la ninez: "The Virus" Matthew Engel was born Matthew Engel on December Twenty-fifth, Nineteen seventy-seven, in Oxford, Ohio. He lived there for three years with his brother, Joseph, and parents. Then his Dad and Mom divorced, which resulted in a move. Matt and Joseph moved with his Dad to Charleston, West Virginia. Soon enough, their dad was remarried and their new mom gave birth to a girl. They had a half-sister, named Enika. Enika was hardly ever home because she was always across the street with another kid, Dustin Kelser, always playing because she hated her home life. In eighty-six, the Engel parents - Cindy and Raymond - had another child, a boy. So now there were three brothers and one lonely sister, who was mostly out and about with the Kelser kid. The boy was named Warren. Joseph was quiet, kept to himself, liked to roughhouse with Matt, and didn't live quite the childhood he did. Joseph was neglected, got decent grades in high school, and never went to college. In fact, he became a wrestler known as Joe BoXeR and was married, but his wife was kidnapped and murdered. He hasn't heard from Enika in years, the last he saw her is when they graduated from high school. Matt grew up a spoiled kid because his parents were millionaires, they afforded him to have private school education all throughout his years. When he was 16, he was given a corvette as a car. He was single for only short periods of time because he always found himself a girlfriend. He never had any trouble making friends because he was so rich and confident. He played football and golf throughout his school years and captained both teams his senior year of high school. He was the most popular guy at his high school and maybe the smartest as well. He wasn't your average jock because he maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout his high school and junior high years. He graduated from high school and went to Stanford.

los dias de la universidad: He studied law for several years, but suddenly he became bored of the academic nature and craved excitement in his perfect life. He trained heavily for the next few years at an undisclosed wrestling school in Cincinnatti. But he grew tired of that place because the wrestlers there were below him, talent and skill wise. He picked up professional wrestling really good and was extremely talented. He moved onto a bigger organization during college in North Carolina and eventually enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, home of the almighty Michael Jordan. The wrestlers there were a lot better than where he was initially at and a lot of them gave him a run for his money, but he overcame the adversity and eventually conquered that place, except for one man. Although, that man is unknown. His name started with a T, though, and he had a valet. With wrestling and going to school, Virus didn't have time for much else.

profesionalismo: He graduated from UNC at Chapel Hill and made a debut in a very small federation, although not amateur. He was there a few years and then was recruited by one Jason Keldman and offered a hefy paycheck and a great job in the UHWA. The Virus arrived in the UHWA and wasn't exactly a hit at first. In fact, his gimmick was rather distasteful and not catching the attention he needed and thought he deserved. Being the big-headed person he is, his resilience didn't give up and he pursued his career, wanting to have that shining star status. Even though the first night he wrestled there he won the UHWA tag team titles, his career wasn't sky-rocketing like he wanted. He had somewhat of a lazy and unreliable partner, and ending up defending the tag titles by himself one time against Project X and Rod Tidwell. The Virus beforehand though was rivals with one Psychoduck, who he had two gruesome matches with. But, through those matches and through his career in the UHWA, the Virus and Duck befriended one another and soon enough, the Virus befriended Gemma, TED, Heyleigh, and Abattoir as well. During the month of September, however, he met a woman by the name of Mia Giovingo. First, she was just a roommate. Someone who needed a place to stay - she wasn't a bum though. She was actually a very intelligent woman who was short on luck and up to her ass in rent payments. They grew to like each other and even love each other. The UHWA wasn't anything spectacular, but it was Virus' first step into professionalism and that's why it holds some value to Virus. The UHWA officially closed after AOWF Four; an event where he won the AOWF tag team titles with McCade.

