Michael Altieri (born October 3, 1983) is an American former

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

, better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name or nickname used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons ...

, Mikey Batts. He is best known for his time spent in

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (abbreviated as TNA Wrestling or TNA) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment, a Canadian media company owned by busines ...

. He has also worked as a

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2003–2004)

Altieri began

amateur wrestling Amateur wrestling is a variant of wrestling practiced at Olympic Games, Olympic, Collegiate wrestling, collegiate, Scholastic wrestling, scholastic, and other levels. There are two international wrestling styles performed at the Olympic Games, fr ...

junior high school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes ...

. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

in 1999. Altieri was stationed at

Lackland Air Force Base Lackland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) base located in Bexar County, Texas, United States. The base is under the jurisdiction of the 802d Mission Support Group, Air Education and Training Command (AETC) and an enclave of ...

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, where he served a two-year term, during which he continued wrestling. He was discharged in 2001 and relocated to

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

, where he became a

personal trainer A personal trainer is an individual who creates and delivers safe and effective exercise programs for healthy individuals and groups, or those with medical clearance to exercise. They motivate clients by collaborating to set goals, providing m ...

. While working as a trainer, he decided to become a

. Altieri trained under

Roderick Strong Christopher Lindsey (born July 26, 1983), better known by his ring name Roderick Strong, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of The Paragon stable and is a former one-time AEW I ...

at the NWA Florida

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

. He debuted in NWA Florida on June 20, 2003, as Mikey Batts, wrestling

Naphtali According to the Book of Genesis, Naphtali (; ) was the sixth son of Jacob, the second of his two sons with Bilhah. He was the founder of the Israelite tribe of Naphtali. Some biblical commentators have suggested that the name ''Naphtali'' ma ...

. On February 26, 2005, in

Brandon, Florida Brandon is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Tampa–St. Petersburg–Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area. The p ...

he won a six-way match to become the NWA Florida X Division Champion.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2004–2005)

Batts debuted in

as a planted security guard in June 2004. He was signed to a contract that same month and began teaming on a regular basis with fellow NWA Florida performer Jerrelle Clark. Batts and Clark were staples on ''

TNA Impact! ''TNA Impact!'' (stylized as ''TNA iMPACT!'') is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) that debuted on June 4, 2004. It also features wrestlers from WWE's ...

'' throughout 2004 but were not involved in any major

angles Angles most commonly refers to: *Angles (tribe), a Germanic-speaking people that took their name from the Angeln cultural region in Germany *Angle, a geometric figure formed by two rays meeting at a common point Angles may also refer to: Places ...

. In addition to competing in the tag team division, Batts wrestled in the

X Division The X Division is a professional wrestling division utilized by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion and used historically in several National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) member promotions. The division is intended to emphasize a fas ...

. Batts competed at TNA Hard Justice in a 20 man Gauntlet for the Gold match being quickly eliminated by

The Outlaw ''The Outlaw'' is a 1943 American Western film directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jack Buetel, Jane Russell, Thomas Mitchell and Walter Huston. Hughes also produced the film, removing original director Howard Hawks and replacing origi ...

. At TNA No Surrender on July 17, 2005, Batts took part in a four-way qualifying match for the TNA 2005 Super X Cup Tournament, which was won by

Sonjay Dutt Retesh Bhalla (born April 7, 1982) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) as a Glossary of professional wrestling terms#agent, producer and Glossary of professional wrestling terms#manage ...

. Batts teamed with

Simon Diamond Patrick Joseph Michael Kenney (born May 26, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and baseball player, better known by his ring name, Simon Diamond. He is working for the National Wrestling Alliance as Director of Talent Relation ...

on the August 19 episode of ''Impact!'', facing Shocker and

Chris Sabin Joshua Harter (born February 4, 1982), better known by the ring name Chris Sabin, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. After being trained by Scott D'Amore, Sabin debuted in 2000 f ...

in the first round of the Chris Candido Cup. During the match, commentators

Mike Tenay Michael William Tenay (born March 1, 1955) is an American podcast presenter and retired professional wrestling play-by-play announcer known for his time as an announcer for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. T ...

and Don West speculated that Batts was "auditioning" for membership in The Diamonds in the Rough, Diamond's

stable A stable is a building in which working animals are kept, especially horses or oxen. The building is usually divided into stalls, and may include storage for equipment and feed. Styles There are many different types of stables in use tod ...

of undercard wrestlers. Diamond and Batts lost the match after Sabin pinned Batts; Batts did not join the Diamonds.

World Wrestling Entertainment

Deep South Wrestling (2005)

On October 30, 2005, it was announced that Batts had signed a developmental contract with

World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

and had been assigned to the

Deep South Wrestling Deep South Wrestling (DSW) is a professional wrestling promotion in the state of Georgia. Deep South worked in tandem with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) as a developmental territory from September 1, 2005, until April 18, 2007. Deep South w ...

developmental territory.

Ohio Valley Wrestling (2005–2006)

In December, 2005, it was announced that Batts had been transferred to

Ohio Valley Wrestling Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) is an American professional wrestling promotion, professional wrestling promotion and former developmental territory based in Louisville, Kentucky. The company is currently run by Al Snow, Matt Jones (radio host), Ma ...

(OVW). On January 21, 2006, Batts lost his first match in OVW to Da Beast, with Tytus acting as his

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Then, on January 27, 2006, Batts lost to Tytus, this time with Da Beast acting as manager. Batts, under his real name, wrestled and lost to WWE Cruiserweight Champion

Gregory Helms Gregory Shane Helms (born July 12, 1974) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE under a legends contract, and currently works for the company as a backstage Producer (professional wrestling), producer. In ...

on the May 6, 2006 episode of ''

Velocity Velocity is a measurement of speed in a certain direction of motion. It is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of physical objects. Velocity is a vector (geometry), vector Physical q ...

''. On June 14, 2006, Batts was released from his WWE contract.

Retirement

After his release, Batts retired from wrestling to pursue a career in

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

, which consisted of only three grappling tournaments.

Championships and accomplishments

*Defiant Pro Wrestling :*DPW Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) * NWA Florida :*NWA Florida X Division Championship (1 time) :*

NWA Florida Tag Team Championship The NWA Florida Tag Team Championship is the primary tag team title in NWA Florida Underground Wrestling. It started out in 1968 as the main tag team title in Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was ...

( 1 time) – with Jerrelle Clark

References

External links

Online World of Wrestling profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batts, Mikey 1983 births 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century American professional wrestlers American male professional wrestlers Living people Professional wrestlers billed from Connecticut Professional wrestlers from Connecticut American professional wrestling referees Sportspeople from New Haven, Connecticut Professional wrestlers from Tampa, Florida NWA Florida Tag Team Champions