams is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand under the ring name Murphy.
Prior to joining WWE, Adams wrestled primarily in his native Australia, under the ring name Matt Silva, appearing in promotions such as Professional Championship Wrestling and Melbourne City Wrestling.
Adams joined WWE in 2013, starting out in WWE's developmental territory NXT. The following year, he formed a tag team with Wesley Blake, that won the NXT Tag Team Championship on one occasion. Murphy thus became the first Australian to hold a championship in WWE.
In early 2018, Adams was moved to WWE's main roster, as he became part of 205 Live. He won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship later that year in October, becoming the first Australian wrestler to win a title on the main roster. In April 2019, he was drafted to SmackDown, moving out of the cruiserweight division. Murphy was later drafted to Raw in early October. In January 2020, Murphy aligned himself with Seth Rollins, leading to the duo winning the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship later that month..

Early life

Adams was born on 26 September 1988, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He attended Berwick Secondary College, where he graduated in 2006.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2007–2013)

Adams made his debut on 8 September 2007 as Matt Silva, at Professional Championship Wrestling, where he teamed with Jacko Lantern to defeat Adam Brooks and Diaz. He won the PCW State Championship by defeating Danny Psycho on 3 December 2010. He was also a mainstay in Melbourne City Wrestling, where he won the MCW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Slex on 28 January 2012. He held the championship for 293 days.

WWE

NXT (2013–2018)

On 17 March 2013, Adams signed a development contract with WWE and was assigned to their developmental territory NXT. On 23 November, he debuted as Buddy Murphy at an NXT house show, teaming with Sawyer Fulton and Troy McClain against Angelo Dawkins, Colin Cassady, and Wesley Blake. On 15 May 2014 episode of NXT, he teamed with Elias Samson in a losing effort against The Ascension.
In August 2014, Murphy formed a tag team with Wesley Blake. On 14 August episode of NXT, they were defeated in the first round of a number one contender tag team tournament by The Lucha Dragons. For the rest of 2014, they lost multiple matches to The Lucha Dragons and The Vaudevillains. Also in October 2014, they lost a number one contender tag team battle royal, being eliminated by The Ascension.
On 21 January 2015 episode of NXT, Blake and Murphy defeated The Vaudevillains and quickly challenged The Lucha Dragons to a title match. On 28 January episode of NXT, Blake and Murphy defeated the champions to win the NXT Tag Team Championship, making Murphy the first Australian to hold a championship in WWE. At, Blake and Murphy, now billed simply by their surnames, defeated the Lucha Dragons in a rematch for the title. Following that in March, Blake and Murphy began a feud with Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, who were intent on capturing the tag titles. Blake and Murphy attempted to woo Carmella on several occasions. On 13 May episode of NXT, Blake and Murphy distracted Carmella during her match with Alexa Bliss, causing her to lose. At, during Amore and Cassady's NXT Tag Team Championship match against Blake and Murphy, Alexa Bliss came out mid-match and attacked Carmella and Amore, ensuring the win for Blake and Murphy. After making several successful title defences, Blake and Murphy lost the championships to the Vaudevillians at, ending their reign at 219 days.
On 18 May 2016 episode of NXT, after losing to Austin Aries and Shinsuke Nakamura, Bliss and then Blake walked away from Murphy, teasing a split for the team. On 1 June episode of NXT, his ring name was reverted to Buddy Murphy, where he was defeated by Tye Dillinger. On 15 June episode of NXT, Blake and Murphy reunited, but after a miscommunication between the two, they were defeated by TM-61. The following week, Murphy announced himself as a singles competitor by interrupting Shinsuke Nakamura, leading to a match with Nakamura, which Murphy lost. On 4 January 2017 episode of NXT, Murphy teamed with Tye Dillinger to defeat Bobby Roode and Elias Samson, and this turned out to be Murphy's last televised appearance in NXT, before being called up to main roster.

WWE Cruiserweight Champion (2018–2019)

