Quick Facts
Biography
Martin "Marty" Scurll (born 26 July 1988) is an English professional wrestler, currently signed to Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is the ROH World Television Champion in his first reign. He has wrestled for the likes of Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Total Non-Stop Action, Progress Wrestling, Insane Championship Wrestling, Global Force Wrestling, Revolution Pro Wrestling, International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom, All Star Wrestling, Westside Xtreme Wrestling, Combat Zone Wrestling, Preston City Wrestling, Dragon Gate UK, Frontier Wrestling Alliance, One Pro Wrestling, and many more. Alongside Zack Sabre, Jr. he is a member of popular tag team the Leaders of the New School. From 2014 to 2015, he was one of the hosts of Wrestle Talk TV on Challenge.
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (2005–present)
Marty started training at Frank Rimer's Dropkixx training school which would also produce wrestlers like Darren Burridge, Martin Stone, The Kartel and Paul Robinson.
Marty made his debut for Dropkixx at the Fondu Club in Purfleet, defeating Jimmy Starr 2 falls to 1. Once under the tutorship of Jon Ritchie who was now in charge at the legendary Dropkixx, Marty took part in Dropkixx Shoot fighting tournament the brain child of Jon Ritchie. The two categories were middleweight and heavyweight, Marty would win the middleweight tournament, becoming Dropkixx's first middleweight champion. The heavyweight tournament was won by future WWE wrestler Wade Barrett. He competed regularly for Summit Promotions, and at the end of the year formed a tag team with Paul Robinson as 'The Party Boys' or 'The Midnight Ravers' as they were sometimes billed.
Scurll debuted for Premier Promotions. Premier would be the place where Marty would meet Phil Powers, a man Marty found himself wrestling many times in the summer season on the holiday camps circuit. On 16 July, Marty wrestled his idol Steve Grey losing 2 Falls to 1 for Summit Promotions in Rayleigh, Essex.
Scurll was one of the 8 men entered into the British Wrestling United's National Under 23's Championship tournament. He fought Stiro in the first round which went to a No Contest. Scurll would later get his shot at the eventual winner Sam Slam in 2007, but would be short in defeat. During the rest of the year, Scurll debuted for the likes IPW:UK, and RQW, wrestling Jonny Storm, Taiji Ishimori, Bubblegum and many others.
On 5 June 2007, Marty made his debut for All Star Wrestling by defeating Jimmy Starr at Gravesend. Marty competed regularly for All Star, including main eventing Fairfield Halls, Croydon against Pro Wrestling NOAH's Shuhei Taniguchi and Tsutomu Hirayanagi. In IPW:UK, Marty would reform his tag team with Zack Sabre, Jr., but under the name 'The Leaders of the New School'. Since, they have feuded with BritRage (Mark Sloan and Wade Flitzgerald) and the Kartel. Other wrestlers Scurll has found himself up against have been Johnny Kidd, Robbie Dynamite, Martin Stone, Nick Aldis, Andy Simmonz and Swiss Money Holding. Marty Scurll wrestled and lost to Doug Williams in IPW:UK's British National Championship Tournament.
In 2009, Scurll and Sabre Jr focused their attention on the IPW:UK tag team division, and picked up a memorable win against tag team champions The Thrillers (Mark Haskins and Joel Redman) during the company's February tour. A highly anticipated rematch finally took place between the teams at the 2009 "Sittingbourne Spectacular" after the Leaders' scheduled opponents had to pull out through injury. This time the championships were on the line, and the Leaders won again to claim their first championship gold in IPW:UK. The match was considered a Match of the Year candidate, and the feud between the Leaders and the Thrillers became the dominant storyline in IPW:UK through the summer, culminating in the Leaders winning a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match against their rivals in September. The Leaders have enjoyed an unbroken reign as champions since that time.
Scurll and Sabre Jr competed in the first match of the newly re-launched Frontier Wrestling Alliance in August 2009, beating Northern Xposure (NX) at "New Frontiers". The feud between these two teams would continue for the next several months, with NX eventually sealing a 2-1 victory in a best of three series after defeating Sabre Jr and Scurll at "British Uproar" in February 2010. Since then, the Leaders of the New School have entered into the promotion's tag team championship tournament, qualifying for the semi finals after defeating Project Ego at "The Art of War".
