Dan Matha

Daniel "Dan" Louis Matha (June 8, 1988) is an American professional wrestler formerly signed to World Wrestling Entertainment where he appeared on NXT under the ring name Dorian Mak.
==Early life==
Matha was born in Erie, Pennsylvania to Dale Matha and Julianna Ward. His father later remarried and Matha became a stepson to his father's wife Melissa, and stepbrother to her son. Matha graduated from Erie McDowell High School where he played football as an offensive tackle. Matha was named first team Associated Press Pennsylvania Class AAAA All-State each of his final two seasons. Matha lettered in wrestling, yet continued to play football as an offensive lineman while studying at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, majoring in administration of justice. Matha later found worked as a sales consultant at Dave Hallman Chevrolet.
Standing 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) and weighing 315 lbs (143 kg), Matha earned a tryout with the Cincinnati Bengals in May 2013. After not making it onto the team, Matha signed with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League in January 2014. After not finishing the end of the season, the Alouettes cut Matha the following May.
Quoted as saying "It was like...this chapter of your life is done.", Matha turned his attention elsewhere, devising a new plan for his life and career. His next move was to plan how to begin a career in professional wrestling.
==Professional wrestling career==
Matha first trained at Ohio Valley Wrestling.
===World Wrestling Entertainment (2015–2020)===
Sometime in September 2015, Matha signed a contract with WWE and reported to its training program NXT.
====NXT (2016–2020)====
Matha's first match was on March 5, during Day 1 of NXT Live! at the Arnold Classic tour. He was defeated by Kishan Raftar. On March 6, Day 2 of the NXT Live! at the Arnold Classic tour, Matha wrestled two matches, including a losing singles match against Aiden English; before he teamed with Dylan Miley in a winning tag team match against Aiden English & Simon Gotch. On March 16 at NXT, Matha won his first singles match, defeating Alexander Wolfe. The following month on April 8, Matha won his second NXT singles match, defeating Christopher Girard. From April 30 until May 12, Matha suffered a string of defeats against competitors including Patrick Clark, Josh Woods and Angelo Dawkins. Matha continued through the months of April, May, June and July 2016 in singles matches, facing other NXT rookies including Steve Cutler, Oney Lorcan, and Bronson Mathews. He wrestled twice in single matches during September and October against Angelo Dawkins and Oney Lorcan. On September 30, Matha won a 15-Man Battle Royal. Matha returned on October 21 in his only match of the month against Lince Dorado. On November 11 during the WrestleMania 33 On-Sale Party event, Matha wrestled against Patrick Clark. During the month of December, Matha finished his rookie year in three house show matches, against Rich Swann, Cedric Alexander and Roderick Strong. He returned on January 14, 2017 in a match against Wesley Blake. On February 11, Matha wrestled against Blake's tag team partner Buddy Murphy in a singles match. Six days later on February 17, Matha entered a Battle Royal won by Patrick Clark. He finished out February with singles matches against Oney Lorcan and Buddy Murphy. During the following month, Matha continued wrestling in singles matches against Buddy Murphy, Kassius Ohno, Montez Ford and Patrick Clark. He won his first singles match on March 11, defeating Cezar Bononi. During mid-April, Matha wrestled in matches against Kassius Ohno, Andrade Almas and Kona Reeves. Returning on July 6, Matha teamed with The Velveteen Dream in a tag match against Drew McIntyre & No Way Jose. Two days later on July 8, Matha wrestled against the returning Drew McIntyre. Three months later, Matha returned to NXT on October 19 in a match against Johnny Gargano. He went on to wrestle in singles matches against Gargano and No Way Jose. He finished the month with a victory on October 27, defeating fellow NXT rookie Tian Bing. During the first week of November, Matha scored victories in singles competition over Nick Miller and Raul Mendoza. His last match of the month was against Kassius Ohno. On December 7, Matha won a victory over Lio Rush. He later defeated Cezar Bononi on December 9 and newcomer Chad Lail (formerly known as Gunner in other promotions) on December 14. Matha also wrestled against Danny Burch and Kassius Ohno during the final month of 2017.
