Mike Bennett (wrestler)

Michael "Mike" Bennett (born May 16, 1985) is an American professional wrestler.

He currently wrestles for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion, Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is one-half of the ROH World Tag Team Champions with Matt Taven in their third reign.

Bennett and Taven are also members of the Undisputed Kingdom stable.

Bennett previously competed for WWE under the ring name Mike Kanellis, and for Impact Wrestling.

Michael Bennett was born on May 16, 1985, in Carver, Massachusetts.

He has an older brother, an older sister, and a younger brother.

Bennett made his professional wrestling debut in 2002.

The following year, Bennett made a single appearance for the East Coast Wrestling Association, when he lost to Big Benny.

He graduated from Carver High School in 2003 (presently, Carver Middle-High School).

Bennett debuted for New England Championship Wrestling (NECW) on November 14, 2003, losing to Johnny Idol.

The following March, Bennett earned his first win in NECW by defeating Bob Evans.

On October 3, 2004, at the New England Wrestling Association's Return to Exile show, Bennett was part of a battle royal in which the final two competitors would face each other for the vacant NEWA Heavyweight Championship.

Bennett and Brian Rogers were the final men left, and later that night Bennett defeated Rogers to win the NEWA Heavyweight Championship.

Bennett also wrestled for Eastern Pro Wrestling (EPW).

In August 2004, Bennett began feuding with Ru Starr, trading victories with him, until Starr won the rubber match on February 12, 2005.

In March, Bennett moved into a feud with Michael Sain, losing to him in two singles match that month, and again in a Stretcher match on April 16.

He earned his first victory over Sain in June.

He spent the next several months wrestling against competitors including Frankie Arion, Pat Masters, and Fergal Devitt, before taking a four-year hiatus from NECW.

On April 27, 2007, Bennett lost to Derek Destiny.

Bennett and Bryce Andrews appeared on the April 9, 2007, episode of WWE Heat, where they faced Cryme Tyme.

After beginning his career on the independent circuit, Bennett made his ROH debut in 2008.

With his then-girlfriend Maria Kanellis, he worked as part of "The Kingdom" stable, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship with Matt Taven.

ROH's talent-sharing agreement with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) saw the tag team make appearances in Japan, where they won NJPW's IWGP Tag Team Championship.

On February 29, 2008, Bennett lost to Nick Westgate.

The following day, Bennett, who was accompanied by Gia Savitz, defeated Thom Kane.

On October 6, 2009, Bennett competed in dark match in losing effort against Kip James at the TNA Impact! taping.

On January 16, 2010, Bennett unsuccessfully challenged Nick Westagte for the EPW Television Championship.

On March 5, Bennett won the 'Rhodes Island Rumble' battle royal to become the number one contender to the EPW Heavyweight Championship.

In a match for the Northeast Wrestling (NEW) promotion in March 2010, Bennett was a participant in a five-way match for the NEW Heavyweight Championship, which was won by Matt Taven.

In 2010, Bennett debuted for Squared Circle Wrestling (2CW) by defeating Matt Taven on September 25.

Three months later at 2CW's Nightmare Before Christmas show in December, Taven defeated Bennett in a rematch.

At NEW's Spring Slam show on April 15, 2011, Bennett lost to Matt Hardy.

On September 14, 2012, Bennett made his debut for the Chikara promotion, when he and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) entered the 2012 King of Trios tournament as Team ROH, defeating the Faces of Pain (The Barbarian, Meng and The Warlord) in their first round match.

The following day, Team ROH advanced to the semifinals with a win over The Extreme Trio (Jerry Lynn, Tommy Dreamer and Too Cold Scorpio).

Team ROH opened the third and final day of the tournament by defeating the all-female Team Sendai Girls (Dash Chisako, Meiko Satomura and Sendai Sachiko) in the semifinals.

In the finals of the tournament, Team ROH was defeated by the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black), when Bennett submitted to Hallowicked's Chikara Special.

Bennett left ROH in late-2015 to sign with promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he won the TNA X Division Championship.

In 2017, Bennett joined his wife Maria in WWE (whose maiden name was used as his character's surname), where he held the WWE 24/7 Championship twice.

After leaving WWE in April 2020, Bennett briefly returned to ROH and to TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling) before joining AEW in October 2022.

In addition to wrestling, Bennett and Taven operate a wrestling school in West Warwick, Rhode Island.