Mikey Nicholls


Michael Nicholls is an Australian professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, known by the ring name Mikey Nicholls. He is best known for his work in the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, where, as part of The Mighty Don't Kneel with partner Shane Haste, he is a former two-time GHC Tag Team Champion. Other promotions he has wrestled for include the WWE in their promotion WWE NXT as Nick Miller, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Ring of Honor in the United States.

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2001–2011)

Nicholls started training in Perth at the Dynamite Factory, the wrestling school of Explosive Pro Wrestling. He moved to California and started working for promotions in the United States, such as Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, NWA Pro, and World League Wrestling.
Nicholls has trained at the New Japan Pro-Wrestling's L.A. Dojo, based in Los Angeles. He wrestled for NJPW in Tokyo in 2006. Also in 2006, Nicholls unsuccessfully challenged for the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship.
In June 2007, after NWA split with TNA, Nicholls was involved in the Reclaiming the Glory tournament to crown a new NWA Heavyweight Champion, but was defeated in the tournament by Fergal Devitt. In September 2007, Nicholls defeated champion Karl Anderson and Ryan Taylor in a 30-minute Iron Man match for the Empire Wrestling Federation American Championship. In 2009, Nicholls wrestled for Ring of Honor.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2011–2016)

On 23 February 2011 Nicholls made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah as he had a try-out match against his teammate Shane Haste. A month after the try-out match both men started to work full-time with the Japanese promotion. Nicholls competed in both the 2012 and 2013 Global League tournaments as a singles competitor. On 7 July 2013 Haste and Nicholls, known together as The Mighty Don't Kneel, won the GHC Tag Team Championship after they defeated Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka. On 16 September, Nicholls unsuccessfully challenged Kenta for Noah's top title, the GHC Heavyweight Championship. At the end of 2013, the Tokyo Sports magazine named Nicholls and Haste the tag team of the year, making them the first foreign team to win the award since Stan Hansen and Vader in 1998. Nicholls and Haste lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Maybach Taniguchi and Takeshi Morishima on 25 January 2014. They regained the title from Dangan Yankies on 10 January 2015. They lost the title to K.E.S. on 11 February. On 28 December 2015, Noah announced that Nicholls and Haste would leave the promotion following their contracts expiring at the end of the year. On 11 February 2016, Noah announced that Nicholls and Haste would return to the promotion the following month to take part in a five-show-long farewell tour, entitled "Departure to the World". Their final Noah match took place on 10 March and saw them defeat Naomichi Marufuji and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya.

Other promotions (2012–2016)

After starting out in Noah, Nicholls returned to the United States and Ring of Honor in February 2012. He and Haste won a tournament at ROH Rise & Prove, defeating two other teams to qualify for a match against the Briscoe Brothers. At the ROH Showdown in the Sun iPPV in March 2012, the Briscoe Brothers defeated Nicholls and Haste in a Proving Ground match.
Also in February 2012, Nicholls and Haste wrestled television matches for NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. Also in March 2012, Nicholls and Haste started wrestling for Ohio Valley Wrestling, during their stint there, they were defeated in a title match for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship by Rudy Switchblade and Jessie Godderz.
On 20 December 2014, Nicholls and Haste made their debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, when they, along with Naomichi Marufuji, were revealed as Toru Yano's tag team partners at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on 4 January 2015. At the event, the four defeated Suzuki-gun in an eight-man tag team match.

WWE (2015–2018)

In June 2015, Nicholls and Haste took part in a WWE tryout camp. In February 2016, it was reported that Nicholls and Haste were scheduled to join WWE's NXT brand following their Noah farewell tour.
On 25 March 2016, WWE confirmed the signings of both Nicholls and his tag team partner, Shane Haste. They began training at the WWE Performance Center in April, while working for the promotion's developmental branch NXT. During the 19 May NXT tapings, Haste and Nicholls were renamed Shane Thorne and Nick Miller, respectively, while TMDK was renamed TM-61. On the 19 November, at, TM-61 lost in the finals of the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic to The Authors of Pain. Thorne then had knee surgery, which was expected to sideline him for seven to nine months. He returned on 14 September. TM-61 then entered the 2018 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic, being eliminated by The Authors of Pain in the first round. The team was officially renamed “The Mighty” on the 6 June episode of NXT. On December 14, Miller requested and was granted his release from WWE. According to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Miller asked for his release in order to spend more time with his family in Australia.

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2019–present)

On February 24, 2019, it was announced that Nicholls would be returning to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and would be competing in the 2019 New Japan Cup. Rocky Romero subsequently revealed him as the newest member of the faction Chaos. Chaos is a group Romero is a member of, that is led by Kazuchika Okada. He would defeat Hikuleo in the first round, but would be eliminated by Okada in the second round. At NJPW Southern Showdown, Nicholls teamed with Juice Robinson to unsuccessfully challenge Guerrillas of Destiny for the IWGP Tag Team Championship.

Championships and accomplishments