Mikey Nicholls

Mikey Nicholls
Birth name Michael Nicholls[1]
Born (1985-08-20) 20 August 1985[2][3]
Perth, Western Australia, Australia[4][2][3]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Mick Kerrigan[4]
Mikey Nicholls
Nick Miller[5]
Billed height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2]
Billed weight 230 lb (100 kg; 16 st)[2]
Billed from Perth, Australia
Trained by Davis Storm[3]
Hartley Jackson[3]
Rocky Romero[3]
Naomichi Marufuji[3]
Debut November 2001[2][3]

Michael "Mikey" Nicholls[1] (born 20 August 1985) is an Australian professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE where he competes in their developmental territory NXT under the ring name Nick Miller. He has wrestled internationally in Australia, the United States, and also Japan. He is best known for his work in the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, where, as part of The Mighty Don't Kneel, he is a former two-time GHC Tag Team Champion. Other promotions he has wrestled for include New Japan Pro Wrestling in Japan and Ohio Valley Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, and Ring of Honor in the United States.

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,[6] NWA Pro,[7] and World League Wrestling.[8]

Nicholls has trained at the New Japan Pro Wrestling's L.A. Dojo, based in Los Angeles.[9] He wrestled for NJPW in Tokyo in 2006.[10] Also in 2006, Nicholls unsuccessfully challenged for the NWA British Commonwealth Heavyweight Championship.[11]

In June 2007, after NWA split with TNA, Nicholls was involved in the Reclaiming the Glory tournament to crown a new NWA Heavyweight Champion,[12] but was defeated in the tournament by Fergal Devitt.[13] 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.[14] In 2009, Nicholls wrestled for Ring of Honor.[15][16]

Pro Wrestling Noah (2011–2016)

On 23 February 2011 Haste made his debut in Pro Wrestling Noah as he had a try-out match against his teammate Shane Haste.[17] 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.[18][19] On 7 July 2013 Haste and Nicholls, known together as The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK), won the GHC Tag Team Championship after they defeated Toru Yano and Takashi Iizuka.[20][21][22] On 16 September, Nicholls unsuccessfully challenged Kenta for Noah's top title, the GHC Heavyweight Championship.[23][24] 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.[25] Nicholls and Haste lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to Maybach Taniguchi and Takeshi Morishima on 25 January 2014.[26][27][28] They regained the title from Dangan Yankies (Masato Tanaka and Takashi Sugiura) on 10 January 2015.[29] They lost the title to K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer) on 11 February.[30] On 28 December 2015, Noah announced that Nicholls and Haste would leave the promotion following their contracts expiring at the end of the year.[31] 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".[32] Their final Noah match took place on 10 March and saw them defeat Naomichi Marufuji and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya.[33][34]

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.[35][36] At the ROH Showdown in the Sun iPPV in March 2012, the Briscoe Brothers defeated Nicholls and Haste in a Proving Ground match.[37]

Also in February 2012, Nicholls and Haste wrestled television matches for NWA Championship Wrestling from Hollywood.[38] Also in March 2012, Nicholls and Haste started wrestling for Ohio Valley Wrestling,[39] during their stint there, they were defeated in a title match for the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship by Rudy Switchblade and Jessie Godderz.[40]

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.[41] At the event, the four defeated Suzuki-gun (Davey Boy Smith Jr., Lance Archer, Shelton X Benjamin and Takashi Iizuka) in an eight-man tag team match.[42]

WWE

NXT (2015–present)

In June 2015, Nicholls and Haste took part in a WWE tryout camp.[43] In February 2016, it was reported that Nicholls and Haste were scheduled to join WWE's NXT brand following their Noah farewell tour.[44]

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.[1] During the May 19 NXT tapings, Nicholls and Haste were renamed Nick Miller and Shane Thorne, respectively, while TMDK was renamed TM-61.[5] They debuted on the May 25 episode, losing to Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa.[45]

