Matt Bentley Matthew James " Matt " Bentley ( December 10 , 1979 ) is an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) by the ring name Michael Shane . He was trained by his cousin , World Wrestling Entertainment ( WWE ) wrestler Shawn Michaels , and he took the name Michael Shane as a play on his cousin ' s name . Additionally , Bentley utilizes Michaels ' signature superkick maneuver as his own finisher . Career . After being trained at Shawn Michaels ' Texas Wrestling Academy , Bentley competed in Japan for the Frontier Martial - Arts Wrestling promotion . He also briefly worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling ( ECW ) from October 2000 to the final show of the promotion on January 13 , 2001 . After ECW closed Bentley returned to Japan , where he wrestled under a mask as Omega Verfian . During this time he also made appearances for both World Wrestling Entertainment and World Championship Wrestling in dark matches . He also worked as a jobber on WWE ' s programs Velocity and Sunday Night Heat . He is also a former Ring of Honor ( ROH ) wrestler , with his breakout match occurring against Paul London at the Unscripted event in September 2002 , that concluded with London hitting the shooting star press off a ladder . ROH later described the match as a " match of the year candidate " . He was also a member of The Group faction in ROH , with Samoa Joe and C . W . Anderson , but they were forced to disband after losing to The Prophecy at Night of Grudges on June 14 , 2003 . He later wrestled for Major League Wrestling , where he was managed by Francine , and returned to Japan to compete for Zero - One Wrestling . Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( 2003 – 2007 ) . Bentley joined TNA in 2003 . He competed in the X Division , quickly winning the X Division Championship in the first ever Ultimate X match . [ 1 ] [ 6 ] Later in 2003 , Bentley formed a stable with Shane Douglas and Traci known as " The New Franchise " . In January 2004 he lost the title to Chris Sabin in Ultimate X2 . The New Franchise disbanded in April 2004 when Bentley turned on Douglas . Traci ended up staying with Bentley as a valet . [ 1 ] In June , A . J . Styles returned to the X Division and won the championship from Kazarian . In an effort to eliminate Styles from the X Division , Bentley and Traci formed a tag team with Kazarian ( informally known by the portmanteau of their last names , Shazarian ) . On July 28 , 2004 , Bentley and Kazarian defeated Styles in an Ultimate X match when they both pulled down the championship . Surprisingly , the duo was declared co - champions , a first for the X - Division Championship . [ 7 ] They lost the title in a Gauntlet for the Gold match two weeks later . [ 8 ] Shazarian split up in early 2005 when Kazarian left TNA and signed with WWE . Traci quietly left Bentley in 2005 to become an assistant for TNA Director of Authority Dusty Rhodes , and later joined with Chris Sabin . In turn , Trinity became Bentley ' s valet . At Hard Justice , however , in a match between Bentley and Trinity and Sabin and Traci , Bentley and Traci turned on their partners and reunited . In July 2005 , Bentley was forced to refrain from using the " Michael Shane " alias , which he had used for his entire career , following threats of legal action from World Wrestling Entertainment , the employers of Mike Shane , who had trademarked his name , something which Bentley had neglected to do . After going simply by the name Michael , Bentley decided to go by his real name . After a disappearance from television due to contract renegotiations and a few matches in the X Division , Bentley and Traci turned into fan favorites , largely because of the crowd , which was doing the " Bentley Bounce " at the time . On a February 2006 edition of Xplosion , Bentley and his partner Lance Hoyt had some miscommunication during their tag team against the Diamonds in the Rough . After the match , Bentley snapped and attacked Hoyt , thus turning him into a villain . The next week on Impact ! in an interview Bentley announced he was a " Maverick " , and thus became " Maverick Matt " . He continued feduing with Hoyt , and lost to him at Destination X . He would then wrestle a few more matches , most being 6 - man tag team matches , losing every time . Bentley did not appear on TNA television for the next four months . He returned on the July 20 edition of Impact ! , teaming with former partner Frankie Kazarian , who had returned earlier in the week , in a loss against The Naturals . Traci did not return with Bentley , instead becoming Ms . Brooks , Robert Roode ' s new valet . On the October 26 edition of Impact ! , Bentley appeared in the " Raven ' s Perch " section of the Impact Zone bleachers , debuting a goth look . Weeks later , Bentley and Kazarian , along with Johnny Devine , formed the stable Serotonin , with Raven as their leader . As part of the new group Bentley ' s name was changed to Martyr , who along with Kaz and Havok ( Devine ) portrayed a strange rocker type look and would not win a lot of matches - as a matter of fact , even if they won , Raven would come out , make them get on their knees and beat them with a Kendo stick ( as part of a system dubbed " torture breeds success " ) . In August 2007 , Bentley ' s TNA contract expired and was not renewed . World Wrestling Entertainment ( 2008 ) . On April 4 , 2008 , Bentley made an appearance on Friday Night SmackDown in a squash match , losing to the debuting Vladimir Kozlov . Post – wrestling . Following his WWE appearance , Bentley temporarily left wrestling in order to create a band named " Lost in Chaos " with his friends . They are currently located in Orlando and participating in numerous gigs . The band was recently nominated for Florida ' s Best Band on a local rock station website .