Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Matt Taven and Mike Bennett
Professional wrestling tag team From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Matt Taven and Mike Bennett are a professional wrestling tag team. They wrestle for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where they are part of The Kingdom stable.
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged into The Kingdom (professional wrestling). (Discuss) Proposed since April 2025. |
The duo first began teaming regularly in ROH in 2014 as part of Adam Cole's stable The Kingdom. Between 2014 and 2015, they won the ROH World Tag Team Championship and also, appeared in New Japan Pro Wrestling due to the partnership between the promotions, winning the IWGP Tag Team Championship. The team disbanded in 2015 after Bennett and Kanellis left ROH.
Since 2015, Taven became the leader of The Kingdom stable until 2020, when he feuded with former member Vincent. During the feud, Bennett made his return and the team was named The OGK ("The Original Kingdom"), winning the ROH World Tag Team Titles for a second time. After leaving ROH in 2021, they worked for Impact Wrestling with other wrestlers from ROH, creating the stable Honor No More. During their 10-month stint with Impact, they won the Impact World Tag Team Championship. In 2022, they signed with AEW and also worked for ROH, since AEW's Tony Khan bought the promotion. As part of AEW/ROH, they won the ROH Tag Team Championship a third time as the masked team The Devil's Masked Men, later revealing themselves as part of the Undisputed Kingdom.
Remove ads
History
Summarize
Perspective
Ring of Honor (2014–2021)
The Kingdom (2014–2015)
On March 1, 2015, at the 13th Anniversary Show, Bennett and Taven defeated The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) as well as Karl Anderson (who competed on his own due to Doc Gallows suffering travel issues) in a three-way tag team match.[2] On March 27, 2015, at Supercard of Honor IX, Bennett and Taven unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) for the ROH World Tag Team Championship.[3] Cole returned from his injury at War of the Worlds ‘15, where he lost to A.J. Styles. Cole then began having tension with Bennett and Taven and even teased a reunion with former Future Shock partner Kyle O’Reilly. On September 18 at All Star Extravaganza VII, Bennett and Taven won their first-ever ROH World Tag Team Championship, when they defeated the then champions The Addiction (Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels) and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson).[4] Later that night Cole betrayed O’Reilly during his world championship match against Jay Lethal remaining with The Kingdom and turning heel once again. Bennett and Taven lost the title to War Machine on December 18 at Final Battle.[5] Bennett and Kanellis left ROH after the following day's Ring of Honor Wrestling taping, after failing to come to terms on a new contract with the promotion.[6]
The OGK (2020–2021)
In 2020, after Ring of Honor returned from hiatus due to COVID-19, Taven and Marseglia (now named Vincent) reignited their rivalry, with Vincent teaming with Bateman as The Righteous. On November 21, 2020, episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, Mike Bennett made his return to Ring of Honor helping his former Kingdom partner Taven fight off Vincent and Bateman.[7][8] On December 10, at Final Battle, The OGK defeated The Righteous (Vincent and Bateman) in a grudge tag team match.[9][10]
On November 14, 2021, at Honor For All, The OGK defeated La Faccion Ingobernable (Dragon Lee and Kenny King) to become two-time ROH World Tag Team Champions.[11][12] On December 11, 2021, The OGK lost the ROH World Tag Team Championships to The Briscoe Brothers at Final Battle.[13]
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2014–2015)
Bennett and Taven, made their debut as a team in New Japan Pro Wrestling in November 2014, to take part in the 2014 World Tag League.[14] They finished third in their block with a record of four wins and three losses.[15] Bennett and Taven returned to NJPW on April 5, 2015, at Invasion Attack 2015, where they defeated Bullet Club (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[16][17] On July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Kingdom lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship back to Bullet Club in their first defense.[18] Bennett and Taven returned to NJPW in November to take part in the 2015 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of two wins and four losses, failing to advance from their block.[19]
National Wrestling Alliance (2021–2022)
On October 24, 2021, at NWA By Any Means Necessary, The OGK made their NWA debut defeating The Fixers (Jay Bradley and Wrecking Ball Legursky).[20]
The OGK made their NWA return at Hard Times 2 successfully defending the ROH World Tag Team Championships against Aron Stevens and JR Kratos.[21]
On February 12, 2022, at NWA PowerrrTrip, The OGK were defeated by The Fixers (Jay Bradley and Wrecking Ball Legursky) in the first round of the Crockett Cup tournament.[22]
Impact Wrestling (2022)
On January 8, 2022, at Hard To Kill, The OGK made their Impact Wrestling debut along with PCO and Vinny Marseglia attacking Heath, Rhino and others following their match.[23] On August 26, 2022, Taven and Bennett defeated The Good Brothers (Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson) to win the Impact World Tag Team Championships.[24][25] This match aired on tape delay on the September 1 episode of Impact!.[26] On October 8, 2022, during the Impact! taping, The Kingdom lost the Impact World Tag Team Championships to Heath and Rhino.[27] On October 8, 2022, it was announced that Bennett, Kanellis and Taven had departed Impact Wrestling.[28]
All Elite Wrestling / Return to ROH (2022–present)
Bennett, Taven, and Maria made their All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut as The Kingdom on the October 14, 2022, episode of Rampage, interrupting FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Shawn Spears' victory celebration.
The Kingdom made their return return to Ring of Honor - now AEW's sister promotion - at Final Battle in December 2022, where he and Bennett lost to Top Flight. At Supercard of Honor in March 2023, The Kingdom completed in a "Reach for the Sky" ladder match for the vacant ROH World Tag Team Championship, which was won by the Lucha Brothers.[29] In April 2023, The Kingdom began a feud with Darius Martin and Action Andretti.[30] In the same month The Kingdom defeated the duo.[31] On May 18, The Kingdom faced Andretti and Martin in a Fight without Honor rematch, where they were defeated, ending their feud.[32] Around this time, Roderick Strong aligned with them, while Maria quietly left the team and she later joined with Cole Karter and Griff Garrison as their manager.
On the December 27, 2023 episode of Dynamite in Orlando, Florida, as The Devil's Masked Men, Bennett and Taven defeated MJF in a handicap match to win the ROH tag team titles for the third time.[33] The duo revealed themselves three days later, at Worlds End, attacking MJF after the match and formed the Undisputed Kingdom with Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, and Wardlow.[34]
On April 5, 2024 at Supercard of Honor, the duo successfully defended their titles against The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean).[35] On August 17 episode of Collision, Bennett and Taven lost their ROH World Tag Team Championships to Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara.[36] On the October 23 episode of Dynamite, Bennett, Taven, and the rest of the Undisputed Kingdom turned babyface and reignited their feud with MJF, who was now a heel.[37]
After a brief absence from television, Bennett and Taven made their return as "The Kingdom" on the May 24 episode of Ring of Honor Wrestling, teaming with Spanish Announce Project (Angélico and Serpentico) in a losing effort against The Premier Athletes (Ariya Daivari and Tony Nese) and The Righteous (Dutch and Vincent).[38]
Return to NJPW (2024–present)
Bennett and Taven, as the Undisputed Kingdom, made their return to NJPW for the first time since 2015 on November 8, 2024 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed, where they were defeated by Shingo Takagi and Yota Tsuji.[39]
Remove ads
Championships and accomplishments
- Impact Wrestling
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- Ring of Honor
- The Wrestling Revolver
- PWR Tag Team Championship (1 time)[43]
References
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads