"How does he do that?"
—Joey Styles, after Spike Dudley squashed and pinned Rhino after Rhino had defeated Christopher Daniels, ECW Hostile City Showdown, June 26, 1999.
Matthew Jonathan Hyson (born August 13, 1970) is a semi-retired American Professional Wrestler and trainer from Providence, RI best known for his work in ECW from 1996-2001 and in WWE from 2001-2005 as Spike Dudley. He debuted in 1994 after training at the APW Boot Camp in Hayward, California and spent the next three years on the California independent circuit. He debuted as Spike in 1996 as the "runt" of Dudley litter. Over his time, he would hold the ECW World Tag Team Titles
twice with Balls Mahoney and feud with his "brothers," Buh Buh Ray, D-Von and Big Dick. He debuted in WWE in 2001 after ECW shut down and would alternate between teaming with and feuding with Bubba Ray and D-Von. Over his WWE run, he held the WWE European Heavyweight Title once, the WWE World Cruiserweight Title once, the WWE Hardcore Title 8 times and the WWE World Tag Team Titles once with Tazz. He later followed Ray and Devon to TNA as Brother Runt. He would go on to compete for a variety of independents before "retiring" in 2010.
"Pound for Pound, One Tough Little Bastard's trope list."
- Almost Kiss: Repeatedly with Molly Holly in 2001.
- Bash Brothers: Besides the other Dudleys, Balls Mahoney, whom he won the ECW tag team championships with. In WWE, he won the tag team championships with Tazz.
- Badass Teacher: Was a teaching assistant for the San Francisco school system before training to be a wrestler.
- Beard of Evil: A horned beard while he was the cruiserweight champion on Smackdown and boss of the Dudley Boys.
- Boisterous Weakling: The heroic variety.
- David Versus Goliath: Inevitable when you're only 5'8" and 150 lbs. It started when he defeated Bam Bam Bigelow at ECW Born to Be Wired, earning him the Red Baron "The Giant Killer." He would go on to defeat many more giants. Even more impressive, many of these were Squash Matches.
- Distaff Counterpart: Trish Stratus briefly became his when he was drafted to Smackdown and became the heel cruiserweight champion while Trish became the heel women's champion on Raw, due to their similar statures and methods as well as the belts being rough equivalents for the two brands.
- Expy: While on Raw, Spanky was his expy on Smackdown, right down to the 'running the turnbuckle finisher', stoner personality and a joke about his package...okay, Spanky was an expy of ECW Spike Dudley in character but to WWE Spike in that he was not very successful as a singles wrestler.
- Finishing Move: Acid Drop/Dudley Dog (a springboard cutter which involves running up the top turnbuckle), also a top rope the double foot stomp, though that was not as guaranteed to work.
- Fun with Acronyms: Little Spike Dudley
- Genius Bruiser: He was a teacher before he became a wrestler.
- The Goggles Do Nothing: Like his "brothers," the glasses were only the frames.
- Groin Attack: It's often how he'd set up the Acid Drop.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: It wasn't uncommon for Spike's more death-defying moves to be turned against him. One instance saw him grab Mike Awesome in the Acid Drop set-up...only for Awesome to shove Spike off of him as he hung in the air, propelling him out of the ring and into the audience.
- Jobber: What he became in the WWE, after a rather promising Wrestlemania spot where he put Christian through a table too, though he had some brief moments of competence (as the picture of him with the European title shows). This would eventually be rectified somewhat when he was treated more seriously in Smackdown's cruiserweight division, allowed to win the title and become the most important Dudley but it still paled in comparison to his status in ECW.
- Leitmotif: AC/DC's "Highway to Hell." This was the Dudleys' theme in ECW. After Buh Buh Ray turned heel on Spike in February 1997, the Dudleys (now Buh Buh Ray, D-Von, Big Dick, Sign Guy and Joel Gertner) stopped using entrance music altogether. Spike kept "Highway to Hell" until ECW closed.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Not built, but it didn't get in his way.
- One-Hit Kill: When he hit the Acid Drop on someone, it was over.
- Shout-Out
- In Beyond the Mat, he quoted the line "I shall, I do" from Henry IV, Part 1. While bleeding.
- As Brother Runt, he wore a jacket and mohawk to imitate Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver.
- Starcrossed Lovers: Him and Molly Holly during the Dudley boy/Holly cousin feud. He eventually began feuding with the other Dudleys outright when they put Molly through a table.
- Take That!: At an UWF show he ripped up an offer WWE gave him to work at the second One Night Stand pay per view, stating he would remain loyal to TNA (
even though this was a UWF show). - Token Good Teammate
- Frequently to Bubba Ray and D'Von, when he was not feuding with them outright.
- The Leader: But after insisting he did not need their help to beat Rey Mysterio on Smackdown, Bubba Ray and D'Von's continued refusal to leave him alone caused Spike to declare himself leader of the Dudleys and turn heel.
- Underdogs Never Lose: He didn't look like someone who'd manage to be as successful as he was.
- Unrelated Wrestling Family: With Buh Buh Ray, D-Von, etc.
- Unwanted Assistance: Got drunk during the 2007 Final Resolution and hit Homicide with a splash during the Team 3D tag team title match against LAX, getting his brothers disqualified and denying them the belts.