On 28 April 2012, Scurll defeated Sami Callihan in the final of an eight-man tournament to determine the new British Cruiserweight Champion.
On 15 March 2014, Scurll defeated Colt Cabana in a 30 Minute Iron Fist match to become Revolution Pro Wrestling Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion. Scurll would go on to successfully defend the championship against the likes of Ricochet, Kevin Steen, Martin Stone, Davey Richards, Doug Williams, Shelton Benjamin, Rocky Romero and others, before losing the title to New Japan Pro Wrestling import AJ Styles at the 2015 Summer Sizzler event on 14 June 2015.
Scurll debuted for Scotland's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion in late 2014, unsuccessfully challenging Kenny Williams for the ICW Zero-G Championship before continuing to appear for the promotion in 2015, culminating in a main-event non-title loss to reigning ICW World Heavyweight Champion Drew Galloway. Scurll scored his first win in ICW in a four-way match against Noam Dar, Jack Gallagher and Dan Moloney.
On 4 April 2015, at a sold-out British Championship Wrestling event in Scotland, Scurll challenged Drew Galloway in a Double Title match for both the Evolve World Championship and the DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship – but was defeated.
In October 2015, Scurll debuted for Global Force Wrestling on their "UK Invasion", losing to GFW Global Champion Nick Aldis in a singles match and teaming with Rampage Brown in a losing effort against Doug Williams and Aldis. Scurll returned to the company in March 2016, unsuccessfully challenging Sonjay Dutt for the GFW NEX*GEN Championship.
PROGRESS Wrestling (2012-present)
Scurll was part of the very first Progress show, Chapter One, in a tournament to determine the first ever Progress Champion. He beat Zack Sabre Jr in an acclaimed semi-final match before competing in a four-way match for the title against Mike Mason, El Ligero and winner Nathan Cruz. Scurll went on to challenge Cruz for the title in a Two Out of Three Falls match at Chapter Two, failing to capture the title. Competing regularly for Progress, he was notably part of a four-way match for the Progress Championship at Chapter Twelve, facing Rampage Brown, El Ligero and then-champion Jimmy Havoc, and fighting again for the title at Chapter Eighteen against Will Ospreay, Noam Dar, Dave Mastiff, Paul Robinson and champion Jimmy Havoc.
Scurll reached the quarter-finals of the first ever Super Strong Style 16 tournament in 2015, beating Eddie Dennis on Day One and Dave Mastiff in the quarter-finals before losing to Zack Sabre Jr on Day Two, and was runner-up to Mark Haskins in the 2015 Thunderbastard match at Chapter Twenty. He lost to Kris Travis at Chapter Twenty-One, Travis’ final match before his retirement from wrestling and death from stomach cancer. Scurll turned firmly villainous following this match; gaining a demented mean streak that saw him win the Progress Championship for the first time in a No Disqualification match against Will Ospreay at Chapter Twenty-Five.
Scurll went on to successfully defend the title against Mark Haskins, Chris Hero, and Tommy End in singles competition and against seven opponents in the 2016 Thunderbastard match which he won. He was the first Progress Champion to defend the title overseas – successfully defending the belt against Will Ospreay at WrestleCon SuperShow 2016 in Dallas, Texas and against Zack Gibson in Italy for Power Wrestling Entertainment. Scurll lost the title to Pastor William Eaver at Chapter Thirty-Two and regained it a month later at Chapter Thirty-Three, making him the first person to ever win the Progress Championship more than once. After successfully defending the belt against Mark Andrews at Chapter Thirty-Five, Scurll lost the PROGRESS Championship to Mark Haskins in a triple-threat main event match also involving Tommy End at Chapter Thirty-Six, PROGRESS' biggest show to date, held at the Brixton Academy in London.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2012–2013)
In late 2012, Scurll began competing in TNA's newest program TNA Wrestling: British Boot Camp that began airing on 1 January 2013 on Challenge. On the 14 February edition of Impact Wrestling, he teamed up with The Blossom Twins (Hannah and Holly) to face the team of Jessie Godderz, Tara and Gail Kim. They were defeated after Gail Kim pinned Hannah. During the match, Scurll was injured after performing a suicide dive into the metal railing.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2015–present)
Scurll made his PWG debut at the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles, where he beat Rich Swann in round one, Trevor Lee in the quarter-finals and lost to Zack Sabre Jr in the semi-finals. Scurll then suffered a string of singles losses; losing to Ricochet at All Star Weekend 11 Night One and to Timothy Thatcher on Night Two, to Kyle O'Reilly on All Star Weekend 12 Night One and to Chuck Taylor on Night Two. At Prince, he won a match against Mark Andrews and at Thirteen, gained victory over Sami Callihan. In September, Scurll participated the 2016 Battle of Los Angeles, defeating Pentagón Jr. in the first round, Cody Rhodes in the quarterfinals, Mark Haskins in the semifinals, and both Will Ospreay and Trevor Lee in a three-way elimination final to win the tournament.