In early 2018, Murphy lost about 25 pounds and asked to compete on the 205 Live brand. On the 20 February episode of 205 Live, he made his debut as a participant in the Cruiserweight Championship tournament, defeating Ariya Daivari in the first round but lost to Mustafa Ali in the quarterfinals. On the 27 March episode of 205 Live, Murphy defeated TJP, Akira Tozawa, Kalisto in a fatal four-way match for a future shot at the Cruiserweight Championship. On the 10 April episode of 205 Live, Murphy attacked new WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander from behind, starting a feud between the two. However, Murphy failed his mandatory weigh-in and was removed from the match and the 205 Live roster until he met the weight requirement. On the 8 May episode of 205 Live, Murphy defeated Ali in a rematch from their Cruiserweight Championship tournament quarterfinal match.
He started a storyline where he had to lose weight, challenging Alexander for the title on the 29 May episode of 205 Live, where he failed to win the title. The following week, he had a match with Mustafa Ali that ended in a no-contest after both men were attacked by Hideo Itami, who won a triple threat match against both men the following week. On the 3 July episode of 205 Live, he lost to Ali in a No Disqualification match. He then went on to form a tag team with Tony Nese and they would subsequently feud with Lucha House Party. On 6 October at Super Show-Down in his hometown of Melbourne, Murphy defeated Alexander to win the Cruiserweight Championship, his first singles title in WWE, the first Australian man to accomplish this feat. Murphy subsequently retained the title against Mustafa Ali at Survivor Series and Alexander at, respectively.
On 27 January 2019, Murphy successfully defended his title in a fatal four-way match against Akira Tozawa, Kalisto and Hideo Itami at the Royal Rumble Kickoff Show after pinning Itami. On 17 February, Murphy retained his title against Tozawa at Elimination Chamber. At the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff Show, he lost his title to former partner Tony Nese, ending his reign at 183 days. Prior to this loss, Murphy had been undefeated in televised singles matches dating back to July 2018. On the 9 April episode of 205 Live, Murphy was again defeated by Nese in a rematch for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship.

Brand switches (2019–2020)

On 16 April, Murphy was drafted to the SmackDown brand as part of the Superstar Shake-up. He participated in the 51-Man Battle Royal at Super ShowDown, but was unsuccessful. On the 30 July episode of SmackDown, a stack of scaffolding fell onto Roman Reigns backstage. Murphy was shown in the background of the event. The following week, Reigns confronted Murphy about his involvement in the event. After being physically intimidated by Reigns, Murphy revealed that Rowan was Reigns' mystery attacker. At SummerSlam, Murphy defeated Apollo Crews by disqualification, after Rowan attacked him mid-match. Two nights later on SmackDown, Murphy made his in-ring debut for SmackDown, losing to Reigns. The following week, Murphy defeated Daniel Bryan in an upset victory. On 19 August, Murphy was announced as one of sixteen competitors in the King of the Ring tournament. Murphy faced Ali in the first round on 27 August episode of SmackDown Live, where he was eliminated.
On 14 October, Murphy was drafted to the Raw brand as part of the 2019 draft. In his debut match on the brand, Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander. Over the following weeks, Murphy would develop a winning streak, defeating the likes of R-Truth, Cedric Alexander, Akira Tozawa, Matt Hardy, and Zack Ryder. He entered in a 20-man battle royal at Crown Jewel on 31 October to determine who would face AJ Styles for the United States Championship later in the night, but he failed to win.
Murphy engaged in a feud with Aleister Black towards the end of 2019. However, he lost to Black at both and the 30 December episode of Raw.

Seth Rollins' disciple (2020–present)

On the 13 January 2020 episode of Raw, Murphy lost to Aleister Black, ending their feud. He sat at ring side in distress throughout the remainder of the show. During the main event, Murphy aligned with "Monday Night Messiah" Seth Rollins and AOP, allowing them to defeat Big Show, Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens and joining in their stable as a disciple. The following week on Raw, Murphy and Rollins defeated The Viking Raiders to win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championship. On 7 February, his ring name was shortened back to simply Murphy. Murphy and Rollins successfully defended their titles against The Street Profits at Super ShowDown on 27 February, but eventually lost the titles to them in a rematch on 2 March episode of Raw. Their reign ended at 42 days. Murphy and Rollins failed to reclaim the championship from the team at Elimination Chamber six days later.
On the 20 April episode of Raw, Murphy lost to Rey Mysterio in a Money in the Bank ladder match qualifier. The following week, Murphy saved Rollins' from an attack by Drew McIntyre. However, McIntyre laid him out with a Claymore. The two had a match were McIntyre defeated Murphy. Some weeks later on Raw, Rollins savagely attacked Rey Mysterio in a tag team match, where he and Aleister Black battled Rollins and Murphy, and won by DQ when Rollins pulled Mysterio off of the ring apron. In the midst of the post match assault, Mysterio's eye was severely injured in storyline when Rollins forced his face onto the steel steps. After this event Murphy restarted his rivalry with Black. On the May 18 episode of Raw, during a match with Black, Austin Theory joined Rollins' group as a disciple, helping Murphy to attack Black.

Other media

Murphy made his video game debut along with his tag team partner Wesley Blake in WWE 2K16 as downloadable content, and appeared in WWE 2K17. On 31 August 2019, a video was released showing Murphy’s singles entrance for WWE 2K20, confirming his appearance for the first time in three games. Adams appeared on an episode of the reality show Total Divas in January 2018.

Personal life

Adams was engaged to fellow professional wrestler Alexis Kaufman, better known by the ring name Alexa Bliss. It was reported that the two ended their engagement in September 2018.
He has a background that includes bungee jumping, rock climbing, and swimming with great whales.
He is a supporter of his hometown Australian rules football club, the Carlton Football Club; his WWE ring name is a reference to Marc Murphy.

Championships and accomplishments