cerca del stardom: After the UHWA closed, High Society (TED, Psychoduck, Virus) were forced to go elsewhere for work. A new federation was formed, the AJWF. That interested them the most and they decided to go there. Virus was doing well in the AJWF and then received his first major loss there at the first PPV, United, when he lost to Ridel for the AJWF Intercontintental Title. He received another loss against Riley, but a rival of his from the UHWA, Destiny, interfered in that one and caused him to get a DQ loss. Before the PPV, however, all of High Society, except the Virus, left the AOWF. Reasons are unknown. So it was just Virus left, with his AOWF Tag team titles and partner. But, McCade forfeited his title after having bad luck in the ECWA, which was banned from the AOWF, and Virus was forced to find a new partner. He befriended Thunderwolf, the better of the two brothers and perhaps one of the most versatile athletes in the AOWF. Thunderwolf turned out to be an old high school friend of his who used to hang out with Matt's half-sister, Enika, all the time. Matt grew up and used to live across the street from Thunderwolf and the Kelser family. 

On March 5th, AJWF's Vengeance, The Virus won his match against Aaron Faith in the semifinals of the KoE tournament, but afterwards was brutally attacked by Lex Demise. Demise doesn't believe Virus deserves the title because Virus doesn't know what extreme is. Also, Demise thinks Virus has no respect for the veterans and legends of the AOWF - or any repsect for anyone. Demise and Virus are rumored to fight at Collision, where Virus and Wolf are scheduled to defend their tag titles against Seraphim. FFG came around the corner, however, and the Virus went on to fight Ray Stanford for the vacated AOWF King of Extreme title. Before the event, it was announced that this would be the AOWF's last event and the AOWF would be at a closure after FFG. This disheartened Virus a little bit because this is where he became a star, but the AJWF joined another community called the eWL. The Virus later on signed up for a tourney in the eWL that would grant the winner a shot at the eWL World title. Collision didn't go down as planned and Virus was in singles competition that night, losing to Demise in a singles match and to Wolf in a four way Cage match. He was screwed out of both matches, however, mentally and physically. Darren Ridel captured Virus' wife, Mia, at Collision as well. A month before AJWF's Remembrance, Virus was able to take his wife back into his hands, where she belongs. He didn't get his revenge on Ridel, but fled the AJWF along with friends and family.

más allá de su prima: For awhile, he was thinking about retiring, hanging up the boots for good and sticking to Wall Street and financial affairs. But, his craving for excitement has led him to come back to the sport on multiple occasions, only to not have any real success like he did in the AoWF. He had a match at Night of Armageddon Five, which debuted in June 2005. He won that match, winning his first ever "World Title", but immediately vacated it due to its lack of importance. He heard about a place called the PHW and made a debut there. He had some heated rivalry with a few wrestlers there, but nothing major came of it. He left the sport, again, because he didn't feel he belonged there. He made an appearance in the CWA in 2006, where a lot of big names were, but left after one match. Reasons are unknown for his departure, but speculation was made that he was struggling with his marriage and left the sport again, respecting his wife's wishes. January 2007, a new year, and Matt finds himself signed with another federation: the IWL. He had two matches and the second one almost cost him his life. He was hospitalized for nearly a month and spent six months in physical therapy.

In the last six months, Matt has been with his family as much as he can. He did marriage counseling with Mia to bring their marriage some stability. He's been watching his daughter grow up. He's been the stay-at-home dad, but the anxiety was building up. He flew out to see his sister in early January 2008 because he had not seen her for almost a year. Two weeks after, he signed a contract with re-emerging federation Pioneer Wrestling Association on January 24th, 2008. His sister, Enika Engel, also wrestles in the PWA. Matt has been quoted to say that "I am coming back to keep a better eye on family and do what I can to support her through the tough times she is going through."

el final de una leyenda: After nearly a year of being in the PWA, Matthew Engel captured the PWA Tag, Intercontinental, and World titles. He was also voted Wrestler of the Year for 2008.During his tenure, he's had many grudges with different superstars. He had an on-going feud with Corey Lazarus that started off because of a personal relationship between Corey and Matt's sister, Enika, that Matt didn't approve of. Of course this distaste blossomed into a painful and hateful feud between Corey and Virus and it ended with Virus beating Corey one on one on Rampage. Then, the MoA showed up in the PWA in March 2008 and make their presence known by fake kidnapping Matt's wife, Mia, and then beating him to a bloody pulp in the middle of the ring. During that, the person they had in their possession wasn't Mia, but co-worker Jamie Flynn and they nearly ended his life. Jamie wouldn't be heard from again until late June 2008.

