Matt Sydal shares pro-wrestling memories in St. Louis, including attending WWE's Hell in a Cell at the Kiel Center in 1997.
Twenty-four years ago, Matt Sydal attended the very first WWE Hell in a Cell pay-per-view at what was then the Kiel Center in St. Louis. He was just 14 at the time, and the idea of becoming a professional wrestler was a dream — one cemented before he even stepped inside the arena.
“The first real experience I had with wrestling, and what kind of sparked or deepened my insanity with wrestling, was when we went to the pay-per-view, it was called Bad Blood, the first-ever Hell in a Cell, with Shawn Michaels versus Undertaker,” says Sydal, whose legal name is Matthew Joseph Korklan.
“Actually it wasn't even the show: What sealed it for us was, as we parked and walked to the building, there were people dressed as Gold Dust, Mankind and the Undertaker, just fans that were cosplaying as these characters. And we absolutely loved it; the absurdity of it all is what really drew us to wrestling. And it wasn't too long before I started wearing the costumes.”
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It’s not hard to imagine kids having a similar experience Nov. 5, when Sydal returns to St. Louis as part of All Elite Wrestling’s Rampage live show at 7 p.m. at Chaifetz Arena.
“My heart really is still in St. Louis,” Sydal says. “St. Louis is a really big part of what shaped me and I carry that with me everywhere I go. And so I’m coming back to make St. Louis proud. I'm not exactly sure if I'm going to get the cheap heat and just put on a Cardinals jersey. ... But I just want everybody to know that everywhere I've been around the world, I've been representing St. Louis, and I'm going to do my best here. And I just really hope it's really loud.”
Sydal started training and wrestling in independent companies in and around St. Louis while still a teenager, including backyard wrestling promotion, St. Peters Wrestling Organization and Gateway Championship Wrestling. Sydal wrestled and earned championships in promotions across the country, including Impact and Ring of Honor, and Japan, before joining World Wrestling Entertainment in 2007. His career in WWE spanned seven years and included highlights such as being the Tag Team Championship with Kofi Kingston.
As of 2020, Sydal has been signed with AEW, a national promotion founded in January 2019 by a handful of industry-veteran, fan-favorite wrestlers from across North America. With two weekly televised shows on TNT, signature pay-per-view events throughout the year, and live shows touring across the country, AEW has quickly grown an audience to rival its main competitor, WWE, recalling the WCW rivalry in the ‘90s.
“The type of wrestler I wanted to be wasn't one of these famous movie-star type wrestlers — I wanted to be technically proficient, hardworking, all these kinds of St. Louis qualities that I wanted to embody in my wrestling,” Sydal says. “That's what led me to AEW: my love for the purity of wrestling.”
Pro-wrestler and St. Louis native Matt Sydal talks joining AEW, including the company's first show in St. Louis on Friday, Nov. 5.
Joining AEW has given Sydal the opportunity to reinvent himself and tackle a second act, so to speak, including the chance to wrestle in a tag team with his brother Mike Sydal, a pro-wrestler who debuted in 2008.
“It’s been such a thrill,” Sydal says of wrestling with his brother in AEW. “Mike and I were tag-team wrestling in our parents' backyard in ‘97, ‘98, and our love of pro-wrestling has just always been one of the bonds between us. We're not a generational wrestling family, now the Sydals are a wrestling family, and AEW really helped us cement that.”
At the St. Louis show, Sydal hopes “something develops” in the ring for him and his current tag-team partner, Dante Martin, that continues at AEW’s next pay-per-view event, Full Gear, on Nov. 13. In the meantime, though, Sydal will be staying close to home to help inspire and educate young wrestlers in St. Louis.
On Nov. 6, the day after the Rampage show here, Sydal will host a wrestling seminar for up-and-coming wrestlers in Troy, Missouri, at World League Wrestling, the professional wrestling school founded by the late, great Harley Race.
“The best part of going far is coming back — coming back with information, coming back with something to share,” he says. “I love sharing my knowledge of wrestling with students. I can give back, give them my take on things — ways to stay safe and not get hurt. That’s one of the gifts I get through wrestling.”
As for any downtime Sydal may have at home this weekend, he says, it will be spent with family, friends and “trays filled with toasted ravioli.”
Tickets for AEW Rampage at Chaifetz Arena are available at . The event will be televised live on TNT.
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Pro-wrestler and St. Louis native Matt Sydal talks wrestling with brother Mike Sydal in AEW.
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