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 Clapp, John (2016-03-25). "Tag team specialists The Mighty Don't Kneel sign with WWE". WWE. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Mikey Nicholls". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-03-28.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Mikey Nicholls". Cagematch. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  4. 1 2 "Mikey Nicholls". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  5. 1 2 Caldwell, James (2016-05-19). "Video – NXT tag team TMDK given new WWE names". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  6. ↑ Vetter, Chris (2008-07-08). "Torch Indy Weekend Report: Hero wins PWG title, Moose breaks leg, Shimmer taping, Briscoe fired". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  7. ↑ "Torch Indy Weekend Report: Jacobs injury, A.J. Styles & Samoa Joe to return to IWA Mid-South". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  8. ↑ http://www.rohwrestling.com/media/photos/mikey-nicholls-and-shane-haste
  9. ↑ Oliver, Greg. "Getting to know the unknown 'Machine Gun' Karl Anderson". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  10. ↑ "Monday news: RVD and Sabu, Raw tonight, PRIDE tourney, new AJ champ, more". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  11. ↑ "This day in history: Vince McMahon gets blown up and is 'presumed dead' (and it doesn't last), Bill Goldberg turns heel (and it doesn't last) and more". PWInsider. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  12. ↑ Johns, Fred. "NWA title tourney set to begin". SLAM! Wrestling. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  13. ↑ Martin, Adam. "8/6 Southeastern Wrestling News, NECW DVD review, MWF and more". Wrestleview. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  14. 1 2 Martinez, Ryan. "This day in history: Clash of the Champions, ground zero, King of the Ring, British Bulldog returns and more". PWInsider. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  15. ↑ Martin, Adam. "6/26 ROH Results: Detroit, MI". Wrestleview. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  16. ↑ "6/27 ROH Results: Chicago Ridge, IL". Wrestleview. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  17. ↑ "ザ・リーヴ presents 第29回プロレスリング・セム". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  18. ↑ "Global League Tournament 2012". Pro Wrestling Noah. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  19. ↑ "「グローバル・リーグ戦 2013」ブロック分け決定！". Pro Wrestling Noah. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2013.
  20. 1 2 "Great Voyage 2013 in Tokyo "七夕決戦～みんなの願い～"". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  21. ↑ "Kentaが宿敵・丸藤との35分越え死闘を制しGHCヘビーV4". Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  22. ↑ ニコルス＆ヘイスト組が王座奪還／ノア. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). 2013-07-07. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  23. ↑ 2013年9月16日(月). Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  24. ↑ "KentaがGHCヘビー級Ｖ７／ノア". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). 2013-09-17. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  25. ↑ 【プロレス大賞】ハンセン、ベイダー組に並んだＴＭＤＫ. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  26. ↑ "The First Navig.2014". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-01-25.
  27. ↑ "森嶋がGHCタッグ奪取でヘビー級二冠王に 新軍団名は「超危暴軍」に決定". Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. 2014-01-26. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  28. ↑ ＧＨＣタッグ奪取の森嶋「超危暴軍」を旗揚げ. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 2014-01-27. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  29. 1 2 "New Year Navig. 2015". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-01-10.
  30. ↑ "Great Voyage 2015 in Nagoya". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-02-11.
  31. ↑ "契約期間満了に関するご報告". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). 2015-12-28. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
  32. ↑ "TMDK参戦決定！【3・2ディファ有明大会～3・10後楽園ホール大会 】". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). 2016-02-11. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  33. ↑ "Spring Navig.2016". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  34. ↑ Caldwell, James (2016-03-10). "Int'l tag team TMDK finishes Noah run, heading to NXT". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  35. ↑ "ROH Underground/Rise and Prove combo DVD review: two shows for the price of one as new teams compete for a chance at the proving ground, Team Ambition chases the ROH World Tag Team Title, and much more". PWInsider. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  36. ↑ Ruddick, Robert (2012-02-18). "2/17 ROH results Cincinnati, Ohio: Debut show with Tag Title main event, TV champion Lethal, Rise & Prove tournament". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  37. ↑ Bishop, Matt (2012-03-30). "ROH Showdown in the Sun: Richards retains, Steen gets unexpected help". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  38. ↑ "NWA Hollywood TV taping report". PWInsider. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  39. ↑ Van Drisse, Trent. "OVW TV taping report 3-7 Louisville". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2014-04-04.
  40. ↑ "OVW TV taping report". Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  41. ↑ "Road to Tokyo Dome". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2014-12-20.
  42. ↑ "Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 東京ドーム". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2015-01-04.
  43. ↑ Meltzer, Dave (2015-06-05). "Fri. update: UFC vs. WWE, Ric Flair on NXT, New Japan tourney, PWG, Top NOAH team at WWE camp". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 2015-06-05.
  44. ↑ "Top Noah tag team heading to NXT after farewell tour". Pro Wrestling Torch. 2016-02-10. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  45. ↑ Plummer, Dale (2016-05-25). "NXT: With Bayley injured; Carmella, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax face off for #1 contender spot". Slam! Sports. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2016-05-26.
  46. ↑ 「グローバル・リーグ戦 2014」10月21日(火)ボディメーカーコロシアム第2競技場大会 試合後コメント. Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). 2014-10-22. Retrieved 2014-10-27.
  47. ↑ "Mikey Nicholls". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2013-06-24. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  48. ↑ "「The Second Navig. 2014」2月9日(日)清水マリンビル大会 試合後コメント". Pro Wrestling Noah (in Japanese). 2014-02-10. Retrieved 2015-02-07.
  49. ↑ http://www.wrestling-titles.com/australia/epw/epw-h.html
  50. ↑ http://www.wrestling-titles.com/australia/epw/epw-t.html
  51. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 http://waprowrestling.weebly.com/mikey-nicholls.html
  52. ↑ http://www.wrestling-titles.com/australia/nwa-aus-h.html
  53. ↑ https://westsideprowrestling.wordpress.com/results/
  54. ↑ http://waprowrestling.weebly.com/nwa-pro-results-2007.html
  55. ↑ http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/results/nwa/_2007/
  56. ↑ http://www.australianwrestling.org/index.php/results/93-2007
  57. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2016". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  58. ↑ ノア「グローバル・タッグリーグ戦2015」優勝決定戦. Sports Navi (in Japanese). Yahoo!. 4 May 2015. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  59. ↑ "The Rise & Prove Winners Get A Big Opportunity". Ring of Honor. Retrieved 2014-05-23.
  60. ↑ "オカダが2年連続でプロレス大賞MVPを受賞！史上4人目の快挙だが、本人は「当たり前の結果」". Battle News (in Japanese). 2013-12-10. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
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