Virus and the MoA battled for a month, with the end coming near at Revolutions Per Minute where Virus defeated the MoA's lead talent Vicious. After that, Ridel sought out Engel to fill a much needed position. With a certain evil force lurking in the PWA lockerrooms, Lex Demise, Engel went against his morals and joined the ranks of the MoA for security. He knew that the MoA would take care of him if he could be as important as Ridel wanted him to be. And Engel went right to work. His first target was the Strader family, when he hired Nathan Kelser (fka Fallen Angel) to drive a 18-wheeler into the vehicle that Kaleb and Payton Strader were battling in at Who's The Man?!. However, Engel did not admit to this until months later, when Scott Nash Strader was searching for answers in all the right places.

Then, his next target was Duff Cote d'iVoire. Duff made the mistake of nearly ending Engel's younger brother's career. Engel and the MoA retaliated by burning Duff's house down. It was reported that Duff, his girlfriend, and his child were all inside when it happened. Duff's death seemed to be true, but it would all be a lie when Engel found out that Duff was wrestling in a mexican league under some ridiculous moniker. To add insult to injury, like the MoA enjoy doing, Engel kidnapped Duff out of the Mexican Wrestling league, brought him back to the PWA, and showed his face to the whole world. He wasn't dead, he was in hiding. This sparked a big feud between Duff and Engel. Duff retaliated by kidnapping Warren and beating him to a bloody pulp, then lighting him on fire. Warren is still alive, but is far away from anything PWA or Engel related.

This would bring us close to the time when, in a sense of purging himself from his past sins, Engel would stand up in front of millions of viewers and admit to the heinous crime at Who's The Man. He admitted to the murders of Kaleb and Payton Strader, and faced exhausting legal issues. However, with Engel's excellent lawyer skills and seemingly endless amounts of money, he was able to dance around any consequences because there was no hard evidence linking Engel to Nathan Kelser and the crime due to Kelser's immediate disappearance. No consequences, except one. In December 2008, after being eliminated from a bloody Dome of Destruction match, Engel was kidnapped and taken outside of Kalamazoo. He was found tortured, gagged, and nearly dead. The police claim that Engel is only alive because there was an anonymous phone call made about Engels' whereabouts. After some detective work, the police had evidence that Scott Nash Stradrer was behind it all, and he was extradited to Canada for jail time. But, not before one last match. Engel and Strader would meet in the ring one last time at Unsanctioned in January 2009 in a taped-fist Last Man Standing match, and it was a match to remember.

Engel won and retired. Strader lost and went to prison. There certainly was not clear distinction of good and evil, but Engel definitely got the better end of the deal -- that time.

Matthew Engel spent a year in the PWA, beating and losing to some of the best the world had to offer. His final PWA record is 23-15-2, which puts his career record at 46-27-3, and he is currently retired from wrestling.

¿una más vez?: It has been rumored that Matthew Engel, former PWA World Champion, has gone back to a daily training routine and is considering making a return to Pioneer Wrestling. Matthew Engel has been engaged in a month-long divorce process with his wife, Mia Giovingo, on May 2nd, 2009 and reporters caught up with Engel on June 5th, 2009 to ask about his divorce and his wrestling career: 

    "Yes, the divorce is real. I plan to make this as painless as possible for both me and Mia, and our child. However, as for wrestling... I just don't know if I would have what it takes anymore."

A reporter asked Engel that if he was confident he could still compete, would he make his return? Engel had this to say:

    "If I was confident that I could still compete with the best, then it's very possible."