Ring of Honor (2016-present)
On August 22, 2016, the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion announced Scurll's upcoming debut for the promotion. Pro Wrestling Torch reported that Scurll had signed with the company after giving his notice to Evolve the previous month. Scurll made his ROH debut during the promotion's three-day tour of the United Kingdom in November. On November 20, during the final day of the tour, Scurll defeated Will Ospreay to win the ROH World Television Championship. Scurll successfully defended his newly won title against previous champion Ospreay and Dragon Lee in a triple threat match at ROH's biggest pay-per-view, Final Battle 2016.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Crossface chickenwing with bodyscissors
- Graduation (Swinging double underhook suplex) – 2006–2014; used as a signature thereafter
- Party's Over (Backbreaker rack dropped into a double knee backbreaker) – 2006–2014
- Signature move
- Bridging double chickenwing
- European uppercut, sometimes while sliding to a kneeling opponent
- Falcon arrow
- Gory special
- Jackknife powerbomb
- Kneeling reverse piledriver
- Multiple kick variations
- Missile drop
- Rope-assisted enzuigiri
- Superkick, sometimes to the knee or from the apron
- Knee smash to a kneeling opponent
- Lariat
- Low blow
- Multiple suplex variations
- German
- Inverted
- Rolling release
- Octopus hold
- Pumphandle neckbreaker
- Snapping opponent's fingers
- Suicide dive
- Tornado DDT (Sometimes used as a setup for the crossface chickenwing)
- Nicknames
- "Party Marty"
- "The Villain"
- Entrance themes
- "Warp 1.9" by The Bloody Beetroots
- "Warp 1.9 (Princess Sisters remix)" by The Bloody Beetroots
- "Machine Gun" by Portishead (Progress Wrestling)
- "One True Villain" by Hot Tag Media Works (Ring of Honor/Progress Wrestling)
Championships and accomplishments
- Danish Pro Wrestling
- DPW Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
- Fight! Nation Wrestling
- FNW British Championship (1 time)
- International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom
- British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- Unified British Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Zack Sabre, Jr.
- IPW:UK British Cruiserweight Title Tournament (2012)
- Selsey Cup (2012)
- Extreme Measures Tournament (2012)
- Melbourne City Wrestling
- MCW Invitational Tournament (2016)
- NWA Fight! Nation
- NWA British Championship / FNW British Championship (1 time)
- NWA British Championship Tournament (2015)
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
- Battle of Los Angeles (2016)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #204 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- Progress Wrestling
- Progress World Championship (2 times)
- Thunderbastard (2016)
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- RPW British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time)
- RPW British Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Extreme Measures Tournament (2013)
- Ring of Honor
- ROH World Television Championship (1 time, current)
- Southside Wrestling Entertainment
- SWE Speed King Championship (1 time)
- Speed King Title Tournament (2012)
- Swiss Wrestling Entertainment
- SWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Maik Tuga
- Ultimate Pro Wrestling
- UPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time, current)
- UPW Heavyweight Title Tournament (2015)
- Westside Xtreme Wrestling
- wXw Unified World Wrestling Championship (1 time)
- "Ironman Heavymetalweight Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved 29 August 2016.
- ^ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=2581
- "British Cruiserweight Champion History". International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- "Undisputed British Tag Team Champions History". International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=26&nr=4066
- "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
- "1/24 Progress in London Results – new Progress champion". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- Green, Dave (2014-03-16). "Show results - 3/15 RPW in London: Sting makes appearance before main event, Cabana defends top title, Young Bucks, Lethal, Dutt, Inner City Machine Guns, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-03-16.
- https://www.facebook.com/UltimateProWrestling/photos/a.340579922756941.1073741831.302877373193863/530452810436317/?type=1&theater
- http://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=2628