Returning in January 2018, Matha scored victories over Cheng Yuxiang and Raul Mendoza. He also wrestled members of the tag team Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) in individual matches. He wrestled twice more against Heavy Machinery in matches during the February 3 edition of NXT. Matha also wrestled in singles matches against Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins and Adam Cole. During early March, Matha wrestled against Amanpreet Singh, No Way Jose and Raul Mendoza in singles matches. By March 16, Matha was involved in tag team matches, first teaming with Kona Reeves against Heavy Machinery. On St. Patrick's Day, Matha teamed with Wolfgang against members of team SAnitY (Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain). Seven days later on March 24, Matha reunited with Kona Reeves in a tag match against The Undisputed ERA (Adam Cole & Kyle O'Reilly). With Kona Reeves, Matha wrestled against Christopher Dijak & Mark Andrews on March 29 and ended the month with a match on March 31 against Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford). During the 2018 WrestleMania Axxess weekend beginning on April 5, Matha entered the WWE United Kingdom Championship Invitational where he was eliminated in the first round by Drew Gulak. He later entered the 50-man battle royal on April 27 known as the WWE Greatest Royal Rumble, eventually won by Braun Strowman. After a short string of house shows including singles matches and one tag match during the month of May, Matha competed in a title match hunt the following month. During the June 2 live event, Matha competed in a Number One Contender battle royal for the NXT North American Championship. Matha would spend the course of July in live events competing in singles matches against Marcel Barthel, The Velveteen Dream, Lars Sullivan, Babatunde Aiyegbusi, Keith Lee and Drew Gulak. He also spent the course of August in live events in singles matches, including facing newcomer Luke Menzies during an August 25 live event. The following month, Matha wrestled in a dark match during the September 26 episode of NXT, losing to Dominik Dijakovic. He finished the month with a final house show on September 29, losing to Babatunde Aiyegbusi. Continuing his work in house shows during the course of October, Matha wrestled in singles matches against EC3, Babatunde Aiyegbusi, Keith Lee, Lars Sullivan, Rowe and Raul Mendoza. He ended the month with a victory against Mendoza during the October 27 live event. The following month during a November 29 live event, Matha competed in a 12-Man Number One Contender Battle Royal for the NXT Championship. Matha finished the year with three house shows during the month of December, including a tag match during the December 1 live event, teaming with Kona Reeves against the War Raiders. Matha wrestled his final two matches, losing to Kassius Ohno in singles competition.
The following year in 2019, Matha returned to the ring during a March 28 live event. There he defeated recent recruit Albert Hardie Jr.. On the following night's live event, Matha lost to recent recruit Punishment Martinez in a singles match.
====EVOLVE Wrestling (2018)====
Due to WWE's business relationship with EVOLVE Wrestling, several NXT wrestlers including Matha, were allowed to participate in an independent show produced by Evolve. On October 28 at EVOLVE 114, Matha debuted in a four-way match against independent wrestlers Adrian Alanis, Liam Gray and Shawn Dean.
====The Outliers (2019-2020)====
After working most of his early career as a singles wrestler, Matha formed a new tag team with Riddick Moss. Their first match was during a May 3 live event, wrestling two tag team matches. They won their first tag match, defeating rookies Cal Bloom and Denzel Dejournette. During a May 17 live event, newcomer Robert Strauss introduced the team under their new name The Outliers. They went on to wrestle in further live events against the Street Profits during the month. During a June 29 live event, Matha debuted his new ring name Dorian Mak in a four-way elimination tag match.
On April 16, 2020 he was released from his WWE contract as part of budget cuts stemming from the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic.
==Personal life==
In addition to his collegiate background and football tenure, Matha also competed in physique contests.
It was reported as early as April 19, 2020, Matha was involved in a severe car accident on March 28 and sustained injuries as a result from being ejected through his car's windshield. Matha was ordered to pay $12,000 in damages. The accident happened shortly before Matha's release from the WWE on April 16. Matha was issued citations for traffic violations, including driving with a suspended licence during February and April 4. Matha paid $722 in fines for the February offense. After his April 4 violation, Matha was scheduled to appear in court on June 24. He was issued a notice on July 1 that went unanswered. It was reported on August 18, 2020 Matha was placed under arrest for failure to appear in court.
==In wrestling==
*Finishers and Signature Moves
:*Chokeslam into Backbreaker
:*Torture Rack
*Nicknames
*Tag Teams and Stables
:*The Outliers - with Riddick Moss (2019-2020)
*Entrance themes
==Championships and accomplishments==
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
* Profile
Category:Male wrestlers
Category:1988 births
Category:Living people
Category:Former football players
Category:Pennsylvania wrestlers
Category:American wrestlers
Category:Bodybuilders
Category:2015 debuts
Category:World Wrestling Entertainment alumni
Category:WWE NXT alumni
Category:EVOLVE Wrestling alumni