Joey Mercury

Adam Birch
Adam Birch
	File:Joeymercury biobild1.jpg
Born	July 18, 1979; Richmond, Virginia
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Joey Matthews,; Joey Mercury
Billed height	5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
Billed weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Billed from	Los Angeles, California
Trained by	Jimmy Cicero
Debut	June 12, 1996

Adam Birch (born July 18, 1979), better known by the ring name Joey Mercury, is an American professional wrestler currently signed to World Wrestling Entertainment wrestling.

Career

Birch debuted on June 12, 1996 under the ring name Joey Matthews. His career began with Maryland Championship Wrestling, where he held a variety of titles. He was also part of OMEGA, a high-flying promotion run by Matt and Jeff Hardy. His first national exposure came after he left OMEGA and formed a tag team, the Badstreet Boys, with fellow OMEGA alumni Christian York. The Badstreet Boys wrestled in multiple promotions before joining Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) in late 2000, and even competed unsuccesfully at ECW's final Pay-Per-View Guilty as Charged 2001. The duo began wrestling as simply York & Matthews later in their career. The bankruptcy of ECW in April 2001 forced them to return to the independent circuit, most notably UPW and PCW. York & Matthews eventually split when Christian York retired from wrestling. Birch went on to wrestle as a singles wrestler for Ring of Honor and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling.

World Wrestling Entertainment

In early 2005, Birch was signed to a developmental deal by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and assigned to the Ohio Valley Wrestling developmental territory. Birch formed a tag team with Johnny Nitro, and the duo formed a stable with their manager Melina. The stable - "MNM" - took its name from their respective surnames (Birch was renamed Joey Mercury).

On April 14, 2005, MNM debuted on Smackdown!, attacking Rey Mysterio. On April 21, 2005 Birch, along with Nitro, defeated Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero for the WWE Tag Team Championship. It was the first time in WWE history that the tag team titles had changed hands to a debuting tag team. They lost the titles to the Legion of Doom on July 24, 2005 at The Great American Bash, but regained them on the October 28, 2005 episode of SmackDown!. MNM lost the titles to Batista and Rey Mysterio on the December 16, 2005 episode of SmackDown!, but regained them on the December 30, 2005 episode of SmackDown!.

MNM began feuding with Brian Kendrick and Paul London in April 2006, and on May 21, 2006 at Judgment Day 2006, Kendrick and London defeated MNM for the WWE Tag Team Championship. The stable disbanded immediately, after Melina blamed Mercury for the loss and SmackDown! General Manager Theodore Long fired both Melina and Nitro (kayfabe) after she slapped Long.

Mercury left the active roster for several months while going into rehab for a drug problem before sporting a new look and making appearances in OVW on occasion. However, Mercury made a surprise returned to WWE on the November 27, 2006 edition of RAW, to announce that he was to reunite with Nitro and Melina to reform MNM for one night only at December to Dismember to answer The Hardys' open challenge. At ECW's December to Dismember, MNM lost to The Hardyz' but he teamed with his partner again and Rated RKO to defeat The Hardyz'and DX.